WWE Hall Of Famer Named SmackDown Lead Writer

WWE has made a big change to SmackDown.

In September, SmackDown left Fox and returned to the USA Network ahead of Monday Night Raw’s move to Netflix in January. In early 2025, the show moved to three hours for the first time.

However, it’s been reported that SmackDown will return to its previous two-hour run time in the weeks after WrestleMania 41.

Since the turn of the year the WWE roster has been in a state of flux with several stars switching brands. This has seen the likes of Bayley, Logan Paul, and AJ Styles move to Raw, with Damian Priest, Drew McIntyre, and more heading to the blue brand.

Not that the changes have only been confined to the on-screen product.

WWE Makes Backstage Change

As reported by Mike Johnson of PWInsider, and later backed up by Fightful, WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg is now Co-Lead Writer of SmackDown. The star is sharing the position with John Swikata.

Road Dogg returned to WWE after a run with TNA Wrestling and later on the independent scene in 2011 to induct his father into the Hall of Fame. Before the end of the year, the Attitude Era star confirmed that he was working backstage as a producer.

In 2013 he returned to the ring alongside Billy Gunn and the New Age Outlaws went on to win the World Tag Team Titles.

Following WrestleMania XXX, the former Intercontinental Champion returned to his backstage role, and in 2017 he began working as a writer on SmackDown. After becoming one of the show’s head writers, Road Dogg stepped down in 2019 and continued to work for WWE as a utility player backstage and in NXT.

The veteran was eventually released in January 2022, but by August he was back, replacing Jeff Jarrett as Senior Vice President of Live Events.

Road Dogg has a close friendship with Triple H going back to the 1990s.