TSN, WWF sign 5-year deal

WWF Canada President Carl De Marco, left, and TSN President Rick Brace shake on the new deal as Val Venis and The Undertaker look on as witnesses. -- Greg Oliver, CANOE More photos from the press conference in our Gallery.

By GREG OLIVER -- SLAM! Sports  The prayers of Canadian wrestling fans have been answered.

TSN and WWF Canada announced today that they have signed a five-year deal to broadcast Monday Night RAW live starting in October.

It's a massive deal for the WWF in Canada and moves the WWF from their midnight EST timeslot on TSN on Mondays to prime time.

"It's a really proud day when we can sit here and say we will delivering the WWF for the next five years," said TSN President Rick Brace at the SkyDome press conference.

Despite the rumours, and the chants by the 2,000 plus in attendance, there was no mention of WrestleMania coming to Toronto.

Instead, WWF Canada President Carl De Marco promised to bring the "biggest RAW ever" to SkyDome. The next WWF SkyDome show is Saturday night, then Saturday, November 6. Another show is planned for February, which may be the live RAW.

The press conference itself was tied into two editions of TSN Off The Record.

The first show, likely to air Monday night, had Glenn Kulka and Jason Sensation.

The second show, to air Friday night after mucho editing, has Tiger Ali Singh, Owen Hart and Carl De Marco. Val Venis, Edge and The Undertaker also make appearances.



While at the press conference, SLAM! Wrestling interviewed The Undertaker, Owen Hart, Jason Sensation and Tiger Ali Singh. Watch for those interviews in the upcoming days, and the report from the SkyDome show!