Reason For WWE Raw & SmackDown Double Taping On August 24

While Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown often air live, that won't be the case in the coming weeks.

It was announced by WWE that Monday Night Raw on August 24 from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada will get underway at 6 pm ET. This is because of WWE holding a double taping at the event, with the Friday, August 28 episode of SmackDown being taped following Raw on Monday.

WWE will then tape both the August 31 edition of Raw and the September 4 episode of SmackDown on August 28 from Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, with WWE not resuming live tapings until the September 6 edition of Sunday Night's Main Event.

According to Fightful Select, the decision to tape multiple weeks of WWE TV was in order to provide WWE wrestlers and staff with some time off before the company heads to Mexico and South America for an upcoming tour.

WWE's tour begins on Wednesday, September 9 with a house show in Quito, Ecuador. WWE will hold live events in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile, as well as live tapings of SmackDown and Raw from Mexico City on September 11 and September 14. The tour will finish up with the September 14 episode of Raw before WWE returns to the United States.