Women’s World Cup kicks Roman Reigns & SmackDown to cable

We’re used to AEW programming getting moved around the television schedule due to the various sports that air on the Turner networks. It doesn’t happen to WWE as often as it used to (shout out to anyone else who ever tuned in for Raw and ended up watching more of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show than they ever thought they would), but it still happens.

These days, it’s usually SmackDown that gets bumped from broadcast to cable when FOX has something like the World Series or a big college football game on a Friday night (although the Olympics will be back next summer to mess with Raw). And it looks like that’s what will happen next week, when the United States plays their first game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup against Vietnam on July 21.

With Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe & company kicking off their campaign for a fifth World Cup at 9pm ET, SmackDown will air on FS1 at its regular time. It’s a move WWE probably isn’t thrilled with, both because its one of the last episodes before SummerSlam, and because the July 21 show in Orlando is one of the dates Universal champion Roman Reigns is working this month.

Hopefully for them this is a one-off. None of the U.S. team’s other group-stage matches fall on a Friday, and most of the single-elimination round games won’t take place during primetime here in the States (Australia & New Zealand are hosting the 2023 tournament)... but we’ll see what the programming folks at FOX decide as the World Cup plays out.

In the meantime, acknowledge that you have to set your DVRs to FS1 — and/or remind yourself what channel FS1 is on with your provider — for next Friday.