Created by Vince McMahon Camera setup Multicamera setup Picture format 480i (SDTV) Network Pop Program creators WWE, Vince McMahon | Country of origin United States Running time 30 minutes per episode First episode date 21 January 1996 Language English | |
Original release January 21, 1996 – present Original network Pay-per-view service provider channels Genres Professional wrestling, Sports Similar SummerSlam (1996), WWE Afterburn, WWE Experience, WWE Bottom Line, WWF Wrestling Challenge | ||
WWE Free For All is a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It serves as a thirty-minute preview show to the promotion's monthly events on pay-per-view, and as such airs freely on PPV channels a half-hour before the actual pay-per-view event starts. Formerly produced under the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) banner, the original format of Free For All also featured exclusive matches in addition to the promotional content that remains in its current format, designed to give prospective viewers a last chance to order the event.
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The Free For All name was discontinued in the United States in 2009. Free For All also airs in Australia, and the United Kingdom on British Sky Broadcasting's Sky Box Office. It also airs on Sky Sport 2 in Italy 30 minutes before every PPV event shown on Sky Primafila. Free For All is currently hosted by Renee Young and Scott Stanford.
History
The first Free For All was broadcast on January 21, 1996 as the pre-show to the 1996 Royal Rumble. The show was hosted by Todd Pettengill and, besides hyping the Royal Rumble, featured a match between Duke Droese and Hunter Hearst-Helmsley with the winner becoming the 30th entrant into the Rumble and the loser becoming the 1st entrant. The last Free For All match was broadcast on July 6, 1997 as the pre-show to In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede and featured The Godwinns defeating The New Blackjacks.
The show was originally simulcast on the Prevue Channel. The original format was changed in 1998 with the United States premiere of Heat, a weekly show on the USA Network featuring live matches, which also served as the countdown show to PPV events on the weeks when the promotion had scheduled pay-per-view events. Beginning with SummerSlam 1998, Free For All became exclusively a preview show featuring promotional material such as pre-match interviews and video summaries on the events that led up to the matches on the pay-per-view. Occasionally, Free For All was replaced with special shows for major PPV events. For WrestleMania 2000, Free For All was replaced with an eight-hour-long show entitled WrestleMania All Day Long, which was only available as part of a purchase option for WrestleMania 2000.
Following No Way Out 2009, the Free For All name was discontinued in the United States and was eventually replaced with WWE Kickoff, which is available on the WWE Network and WWE's official YouTube channel with one or two exclusive matches or in ring segments. Free For All continues to air in Australia, United Kingdom, and in Italy but without the exclusive matches and in ring segments.