WWE & Sirius XM Announce New WWE Radio Channel

Closing in on nearly two decades now, "Busted Open Radio" has been a staple of SiriusXM and arguably the biggest radio show to focus on pro wrestling in North America. But it will now become a part of Sirius' new pro wrestling crown jewel; a WWE station. In a Thursday morning press release, WWE and Sirius announced the launch of WWE Radio, a 24/7 station. The channel will launch officially on Monday, July 27, ahead of WWE SummerSlam that weekend. WWE Radio will air out of Sirius channel 156, effectively taking over "Busted Open's" slot on Sirius going forward.

It will not be the end of "Busted Open," however, as the program will continue on under the WWE Radio banner, with hosts Dave LaGreca, Bully Ray, Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer, and Nic Nemeth all staying on. Other "Busted Open" related content will remain, including "Busted Open After Dark," while other shows such as "Notsam Wrestling Live" with Sam Roberts, "Cheap Heat Live" with Peter Rosenberg, "The Hart Beat with Natalya" and "Off the Ropes," featuring Henry, Dreamer, and former WWE star Jinder Mahal, will be added. Other WWE podcasts will also air on WWE Radio every day at 4 p.m., including Cody Rhodes' "What Do You Want To Talk About?" and Undertaker's "Six Feet Under."

With SummerSlam occurring just days later, WWE Radio will feature plenty of content surrounding the two night event, LaGreca, Bully, Henry, Dreamer, Roberts and Rosenberg, will host several live shows in the leadup. SummerSlam itself will also be available to listen to on WWE Radio, with "NXT" commentators Vic Joseph and Booker T. Future WWE PLEs will also be available to listen to on WWE Radio, as will "select audio simulcasts of WWE's weekly flagship television programming."

I'm sure there will be some people who see this news about WWE Radio today effectively taking over "Busted Open Radio" and be surprised. I am not surprised at all about this news...with one caveat. "Busted Open" becoming part of the WWE umbrella as a part of its media branch doesn't shock me at all; what does shock me is how transparent everyone involved is finally being about it. Perhaps I am the wrong person to point this out; with a few exceptions, my opinion of "Busted Open" and some of the opinions that come out of it from hosts Dave LaGreca, Tommy Dreamer, Mark Henry, and especially Bully Ray, is extremely low. But part of the reason it is low is because, at least over the last few years, it seems like the show has done little to be impartial, and has often come across WWE affiliated in everything but name.

Now, at least, they don't even have to pretend that that isn't the case. By being under the WWE Radio banner, "Busted Open" can now operate out in the open as the WWE service it's pretty much been. Now when Bully Ray compares some "Raw" angle to a five minute scene in a "Star Wars" movie, he can do so knowing it's happening while he's under the WWE umbrella once more. Good for him and the rest of them I suppose. For some, this will definitely hurt the credibility of "Busted Open" to some degree, but for many, myself included, this was just a natural progression of where this popular program was going. So again I say; one shouldn't be surprised that this day arrived. WWE and "Busted Open" were always destined to be under one banner. The only surprise is that they all decided to make it "official official" as it were.