Why WWE Is Taping Next Week's SmackDown On July 19

Fans in Omaha, Nebraska will have a bumper taping of Friday Night SmackDown on July 19. In addition to a live episode of SmackDown, WWE will also tape the July 26 edition of SmackDown this Friday. 

Mike Johnson of PWInsider noted that WWE will tape next week's SmackDown later this week due to the company's house show tour of Japan. Talent will need to travel to Japan in time for the shows and many of the wrestlers planned for the tour wrestle on the SmackDown brand. 

WWE will head to Japan next week to hold their first show in the country since 2019 on Thursday, July 25 at Edion Arena in Osaka. The company will then hold two more shows at Ryogoku Sumo Hall on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27 before heading back to North America.

Talents advertised for the Japan house shows include Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kairi Sane, and Dakota Kai. Meiko Satomura is also advertised for the shows in what will be her first WWE matches since March 2023 when she lost to Roxanne Perez on an episode of NXT. 

Satomura was previously heavily featured on WWE NXT UK but the brand was shut down in 2022 only days after Satomura dropped the NXT UK Women's Championship to Mandy Rose.