WWE RAW's chaos reportedly saw changes made to SmackDown's taping as well
This week's episode of WWE RAW reportedly had quite a few issues backstage. 3rd and 4th August saw the taping of two WWE RAW episodes at the WWE Performance Center, and there was apparently a lot of chaos backstage at the tapings which led to a few issues. According to a report by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were a lot of issues backstage in RAW, with the week being described as "overly chaotic', thanks to the low ratings for the July 27 episode of WWE RAW. It appears, that this in turn also affected WWE SmackDown's tapings.
Update on the chaos backstage during WWE RAW and SmackDown tapings
During the Q2 earnings call, Vince McMahon found himself grilled by the investors, especially regarding the recently low WWE RAW and SmackDown ratings since the start of the pandemic. With the news of the low ratings coming to the mainstream media, Vince McMahon decided to come up with Shane McMahon's return for RAW Underground as well as the return of Ric Flair and his pairing with Randy Orton.
Vince McMahon had only approved these two aspects of the show and the rest was left unknown until the morning of the show. The next day's SmackDown show was also surrounded in chaos with Vince McMahon "blowing up the scripted show". SmackDown saw the loss of several Superstars who were supposed to appear for the show, with the decision being made to tape only one week of SmackDown, instead of the two as originally planned.
The August 14 episode of WWE SmackDown will be taped on August 13. August 13 will also see the August 17 episode of RAW taped alongside. The move was made to save on costs. The plan to tape the go-home episode of WWE SmackDown has not been made yet. According to the report, no one in the company has been told of any taping dates past the 13th August one.
Heading into this week's episode of WWE SmackDown, it will be interesting to see the effects the chaos backstage during the tapings had on the show and if the company made any major changes to the show and storylines.