-- As reported earlier, WWE Friday Night Smackdown will move from FOX to the USA Network a couple weeks early. The landmark deal between WWE and FOX is set to expire at the end of September, but the station was planning on moving several September episodes to FS1 due to college football - the content it is ultimately replacing Smackdown with October and beyond.
-- As a result, USA agreed to debut the show on 9/13, which is a Friday, confirming that the network for the time being does not plan on moving the show to a different day of the week. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that Seattle has been discussed as the location for the first show, which is expected to be loaded up and USA is already pushing 9/9 - 9/13 as "WWE Week."
-- The Observer also discussed USA's decision to keep Smackdown on Friday, suggesting that it "makes no sense at all" for either the promotion or the network as airing on Friday night will cost the show an approximately 20% reduction in viewership just due to the day of the week. Overall, USA is paying more Smackdown than they did for Raw and airing the show on a worse night, getting only two hours instead of three and will see not nearly as many viewers.
