How Recent WWE Firings Affected SmackDown Planning This Week

WWE prepared for WrestleMania Backlash this week for SmackDown, but they didn’t have a lot announced prior to the show. There is a reason for that.

Ringside News was told that there was no short-handed situation during SmackDown this week. Some fans wondered if the 45-minute opening segment into a tag team match was an indication that they didn’t have enough people on the show.

A senior member of the team told us, “Only two segments were announced because nothing was decided on for SmackDown until very late Thursday night.”

We were told that the 30-minute tag team match that followed the opening segment was in place to allow those talents to have a great match. They did pull off that goal at the end of the day.

Additionally, we were told that WWE only had two segments announced prior to SmackDown because that’s all they had decided on. Vince McMahon’s time was “very much stretched this week with wiping out an entire division,” as the talent brand management division was greatly cut. There was also a “widespread executive shakeup” to worry about. That didn’t even include the drama with Mark Carrano’s firing.

It was a very busy week in WWE this week, but a lot of the best action didn’t even take place on screen.