Potential reason why WWE added SmackDown stars to the World Heavyweight Championship tournament - Reports

A new report has emerged indicating why WWE chose to have SmackDown Superstars compete for RAW's new world title.

During the recent WWE Draft, the current Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns, was picked by SmackDown. This means the new World Heavyweight Championship will be exclusive to the red brand. However, Triple H later announced that a series of matches on both brands would take place to crown the new champion.

According to a recent report from Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio, the ongoing NBA playoffs have led the company to spread its content to give fans a big reason to tune in.

"If people are wondering why the RAW world title is being in a tournament on SmackDown, this is the reason. They know left to a normal show right now will do a poor number, so they cannot do a normal show this week, and AEW knows the same thing." [H/T TJRWrestling]

Last night on RAW, Seth Rollins won a triple threat match and later defeated Finn Balor to qualify for the world title match at Night of Champions on May 27, 2023.

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Former WWE writer criticizes the booking of RAW

Although many were happy to see Seth Rollins earning a shot at a world title last night, it seems not everybody was overjoyed with how the angle was executed.

Speaking on Sportskeeda's Legion of RAW, wrestling veteran Vince Russo slammed the predictability of this week's red show.

"Looking at tonight's show, you got the three matches, you got the three ways, you know Rollins is going over. There was heavy speculation that Brock was gonna scr*w Cody. It's just that you know these things going in. You knew they were gonna spend 20 minutes on the main event at the end. The wrestling purists are gonna go nuts because it's gonna be a five-star match. How many five-star matches can you watch?" said Russo.

Russo added:

"You know Seth is going over. You're sitting there for 20 minutes just waiting to see the obvious. I don't know how I'm supposed to put that over." [2:49 - 3:45]

This week on SmackDown, six other WWE Superstars will compete in a series of matches, with the winner facing Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2023.

Who will face Seth Rollins at Night of Champions? Give us your predictions in the comments section below.

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