Friday's episode of Smackdown was a learning process for a many in WWE.
From an empty WWE Performance Center, the company put on a show that was largely on the fly. We were able to get a few notes from the filming, which ran on Fightful Select this weekend.
- Friday was very much a feeling out process. We're told the plan as of Saturday was for WWE Monday Night Raw to be much different than Friday.
- WWE had a crew of dozens there at the WWE Performance Center to prep for Smackdown
- There were several wrestlers who weren't on Smackdown that were still brought to the PC on Friday.
- We spoke to numerous NXT talent who were not at Friday's show and weren't given any instruction as to whether they should be, were allowed, or anything of that sort.
- Fightful obtained a video of the Isreali broadcast that showed the action stopping during the commercial breaks. Michael Cole can be heard asking for feedback on how everything sounds. The referee switches the tag ropes into different corners, and the teams end up switching accordingly. Triple H also references them working to the audience that isn't there instead of the cameras, and jokes that someone should buzz them on that.
- We're told originally there wasn't supposed to be so much Triple H involvement on-screen on Friday's episode of Smackdown. Originally there were to be more guests featured, but Triple H's chemistry and social media reaction led to an on-the-fly call to have him stick around throughout the entire show.
