October 29 WWE Friday Night SmackDown Set To Be Pre-Taped

WWE are reportedly planning on pre-recording the Friday 29 October 2021 episode of Friday Night SmackDown the week before. 

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE are planning on taping two episodes of SmackDown back-to-back on Friday 22 October in Wichita, Kansas, with the October 29 show in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania being called off. 

While no reason has been given for the Wilkes-Barre show being called off, the report indicates that the explanation is related to COVID-19. Tickets had not yet gone on sale for the event, so no refunds are needed. 

With no live show on October 29, WWE will instead tape two SmackDowns in Wichita the week before. What makes the development even more interesting is that the Friday 22 October SmackDown comes just 24 hours after WWE's next visit to Saudi Arabia, for Crown Jewel 2021 on Thursday 21 October. 

Should WWE endure travel issues, such as they did following their Saudi Arabia show in October 2019, then it will be two episodes of SmackDown affected by a potentially depleted roster instead of just one.