Report: FOX Want To Promote WWE SmackDown Like A "Real Sport"
Major changes are coming to WWE's blue brand this October.
The professional wrestling business has gone through several seismic changes in 2019 already, but the craziest developments may still be yet to come.
WWE SmackDown is set to move from the USA Network to FOX on 4 October. With AEW's Wednesday Night Dynamite reportedly debuting that same week (and NXT potentially airing on FOX Sports 1 to counter it), major changes are afoot, and the entire complexion of WWE's blue brand could be altered.
Per Dave Meltzer in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, FOX are telling everyone within their network to "promote WWE as a legitimate sport," adding that "not that the outcomes are real, but it is a choreographed sports presentation as part of a Thursday through Sunday sports block in the fall, with the NFL on Thursday and Sundays, and college football on Saturdays."
The sheer volume of goofiness that permeates every wrestling show will make this challenging, but kudos to FOX and WWE if they can pull it off. A change of feel and philosophy is definitely needed if the promotion are ever going to solve their ratings crisis and numbers like those WWE currently pull on USA won't cut the mustard on FOX.