WWE made several changes to SmackDown - Reports
WWE reportedly made several changes during this past Friday's SmackDown in Florida. The promotion is currently building toward WWE Bash in Berlin on August 31.
According to a new report from Fightful Select, the promotion had two dark matches planned for after SmackDown but wound up making some changes. Fightful noted that the original plan was to have Sami Zayn battle Ludwig Kaiser and Gunther battle Jey Uso and Damian Priest in a Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship after this past Friday's show.
However, plans were changed, and Santos Escobar battled Sami Zayn after the show. The World Heavyweight Championship match was then just Gunther versus Jey Uso. Ludwig Kaiser and Damian Priest got involved in the title match, and it was turned into a tag team bout.
The Archer of Infamy and Main Event Jey picked up a victory over Imperium in the tag team match following SmackDown. The reason provided for the changes in the report was that WWE wanted to send the fans home happy.
Vince Russo criticizes WWE's decision to book Gunther versus Randy Orton at Bash in Berlin
Wrestling legend Vince Russo recently took WWE to task for deciding to book Gunther versus Randy Orton at Bash in Berlin at the end of the month.
Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW podcast, Russo complained about the result of the match being obvious. He claimed fans don't ask questions anymore and noted that Gunther wouldn't be losing the title a few weeks after winning it.
"Those are very simple questions. We don't even ask them anymore. 'Oh my God, Randy Orton is gonna wrestle Gunther!' And they're gonna take the title off Gunther after three weeks, yeah, you think? Yeah, sit through the match between Randy Orton and Gunther so you can watch the unpredictable finish because we don't know what Triple H is gonna do. Oh my God, we have no idea who's gonna go over in that match," Russo said. [From 26:05 onwards]
You can check out the video below:
WWE Bash in Berlin is shaping up to be a very eventful show at the end of the month. It will be interesting to see if the promotion has anything interesting planned for Jey Uso, as the former champion did not compete at SummerSlam and is currently not booked for a match at Bash in Berlin.