Many fans were surprised when WWE announced that SmackDown stars would compete in the World Heavyweight Title Tournament, as the title is intended to be the top prize on Raw due to the exclusivity of Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
The tournament features stars from both Raw and SmackDown, with Seth Rollins advancing to the finals on May 27 at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. The fate of SmackDown will be decided on Friday’s show.
Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is using this tournament to try to increase television ratings while competing against strong NBA playoff competition.
Bryan Alvarez stated that Monday’s Raw was packed with talent in order to compete with the NBA.
“This whole show was designed to try to save viewers from switching over,” Alvarez said.
Meltzer added, “I will tell you Monday, Friday, and Wednesday, all three of those shows were booked 100% to hail mary. ‘We got to try to save as much as we can.’ AEW is basically booking a pay-per-view on Wednesday night. They’re coming back and putting the Raw World Title…if people are wondering why the Raw World Title is in a tournament on SmackDown, this is the reason – because they know a normal show right now will do a poor number, so they cannot do a normal show this week. AEW knows the same thing. We know what these numbers will end up doing…..wrestling fans are definitely getting benefited greatly by the fact that both of these promotions know that this is a bad week with that Warriors/Lakers series.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
