Notes On Last Week’s Smackdown: Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns Went Off-Script, Details On Who Was Backstage

UPDATE: According to Fightful Select, Adam Pearce was also not backstage for last week’s episode of Smackdown, which is why he wasn’t a part of the show. The show was described as “short-handed” as there were several names that weren’t there. There were also late changes made.

Original: Ringside News and The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported several notes from the taping, including the fact that Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns went off-script during their segment. While what they said wasn’t scripted, it was noted that nothing happens on the show that isn’t approved.

Paul Levesque has had more influence on the show in recent weeks.

Neither Bruce Prichard nor Ed Koskey were at the taping last week. Koskey was busy with another project while Prichard was on vacation. Ryan Callihan and Mike Heller were present, and Dave Kapoor was brought up from NXT to help out.

One of the reasons that the planned taped segment with Pat McAfee in which he parodied Vince McMahon wasn’t shown was because McMahon didn’t like it. He felt that McAfee didn’t sound or look like him when he was younger. He thought it was stupid and comical “in the wrong way,” thinking it was a “parody of a parody.”