Friday night’s post-Money In The Bank edition of SmackDown from Madison Square Garden was criticized for feeling rushed, which was due to WWE dealing with timing issues.
WWE insider Boozer Rasslin reported that the opening Tribal Court segment with The Bloodline was originally scheduled to last 20 minutes, but they ended up going 40. As a result, portions of the show were cut. It was mentioned early on in the show that the opening segment “ate a lot of time,” so other items would be “squeezed” for time.
There was talk of scrapping the in-ring segment with WWE Women’s Champion Asuka, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, IYO SKY, and Bayley at one point. The segment was still in the works as of 9:09 p.m., but the WWE insider followed up at 9:15 p.m. to confirm that officials had decided to go ahead with it. The women’s division segment began shortly before 9:30 p.m., following AJ Styles’ victory over Karrion Kross.
Concerning Styles vs. Kross, the match lasted approximately 2 minutes, prompting negative feedback from fans online. PWInsider reported that this match was originally scheduled to last longer. Their report also confirmed that the opening segment was too long, which caused a chain reaction that forced later segments, such as the women’s segment, to be rushed to fit the FOX broadcast.
As PWMania.com previously reported, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was backstage for SmackDown, as he is usually when WWE operates The World’s Most Famous Arena.
According to reports, McMahon made no major changes to last night’s show, and any creative changes were minimal, as the original plans for the show remained mostly intact, minus the time cuts.
