Next week, we are going to witness the season premieres of WWE Raw on the USA Network and WWE SmackDown on Fox. WWE news channels have been speculating about the changes that will be made in the shows ever since WWE’s announcement of SmackDown’s move to Fox. WWE Raw is also reportedly under a new contract with the USA network. The season premiere of WWE Raw on USA network will take place on Monday, September 30, 2019, and WWE SmackDown’s Fox debut will take place on Friday, October 4, 2019. Thus, we will get to see a lot of changes and additions made to the two biggest signature brands of WWE. The 2019 WWE draft is scheduled to take place on the October 11, 2019, episode of Friday Night SmackDown and the October 14, 2019 episode of Monday Night Raw. The Wild Card Rule will cease to exist after the draft and the rosters will be strictly brand-exclusive. There will also be changes in the commentary teams of Raw and SmackDown.
The first major change is the introduction of new logos for the brands. The SmackDown logo has gone through a major change while a minor adjustment has been made for the new WWE Raw logo.
New graphics have been made for both shows as was seen on the announcements for Brock Lesnar’s return to WWE Raw and the WWE Championship match on Friday Night SmackDown on Fox.
It is expected by several WWE news sources that there will be an addition of new intro music for both the brands. The SmackDown intro song will reportedly be ‘Are You Familiar’ by AC/DC and the WWE Raw intro song will be ‘Legendary’ by Skillet. These songs have been used for promoting the season premieres of the shows but since no official announcement has been made by WWE about their addition as intro songs, they could have been used strictly for promotional purposes.
According to WrestleVotes, both WWE Raw and SmackDown are getting an “updated, fresh feeling set.” There has been word around the WWE news channels that the iconic SmackDown fist could make its return as SmackDown moves to Fox. This, however, is only a speculation, and still seems unlikely to happen. WWE Raw will definitely get a new set as well, the details of which have not been revealed by WWE news, but it is expected that the new set will be attractive and better than the current set, as WWE is aiming for better episodes and higher TV ratings. It has been speculated by WWE news channels that WWE 205 Live and NXT UK commentator Vic Joseph will be taking veteran commentator Michael Cole’s place in the Raw commentary team. Vic Joseph commentated on August 19, 2019, episode of Monday Night Raw and made a good impression on the WWE Universe. The two-man booth is expected to return, but it has not been officially confirmed by WWE.
A lot of changes can be expected to be seen in the broadcasting teams of all the shows televised by WWE after WWE SmackDown’s move to Fox.
There is no solid information about WWE bringing back the pyrotechnics, but the addition of pyro to the new sets will surely bring back the original aura of WWE and it will help them in making their sets for WWE Raw and SmackDown more attractive and the atmosphere more energetic.