WWE SmackDown Faced Massive Issues With Preemption This Week

WWE SmackDown took place this Friday, however, it faced a massive issue with preemption. The FIFA World Cup and NCAA College Football both played a part in this.

Click here for our complete coverage of WWE SmackDown this week.

The fast national number from Friday night, which measures 8 to 10 PM, may not represent much because SmackDown started 12 minutes late this week due to a college football game. Since the FIFA World Cup was on FS1, that took away a possibility for SmackDown to air at its regular time.

On the East Coast, the football game lasted longer than expected. Therefore, the numbers used to measure football went past 12 minutes, as Dave Meltzer expanded on the subject during Wrestling Observer Radio.

“The show started 12-minutes late, so the fast national number might not mean anything, because the fast national measures 8 to 10 PM … so, in the East Coast, and the football game went long so the numbers are measuring football, and then they went over 12 minutes, so I’m not sure how many markets this was, but in many markets they aired a preview for the Michigan vs Ohio State game, they did not air SmackDown, and in some markets they aired SmackDown on another station. So, none of this is measured in the fast nationals, so whatever that number is may not be indictitive of anything.”

It’s unclear how many markets were affected, but in most of them, a preview of the Michigan vs. Ohio State match was aired. He also said that SmackDown was either skipped or aired on a different station. The fact that the fast nationals don’t measure any of this means results may not necessarily be 100% accurate this time.

YouTube TV subscribers had to wait until 11 p.m. to watch SmackDown on Fox, since the network broadcast a college football highlights package featuring Michigan vs. Ohio State, regardless of where they were. For further updates, stay tuned to Ringside news.

Transcription by Ringside News.

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