Several things that were announced for Tuesday’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live did not take place as advertised. WWE was hyping Shawn Michaels would be on commentary but that idea was scratched and he was added to the Miz TV segment with Dolph Ziggler. They were also teasing (again) that Daniel Bryan might make his career-altering annoucement and that did not happen either.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that things that were advertised for SmackDown Live did not happen because Vince McMahon did not like what was scripted for the show and he decided on rewriting everything a few hours before they went on the air.
Meltzer said, “This show is completely different than the show that was written because Vince McMahon showed up at 4 o’clock and decided that he didn’t like the show and Vince redid the show at 4 o’clock so everything changed. That’s why all the stuff that was advertised like the [Daniel Bryan] speech and Shawn Michaels announcing and all that stuff that they talked about all week that didn’t happen, it’s because Vince changed his mind.”
Keep in mind that McMahon said on the WWE investor conference call that he hired Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff as Executive Directors because he didn’t want to be “in the weeds” so much and he indicated that he wouldn’t be as hands on with the creative side of the product.
The news about the SmackDown Live changes this week would seem to contradict that and makes you wonder if we will see real changes in the product or if things will stay the same with McMahon overruling everyone.
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