New Star Makes SmackDown Debut But WWE Doesn’t Air It

One of the most intriguing brand switches in the now largely-pointless Superstar Shakeup a few weeks back was former Cruiserweight Champion and 205 Live standout Buddy Murphy getting drafted to SmackDown.

Murphy was one of the most consistently excellent in-ring performers in WWE throughout 2018 and absolutely deserves a chance to shine on a bigger platform. However, since moving brands Murphy is yet to make an appearance on SmackDown.

Only, he has! WWE had Murphy make his blue brand debut on last night’s show, only they opted to do it in a dark segment that a took place during the commercial break. Murphy came out prior to the Ali vs. Andrade match and said he was the best kept secret in WWE and soon everyone will know his name.

No wonder he is a secret if he is only appearing during the commercials!

The method behind the madness is part of a new WWE strategy to produce content for its social media platforms (the same practice was employed on Raw when Mojo Rawley and The IIconics did something similar) so they can give away free content to users while not giving away as much of the broadcast shows while they air.

During Raw and SmackDown this week, WWE refrained from uploading anything from the shows to its YouTube channel, feeling that the easy free access to the content was playing a part in falling ratings for the television broadcasts.

Nothing at all to do with the woeful booking and constantly baffling storytelling then, no?

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• Debut
• Smackdown
• BUDDY MURPHY
• wwe

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