The latest episode of WWE SmackDown featured two marquee matches, as GUNTHER retained the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens picked up a victory over Sami Zayn via disqualification.
Fightful Select has provided a list of the producers for this week’s SmackDown and some backstage notes from the show.
* Abyss was the producer for the Braun Strowman vs. GUNTHER match.
* Shawn Daivari produced the Rey Mysterio and Karrion Kross segment. He also produced the Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez match. WWE brought in extras to work as officials for the Morgan/Rodriguez segment, as well as the Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville segment.
* Molly Holly produced the Tegan Nox vs. Xia Li match.
* Adam Pearce produced the Bray Wyatt promo.
* Jason Jordan produced the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens match. This was the pair’s eighteenth one-on-one match in WWE. Five of them ended in a no contest, DQ, or countout. While there are also nineteen Kevin Steen vs. El Generico matches documented, it is likely there are more that weren’t listed.
* Uncle Howdy segments were set for the show as of Thursday, but he did not appear.
* Creative for the show was finalized on Thursday night.
* Adam Pearce also produced the pre-show dark match between the Brawling Brutes and Los Lotharios, while Daivari produced the post-show dark match featuring the OC vs. The Judgment Day.
* There was a board with ‘Vince’s office’ on it, but that’s something that hasn’t changed since he left.
* Charlotte Flair vs. Sonya Deville was not the original plan for the SmackDown Women’s Championship storyline for the Royal Rumble.
* Triple H and Kevin Dunn led a talent meeting before the show, which included staff, crew, and talent.
