{"id":124094,"date":"2024-04-20T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=124094"},"modified":"2024-04-22T07:17:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T11:17:54","slug":"preview-wwe-smackdown-4-26-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/04\/20\/preview-wwe-smackdown-4-26-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE SmackDown (4\/26\/24) &#8211; Night One of 2024 WWE Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s\u00a0<em><strong>WWE SmackDown<\/strong><\/em> will host the first night of one the most exciting events\u00a0<strong>WWE<\/strong> has: the <em><strong>WWE Draft<\/strong><\/em><strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>On this installment of\u00a0<em><strong>WWE Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong><\/em>, the promotion&#8217;s core will be shaken as every superstar on the rosters of the Blue brand,\u00a0<em><strong>WWE Monday Night Raw<\/strong><\/em>,\u00a0and <em><strong>WWE NXT<\/strong><\/em> are all up for grabs.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, we will see the contract signing between the &#8216;American Nightmare&#8217; and the &#8216;Phenomenal One&#8217; for their epic Undisputed WWE Championship clash at\u00a0<em><strong>WWE Backlash<\/strong><\/em> in France. It will be one thrilling Friday night, that&#8217;s for sure. Without further ado, here is a preview of\u00a0<em><strong>SmackDown<\/strong><\/em>. Let&#8217;s run it down.<\/p>\n<h3>Full WWE SmackDown Match Card:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>WWE Draft &#8211; &#8220;Two-Night Extravaganza Begins This Friday on SmackDown on Fox&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Contract Signing for the Undisputed WWE Championship Match for WWE Backlash in France between Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles<\/li>\n<li>CM Punk Appears Live on SmackDown<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"tw-target-text-container\" class=\"tw-ta-container F0azHf tw-nfl\" tabindex=\"0\">\n<h3 id=\"tw-target-text\" class=\"tw-data-text tw-text-large tw-ta\" dir=\"ltr\" data-placeholder=\"Translation\" aria-label=\"Translated text\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiU9MfKy9CFAxWJZmwGHRB_B28Q3ewLegQIBRAU\"><span class=\"Y2IQFc\" lang=\"fr\">Guerre en France<\/span><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Undisputed WWE Champion <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CodyRhodes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CodyRhodes<\/a> has a message for the No.1 Contender, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AJStylesOrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AJStylesOrg<\/a>&#8230; \ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n<p>NEXT WEEK: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWEBacklash?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWEBacklash<\/a> Contract Signing! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SmackDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#SmackDown<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/696QbhMobi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/696QbhMobi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 WWE (@WWE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1781498937192415434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On last week&#8217;s\u00a0<em>SmackDown<\/em>,\u00a0<strong>AJ Styles<\/strong> had an epic bout with\u00a0<strong>LA Knight\u00a0<\/strong>in their rematch from\u00a0<em><strong>WrestleMania XL<\/strong><\/em>. However, this wasn&#8217;t just any rematch.<\/p>\n<p>This contest determined who will challenge\u00a0<strong>Cody Rhodes<\/strong> for the Undisputed WWE Title at\u00a0<em>Backlash<\/em> in Lyon, France. Styles did everything in his power to win, and it paid off big-time, setting his date with Rhodes for the title.<\/p>\n<p>While this was all happening, Cody and the Raw roster were on a tour in the UK. Even a country away, Rhodes made it crystal clear that he had no intentions of relinquishing his title anytime soon and issued a stern warning to the &#8216;Phenomenal&#8217; former two-time WWE Champion.<\/p>\n<p>This week&#8217;s iteration of Friday night fight night will see both men sign on the dotted line to make it official. How will this epic confrontation pan out?<\/p>\n<h3>Superstar Shake Up<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vhs2Gi4ItpA?si=seQ5nX2kmR97pcWy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>While not a Premium Live Event, the WWE Draft is an event that the WWE Universe clamors for. This excitement has been built up for years due to the unpredictable nature of this show.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve seen\u00a0<strong>John Cena<\/strong> move from\u00a0<em>Raw<\/em> to\u00a0<em>SmackDown<\/em> and back on <em>Raw<\/em> again, all on the same night back in 2011. In 2006, we saw the &#8216;Wrestling Machine&#8217; <strong>Kurt Angle<\/strong> join the &#8216;Tribe of Extreme.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Who could forget the 2004 WWE Draft, in which \u00a0<strong>Triple H<\/strong> himself moved from his show <em>Raw<\/em> to <em>SmackDown<\/em>?\u00a0These moments shaped the perception of the WWE Universe that anything can\u00a0<em>really<\/em> happen in the WWE. And that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s an event that many look forward to once it rolls around.<\/p>\n<p>Who will be moving to which brand on the first night of the WWE Draft? Find out more on this week&#8217;s WWE SmackDown, only on\u00a0<strong>Fox<\/strong>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"iYB33c\">\n<div id=\"tw-tmenu\" class=\"tw-menu\">\n<h3>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/h3>\n<p><em>Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013\u00a0<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s\u00a0WWE SmackDown will host the first night of one the most exciting events\u00a0WWE has: the WWE Draft.\u00a0On this installment of\u00a0WWE Friday Night SmackDown, the promotion&#8217;s core will be shaken as every superstar on the rosters of the Blue brand,\u00a0WWE Monday Night Raw,\u00a0and WWE NXT are all up for grabs. Plus, we will see the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3735,"featured_media":124098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2192,26,4,3],"tags":[145,140,98,4994,8857],"class_list":["post-124094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-north-america","category-wrestling","category-smackdown","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-aj-styles","tag-cm-punk","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-wwe-draft","tag-wwe-draft-2024"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3735"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}