WWE SmackDown Start Time Tonight (05-22-2026)
WWE Friday Night SmackDown starts tonight (May 22, 2026) at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT broadcast live on the USA Network in the United States and streamed worldwide on Netflix. The show takes place from Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky and acts as the go-home episode before Saturday Night’s Main Event XLIV in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Here is everything you need to know about the start times for the broadcast tonight:
SmackDown start time by timezone
| Region | Timezone | Start Time | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii, USA | HST | 2:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Alaska, USA | AKDT | 4:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Los Angeles, USA | PDT | 5:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Denver, USA | MDT | 6:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Chicago, USA | CDT | 7:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| New York, USA | EDT | 8:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Toronto, Canada | EDT | 8:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Halifax, Canada | ADT | 9:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| São Paulo, Brazil | BRT | 9:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina | ART | 9:00 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| St. John’s, Canada | NDT | 9:30 PM | Fri, May 22 |
| London, UK | BST | 1:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Dublin, Ireland | IST | 1:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Lagos, Nigeria | WAT | 1:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Berlin, Germany | CEST | 2:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Paris, France | CEST | 2:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Rome, Italy | CEST | 2:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Cairo, Egypt | EEST | 3:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Moscow, Russia | MSK | 3:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Istanbul, Turkey | TRT | 3:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AST | 3:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Dubai, UAE | GST | 4:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Karachi, Pakistan | PKT | 5:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Mumbai, India | IST | 5:30 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Dhaka, Bangladesh | BST | 6:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Bangkok, Thailand | ICT | 7:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Jakarta, Indonesia | WIB | 7:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Singapore | SGT | 8:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Hong Kong | HKT | 8:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Beijing, China | CST | 8:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Manila, Philippines | PHT | 8:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Tokyo, Japan | JST | 9:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Seoul, South Korea | KST | 9:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Sydney, Australia | AEST | 10:00 AM | Sat, May 23 |
| Auckland, New Zealand | NZST | 12:00 PM | Sat, May 23 |
Jake is an SEO-minded Football, Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief, Sports SEO Coordinator for NationalWorld and SEO Writer for F4Wonline.com. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012 under the name Jake Jeremy. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop, The Hard Times and Sportskeeda.
Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.
He previously worked for the (then) biggest independent wrestling company in the UK, PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.