WWE SmackDown Tuesday June 23 UK Taping To Air In Usual Friday Time Slot, Taping Start Time To Avoid England Vs. Ghana World Cup Clash

Published: 2 hours ago by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: 2 hours ago by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

WWE

An update has emerged on broadcast plans for the WWE SmackDown taping slated to take place on Tuesday, June 23 in London, England.

As recently reported, the June 23 episode of WWE SmackDown will take place at O2 Arena in London, England, with that day being a Tuesday.

June 23 is also the night of the football World Cup group stage match between England and Ghana, with that match taking place at 9PM UK time.

As a result, it has been reported that this WWE SmackDown taping will have an earlier start time, with Alex McCarthy of SunSport reporting that sources have stated that the accommodation will be made so that fans can watch the match.

McCarthy also reports that the show will not air live on Netflix, with it going out in its usual Friday night spot on the streaming platform.

With WWE Raw taking place at the O2 Arena on Monday, June 22, it was previously confirmed that that show would be broadcast live.

The addition of SmackDown on June 23 to the WWE European Summer Tour was the latest change to a schedule that previously saw three more shows added in Liverpool, Cardiff and Birmingham on a run that includes the Clash in Italy PLE on May 31.

Clash in Italy continues an international tradition started in 2022 with Clash at the Castle, with last year’s Clash in Paris taking place in August.

Wrestling Impacted By Major Sports

The World Cup tournament runs from June 11 to July 19, with the United States, Canada and Mexico hosting the tournament and with the prestige of the event, it’s highly likely that eyes will be on the soccer as opposed to wrestling for many fans of both forms of entertainment.

It isn’t unusual for wrestling, be it WWE or AEW, to be affected by major sporting events, so it perhaps should not be surprising that SmackDown could get an earlier time when it runs in a country that is as passionate about soccer (football) as the UK, let alone England.

A schedule change isn’t just something that WWE has to contend with, either. AEW has previously revised its schedule during NBA All-Star Weekend, running in an earlier slot as a result. Wrestling fans may be passionate about the product, but that often isn’t at the exclusion of sports, particularly when the stakes are as high as this.

Depending on how the United States do in the World Cup, more changes may come to the schedule to accommodate home team games, particularly given that WWE and AEW both typically run in that region.

No doubt more details will become apparent as the group stages progress into the to the knockouts that start on June 28, with the final set to take place on July 19.