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Edits made to CM Punk segment on Smackdown

There were some edits made to WWE Smackdown's main event segment.

The show aired live from Riyadh and had power issues. However, the main event segment with CM Punk and John Cena ended up getting edited as well.

A source in WWE confirmed what anyone's ears that watched both broadcasts could see. There was additional crowd noise in the United States broadcast, and Punk's line flub was edited out.

One WWE production source said that today was a very busy one between the pow...

John Cena, WWE NOC, Hikuleo, Kross, Claudio, 3MB, MJF-MLW, TNA Producers, More

News and notes from around the wrestling world!

• Regarding John Cena's promo in Lexington that he self-buried on the Breakfast Club, one WWE producer sent the article to Fightful and said that was Cena's self diagnosis, as opposed to backstage perception.

• WWE talent are slated to take off a bit after the show for Night of Champions in order to be back for WWE Raw and Smackdown tapings in Pittsburgh.

• Hikuleo is in Saudi Arabia for this weekend's shows...

  2025-06-27 20:45:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Update On Broadcast Issues For Smackdown

During the WWE Smackdown broadcast from Saudi Arabia, there was a feed outage that caused broadcast issues for international viewers. We're doing updates on the situation.

About ten minutes into the show, international feeds froze and and the screens in Riyadh went out during a Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes promo. The talent were made aware of the issues and after the promo Randy Orton tried to kill time by speaking with the crowd. After that, Orton's theme played repeatedly as he went ar...

WWE SMACKDOWN RUNDOWN

Fightful has learned the following plans for today's Smackdown, subject to change in content and order

A reminder, you can watch Smackdown at 1 PM ET with NordVPN.com/Fightful

- SPOILER SEGMENT

- SPOILER MATCH 1

- US Title: Zelina vs. Giulia

- SPOILER SEGMENT 2

- SPOILER TAG

- SPOILER PROMO

- Tag Titles: Wyatt Sicks vs. Street Profits

- Women's Title Last Woman Standing: Tiffany Stratton vs. Nia Jax

- MAIN EVENT SEGMENT <...

Answers: Steve Blackman, Kota Ibushi, Samantha Irvin

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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Kota Ibushi Update?

He is back.

But seriously, I know that his injuries and the quick spiral in-ring are well documented, but few know the lengths he went through over the last number of years. It's impressive tha...

TNA Star in contract year

TNA Wrestling has seen heavy roster turnover, but one talent is inked until the end of 2025.

After a half dozen talents worked their final loops for TNA on their contracts and their deals at the end of 2024, Fightful Select asked around about a variety of other deals in TNA now that we are at the midpoint of 2025.

One of those was that of former TNA World Champion Steve Maclin. Fightful Select has confirmed that Maclin’s current deal with the company goes until December of 202...

Update on recent WWE injury

Chelsea Green missed June 13 episode of Smackdown, and we’ve learned why.

A number of weeks ago, Chelsea Green was sidelined with a broken nose that required her to wear a face mask on WWE TV. Still, she was open to wrestling and working while injured. She was scheduled for a Queen of the Ring match, but didn’t end up appearing in Lexington at Smackdown.

An angle was put forth, claiming she wasn’t at the venue for the show, and she was replaced. Green actually didn’t trave...

FREE POST: WWE Updates, Fightful News, AEW absences

This post is free for our paid and free tier subscribers, taking a look at news and rumors in the wrestling world. Please consider subscribing to our $5.99 tier for exclusive news, Q&As, discord access, and additional podcasts.

If you all like this format, we'll try to continue doing them. Let us know in the comments!

• PWInsider has reported that Chad Gable is set to undergo surgery next week. Fightful Select...

  2025-06-26 17:46:38 +0000 UTC View Post

Answers: Nathan Jones, Britt Baker, WWE theme songs

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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Hey, Sean hope you are doing well! This might seem pretty random, but I was watching 2003 Smackdown recently and Nathan Jones showed up. Was wondering if you knew or heard what he was up to these days? Thanks!

After the...

AEW news, WWE-Saudi, TNA updates

• MJF and Mark Briscoe started a program on AEW Dynamite. We're told that this has been a program that MJF had pushed for quite some time and was considered very important to him.

• The son of the person who filed the lawsuit against Mox/AEW actually was the guy who handed the AEW Tag Titles to Hurt Syndicate at Dynamite. We're told he has continued working with AEW with no issues.

• Regarding Ian Riccaboni working Dynamite of late, we're told that is done dur...

  2025-06-26 02:03:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Former WWE talent has claimed they will be around soon

A former WWE mainstay could be making appearances soon for the company.

Fightful Select has learned that Vickie Guerrero had told numerous people recently that she would be back with WWE for some things "in a few weeks." While the bookings weren't explicitly stated, WWE Evolution does happen in a matter of weeks.

Vickie has maintained a positive relationship with WWE over the years, appearing a number of times between 2005 and 2018, including as a regular character for years. She ...

FREE POST: Another WWE Injury

The injury bug bites WWE.

Chad Gable was sidelined with an injury, as Bodyslam.net reported this week. He was effectively written off of WWE TV, as PWInsider.net reported that Gable is slated for surgery in early July.

Unfortunately, Fightful Select also learned that El Grande Americano has sustained a very similar injury. We've heard that it was sustained in...

Answers: Adam Copeland, Nashville, Liv Morgan

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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When’s Adam Copeland due back? I remember when asked previously about him and FTR you seemed to give the impression there was something going on behind the scenes

He was actually supposed to be back almost a month ago...

Joe Hendry update

No surprise here, but Joe Hendry is expected for more WWE dates.

Hendry has been a semi regular in WWE, specifically the NXT brand. NXT sources said he will continue to make appearances for the brand through Slammiversary to help promote the show.

Bodyslam.net has reported that he is at tonight's tapings.

Abyss clarifies in ring status

A forgone conclusion was confirmed.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select spoke to Chris Park today, also known as Abyss. He's featured in the WWE 2K25 Dunk & Destruction DLC pack, complete with his “Janice” weapon and classic entrance theme. While there has never been an official announcement regarding his in-ring status, he's not wrestled in over six years since his hiring at WWE as a producer/agent.

"To answer quite frankly, I'm done. I don't have plans to ever wrestling ag...

Answers: WWE PC, Liv Morgan creative plans

Welcome to Select Answers, a short feature that provides some of the answers to questions that were posed to Sean Ross Sapp in the most recent Fightful Weekly Q&A Podcast. The show drops every week on Fightful Select for subscribers.

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What's life like for NXT talent at the performance center? Do they have regular classes or sessions?

Well, it depends. Almost everyone there lives in Orlando. There are a couple of people who are veterans who travel in ...