Tag: fs1

Upcoming WWE SmackDown to air on FS1

Posted on by Ethan Renner

The July 21 episode of WWE SmackDown will air on FS1. 

Dave Meltzer reports in Sunday’s Daily Update that the Friday, July 21 edition of SmackDown will air live on FS1 due to Fox’s coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The United States Women’s National Team will face Vietnam at 9 p.m. Eastern time, with Fox airing that game live. 

SmackDown was last bumped to FS1 on October 28, 2022 due to Fox’s coverage of the MLB World Series. That episode averaged 835,000 viewers, likely the lowest viewership number in the history of the show with the exception of a best-of episode that also aired on FS1 on December 31, 2021. 

By comparison, the Friday, July 7 SmackDown averaged 2.38 million viewers in the fast nationals. The final viewership number for Friday’s episode is not yet available. 

The July 21 SmackDown is scheduled for the Amway Arena in Orlando, Florida. Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is advertised for the show.

WWE SmackDown tops one million viewers on FS1

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Source: ShowBuzz Daily

Friday night’s SmackDown averaged 1,032,000 viewers on FS1, up 19.2 percent from the October 15 episode that also aired on the channel.

Friday’s show aired on FS1 due to game three of the World Series being on Fox.

The number is even more impressive when considering the previous SmackDown on FS1 was loaded up with the company’s top stars in Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and Becky Lynch while this show had none of them. In addition, the sports competition was much stronger this time. The World Series game averaged more than 11 million viewers head-to-head.

This is the highest viewership that SmackDown has done on FS1 in its five different airings over the last two-plus years. It narrowly beat out the SmackDown episode from last December that did not have World Series competition and averaged 1,030,000 viewers.

SmackDown finished third on the cable charts with a 0.29 rating, up 20.8 percent from two weeks prior. It was the highest rated non-sports show on cable, topping AEW Rampage’s 0.25 rating.

Here’s a look at the viewership and 18-49 demo numbers for SmackDown’s FS1 broadcasts to date. It should be noted that the October 15 show from this year included an additional 30 minutes, which brought down the show’s average:

  • October 25, 2019: 888,000 viewers, 0.27 rating in 18-49
  • October 23, 2020: 881,000 viewers, 0.25 rating in 18-49
  • December 18, 2020: 1,030,000 viewers, 0.30 rating in 18-49
  • October 15. 2021: 866,000 viewers, 0.24 rating in 18-49
  • October 29, 2021: 1,032,000 viewers, 0.29 rating in 18-49

Talking Smack no longer airing after Friday’s WWE SmackDown on FS1

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Talking Smack will no longer be airing after this Friday’s episode of SmackDown on FS1.

WWE has announced that, immediately after Friday’s SmackDown, the show will replay twice on FS1. The replays will start at 10 p.m. and midnight Eastern time.

Cable listings originally indicated that a one-hour episode of Talking Smack would be airing after Friday’s SmackDown, with SmackDown then replaying at 11 p.m. Eastern. Talking Smack will instead premiere on Peacock/WWE Network on Saturday morning as it usually does.

The Talking Smack episode would have gone head-to-head with AEW Rampage. The first hour of the SmackDown replay will now go against Rampage.

Friday’s SmackDown is airing on FS1 due to game three of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves being on Fox. SmackDown also shifted to FS1 two weeks ago due to a scheduling conflict with the MLB playoffs. That SmackDown episode was a supersized edition of the show that was two-and-a-half hours long.

This Friday’s SmackDown is taking place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. There have yet to be any matches announced for the show. WWE is teasing that a new challenger may stand up to Universal Champion Roman Reigns following the storyline indefinite suspension that Brock Lesnar was given last week.

Talking Smack airing on FS1 after WWE SmackDown next week

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Talking Smack will be airing at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, October 29 on FS1 according to multiple cable providers listings. 

SmackDown will also air on FS1 that night, as Fox will air game three of the MLB World Series. A SmackDown replay will air at 11 p.m. Eastern time, meaning a five-hour block of WWE programming on the network. 

The one-hour Talking Smack will go head-to-head with AEW Rampage on TNT. 

The precedent for this move was set last year, as WWE also aired an hour of Talking Smack following an FS1 SmackDown on the same night Fox aired game three of the World Series. 

Talking Smack usually drops on Saturday mornings on Peacock and the WWE NEtwork. 

SmackDown also aired on FS1 this past Friday due to the MLB playoffs airing on Fox. WWE ran an extra thirty minutes of the show commercial-free from 10 to 10:30 p.m., anchored by a Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks match, plus a Crown Jewel Universal Championship match contract signing featuring Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar.

‘Supersized’ WWE SmackDown set for FS1 next Friday

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A “Supersized” edition of SmackDown will air on FS1 next Friday.

Due to a scheduling conflict with the MLB playoffs on Fox, SmackDown will shift to FS1 for next Friday’s episode. WWE is promoting it as a “Supersized” edition of the show, with cable listings showing that the episode will be two and a half hours long.

Here’s what’s been announced for the episode:

  • Non-title match: SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks
  • Brock Lesnar appears
  • King of the Ring semifinal match: Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn
  • Queen’s Crown tournament semifinal match: Carmella vs. Zelina Vega
  • Sonya Deville has said that she’ll be returning to the ring against Naomi

The episode is SmackDown’s go-home show for Crown Jewel. Roman Reigns is defending his Universal Championship against Lesnar at Crown Jewel, while Lynch is putting her SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line against Banks and Bianca Belair in a triple threat match. The finals of the King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown tournaments will also both take place at Crown Jewel.

The last half hour of the Supersized SmackDown episode will go against the first half hour of AEW Rampage. Tony Khan tweeted about the two shows competing against each other: “I saw you’re doing a half hour head-to-head with us. I can’t wait to finally beat your main show head-to-head. It’s been a long time coming. See you next Friday for #AEWRampage on @AEWonTNT”

WWE Backstage returning for Royal Rumble preview special

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE Backstage is returning for a Royal Rumble special.

Fox Sports announced today that a special Royal Rumble preview edition of WWE Backstage will air on FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, January 30. That’s the night before this year’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The special edition of WWE Backstage will be hosted by Renee Paquette, Booker T, and Paige. Paquette (formerly known as Renee Young in WWE) departed WWE in August 2020. She also made an appearance on Fox’s pre-show for SmackDown’s season premiere episode in October.

Weekly production of WWE Backstage was ended in June of last year, but it was noted at the time that the studio show could return with occasional episodes surrounding major WWE events. It was announced in October that WWE Backstage would be returning for a special episode in conjunction with SmackDown making a one-week move to FS1 due to the World Series, but that was changed from WWE Backstage to an episode of Talking Smack.

WWE Backstage’s Royal Rumble preview will re-air on FS1 at midnight Eastern time the night of the episode and at 5 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, January 31.

WWE notes: Talking Smack, 205 Live matches

Posted on by Joseph Currier

– With SmackDown making a one-week shift to FS1 tonight, there will be a special edition of Talking Smack airing immediately after the show.

A one-hour edition of Talking Smack will air on FS1 after SmackDown at 10 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Fox Sports has announced that Booker T will join Kayla Braxton and Paul Heyman to host tonight’s Talking Smack.

It’s also been announced that tonight’s Talking Smack will feature Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer interviewing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Fox Sports’ Charlotte Wilder interviewing Sasha Banks. The Rock appeared on Glazer’s One Glass With Glazer on Instagram Live three weeks ago and Fox Sports uploaded an interview with Wilder and Banks earlier this month.

Talking Smack made its return this August and usually premieres on the WWE Network on Saturday mornings. A special edition of Talking Smack also aired on FS1 this October when SmackDown made a one-week move to FS1 due to a World Series game airing on Fox.

SmackDown is airing on FS1 tonight due to college football’s Pac-12 Championship Game being on Fox. After Talking Smack, a replay of tonight’s SmackDown will air on FS1 at 11 p.m. Eastern.

– 205 Live is airing on the WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight. WWE has announced two matches for the show: Jake Atlas vs. Tony Nese and Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel) vs. The Bollywood Boyz (Sunil & Samir Singh).

Atlas defeated Nese on NXT two weeks ago. Ever-Rise vs. The Bollywood Boyz is being promoted as the rubber match between the teams due to them each having one victory over the other in recent weeks.

WWE SmackDown airing on FS1 next week due to college football

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Due to a college football scheduling conflict, SmackDown is making a one-week shift to FS1 next Friday.

WWE announced tonight that the Friday, December 18 episode of SmackDown will air on FS1 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. That’s due to college football’s Pac-12 Championship Game being scheduled to air on Fox next Friday.

This will be the second SmackDown episode to premiere on FS1 this year and the third time the show has premiered on FS1 since moving to Fox. Both other times were due to scheduling conflicts with the World Series.

Earlier this year, the October 23 episode of SmackDown aired on FS1 due to game three of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays being on Fox. That SmackDown episode averaged 881,000 viewers on FS1. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.25. When SmackDown aired on FS1 due to the World Series the previous year, the episode averaged 888,000 viewers and drew a 0.27 rating in the 18-49 demo.

A special edition of Talking Smack also aired immediately on FS1 after that October 23 SmackDown episode earlier this year.

Next week’s SmackDown is the go-home show for WWE’s TLC pay-per-view.

WWE SmackDown draws under 900k viewers for one-week shift to FS1

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

With game three of the World Series airing on Fox this past Friday night, SmackDown made a one-week move to FS1 and saw a huge drop in the ratings, as it did this same week last year. 

Friday’s SmackDown averaged 881,000 viewers on FS1 and finished 15th on cable in the 18-49 demo with a 0.25 rating.

Last Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite, which aired on TNT, did a lower audience number of 753,000 but beat SmackDown in the 18-49 demo with a 0.30 rating and finished slightly higher for its night on the cable charts. Dynamite also aired against a World Series game and had additional competition from NXT on the USA Network.

As compared to the same week last year when it also aired on FS1 due to the World Series, SmackDown was down 0.8 percent in total viewers and 7.4 percent in the demo.

Friday’s World Series game averaged 8.2 million viewers on Fox, down from 12.2 million for last year’s game. This year’s baseball playoffs have been the lowest rated in history.

Although not by much, SmackDown’s individual demo numbers were down from last year. The exception was with people over 50. Without the increase in that category, SmackDown’s overall number would’ve been much lower.

Talking Smack airing on FS1 after WWE SmackDown this week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A change has been announced for tonight’s SmackDown post-show on FS1.

A one-hour edition of Talking Smack will air on FS1 at 10 p.m. Eastern time after SmackDown tonight. It originally had been announced that WWE Backstage would be making a one-night return as tonight’s SmackDown post-show.

The special edition of Talking Smack ties in with SmackDown airing on FS1 tonight due to game three of the World Series being on Fox. A replay of tonight’s SmackDown will also air on FS1 at 11 p.m. Eastern.

FS1 suspended weekly production of WWE Backstage this June, though it was noted at the time that the show could return with occasional episodes surrounding major events.

Talking Smack returned this August with Kayla Braxton as its lead host. The show usually premieres on the WWE Network on Saturday mornings.

Tonight’s SmackDown is the go-home show for Hell in a Cell. Roman Reigns will reveal the consequences for his Universal Championship Hell in a Cell I Quit match against Jey Uso ahead of Sunday’s pay-per-view. WWE will also finish building to Bayley and Sasha Banks’ Hell in a Cell match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, and there will be a “Law & Otis” segment where Otis defends himself in court as he attempts to stop The Miz from taking his Money in the Bank contract.

Special edition of WWE Backstage to air after SmackDown this week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

With SmackDown airing on FS1 this week, WWE Backstage is returning for a special edition of the show.

A one-hour episode of WWE Backstage will air on FS1 from the WWE ThunderDome after SmackDown this Friday night. A replay of this week’s SmackDown will then air on FS1 after Backstage at 11 p.m. Eastern time.

SmackDown is making a one-week-only move to FS1 this Friday due to game three of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers being on Fox.

FS1 suspended weekly production of WWE Backstage this June, though it was noted that the show could return with occasional episodes surrounding major events. WWE Backstage launched in November 2019 and was hosted by Renee Young and Booker T. It also featured a panel of contributors that included CM Punk making select appearances.

The hosts/panel for this Friday’s episode of Backstage haven’t been announced.

This Friday’s SmackDown is the brand’s go-home show for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. The episode will feature the final build to Roman Reigns and Jey Uso’s Hell in a Cell I Quit match for the Universal Championship and Bayley and Sasha Banks’ Hell in a Cell match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

WWE SmackDown airing on FS1 next week due to World Series

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Due to a conflict with the World Series, SmackDown will be airing on FS1 next Friday (October 23).

WWE officially announced during SmackDown tonight that SmackDown is making a one-week-only shift to FS1 for next week’s episode. The show will air in its normal 8-10 p.m. Eastern time slot.

Game three of this year’s World Series is airing on Fox next Friday. The Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros are the final teams remaining in the American League. The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers are the final teams remaining in the National League.

Game two of the World Series is taking place on Wednesday next week and will go against AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT. If the series goes to seven games, the final game of the series would be on Wednesday, October 28. Raw won’t face competition from the World Series this year.

An episode of SmackDown also aired on FS1 last year due to a conflict with the World Series. The SmackDown episode averaged 888,000 viewers. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.27.

Next week’s SmackDown is the go-home show for Hell in a Cell. Roman Reigns defending his Universal Championship against Jey Uso in a Hell in a Cell I Quit match and Bayley defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks in a Hell in a Cell match are SmackDown’s matches that have been announced for the pay-per-view. 

FS1 suspends weekly production of WWE Backstage

Posted on by Josh Nason

FS1 announced Monday that “production is scaling back” on several shows, including WWE Backstage which will no longer be a weekly show on the sports network.

However, they stopped short of saying the show is outright canceled as there is a strong possibility that it will return around larger WWE events.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand first broke the news of the changes which include 20 producers and talents losing their jobs. The boxing show “Inside PBC” and some soccer programming was also cut from the schedule.

The changes do not affect any other WWE programming including SmackDown on Fox and archive content like previous pay-per-views and edited WWE Network documentaries that have aired on FS1 in recent months.

The studio show launched in November 2019 with co-hosts Renee Young and Booker T as constants among a rotating group of regulars that included retired wrestlers Christian and Paige. The show made news when CM Punk was signed on by Fox as an analyst, his first association with WWE in five years. It’s unknown what Punk’s contract status is given the changes, but he hasn’t made any indication that he’s been let go.

The show continued through the pandemic, but overall, Backstage never drew consistently large viewership numbers due to the late night timeslot, pre-empting, and overall interest. A recent edition featuring Bret Hart and Punk did draw the second best viewership in show history with 175,000 viewers.

CM Punk joining Bret Hart on WWE Backstage this week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

An appearance by CM Punk has been added to this week’s episode of WWE Backstage.

WWE on FOX announced that Punk will be on this Tuesday’s Backstage, which will also include an appearance by Bret Hart. “Joining ‘The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be’ @BretHart on #WWEBackstage this Tuesday will be ‘THE BEST IN THE WORLD’ @CMPunk!”

Punk was most recently on Backstage when he was part of the panel for the June 2 episode of the show. That episode featured a reunion between Punk and Daniel Bryan, with Bryan appearing as the featured guest that week.

Hart appearing on Backstage ties in with Survivor Series 1996 airing on FS1 this Tuesday. It will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time and lead into Backstage at 11 p.m. Eastern.

Hart defeated Steve Austin in a number one contender’s match at Survivor Series 1996. The pay-per-view also included Sycho Sid defeating Shawn Michaels to win the WWF title and the debut of The Rock as Rocky Maivia.

Bret Hart appearing on WWE Backstage next week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Next week’s episode of WWE Backstage will include an appearance by an all-time great.

WWE on FOX announced today that Bret Hart will be the special guest on Tuesday’s Backstage: “The Best There Is. The Best There Was. The Best There Ever Will Be. Tuesday, @BretHart joins #WWEBackstage, at 11e/8p, on @FS1”

Leading into Backstage on Tuesday, Survivor Series 1996 will air on FS1 starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Hart defeated Steve Austin in a number one contender’s match at that pay-per-view.

Survivor Series 1996 also featured Sycho Sid defeating Shawn Michaels to win the WWF title and the debut of The Rock as Rocky Maivia.

WWE Backstage from this past Tuesday was an all-women’s show with Renee Young, Paige, Ember Moon, and Beth Phoenix as the panel and Sonya Deville appearing as a guest. It tied in with WWE’s Evolution PPV from 2018 airing on FS1 prior to Backstage.