Bonnie Hammer, who has been a strong ally for World Wrestling Entertainment and their programming on the USA Network and SyFy, has gained more responsibility and power in the NBC Universal-Comcast merger.

Beyond overseeing USA and SyFy, Hammer will now also oversee E! Entertainment Television and gamer-focused G-4, according to The Los Angeles Times.

The merger and Hammer's new responsibilities provide World Wrestling Entertainment with new potential cable outlets for their programming.

Hammer's rise within NBC Universal correlated with the success of WWE Raw in the late 1990s as she worked hand in hand with the company to help them re-tool the product and make it more accessible for new viewers who weren't diehard wrestling fans. She was instrumental in bringing WWE back to the USA Network after their run with Viacom and gave the green light to ECW and later NXT and Smackdown on SyFy.

PWI