WWE presented SmackDown from Madison Square Garden last night, but fans watching from home noticed numerous black screens throughout the broadcast. This new method of censoring inappropriate fan chants was implemented by FOX, not WWE, and it didn’t go unnoticed within the company.
During SmackDown, the MSG crowd engaged in several explicit chants. Rather than muting the audio, the network opted to blackout the screen as if dealing with a wardrobe malfunction. This frequent blacking out led to frustration within WWE, as it appeared the feed from MSG was dropping out repeatedly, rather than indicating that the chants caused the interruptions.
Uncensored footage of a child showing the middle finger to Nia Jax on SmackDown, which was censored by FOX (check the left side of the video) pic.twitter.com/LMoAxTbKLr
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) June 29, 2024
Fightful Select reported that many within WWE were unhappy with these edits. The constant blackouts made WWE look bad, as it seemed like a technical issue rather than a deliberate censorship measure.
One longtime WWE talent, who wasn’t on SmackDown, expressed their frustration, saying, “I understand censoring ‘f**k the Pacers,’ but it feels like every segment is edited, and it makes us look like it’s our production.”
The heavy censorship on SmackDown has sparked internal discontent, highlighting the challenges WWE faces in balancing live audience reactions with broadcast standards.
Triple H recently said on The Pat McAfee Show that WWE won’t face such issues when RAW moves to Netflix in 2025:
“Being on FOX, if the crowd chants ‘holy sh*t’ or something worse, they take the audio (out). Sometimes, they take the picture and the audio out and it’s a black screen.
The Rock comes in and you can’t tell The Rock what to do. He does what he does. We won’t have those issues with Netflix. The ability to be live globally and be seen live everywhere is a game-changing moment. In many ways, that’s sort of where the world is heading; streaming services.
The NFL is sticking its toe in the water. NBA, every sport. It’s why this Netflix deal, for us, is so game-changing and everyone is going to be watching us in January, especially other sports, from the business side, they’re going to be watching to see what we do, what we do differently, and how it’s received.”
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