The final segment of the June 27 Friday Night SmackDown from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was reportedly edited before it aired for audiences in the United States. The show, which experienced significant power outage issues earlier in the broadcast, saw its main event segment featuring John Cena and CM Punk receive some post-production changes.
According to a WWE source that spoke with Fightful Select, what viewers heard on the US broadcast was different from the live feed. The report confirms that additional crowd noise was mixed into the segment for the US version.
Furthermore, a line flub made by CM Punk during his promo was edited out of the broadcast that aired domestically. A WWE production source described the day as “very busy” and “unusually hectic,” citing the earlier power outage and the added pressure of editing the show’s high-profile main event segment. The source also expressed personal excitement for SmackDown’s permanent move back to a two-hour format starting next week.
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