WWE Friday Night SmackDown came from Barcelona, Spain today with a rare international broadcast schedule, airing live at 2 p.m. EST on Netflix outside of the United States before airing a few hours later in its usual 8 p.m. EST time slot on USA Network in the states. With WWE Clash In Italy set for … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown had enough story progression to matter, but it also exposed the exact problem fans have been pointing out with WWE’s current three-hour TV rhythm: too much time, too many recaps, too many talking segments, and not enough urgency to get talent in the ring. This was the go-home SmackDown … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown from Columbia, South Carolina felt different because I was not just watching it through a screen. I was inside Colonial Life Arena, surrounded by a loud crowd that stayed active for almost the entire three-hour experience, from the pre-show action to the Main Event taping to SmackDown itself. The … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown was the final stop before Backlash, and for better and worse, it felt like a true go-home show with two different versions of WWE fighting for control of the episode. The best parts of the night had real stakes: Jacob Fatu warning The Usos that he is willing to … Read more
Last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown was a busy, important and uneven stop on the road to Backlash — the kind of episode where WWE moved a lot of pieces forward, but also exposed some of the same creative habits that keep holding the product back. Cody Rhodes returned to the ring, Ricky Saints made … Read more
The SmackDown After Mania should have felt like a reset. Instead, it felt like a company trying to convince itself it had momentum while terrible WWE release news hung over the entire night. As mentioned in my LNC Wrestling article on the WWE releases, that news broke right before SmackDown went on the air last … Read more
WWE had three hours, the WrestleMania stage, a loaded roster, and one final chance to make the blue brand feel essential heading into the biggest weekend of the year. Instead, last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown felt like a show that kept teasing urgency without ever fully committing to it. Randy Orton finally delivered the … Read more
SmackDown last night was supposed to feel like the blue brand’s hard final push before WrestleMania 42, the penultimate stop before next Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas. Instead, it was a show that constantly felt like it was fighting its own momentum. There was good wrestling on the episode. Bayley and Alexa Bliss put … Read more
Two weeks before WrestleMania 42, last night’s SmackDown should have been about tightening the blue brand’s biggest stories, raising the stakes, and making the road to WrestleMania feel urgent. Instead, it often felt like a show working against itself. The headline angle gave Randy Orton’s mystery caller reveal to Pat McAfee, who low-blowed Cody Rhodes … Read more
Last night’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown was the kind of show that gave WWE plenty of headline moments while also leaving behind a lot of frustration once everything settled. On paper, the blue brand had a lot going for it. Sami Zayn won the United States Championship. Cody Rhodes returned. Jacob Fatu and … Read more
