By James Caldwell, PWTorch.com assistant editor

WWE CFO George Barrios announced today that the new "WWE Superstars" show that will begin airing on WGN this spring will feature content from all three WWE brands.

Barrios said they will be presenting matches and features from Raw, ECW, and Smackdown to leverage the existing TV taping schedule they already have.

Presenting at the annual ROTH Growth Stock Conference in Orange County, California this morning, Barrios said the business aspect of the WGN deal is receiving a licensing fee in exchange for airing the WWE programming on Thursday nights.

"There are very little incremental costs to create that program," Barrios said in the presentation.

The new show on WGN will begin airing in April after WrestleMania and will most-likely be taped before Raw on Monday nights, with ECW switching back to being taped along with Smackdown on Tuesday nights.

Caldwell's Analysis: The format of the new WGN show sounds like a glorified Sunday Night Heat show, with "mid-card" matches showcasing some of the up-and-coming WWE talent in a spruced-up setting on Thursday nights. Smackdown and ECW wrestlers will probably appear randomly on the WGN tapings prior to Raw so WWE can utilize stars from all three brands on a regular basis. It's a smart way to pick up an additional licensing fee showcasing stars they already have on the roster.

The long-term benefit is getting more exposure for mid-card stars who could eventually turn into main event stars down the road. At least, that's the ideal format. It could turn into mid-card purgatory, which is what happened to Heat and Velocity about four years ago, but WWE sounds more committed to this flavor-of-the-month project.

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