{"id":193039,"date":"2026-07-07T14:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=193039"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T18:40:09","slug":"wwe-smackdown-preview-the-new-wwe-champion-to-appear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2026\/07\/07\/wwe-smackdown-preview-the-new-wwe-champion-to-appear\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE Smackdown preview: The new WWE Champion to appear"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-2096052985\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p><b>By Jason Powell<\/b>, ProWrestling.net Editor (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prowrestlingnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@prowrestlingnet<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><i>The following matches and events are advertised for Friday&#8217;s WWE Smackdown.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>-New WWE Champion CM Punk appears<\/p>\n<p>-U.S. Champion Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes in a non-title match<\/p>\n<p>-Finn Balor vs. Tama Tonga<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Powell&#8217;s POV:<\/strong><\/span> WWE added Punk to the lineup since our last update. Smackdown will be live on Friday from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at Paycom Center. Join me for our weekly live review as Smackdown airs Fridays on USA Network (and Netflix internationally) at 7CT\/8ET. My same-night audio reviews are available exclusively for <a href=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/dot-net-membership-benefits\/\">Dot Net Members<\/a> (including our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/prowrestlingdotnet\">Patreon<\/a> patrons).<\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-1594194893\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":141755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[321,101,31],"class_list":["post-193039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsticker","category-wwe_news","tag-cm-punk","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-smackdown"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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