Kemo
06-25-2023, 07:26 PM
Significant changes were made to this week's episode of WWE SmackDown, leading some to speculate the involvement of Vince McMahon.
Last night's episode of the Blue Brand saw SmackDown continue the build to WWE Money in the Bank, with The Usos kicking off the show and addressing their upcoming match with Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa. Later in the show, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler would defeat NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to unify the two championships.
While the title unification match had been announced in advance, this was one of the few pre-announced segments for the show that actually made the broadcast. Prior to the show, it has also been advertised that Bayley would defend her Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match spot against Shotzi, Cameron Grimes would face Baron Corbin, and Butch would face Santos Escobar and LA Knight in a triple threat.
All three of these matches were nixed. In their place, Charlotte Flair faced Lacey Evans, The Street Profits took on Pretty Deadly, and LA Knight instead faced Rey Mysterio and defeated the WWE Hall of Famer.
Fightful Select reports that these changes did not go unnoticed by Superstars, with one talent asking "Did SmackDown get Vinced?" A nod to McMahon making several changes to Monday Night Raw in recent weeks. The report added that there were "significant changes" to the version of the show that existed Friday morning.
Fightful also confirmed reports that talent have been frustrated by all the changes, saying this was the case for the start of WWE Raw the prior Monday as well.
Last night's episode of the Blue Brand saw SmackDown continue the build to WWE Money in the Bank, with The Usos kicking off the show and addressing their upcoming match with Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa. Later in the show, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler would defeat NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to unify the two championships.
While the title unification match had been announced in advance, this was one of the few pre-announced segments for the show that actually made the broadcast. Prior to the show, it has also been advertised that Bayley would defend her Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match spot against Shotzi, Cameron Grimes would face Baron Corbin, and Butch would face Santos Escobar and LA Knight in a triple threat.
All three of these matches were nixed. In their place, Charlotte Flair faced Lacey Evans, The Street Profits took on Pretty Deadly, and LA Knight instead faced Rey Mysterio and defeated the WWE Hall of Famer.
Fightful Select reports that these changes did not go unnoticed by Superstars, with one talent asking "Did SmackDown get Vinced?" A nod to McMahon making several changes to Monday Night Raw in recent weeks. The report added that there were "significant changes" to the version of the show that existed Friday morning.
Fightful also confirmed reports that talent have been frustrated by all the changes, saying this was the case for the start of WWE Raw the prior Monday as well.