WWE Friday Night Smackdown returns to your screens tonight with a new episode airing live from the GIANT Center in Hershey, PA.
Smackdown touches down in the Keystone State tonight as the company sits just 24 hours out from the Payback pay-per-view in Pittsburgh, PA. It’ll be interesting to see if anymore matches are added tonight as the short Payback card will only feature three Smackdown superstars. However, the main focus for tonight’s show will be the return of a future WWE Hall of Famer.
How to watch Friday Night Smackdown
Date: Friday, September 1
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Network: Fox
Live stream: Fox Live or Fox Now App
What to watch for on Friday Night Smackdown
John Cena will return to Smackdown tonight, kicking off a seven-week period where the 16-time world champion will appear on the show. It’s currently unclear as to what he will do for the next seven weeks and his inclusion on Smackdown could simply be a means for the company to retain viewers as football season gets underway. We did recently see Cena at Money in the Bank two months ago, where his promo segment was interrupted by Grayson Waller. Perhaps he’ll feud with the young upstart heading into the fall.
After taking a breather for a few weeks, the Bloodline family drama will continue as Jimmy Uso will appear on tonight’s show to address where things stand between him and his brother. He was supposed to appear on last week’s show, but that was put on hold due to the Bray Wyatt tribute. Three weeks ago, Jimmy explained that he cost Jey his title match at SummerSlam to prevent him from becoming the egotistical maniac that Roman Reigns had become. Jey responded by superkicking his twin brother in the face and quitting the company before Smackdown went off the air. We’ll hear what Jimmy has to say and see if we get an appearance by Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, or the “Tribal Chief” himself.
United States Champion Rey Mysterio will defend against Austin Theory at Payback and on tonight’s show, he will team with Santos Escobar to battle Theory and Waller in tag team action. Mysterio defeated Waller in singles action last week and during the match, Escobar prevented Theory from interfering. We’ll see who can get the upperhand in this one.
Also on tonight’s show, we’ll see what’s in store for WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky after she successfully defended her title against Zelina Vega last week. We’ll also surely hear from this still unnamed alliance of Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits.