SmackDown Live Likely Leaving USA Network Next Year

Breaking up is hard to do. While it hasn’t gotten a ton of attention this year, the upcoming WWE television negotiations are one of the most important things going on at the moment. By the end of the year, we’re going to know where both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live are going to be heading next year when the NBC Universal contract expires. There’s a chance that they’ll be sticking around, but some news today says that things might not be as simple as they seem.

Remember the split? You might need a recap.

Who went to Raw and SmackDown Live the first round of the WWE Draft?: SmackDown Live, July 19, 2016

According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC Universal is going to be focusing to renew their contract with Monday Night Raw while cutting SmackDown loose and allowing it to move into open negotiations with other networks. SmackDown Live has been airing on the USA Network since January 2016 when the show became live. At the moment, FOX is considered a contender for the rights to SmackDown. The renewed Monday Night Raw deal could bring WWE three times the value of the current deal.

Opinion: This could make things a lot more interesting if this is how it goes. Assuming Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live can still associate with each other on different networks (which might not be the case any longer if the parent companies are different), things might get a lot more important for SmackDown Live in a hurry. I know that’s been said for years now but for once it might actually take place.

Where do you think SmackDown Live will land? Where do you want it to be? 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.

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