-- WWE tapes SmackDown tonight in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin center. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane headlines. The match is a no DQ match, and if Bryan loses, he is out of the Royal Rumble match.
-- WWE also tapes Main Event tonight, but that will no longer air on the WWE Network due to a contractual issue with Sky TV in the UK.
-- Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins and Big Show is tonight’s dark match.
Partial Source: Pwinsider
It was previously reported that Jerry Lawler was moved from RAW to SmackDown because the company was being age-conscious and was making the move as a way to begin phasing him out. However, several other sources have a different take on the move. One source claims that one of the reasons for the move was because his move from RAW to SmackDown helps boost the show’s credibility among fans by providing the show with its own “A-level announce team.”
Of course, the two takes are not mutually exclusive; it is possible that the company is trying to reduce Lawler’s presence on their flagship show but still recognize that his name value gives the SmackDown commentary a boost among casual fans.
Speaking of the move, Lawler tweeted out the following about his first week on the job.
Birthdate: 11/29/1949 (age 65) Height: 6'0" Weight: 243 Ib Jerry Lawler serves as the play-by-play comment... Really great @WWESmackDown last Thursday with @MichaelCole & @ByronSaxton This week should be even better! pic.twitter.com/RDTrCiz4OB
— Jerry Lawler (@JerryLawler) January 20, 2015
-- The Monday Night War debate between Eric Bischoff and Bruce Prichard, which will be moderated by Chris Jericho, takes place on Sunday at Dave & Buster's on Columbus Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit RFVideo.com.
-- The Thursday, January 22nd, WWE Royal Rumble "go-home" edition of SmackDown averaged 2.814 million viewers. The number was up from the previous week's show, which drew 2.675 million viewers. SmackDown was the number one rated show on cable for Thursday night.
-- WWE's upcoming Daniel Bryan autobiography will be released on Friday, April 3rd to coincide with WrestleMania.
-- Goldust is denying reports that he's planning to retire after WrestleMania:
I am not retiring lol
— GOLDUST (@Goldust) January 23, 2015
WWE is in Norfolk, VA at the Norfolk Scope Arena for Main Event And SmackDown TV Tapings.
* Edge and Christian are in the ring for the Cutting Edge Peep Show to open SmackDown. Edge said he is sorry about what happened on Raw. All of a sudden, they are interrupted by J&J security, who appear on the big screen getting out of a limo. They make their way down to the ring and said that Seth Rollins and Big Show are not responsible for what happened on Raw. The Authority have told them that they will oversee Edge and Christian. However, Edge sees differently and books Ryback vs. Big Show as well as Rusev vs. Roman Reigns.
* Bray Wyatt defeated Erick Rowan in a singles match. Wyatt won when he hit Sister Abigail. After the match, Wyatt cut a promo about how he will make Dean Ambrose pay this Monday night on Raw.
* Big Show defeated Ryback via count out in a singles match. The finish came when Lana distracted Ryback and Rusev knocked him off the apron with the Russian flag. After the match, Rusev runs down and attacked Ryback. However, Ryback fought back and hit the meathook clothesline, which sees Rusev retreat out of the ring.
* Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated Los Matadores in a tag team match.
* Dean Ambrose defeated Curtis Axel in a singles match. He won with the Dirty Deeds. An ambulance appears after the match and Ambrose walks near it, but it drives away with Ambrose gets too close to it.
* The Ascension defeated two local wrestlers in a tag team match.
* The Usos and R-Truth defeated Adam Rose, Goldust and Stardust in a six man tag team match.
* Roman Reigns defeated Rusev by DQ in a singles match when Big Show attacked Reigns. This led to Reigns nailing a superman punch to Big Show. They brawl to the outside of the ring, Big Show goes for a spear, but Reigns side stepped him and crashed into the announcers table.
-- WWE tapes SmackDown tonight in Norfolk, VA. Edge and Christian will appear again, and Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kane, Bray Wyatt, and Rusev are advertised.
-- WWE also runs a live event tonight in Los Angeles. John Cena, Seth Rollins, Big Show, Randy Orton, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Paige, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, The Miz, and Mizdow are all scheduled to appear.
-- TNA’s Eddie Edwards turns 31 years old today.
-- Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts turns 35 years old today.
-- Carl Ouellet (Jean-Pierre Lafitte, Pierre Ouellet, Pierre the Quebecer, the Masked X) turns 47 years old today.
Source: The Wrestling Observer
-- As noted earlier here on the website, WWE wants to induct The Undertaker into the 2015 Hall of Fame if he decides not to wrestle at WrestleMania 31. Either way, they are planning on Undertaker making an appearance in some capacity. That’s why he was included in advertisements even though it’s unknown if he’ll wrestle.
WWE is still hoping he will compete and are preparing Bray Wyatt to be his opponent.
-- Here are Friday night's confirmed WWE SmackDown matches:
* The Ascension in Action
* Bray Wyatt vs. Erick Rowan
* Ryback vs. Big Show
* Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs. Los Matadores
* Dean Ambrose vs. Curtis Axel
* Goldust, Stardust, and Adam Rose vs. The Usos and R-Truth
* US Title Match: Rusev © vs. Roman Reigns
In case you missed last night’s edition of WWE SmackDown, then you can check out highlights from the show:
-- For today’s wrestling birthdays, Bill Eadie aka Ax of Demolition, turns 67 years old today.
-- Former WWE women’s champion Chyna turns 44 years old.
-- Former WWE and WCW Superstar Bill Goldberg turns 48 years old.
-- Bart Gunn turns 51.
-- Former TNA Knockout Rosita turns 24 today.
-- WWE Superstar and former US champion Cesaro turns 34.
-- Here is the WWE Top 10 for this week’s episode of SmackDown:
Top 10 WWE SmackDown moments - December 26, 2014-- Here is this week’s video for WWE SmackDown Fallout:
-- Here are the latest RAW and SmackDown Slam of the Week videos:
The Night After Christmas - WWE SmackDown Slam of the Week 12/26-- WWE NXT will hold the next set of TV tapings on January 5. Four episodes were taped last night, which means there may not be a new episode on December 25 and January 1.
-- WWE has posted the latest SmackDown Backstage Fallout, with The New Day talking about their match with Gold and Star Dust on the TLC pre-show.
The New Day is Pumped for Sun Day - SmackDown Fallout - Dec.12, 2014-- Here is WWE’s top 10 moments from last night’s episode of SmackDown:
-- WWE has posted this video of The Vaudevillains confronting Lucha Dragons after Thursday night’s NXT Takeover: R Evolution and saying their rivalry isn’t over:
The Vaudevillains aren't through with The Lucha Dragons: December 11, 2014During a hockey game at the VanAndel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan Wednesday night, a promo was aired in the arena for next week’s live episode of SmackDown billing a “returning” Roman Reigns.
This bolsters reports from earlier in the month that Reigns would be returning on the show.
Thanks to Aaron in GR for the heads up on this.
-- According to Google statistics, WWE did over 200,000 Google searches for their Survivor Series pay-per-view on Sunday. That came in at #3 behind Iggy Azalea and Odell Beckham Jr. as they were featured at the MTV Movie Awards and the New York Giants NFL game.
-- WWE's reasoning for the Survivor Series post-show not airing is simply because the pay-per-view ran long as they already had content scheduled to air and didn't want to mess up their schedule.
Also read: News On The WrestleMania 31 Tickets, Early Rating Numbers For Last Friday Night's SmackDown, More-- WWE added a new feature to the WWE Network that allows subscribers to access content from WWE's official YouTube channel. You can check out a list of content that is available at WWE.com.
-- UPDATE: The Friday, November 21st WWE Survivor Series "go-home" edition of SmackDown scored a final 2.11 (2.1) cable rating, which was up from the 1.93 rating that the show drew the previous week. Friday's SmackDown averaged 2.878 million viewers, which was also up from the average of 2.715 million viewers who tuned in the previous week.
-- ORIGINAL: It was good news for the WWE SmackDown rating today. Last Friday’s episode drew 2.88 million viewers and a 0.9 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. Those numbers are up 6% and a tenth from last week’s 2.72 million and 0.8 demo rating. The episode had the highest SmackDown viewership since the July 18th episode drew 2.89 million and the highest demo rating since the June 27th episode also drew a 0.9.
The household rating will be available later
-- I Am Santa Claus, the Morgan Spurlock-produced documentary that features Mick Foley, is streaming on Netflix in the United States.
-- Randy Orton, John Cena and Dean Ambrose will team up against Seth Rollins, Kane and Bray Wyatt on the January 27 WWE Smackdown tapings in Boston.
Also read: Last Night's WWE RAW Rating Is In - How Did The Show Do?-- It looks like Survivor Series (or more specifically, Sting) brought back the viewers for WWE. Monday night’s episode of RAW drew 4.25 million viewers and a 1.5 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. Those numbers are up 13% and a great 22%, respectively, from last week’s 3.78 million and 1.23 demo rating. The viewership is the highest since the July 28th episode drew 4.32 million, while the demo rating was the highest since the June 2nd episode drew an identical 1.5.
The show’s hours broke down as follows:
8:00 PM: 4.73 million (1.7 demo rating) 9:00 PM: 3.99 million (1.4 demo rating) 10:00 PM: 4.01 million (1.4 demo rating)
The household rating will be available later.
-- Monday night’s episode of WWE RAW was down in viewership but up in the demo rating. The show drew 3.88 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. Those numbers are down 9% from last week’s 4.25 million but up 7% from a 1.5 demo rating. The final cable rating was 2.79 (2.8), down 9% from last week’s 3.07.
The show did hours of 4.23 million, 3.95 million and 3.47 million viewers.
Also read: ?This Week's WWE RAW Rating Is In - OUCH!The Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets game on Monday night football did 11.75 million viewers, which is well below the season average.
-- Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown scored a big viewership and a solid (even if down) demo rating. The episode brought in 3.05 million viewers and a 0.8 rating in the 18 – 49 demographic. Those numbers are up 6% and down a tenth from last week’s 2.88 million and 0.9.
The viewership was the highest since all the way back in March, when the March 28th episode drew 3.06 million viewers. The show scored a final 2.09 (2.1) cable/household rating, down 1% from last week’s 2.11 (2.1).
-- It was announced during the post-Survivor Series edition of WWE RAW on Monday night that one of the key matches on this week's edition of WWE Main Event, which airs live Tuesday night on the WWE Network, is Kane vs. Dean Ambrose.
-- Also on the post-Survivor Series of WWE RAW this past Monday night in Indianapolis, Indiana, one of the main segments was announced for this week's SmackDown.
Also read: A Video Of The Stephanie McMahon/Brie Bella RAW Segment + Big Main Event Match RevealedThe Big Show will serve as the special guest on an edition of "MizTV" hosted by the WWE Tag-Team Champions, The Miz and Damien Mizdow.
WWE SmackDown will be taped on Tuesday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and will air this Friday night on the SyFy Network.
Make sure to visit the website on Tuesday night for live WWE SmackDown spoiler results coverage.
Santino Marella posted the following to Twitter today, promoting his appearance as the General Manager of SmackDown this week:
Birthdate: 12/30/1983 (age 31) Height: 6'0" Weight: 214 Ib He is signed to TNA, where he is a former two-t... 
Birthdate: 03/24/1965 (age 49) Height: 6'10" Weight: 299 Ib Calaway began his wrestling career with World C... 
Birthdate: 12/27/1980 (age 34) Height: 6'5" Weight: 232 Ib Castagnoli is an Italian-Swiss professional wre... 
Birthdate: 05/25/1985 (age 29) Height: 6'3" Weight: 265 Ib A member of the Anoa'i family, a renowned Samoa... This week I run Smackdown! I want to impress the boss so I've made an #ICTitle match w @HEELZiggler & @LukeHarperWWE to kick off the show!
— Santino Marella (@milanmiracle) December 3, 2014
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Here are spoilers for tonight’s WWE Smackdown broadcast:
* Smackdown opens with the Miz, Damien Mizdow and the Big Show in the ring for Miz TV. Before Miz can say anything Daniel Bryan interrupts and makes his way down to the ring. Rusev would defend his U.S title in a battle royal because he did not say the pledge of allegiance last night on Raw.
* Rusev retained his United States title in the battle royal. The following Superstars were in the match: Miz, Mizdow, Big Show, Eric Rowan, Jack Swagger, Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil, Stardust, Goldust, Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara, Adam Rose, Tyson Kidd, Los Matadores, Cesaro, The and the Uso Brothers.
Also read: WWE Smackdown Spoilers For This Week’s (11/25)* Nikki Bella defeated Emma in a singles match. Once the bell sounded, Nikki cut a promo about AJ Lee and her Divas title.
* Ryback defeated Seth Rollins via DQ in a singles match. The finish of the match came when Kane hit him in the back with a steel chair.
* The New Day defeated Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil, and Curtis Axel in a six man tag team match.
* Daniel Bryan announced that Kane would face Ryback in a chairs match at next months TLC PPV.
* Dolph Ziggler defeated Luke Harper by countout in a singles match. After the match, Harper attempted to hit Ziggler his title, but missed and Ziggler connected with the Zig Zag that left him laying in the ring. This ends the show.
-- Here are Friday's confirmed WWE SmackDown matches:
Also read: WWE Main Event Highlight Videos, Friday's Confirmed WWE SmackDown Matches & More* Non-Title Match: Rusev © vs. Dolph Ziggler
* Los Matadores vs. The Miz and Damien Sandow
* Non-Title Match: AJ Lee © vs. Brie Bella
* Non-Title Match: Luke Harper © vs. Cesaro
* Seth Rollins and Kane vs. Ryback and Big Show
-- Here are highlights from this week's WWE Main Event broadcast:
Jack Swagger vs. Bray Wyatt - WWE Main Event, November 18, 2014WWE is in Knoxville, TN at the Thompson-Boling Arena for Main Event And Smackdown TV Tapings. Down below are the spoilers for the show:
* Triple H made his way down to the ring to open Smackdown. He cuts a promo about how Team Authority will win this Sunday at Survivor Series. He predicts that Team Authority will destroy Team Cena at the event.
* Before the match, Rusev and Lana cut a promo about Survivor Series and how much America sucks. This leads to Rusev defeating Dolph Ziggler.
Also read: WWE Smackdown Spoilers For This Week’s (11/11)* Los Matadores defeated Miz and Mizdow in a tag team match.
* Dean Ambrose makes his way down to the ring to do his “Survival Kit” segment. Ambrose cut a promo about Bray Wyatt and their Survivor Series match. Bray Wyatt appeared backstage on the big screen where he cut a promo.
* AJ Lee defeated Brie Bella in a singles match. AJ was dressed up like Nikki Bella.
* Luke Harper defeated Cesaro in a singles match. Once the match ended Eric Rowan and Luke Harper teased that they were about to fight, but both men backed down and this ended the segment.
* John Cena and his team make their way down to the ring. Cena cuts a promo about their upcoming match with Team Authority at Survivor Series. However, Triple H comes out and announces that if The Authority wins, Team Cena is fired.
* Ryback and The Big Show defeated Kane and Seth Rollins via DQ in a tag team match. The finish came when disqualification happened when the Authority attacked Ryback and Big Show. Triple H nailed Ryback with a sledgehammer. The Authority stood over the two to end the show.
Birthdate: 04/23/1977 (age 37) Height: 6'1" Weight: 251 Ib Cena is known as "the face of the WWE for a lon...