WWE Taping Upcoming Episodes Of Raw And SmackDown

Most WWE television shows are live, but sometimes things happen that lead to shows being taped several days before they air.

When WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque and other top brass in the company talk about their product, they pride themselves on putting on a lot of live content.

Unlike major pro sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, Premier League, NASCAR, and so on, WWE doesn’t have an offseason. It’s a lot of pressure on the staff behind the scenes and the talent performing in the ring, but they are used to it and that’s why they are the best in the world at what they do.

For 52 weeks a year, WWE produces new episodes of Raw on Monday, NXT on Tuesday, and Smackdown on Friday. That’s over 150 episodes per year, every year with Raw going for 31 years while Smackdown has been on the air for 25 years. Nearly every one of those episodes is live, but there are some exceptions.

WWE Taping Raw And SmackDown Episodes For Different Reasons

It has been reported by PWInsider that the October 14th edition of Raw will be taped one week earlier on September 7th in St. Louis due to a European tour taking place from Sunday, October 13th to Wednesday, October 16th featuring talent from both Raw & Smackdown. That means those fans in St. Louis will see a live episode of Raw and the following week’s show right after it.

The November 1st edition of Smackdown will also be taped one week earlier on Friday, October 25th in Brooklyn. That taping will start at 7 p.m. so that they can tape that week’s show and the following week’s episode. The reason for that is because WWE Crown Jewel is on Saturday, November 2nd in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this year, WWE did the May 24th Smackdown from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia one night before the King & Queen of the Ring PLE in Saudi Arabia, but they are not going to do that for the Crown Jewel PLE.