You can see the clip below from RAW on Monday night with Vince McMahon revealing during the final segment that Shane McMahon will be the Commissioner of Smackdown Live and Stephanie McMahon will be the Commissioner of RAW.
McMahon noted that General Managers need to be announced for both shows and gave both Shane and Stephanie the opportunity to make there announcements next week.
Mr. McMahon gave his children, Shane and Stephanie, shared custody over Monday Night Raw, but ironically, it’s SmackDown Live that has caused friction between the two siblings. With both McMahons declaring their intentions to run SmackDown come Tuesday, July 19 (and fending off would-be usurpers ranging from Corporate Kane to John Laurinaitis) and the Brand Extension fast approaching, The Chairman is slated to return to Raw in the very same building where Shane himself made his comeback earlier this year. Could Mr. McMahon be on the verge of an executive decision? Or does he have a different COO in mind for SmackDown Live?
The New Day visits The Wyatt Family compound
Can Zack Ryder stop Rusev’s momentum?
John Cena has gotten help from Enzo & Big Cass against The Club. The mission statement between Cena and his crew is going to have to be ironclad if they’re going to send The Club packing at WWE Battleground.
A Battle Royal to determine No. 1 contender for The Miz’s Intercontinental championship
Will Seth Rollins change his strategy in his effort to “reclaim” the WWE Championship?
WWE®’S DESTINY LIVE ON SMACKDOWN®NEW YORK and STAMFORD, CONN – June 20, 2016 – The destiny of all WWE Superstars will be determined on the first-ever live SmackDown on Tuesday, July 19 from 8-10 pm ET/PT on USA Network. A draft will be conducted by respective General Managers as to which talent will be chosen exclusively for Monday Night Raw® or SmackDown.
For the first time in history on back-to-back nights, these two distinctive brands (Monday Night Raw and Tuesday’s SmackDown) will compete with each other for television ratings, live events, and pay-per-views.
“This is an exciting new era for WWE in which we will yet again reinvent ourselves by creating a second night of compelling live television,” said Kevin Dunn, Executive Producer, WWE.
“We’re already hearing the excitement among WWE fans for SmackDown’s new live format, and our audiences are eagerly anticipating the live draft and what it means for their favorite Superstars,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.
With 878 original episodes, SmackDown is the second longest-running weekly episodic program in U.S. television history, only behind Monday Night Raw at 1,203 episodes.
We noted yesterday via a Prowrestling.net reader that WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler told fans at a weekend convention that the company is planning on holding monthly pay-per-view events for RAW and SmackDown when the Brand Extension kicks off next month, with the exception of WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series. In an update, PWInsider says that when the original Brand Extension announcement was made, there were people under the impression that the company would be doing more WWE Network specials and/or pay-per-view events to accommodate the roster changes.
WWE honored the victims of the terror attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando at the opening of RAW last night with the entire WWE roster out on the stage for a moment of silence.
A ProWrestling.netreader who attended the 38th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois this weekend reports that Jerry Lawler said there will be two monthly pay-per-views for the Brand Extension – one for RAW and one for SmackDown, except for the top four events – the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Survivor Series.
The same reader was told by Lawler at the 2015 Superman event about SmackDown going live on Tuesday nights for the USA Network and that is obviously happening now.
While Triple H indicated in this week’s media call that he’s not sure how the upcoming WWE Draft and Brand Extension will change WWE NXT, Wrestling Observer Newsletterreports that people involved have been told that “NXT is being raided for the Draft big time.” More details are expected to be revealed soon.
It appears future WWE pay-per-view events will be going past 11pm and not just WrestleMania. WWE has told Sky Italia to start reserving extra time for pay-per-view events as the duration of those shows will vary.