TheWrap.com is reporting that when Smackdown moves to FOX next year in October, the show will continuing airing live as it has since 2016.
The show was rebranded as “Smackdown Live” two years ago when it was shifted to the USA Network from the Syfy network and moved to Tuesday night.
When news first broke last week that FOX had come to an agreement to bring Smackdown to the network in 2019, it wasn’t immediately clear at the time if the show would become taped when early reports indicated the show would be moving to a Friday night time slot.
It was also reported earlier today by The Hollywood Reporter that numerous FOX executives held a pitch meeting with WWE executives (including Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) back on May 17 to finalize the deal, which will reportedly include plugs for WWE programming across all FOX platforms during major sports coverage. It was also hinted that a new weekly WWE studio show could be planned for FS1 as well.