Initially broadcasting in syndication during in the 2000–01 television season,[2] WOW is a sports entertainment-styled product where its talent portrays heavily dramatized characters.[3]
WOW has been recognized as one of the few nationally broadcast wrestling promotions featuring an all-female roster.[4] Only twenty-four television episodes and a pay-per-view event were produced during its initial run.[5] In 2002, McLane sought a partnership with Kiss frontman Gene Simmons to revive the promotion.[6] In July 2011, WOW TV reruns began airing on the ABC affiliate KTNV in Las Vegas.[7]
On May 29, 2012, McLane and Buss announced their intention to revive WOW and produce new episodes.[8][9] Later that year, WOW reruns began airing on The CW Las Vegas station KVCW starting on December 9.[10]
In December 2014, WOW announced that it would be producing content for digital media in 2015. Marketed as "WOW Superheroes", its roster of characters are portrayed as empowered women from all different backgrounds and professions.[11] A second season premiered on March 1, 2016, on YouTube.[12] Its fourth season premiered February 28, 2017.[13]
On April 20, 2017, MGM Television announced that Mark Burnett, MGM's President, Television Group & Digital, and Jeanie Buss formed a partnership to develop new WOW content across a range of unscripted programming and digital formats.[14] In June 2018, it was announced that tapings for a new weekly program on AXS TV titled WOW: Women of Wrestling would begin on October 10, 2018 at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles,[15] with episodes airing in early 2019.[16] WOW debuted that January 18 as part of AXS TV's "Friday Night Fights" lineup of shows.[15][17] The AXS TV premiere marked WOW's first television broadcast of new content in almost eighteen years.[18]WOW: Women of Wrestling ran for just two seasons on AXS TV. In June 2020, it was reported that AXS had cancelled the series.[19]
On October 6, 2021, it was announced that ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global) had entered into a multi-year distribution agreement for WOW that will see new episodes produced for weekend syndication on 160 U.S. TV stations (CBS or The CW affiliates) owned by ViacomCBS or Sinclair Broadcast Group, with new episodes airing starting in Fall 2022.[20][21][22] On October 7, WOW announced that April Mendez (fka AJ Lee in WWE) joined the company as an executive producer and color commentator.[23]
^Meltzer, Dave (July 2003). "WOW did 24 episodes of television that aired from October 2000 through March 2001...". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California. p. 8. WOW did 24 episodes of television that aired from October 2000 through March 2001 on major stations in about 100 markets, buying tin [sic?] most markets. The money was supposed to be recouped by holding a PPV show. They did one from the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, that ended up doing 12,000 buys, and the venture lost several million dollars in the process. In fact, they lost more money in their last three months than ECW did in its last year, and ECW had many wrestlers under six-figure contracts. WOW has been largely dormant ever since
