WWE comes through Orlando yet again — this time for a broadcast taping of their Friday night Smackdown show, airing on Fox — and if it seems like they’re a little bigger and buzzier every time they’ve come through post their pandemic “Thunderdome” residency at Amway, you’re not wrong.
The Smackdown ratings are currently monstrous, with the July 7 broadcast their highest rated episode in three years, and the kudos for that can be laid squarely at the feet of Universal champion Roman Reigns and his cohorts Paul Heyman, Jey and Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa for their masterful work in the long-running but consistently compelling Bloodline angle. So you know they’ll be there on Friday.
Add to that surging grapplers (or in WWEspeak, “Superstars”) like Austin Theory, Pretty Deadly, Bianca Belair and Edge and baby, you’ve got yourself a stew. Give up, tap out, submit, you have to acknowledge (“me,” as Reigns might say) that this is quality soap opera.
7:45 p.m. Friday, July 21, Amway Center, 400 W. Church St., amwaycenter.com, $20-$120.
Kia Center
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This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2023.