The June 21 WWE Smackdown garnered heavy buzz and praise, and another big change happened behind the scenes as well.
Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp learned that longtime WWE creative writer John Swikata has been promoted to lead writer on WWE Smackdown, at least as of earlier that week. We were able to confirm the news with numerous people in the company. Swikata replaced Ryan Callahan in the role, who we're told parted ways with WWE.
There is very little known about Swikata or publicly available, outside of that he was listed as a senior writer with the company. He's not been referenced in any articles or interviews that we've located, with the only mention of him being a 2014 tweet from Road Dogg. We're told he's been with the company for years. A number of former writers reached out to Fightful after the article was published to say that he has long been a well liked member of the writing team.
One WWE source in the company said that Swikata has already made a huge impact, pointing to the direction you saw on this past Friday's show.
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