WWE Tried Out New Strategy On SmackDown

SmackDown in Knoxville, Tennessee saw several big matches take place but the start of the show saw WWE try out a new strategy for Friday’s show.

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament got in full swing on Raw with Seth Rollins overcoming a triple threat bout and a semi-final match with Finn Balor to book his place at Night of Champions and on SmackDown, six other stars had the chance to do the same.

The night started with AJ Styles facing two WWE Hall of Famers in Edge and Rey Mysterio with the winner progressing to another semi-final that night. However, when SmackDown went on the air Mysterio and Styles were already waiting in the ring with Edge’s entrance kicking things off.

Fightful Select has now reported that WWE has put a “new method” in place of going live on social media a few minutes before it begins to act as a reminder to fans that the show is about to start so they can tune in. Whether this strategy will continue across all WWE programming remains to be seen.

Styles managed to get past both Edge and Mysterio before defeating Bobby Lashley later in the night to move on to Night of Champions with the possibility of him adding more gold to his illustrious career.