A major change will occur on WWE programming starting from October 2019. Smackdown Live will move from the USA Network to Fox Sports in a new schedule. It will air on Friday nights instead of the Tuesday schedule. There’s no word on whether the show will continue to remain in live format or not. This show had a taped format until the brand split occurred in 2016 after which Shane McMahon took control.
Fox Sports wants Ronda Rousey on Smackdown
But Fox Sports will bring on major changes to the blue brand once they host it every Friday nights. They like more of a mainstream kind of programming which is why Smackdown should get more attention after the shift. This would actually be good for WWE programming as it can get healthy competition with the Monday Night Raw brand. Furthermore, more such big names will be part of the blue brand to get the ratings high.
Which major changes Fox wants on Smackdown?
There were speculations going on whether this means WWE will put both the brands together like earlier. This could meet the problem of having fewer superstars on Smackdown in comparison to the flagship show. Earlier, there was news that WWE officials might be going for the same strategy. But recent updates state two separate brands will prevail.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggests that the unification of WWE Raw and Smackdown brand is not likely to happen. Fox Sports does not want to ‘cross-promote the same Superstars that are seen on NBC Universal’s USA Network’. This is the same platform that airs WWE Raw every week on Monday night for the past two decades. Hence, the inside belief is that the two separated rosters will prevail.
Additional reports gave hints how the live events will work from next year onwards, (courtesy 24wrestling.com)
“They will have separate production teams for RAW and SmackDown, and they will start doing more live events for the WWE Network. Early word is that the blue brand will do the live Friday SmackDown shows and whatever Saturday live events that will end up airing on the WWE Network. The red brand team will work on Sundays, for pay-per-view events or Sunday live events, along with RAW on Monday.”
But Fox Sports does want more of bigger star powers on Smackdown, going forward. They are ready to do some cross-promotions around their own network, only. Plus, they also urged Vince McMahon to come up with more wrestling contents rather than comedic stuff. Additionally, they might air some more WWE-centric shows except for the Smackdown airing on Friday nights.