Possible Destinations For SmackDown Live, Online An Option

Destination: unknown. One of the biggest wrestling stories that is going under the radar is where the top WWE shows are going to wind up. With the NBC Universal contract expiring next year, there is some doubt about where Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live will wind up. While Monday Night Raw seems to have some certainty, SmackDown Live is up in the air. However, we might have a better idea where it’s going to land.

Here’s a hint:

The Miz & Maryse Facebook Live as they arrive for the WWE Draft: July 19, 2016

After yesterday’s report that NBC Universal wanted to keep Monday Night Raw but drop SmackDown Live, the door for other networks to take over the SmackDown Live broadcasting rights took over. According to Variety, the three major potential locations for the show are FOX, Amazon and Facebook. Only the first would be broadcast television as the second and third would be broadcast online, a potential first for a major wrestling series.

Opinion: While FOX would be a huge deal, Amazon and Facebook are very interesting as well. WWE experimented with Facebook with the mostly meaningless Mixed Match Challenge and it seems to have done the trick. If Facebook is still interested after the not great numbers for the tournament, they must think something very special about WWE. SmackDown Live airing online is VERY interesting and could be a big change of pace for WWE, assuming it isn’t, you know, a disaster.

Where do you think SmackDown will wind up? Where do you want it to go? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 26 wrestling books. His latest book is the WWE Grab Bag.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!