Earlier this week, we learned that SmackDown Live is moving to Fox and the network will run the show on Friday nights. That's typically not considered a particularly good time for any TV show, so what's the thinking behind that? Well, some new details have been revealed by Dave Meltzer and while this hasn't been confirmed, it appears as if it will remain a live show rather than being taped.
That's because Fox is looking for new live content and going back to recording the show on Tuesday nights won't be a smart move as the majority of viewers won't bother tuning in after being spoiled.
So, why a Friday night rather than sticking with Tuesday? "The reason is they probably felt that Friday is a tough night for television and Saturday nights they’re doing a lot of sports they do college football on Saturdays they’d have to pre-empt wrestling all the time. So Saturday is out. So the idea was to put them on Fox but put them on a night that’s not a big night."
"I think if you put them on Tuesday, yeah they would get bigger numbers but I don’t think they would get bigger numbers than what Fox already has on that station," Meltzer concludes. Right now, Fox has a cooking show on Friday nights which draws 3.2 million viewers, so SmackDown Live should still do good numbers and being on network TV could help make it the A show.