A topic of discussion coming out of last night’s post-Money In the Bank edition of SmackDown from Madison Square Garden was how the show seemed rushed, and that’s because WWE dealt with timing issues.
It was noted by Better Wrestling Experience that the opening Tribal Court segment with The Bloodline was originally booked to run 20 minutes, but they ended up going 40. This led to parts of the show being cut down. Early on in the show it was described as a situation where the opening segment “ate a lot of time,” so other items would be “squeezed”‘ for time.
At one point there was talk of nixing the in-ring segment with WWE Women’s Champion Asuka, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, IYO SKY and Bayley. The segment was still up in the air as of around 9:09pm, but BWE posted a follow-up at 9:15pmnd confirmed that officials decided to go ahead with it. The women’s division segment began shortly before 9:30pm, right after the AJ Styles’ win over Karrion Kross.
Speaking of Styles vs. Kross, the match went around 2 minutes, which led to negative feedback from fans online. It was noted by PWInsider that this match was originally scheduled to get more time. Their report also confirmed that the opening segment ran long, which led to a ripple effect that forced later segments to be rushed to fit the FOX broadcast, such as the women’s segment.
We noted before that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was backstage for SmackDown, as he usually is when WWE runs The World’s Most Famous Arena. Word is that McMahon did not make any major changes to last night’s show, and any creative changes were minimal as the original plans for the show stayed intact for the most part, besides the time cuts.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
Follow Marc on Twitter at @this_is_marc. Send any news, tips or corrections to us by clicking here.
