Tonight’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown will have a special opening segment as Vince McMahon is slated to appear.
The company announced this morning that the WWE Chairman and CEO will kick off the show. It’s likely to tout the debut of the ThunderDome.
BREAKING: @VinceMcMahon will kick off Friday Night #SmackDown LIVE TONIGHT from the #WWEThunderDome at 8/7c on @FOXTV!
— WWE (@WWE) August 21, 2020
WWE has transformed Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center into the new home of its television shows. It features a state-of-the-art set, video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, cutting-edge graphics, and drone cameras.
WWE has been hyping the arrival of the new set all week as they believe getting out of the Performance Center and having better production will boost its television viewership. Also, for years, WWE has brought McMahon back to television for one-off appearances to further help ratings.
This will also be the first live episode of SmackDown in months. If you recall, McMahon and his daughter Stephanie kicked off the SmackDown debut on Fox back in October. Here is the updated card:
Intercontinental Title Match:
AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match:
Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro (champions) vs. The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado)
Singles Match:
Big E vs. Sheamus
The final build to Braun Strowman’s Universal Championship defense against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam.
