NBC Hypes Next Episode of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event, John Cena Appearance

NBC has sent out a press release hyping that John Cena will appear on the May 24 episode of WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.

WWE’S “SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT” EXTRAVAGANZA ARRIVES MAY 24 LIVE ON NBC AND PEACOCK

Hugely Popular Superstar John Cena to Make His First Appearance in More Than a Decade as Primetime Event Arrives in Tampa, Fla.

· UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – March 7, 2025 – The WWE spectacle “Saturday Night’s Main Event” is making its next stop at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Fla., with the telecast airing live May 24 on NBC and Peacock.

· Superstar John Cena will make his first “Saturday Night’s Main Event” appearance in more than a decade. “Saturday Night’s Main Event” originally premiered on NBC in 1985.

· This marks the third quarterly primetime special to air on NBC and Peacock as part of WWE’s five-year domestic media rights partnership with NBCUniversal, which officially kicked off in September with the premiere of “SmackDown” on USA Network.

· Peacock is the live streaming home of WWE in the U.S. with upcoming premium live events including WrestleMania 41 on April 19 and 20, which will air live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.

POWER OF NBCU LIVE PROGRAMMING

· NBCU shapes culture with more live events across broadcast and streaming than any other media company.

· In 2024, NBC broadcast 89 hours of live entertainment programming.

· Including sports, NBC broadcast 880 hours of live programming last year.

· In 2024, Peacock streamed a diverse slate of more than 8,000 hours of live programming.

· Peacock continues to build on NBCU’s legacy of live event programming by investing in a technical infrastructure that supports the highest levels of performance, security and reliability to deliver a seamless and incomparable experience for our audiences.

· In the past year, Peacock was the streaming home of the Paris Olympics, which was the most-streamed Games in history; exclusive NFL games, including the first-ever exclusively streamed NFL playoff game, which at the time was the biggest live-streamed event ever in the U.S.; the SNL50: Homecoming Concert, which was both a huge critical hit and massive success in reaching millions of music fans around the country; weekly exclusive Premier League matches; and much more.

· Across NBC, Peacock, digital and social, programming from SNL50 weekend (Feb. 14-16) – “SNL50: The Anniversary Special,” “SNL50: The Red Carpet” and “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert” – had 866 million platform engagements. The programming reached a staggering 220 million people and 3.9 billion minutes viewed.

· Beginning in 2026 no other media company will have the premium entertainment content that NBCUniversal will have over the next two years. Nearly 40% of 2025-26 big event viewership in the United States will be on NBCUniversal, thanks to events such as the Milan Cortina Olympics, Super Bowl LX, NBA All Star Game, World Cup, The Emmy Awards, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks, Christmas Tree Lighting in Rockefeller Center, and more.