WCCW Intensity

**No. of episodes** | 1,459 (as of October 14, 2023)

***WCCW Intensity***, stylized as ***WCCW Intensity on ESPN+*** and also known more commonly as ***Friday Night Intensity*** or simply ***Intensity***, is an American professional wrestling web television program produced by World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) that currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on the ESPN+ streaming service. The show features characters from the Intensity brand, to which WCCW employees are assigned to work and perform. The show debuted on September 27, 1995 as a replacement for *World Class Wednesdays* (1974–1993) and is considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with *Tuesday Night Battle Zone*.

The show originally aired on TBS from its debut until March 1997 when it moved to Fox Sports Net. After eight years on Fox Sports Net, *Intensity* made its Spike debut in August 2004. After airing on Spike for ten years until August 2013, *Intensity* moved to FS1 with occasional special episodes such as the *WCCW Draft* and *Tribute to the Troops* airing on Fox. As part of The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of WCCW in May 2021, ESPN+ became the exclusive home to past and current episodes of *Intensity* as well as every WCCW pay-per-view.

## History

###  Early years on TBS (1995–1997)

*WCCW Intensity* first debuted on TBS on Wednesday, September 27, 1995 as a replacement for *World Class Wednesdays*, which aired from 1974 until 1992 in various formats. The 90-minute program debuted three weeks after the premiere of *WCW Monday Nitro* on sister station TNT. It would struggle to draw an audience as large as WCW and by 1997 the network was in talks with World Championship Wrestling for a new program that would replace *Intensity. Intensity* was officially cancelled on December 21, 1997 and TBS would debut *WCW Thunder* three weeks later as its replacement. Meanwhile, Fox Sports Net agreed to pick up the series on December 23, allowing the December 27 episode of *Intensity* to proceed as planned.

###  Move to Fridays and expansion to two hours (1997–2005)

With the switch to Fox Sports Net, the program would be revamped considerably, expanding from 90-minutes to two-hours, moving from Wednesday nights to Friday nights and airing from larger venues in more major cities. The switch in formats plus the marketing power of the new network without a rival promotion brought a new and unexpected popularity to *Intensity.* Tickets quickly became a hot commodity, routinely selling out within a day of going on sale. As a result of the increased popularity, WCCW would acquire the fledgling Lonestar Wrestling League, adding approximately thirty-three new wrestlers to the roster of *Intensity.* The combination of high ticket sales and an increasing roster inspired the company to explore the possibility of introducing a second television show that would serve as a companion to *Intensity*. This new show would be announced on the November 19, 2004 episode of *Intensity*, with a planned debut of June 2005. In April 2005, the new series was announced to be airing on Spike and its debut would coincide with the expiration of *Intensity'*s contract with FSN. On the April 16 episode, it was officially announced that *Intensity* would move to Spike on August 26.

### Spike era (2005–2013)

#### First brand split (2005–2009)

With the debut of *Tuesday Night Fight Zone!*, a brand split was implemented which saw the Intensity roster cut in half. The remaining talent was deemed to be the cream of the crop of WCCW and helped *Intensity* to establish itself as the flagship show with *Fight Zone!* being treated by fans as the little brother brand. Ratings during the brand split were down constantly as fans took notice in the talent disparity and by 2009, the company decided to allow wrestlers from the Fight Zone brand to appear on *Intensity* and vice-versa. The brand split was officially declared over at the 2009 Clash of the Champions which saw the Fight Zone! Heavyweight Championship unified with the WCCW World Heavyweight Championship, the Fight Zone! Women's Championship unified with the WCCW Women's Championship and the Fight Zone! Tag Team Championship.unified with the WCCW World Tag Team Championship.

#### Final years on Spike (2009–2013)

Ratings for both *Intensity* and *Fight Zone!* would soar following the brand split, with a new found synergy between both shows thanks to them airing on the same network and now with the same talent for the first time. The shows would face competition from TNA *Impact!* though, and by 2011, the network had begun pushing for more emphasis on reality television in the midst of a network rebrand. Because of this, WCCW chose not to renew their contracts with Spike and in 2013 began negotiating a new media rights deal that would see *Fight Zone!* move to ESPN2 and *Intensity* move to Fox Sports 1.

### Return to Fox Sports (2013–2021)

*Friday Night Intensity* would make its Fox Sports return in August 2013 when the first episode aired on Fox Sports 1. On May 16, 2014, *Intensity* switched to a full 16:9 letterbox widescreen presentation, with a down-scaled version of the native HD feed on a 4:3 SD feed. In conjunction with this, *Intensity* debuted an updated stage design that would be shared with *Tuesday Night Battle Zone*. Additionally, *Intensity*'s theme song was changed to "The Monster" by Eminem and Rihanna.

#### COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021)

From March 12, 2020 to May 20, 2021, WCCW announced that all of its live programs would air from the Sacramento Credit Union Center in Sacramento, California without an audience until further notice beginning with the following day's episode of *Intensity* due to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the suspension of many professional sports leagues. On May 21, 2021, WCCW announced that they will return in front of live fans with a 25 city tour, therefore the July 13, 2021 edition of Battle Zone would be the final WCCW held behind closed doors.

### Walt Disney merger and move to ESPN+ (2021–present)

One day before announcing their return to touring, WCCW announced on May 20, 2021 that they had agreed to a $15 million deal to merge World Class Championship Wrestling, Inc. into the The Walt Disney Company through a new subsidiary called World Class Sports Ventures. The new company would be overseen by then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek and WCCW founder and chairman Jack Thompson. Chapek would be replaced with Bob Iger as of November 20, 2022.

With the formation of World Class Sports Ventures, all of WCCW programming would be moved to Disney-owned streaming services with *Intensity* moving to ESPN+ as of May 28 with the service also hosting all previous episodes of the series on demand.

## Special episodes

Throughout its broadcast history, the show has aired episodes that have different themes. Some of them are yearly events such as the WCCW Draft or Tribute to the Troops. Others include tributes to various professional wrestlers who have recently died or retired from actively performing, as well as episodes commemorating various show milestones or anniversaries such as *Intensity 1000*, which celebrated the 1000th broadcast.

## Broadcast

In the United States, the show airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on the ESPN+ streaming service. Occasionally, *Intensity* is aired on same-day tape delay when WCCW is on an overseas tour. *Intensity* is also shown live on Disney+ in most international markets with localized commentary. In Latin America, the program airs on Star+. FX in the United States started airing a 1-hour replay of *Intensity* on August 16, 2021.