More On WWE Brand Split, Why WWE May Load Up Debut, SmackDown Airing Live Outside Of U.S., Touring

- We noted yesterday that with WWE SmackDown going live on Tuesday nights in the U.S. starting July 19th, that the show will also air live in the U.K. with the same start date, July 19. The show will also air live in the Middle East on Wednesday mornings on Orbit Showtime Network, and will be repeated later in the day at 1300 KSA and again at 2000 KSA.

- Alfred Konuwa's latest blog at Forbes looks at the brand split and Cody Rhodes' recent WWE release, noting that Rhodes should mend fences with the company and return on the live SmackDown debut.

- Look for WWE to really load up the SmackDown debut on July 19th as the USA Network, which has been hurting with their original programming over the past several years, will premiere the new drama Shooter after the show. Shooter stars Ryan Phillippe, and is based on the 2007 film starring Mark Wahlberg, which itself was based on the best-selling Bob Lee Swagger novel by Stephen Hunter, Point of Impact.

- Dave Meltzer stated on the most recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that the SmackDown crew will tour from Saturday – Monday (which would be up against RAW) before the live SmackDown TV taping on Tuesday. The RAW crew would tour from Friday – Sunday before the live Monday TV taping. While the current plan is for each show to have its own World Champion, if the Womens champion were to appear on both brands as has been suggested, that would mean their schedule could potentially run from Friday – Tuesday, unless they are given Fridays off.

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