During Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, viewers at home observed numerous instances of black screens. The FOX network employed these screens to censor inappropriate fan chants during the show.
While fans at MSG engaged in several explicit chants during SmackDown, the network chose to black out the screen instead of muting the feed, creating an impression of a technical malfunction. This decision, however, was made solely by the network and not WWE.
Fightful Select is reporting that WWE expressed frustration over these edits. The frequent blackouts inadvertently portrayed the company in a negative light, giving the impression of technical feed issues rather than acknowledging the disruptive live chants.
Before the live broadcast of SmackDown, fans at MSG started the evening with inventive and potentially controversial chants, including “we want Dijak” chants for the departed WWE Superstar.
The report states, “There was frustration by several WWE sources we spoke to over the heavy censorship and editing on Smackdown. One longtime WWE talent who wasn’t on Smackdown saw our tweet regarding being excited for Smackdown to move back to USA and said ‘it’s a chore to watch sometimes. I understand censoring ‘f**k the Pacers,’ but it feels like every segment is edited and it makes us look like it’s our production.’”
Notably, Netflix will offer an uncensored platform for WWE RAW starting in January 2025, while SmackDown’s move to the USA Network may also provide greater flexibility in handling similar situations.
