WWE Rumor Mill: Backstage notes on plans and segments that were nixed from SmackDown 1000
What's the story?
SmackDown 1000 took place last night live from Washington, DC and included a number of memorable moments which included The McMahon's dancing on Truth TV, Evolution's reunion and the return of Rey Mysterio, but according to PWInsider, there were a number of plans that were nixed in the build-up to the show.
In case you didn't know...
SmackDown 1000 was built up for weeks as WWE hinted about a number of returns from The Rock and Brock Lesnar, neither of which happened on the night with John Cena even being reduced to a video message and The Rock congratulating WWE on Twitter rather than turning up in person.
There were stars like Edge, Rey Mysterio, Jerry Lawler, Teddy Long and Vickie Guerrero who all made their returns to SmackDown, but there were many missing faces from the history of the brand, but whilst some were by design others were because WWE shuffled the show at the last minute.
The heart of the matter
According to PWInsider, a number of segments were changed at the last minute, this includes time being taken from Rey Mysterio's match with Shinsuke Nakamura, which was originally scripted to kick off the show.
Batista reportedly didn't arrive at the venue until 7:40 PM ET, whilst Zack Ryder was backstage but not used, James Ellsworth's video was only shared on Social Media and Christian was supposed to appear but actually didn't.
The Undertaker was always scheduled to close the show, but he was supposed to have much longer and should have included Kane, but he wasn't there. R-Truth's segment was originally planned for later in the show, and Miz's match was always supposed to be a short one.
What's next?
SmackDown 1000 ended up being a solid show which fed into Evolution and Crown Jewel quite nicely and it's now left WWE with a number of options heading into their final shows of the year.
Do you think these changes would have made SmackDown 1000 any better? Have your say in the comments section below...