Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England as the Road to Survivor Series continues. the show will be pre-taped beginning around around 1:15pm ET.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Sami Zayn had been having trouble with his shoulders in recent months. This is why he has been wrestling less and was put with WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura as his mouthpiece.
There’s no word yet on when Zayn will return to regular in-ring action, but word now is that he’s OK and can wrestle, but the current role is what they have him doing. Zayn has worked some live events since being put with Nakamura, including losses to Buddy Murphy while WWE was in Australia last month, but he hasn’t wrestled regularly on TV since August, when he took losses on RAW to Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that WWE talent has been delayed from leaving Saudi Arabia following Crown Jewel and are in danger of missing SmackDown.
According to multiple sources, the delayed has lasted for hours with WWE Superstars and employees being stuck on the plane the whole time.
It’s unclear what the exact reason for the delay is at this time, but it seems to be an issue with the plane. We’re told WWE has been working on coming up with backup strategies that would hopefully get some of the talent to Buffalo to appear on SmackDown. This would seem to be difficult though due to the length of the flight.
The delay was first reported on Fightful Select.
UPDATE: A second charter flight was put together for top talent that will hopefully get them to the show in time.
UPDATE 2: The second charter flight did take off, but it might not make it to Buffalo in time for SmackDown. Talent still in Saudi Arabia got hotels for the night.
WWE NXT, RAW and SmackDown will compete for the first time ever at WWE Survivor Series this year.
As seen below, a promo aired during WWE Crown Jewel that revealed the black & yellow brand will be involved with the Survivor Series this year. No other details were revealed but we will keep you updated.
The 2019 WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view takes on November 24 from the Allstate Arena near Chicago.
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown -and WWE 205 Live will air live from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri with the final blue brand hype for WWE Crown Jewel.
WWE 205 Live will feature appearances by WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush, Raul Mendoza and Angel Garza, but no matches have been announced.
FOX will be airing a one-hour “WWE Special” this Sunday, October 27 at 5pm ET.
There’s no word yet on what the special will be about, but it will apparently cover current and former Superstars, and some of the history of the business.
Xfinity guides show that the one-hour special will air in the window of NFL coverage, following an episode of PBC Fight Camp.
The synopsis for the “WWE Special” reads like this:
“A profile of some of the greatest stars in wrestling and the sport itself.”
Various TV guides note that the special will have a TV-14 rating.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
