5 Surprising things that could happen on a new "sports-centric" WWE SmackDown on Fox

This guy may get mentioned, whether WWE likes it or not

5. Expect some mentions of former stars... and even other companies?

We'll kick things off, as I tend to do, with the least likely of our ideas - but one that isn't completely without merit.

Like any other broadcast network, Fox treats its sports programming along the same lines as it does its news department. Essentially, when they're broadcasting a sporting event (such as the Super Bowl, for example), they're treating it as if they're covering a live news event. Obviously, there are differences - I don't really remember Tom Brokaw ever yelling "Awesome, baby!" during a broadcast, though I can't say I've seen every news report he's ever done.

While there's a certain expectation that the new version of SmackDown will still retain the appropriate level of "kayfabe" (for example, don't expect anyone on the shoe to actually say "kayfabe"), there's a strong possibility that you may hear the commentators speak of a wrestler's former employer - or matches with another former employee that is currently working for another company. At least, more so than they do now, anyway.

We're not saying that you can expect SmackDown's announce team to mention Ring of Honor or All Elite Wrestling every show - that's kind of ridiculous. But, if a situation calls for it, don't be shocked to hear something along those lines, either. It would certainly be in a manner more cavalier than when CM Punk or Sami Zayn mentioned the competition (oh, yeah, CM Punk - I suppose he might come up once or twice - unless WWE considers that completely non-negotiable.)

It's all in keeping with a more "sports-like" presentation, and we're more than confident that both Fox and WWE can find a happy medium when it comes to this sort of thing.

Or, I could be completely wrong.