WWE SmackDown Preview 8/2/2024

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.

  • WWE Tag Team Championship: DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) (c) vs. The Bloodline’s Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn (c) vs. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill
  • WWE United States Champion Logan Paul returns to his hometown
  • Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa to go face-to-face

WWE SmackDown Preview 7/26/2024

WWE SmackDown will air tonight on FOX from the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

  • Cody Rhodes to respond to the Bloodline
  • LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar
  • Queen of the Ring Nia Jax and Money in the Bank winner Tiffany Stratton vs. WWE Women’s Champion Bayley and Michin
  • WWE Tag Team Championship Top Contender Gauntlet: Street Profits vs. Baron Corbin & Apollo Crews vs. The OC vs. Pretty Deadly vs. Legado Del Fantasma vs. Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa
  • Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn to appear

WWE SmackDown Preview 7/19/2024

WWE SmackDown airs live tonight on FOX from the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

  • Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • Logan Paul returns to address L.A. Knight’s challenge
  • Cody Rhodes will address The Bloodline

WWE SmackDown Preview 7/12/2024

WWE SmackDown airs live tonight on FOX from the DCU Center in Worchester, MA.

  • Its Tiffy Time! Ms. Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton to appear
  • Michin vs. Nia Jax
  • Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews vs. Angel Garza and Humberto Carillo
  • Solo Sikoa’s rise in The Bloodline continues

Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque Teases Upcoming Changes In WWE

WWE will be transitioning through various programming changes in the near future, with “WWE Raw” heading to Netflix come January 2025 as well as “WWE Smackdown” moving to the USA Network and “WWE NXT” going to CW in October. However, according to Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque, “NXT” leaving the USA Network will not be the only change coming to the gold brand later this year. 

Speaking at the Money in the Bank 2024 post press conference, “The Game” went into detail about WWE planning ahead toward making more changes to “NXT” in the fall. He also explained that, over time, the audience will see various differences to “Raw” and “SmackDown” as we inch closer to December. 

“We are just getting started. I really feel like that. We got a whole fall thing coming up with CW for NXT. Which by the way Shawn is just killing it right… Whether that’s talent development, recruitment, NXT in general. I can’t say enough good stuff about it. I’m in awe of what they’re doing down there… When they move to CW, when SmackDown makes the move to USA, when Raw makes the move to Netflix. We’re just getting rolling. We’re lining up all this stuff that’s gonna happen. A lot of the changes you see now, we are slow rolling things out. When we get to the fall, when we get to the winter, there’s gonna be a lot.”

Triple H also expressed how excited he is about John Cena returning to the ring for a full year after announcing his retirement at Money in the Bank. Furthermore, he stated how grateful he is to be running creative with the current talent on the WWE roster.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 7/5/2024

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will air live on FOX and take place from the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

  • WWE Tag Team Championship: A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) (c) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa)
  • Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) vs. Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins)
  • Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell
  • The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Jacob Fatu) to appear after last week’s assault of Paul Heyman.

WWE Reportedly Frustrated By Amount Of FOX Censorship On Friday’s SmackDown

A new report has indicated WWE was frustrated over censorship during the FOX broadcast of “WWE SmackDown” on Friday, June 28. Many fans took to social media during the show to bemoan the censorship throughout the night, with transmission muted and cut-off to censor expletives picked up in audio. 

After which, Fightful Select has reported that several within WWE indicated they were frustrated over the censorship, with one longtime talent reportedly looking forward to the impending move to USA Network quoted as saying, “it’s a chore to watch sometimes. I understand censoring ‘f**k the Pacers,’ but it feels like every segment is edited and it makes us look like it’s our production.”

Several expletives were censored during the match between Logan Paul, LA Knight, and Santos Escobar to qualify for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Paul was joined by Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton for the bout, who attempted to retrieve Paul’s signature brass knuckles to win the bout. However, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks jumped the guardrail from his front-row seat to balance the odds. The confusion allowed for Knight to pin Paul to qualify for Money in the Bank, but there was an audible “F**k the Pacers” chant levied towards Haliburton. Elsewhere, the screen cut to black during Nia Jax’s entrance, aiming to censor what appeared to be a child flipping the bird in the audience. “SmackDown” will be moving to USA Network on September 13, with WWE’s broadcasting deal with FOX due to expire directly beforehand.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Paul Heyman Refuses To Acknowledge Solo Sikoa, Put Through Announce Table On WWE SmackDown

The new Solo Sikoa-led Bloodline bookended last night’s “WWE SmackDown,” as Solo Sikoa awaited his official annointment as “The Tribal Chief,” “Head of the Table,” et al in an “Acknowledgment Ceremony.” With WWE Undisputed World Champion Cody Rhodes and his allies Randy Orton and Kevin Owens excused early on in the night’s show, there wasn’t much left to stand in the way of Sikoa accepting the ceremonial ula fala, but the Madison Square Garden crowd seemed to either anticipate a betrayal from the latest Bloodline inductee, Jacob Fatu, or perhaps a return from Roman Reigns or The Rock. Neither happened in the end, and ultimately, it was Paul Heyman as the lone resistor, with “The Wiseman” taking the beating of a lifetime as a result.

Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Heyman all hit the ring together, and the group then introduced Fatu as its latest official member with a proper introduction, TitanTron, music, graphics and all. All of Tonga, Loa, and Fatu acknowledged Sikoa as their new Tribal Chief, but when it was Heyman’s turn, he hesitated, buried his head, told Sikoa that he loved him, but then admitted that he did not acknowledge him in assuming Reigns’ previous position.

At that point, things only got exponentially worse for Heyman, with Sikoa nailing his former “Wiseman” with the Samoan Spike, then ordering Fatu to hammer him with a diving headbutt. As the crowd roared “We want Roman!” Fatu then led the way in a Triple Powerbomb through the announce desk, with an assist from Tonga and Loa, and down went Heyman, with The New Bloodline raising “The Ones” as the show went off the air.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 3/28/2024

WWE SmackDown live on FOX tonight from Madison Square Garden in New York City.

  • Sika Anoa’i Ten Bell Tribute
  • Bloodline Acknowledgment Ceremony
  • Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Candice LeRae vs Jade Cargill vs Tiffany Stratton
  • Women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: Naomi vs Blair Davenport vs Indi Hartwell
  • Men’s Money in the Bank Qualifying Match: LA Knight vs Logan Paul vs Santos Escobar
  • Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to appear

WWE Announces Host City For Royal Rumble 2025, Future SummerSlam & WrestleMania

Wrestling fans in Indianapolis, Indiana, will have plenty to look forward to in the coming years, as WWE is bringing three of its tentpole events to the city. According to a press release put out by the company and the Indiana Sports Corp on Monday morning, the 2025 Royal Rumble and future WrestleMania and SummerSlam shows will emanate from the city as part of a unique partnership.

The first event to hit Indianapolis will be next year’s Royal Rumble, which is scheduled to take place from the Lucas Oil Stadium. No dates have been confirmed for the other premium live events at the time of this writing, but everyone involved is excited about WWE bringing three of its biggest shows to the city.

“We are excited to bring this groundbreaking partnership to Indianapolis and our state,” said Patrick Talty, President of Indiana Sports Corp. “For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage. This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our community and state and showing them all that Indy has to offer.”

The company will host “Raw,” “SmackDown,” and “NXT” live events across Indiana in the forthcoming months, but no dates have been confirmed yet. Similarly, WWE and the Sport Corp plan on introducing a collaborative program that will ensure the city benefits from the partnership after the announced shows are over.

While some of the announced Indianapolis shows remain shrouded in secrecy, other cities are already bracing for WWE’s biggest events. WrestleMania 41 has been confirmed for Las Vegas and SummerSlam 2026 is scheduled to emanate from the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.