Vince McMahon appearance to kick off WWE SmackDown
An appearance by Vince McMahon will kick off WWE’s residency at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.
WWE announced this morning that Vince will open tonight’s episode of SmackDown: “BREAKING: @VinceMcMahon will kick off Friday Night #SmackDown LIVE TONIGHT from the #WWEThunderDome at 8/7c on @FOXTV!”
This will be Vince’s first appearance on WWE television since he was part of Triple H’s 25th anniversary celebration on SmackDown in April.
In addition to Vince’s appearance and the debut of WWE’s ThunderDome virtual fan experience, three matches have been announced for tonight’s SmackDown. AJ Styles will defend his Intercontinental title against Jeff Hardy, Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro will defend their SmackDown Tag Team titles against The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado), and Big E will face off with Sheamus in a singles match.
Tonight’s SmackDown is the go-home show for SummerSlam. It will feature the final build to Braun Strowman’s Universal Championship defense against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at Sunday’s pay-per-view.
WWE’s agreement with the city of Orlando to use the Amway Center runs through October and there will be no in-person fans. Raw, SmackDown, and PPV events will take place there.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.