• SmackDown Tradition May Be Coming To An End After WrestleMania 42
Sami Zayn dethroned Solo Sikoa as United States Champion last summer and brought back the US Title Open Challenge. The tradition was then carried on by Ilja Dragunov after he won the title from Zayn, before Carmelo Hayes kept it alive following his own title victory.
However, that ongoing tradition may now be in jeopardy after Trick Williams defeated Zayn on Night 2 of WrestleMania 42 to capture the championship.
Speaking on ESPN SportsCenter, Williams spoke about his successful WrestleMania debut and hinted that he may move away from weekly open challenges going forward.
“I’m a superstar and I wear that very seriously, so I don’t know about these free matches every single Friday night. When the people see Trick Williams, it’s gonna be in a main event. It’s gonna be a show when I defend this title.”
• Triple H No Longer Has Full Creative Control In WWE
After Triple H took over as WWE’s Chief Content Officer in 2022, business saw a major upswing, driven by stronger storytelling and more engaging matches that brought fans back into the product.
However, over the past year, a section of the fanbase has felt that WWE is no longer as compelling as it was during Triple H’s early run in charge of creative. Much of the criticism has centered around increased celebrity involvement, a heavier focus on advertisements, and less emphasis on in-ring wrestling.
While speaking at a University of Alabama class, TKO President Mark Shapiro revealed that TKO Group Holdings now has full control over WWE’s creative direction.
“First of all, [TKO] has complete control. So we’re responsible, good and bad, fact or fiction.
Having Hollywood tie-ins and celebs and stars, and Logan Paul, Pat McAfee, Mark Wahlberg shows up and does his thing, Tyrese Haliburton last year got in a fight in the ring with Jalen Brunson of the Knicks, that’s not new. It’s just on a larger stage.
And we’re spending a lot more money to market the brand and market the content. And when you do that, you’re gonna win some folks over, but you’re also gonna chase some folks away. They don’t like this or they don’t like that. This is too expensive or, ‘Oh my God, to watch the WWE, I gotta buy Netflix which costs this much, I gotta watch SmackDown on USA, I gotta do that, I gotta have CW so I have to have cable. And now I have to pay for ESPN.’ And you can make some enemies really quickly.”
It had been reported following Pat McAfee’s return that TKO has been heavily involved in pushing celebrity appearances, with WWE’s creative team having heat with higher-ups due to interference in WrestleMania main event storylines for two consecutive years.
