WWE Speed
WWE Speed | |
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![]() | |
Created by | Paul "Triple H" Levesque |
Starring | |
Opening theme | "Conquered It All" by def rebel (from WWE Music Group) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 24 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Paul "Triple H" Levesque |
Producer | Pete Dunne[1] |
Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
Running time | 3–5 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | X |
Release | April 3, 2024 present | –
Related | |
WWE Speed is an American professional wrestling streaming television program produced by WWE. It airs on the social media platform X and premiered with two episodes on April 3, 2024. Speed features wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brands. Episodes have one match each with a time limit of three minutes for regular episodes and five minutes for special episodes for the WWE Speed Championship and the WWE Speed Women's Championship. Matches for Speed are taped in conjunction with WWE's main weekly television programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, and generally occur before the start of said programs.
History
[edit]On February 7, 2024, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE filed to trademark the name "WWE Speed" for an in-ring program in which the concept would be that the professional wrestling matches would have a five-minute time limit. The concept was first tested as dark matches before the December 15, 2023, taping of SmackDown.[2] On February 8 during the WrestleMania XL Kickoff press conference, WWE announced a partnership with X to introduce WWE Speed, which would stream weekly on the social media platform.[3] The deal between WWE and X was confirmed for two years. It was also revealed that the matches for each episode would be exclusive to the platform and would not be repurposed from WWE's other programs, and it would feature wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands: Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.[4]
On March 27, WWE commentator Corey Graves announced that Speed would premiere on Wednesday, April 3, but matches would instead be three minutes in length. Also announced was a tournament to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion for men.[5] The debut episode, which was uploaded at 12 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), saw Ricochet defeat Dragon Lee. Roughly 30 minutes later, WWE uploaded a second episode in which Bronson Reed defeated Cedric Alexander. Graves served as the sole commentator for the episodes.[6] While episodes thus far have only featured matches with male wrestlers, during a conversation on X Spaces on May 1, 2024, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque confirmed that the program would also eventually feature women's matches;[7] this led to the announcement of the WWE Speed Women's Championship on August 9, 2024, where he also announced that there would be a tournament that would begin on September 4, 2024, to determine the inaugural champion.[8]
While the program typically airs on Wednesdays, a special Friday airing occurred on May 3, 2024. This episode, which was the seventh episode overall, saw Ricochet defeat Johnny Gargano to become the inaugural Speed Champion. This episode also confirmed that championship matches would air on Fridays and would have a five-minute time limit instead of the regular three.[9][10]
On-air personalities
[edit]Commentators
[edit]Commentators | Tenure |
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Corey Graves | April 3, 2024 | – present
Ring announcers
[edit]Ring announcers | Date started |
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Mike Rome, Samantha Irvin and Alicia Taylor | April 3, 2024 | – present
References
[edit]- ^ Sapp, Sean Ross (March 31, 2024). "Pete Dunne Produced Recent WWE Speed Matches". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
- ^ Lee, Joseph (February 8, 2024). "WWE Files Trademarks For 'WWE Speed' and 'Je'Von Evans'". 411Mania. Archived from the original on March 28, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (February 8, 2024). "WWE Speed To Air On X (Twitter) Beginning In Spring 2024". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 28, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (February 9, 2024). "Report: WWE Inks 2-Year Deal With X (Twitter) To Bring 'WWE Speed' To Platform". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (March 27, 2024). "WWE Speed premiere date revealed, tournament will crown champion". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on March 28, 2024. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (April 3, 2024). "Ricochet And Bronson Reed Advance In WWE Speed Championship Tournament, JD McDonagh vs. Axiom Set For 4/10 WWE Speed". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Lowson, Thomas (May 1, 2024). "WWE Speed Will Feature Women's Division Matches, Triple H Confirms". SE Scoops. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (August 9, 2024). "WWE Speed Women's Championship tournament to begin next month". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on August 10, 2024. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
- ^ Lee, Joseph (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Becomes First-Ever WWE Speed Champion, Special Friday Episode Airs". 411Mania. Archived from the original on May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
- ^ Lowson, Thomas (May 3, 2024). "Ricochet Celebrates WWE Speed Title Win After Becoming First-Ever Champion". SE Scoops. Archived from the original on May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024.