Changes to the WWE Television Taping Schedule

In an effort to cut costs, WWE will be changing the way they tape their television programming. The old way they used to do it was to record Monday Night RAW live on Monday's and then on Tuesday they would record ECW on Sci Fi and Friday Night SmackDown. Under the new plan, ECW will be taped before RAW on Monday night's and two episodes of SmackDown will be recorded every other Tuesday night. This new plan was attempted last week and since it went off without a hitch, it will become the normal taping schedule starting after Christmas.

This move will save the company a few hundred thousand dollars every time they skip a Tuesday taping. It also gives the company some additional flexibility to their touring schedule as the SmackDown brand can travel overseas longer without having to worry about transporting their TV equipment to foreign markets and having to deal with both the shipping and technical issues involved with taping overseas. The WWE has stated on a few occasions that they would like to start touring in China in 2009.

As far as the fans go, those that get to go to the TV tapings will be getting more bang for their buck. On Monday's fans will get to see three hours instead of the normal two hours of televised wrestling. Fans that are going to SmackDown tapings now will be getting to see four hours of tapings instead of three.

The biggest unanswered questions about the plan involve the taping schedule when there is a kink in schedule. What will happen when the company has an odd number of weeks between PPV events? What happens when there is a three-hour RAW special? How will the company handle the schedule when all three brands are overseas?

As far as whether fans will want to watch a show that has been taped so far in advance, I don't see that being a problem. TNA typically records two episodes of TNA:iMPACT! the same week and the ratings of both shows are usually the same.

_{Photo: © 2008 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Friday Night SmackDown can be seen every Friday night on MyNetwork TV.}