Backstage News On Exactly What WWE SmackDown Changes Vince McMahon Made Last-Minute

Vince McMahon once again made several last-ditch changes as SmackDown prepared to air live.

Aug 7, 2019 August 7th, 2019

Working for Vince McMahon seems to rarely serve up a dull day. Or a dull night. Or a dull 3am.

McMahon is famed for being a workaholic who thinks that sleep is for the weak, and VKM is forever making creative last-minute changers that mean his writing team are constantly on tenterhooks.

Case in point, last night’s episode of SmackDown Live.

Following the previous week’s SmackDown being rewritten while the show was already airing live, now comes word that Vinny Mac also made a bunch of late changes to this most recent TV outing for WWE’s blue brand.

From Dave Meltzer, McMahon reported made several change-ups for the main event of this week’s Smackers.

Meltzer reports that the original main event was supposed to be WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan. After that, McMahon decided to throw Xavier Woods and Rowan into the mix, changing the main event to Kingston and Woods vs. D-Bry and Rowan.

Still not entirely happy with this main event, Vince then called for Kingston to be taken out of the match entirely and to be replaced by New Day buddy Big E. And that, of course, is the match we saw close out SmackDown Live.

In addition to Meltzer’s report, PWInsider actually has a slightly different take on this. While reiterating that there were indeed last-minute changes to SmackDown, PWI claims that the original main event of the show was actually Kofi facing off against Andrade. Instead, poor Andrade wasn't even featured on the show at all.

Which of these reports is more accurate, that’s up to you to decide on which you see as a more reliable source. Either way, it looks as if Vince McMahon yet again caused chaos at this week’s SmackDown Live – with both Uncle Dave and PWI reporting that these changes were happening less than an hour before SmackDown was due to hit TV screens across the globe.

Elaborate Double Turn Angle Considered For Rising WWE Star & Beloved Veteran (WWE News) New

Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill Is Getting SPICY Already (WWE News)

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

See more from Andrew