WWE recently held the first SmackDown after WrestleMania 38 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the show was stacked with huge matches. It turns out that former WWE stars have assisted in producing the matches.
Former WWE stars reportedly produced matches on SmackDown
According to Fightful Select, several former WWE star helped produced matches and segments for the show. These individuals are working as producers on a tryout basis.
“A couple of new names have popped up backstage in WWE as producers. The former Curtis Axel, Joe Hennig, is serving as a producer for WWE on Smackdown this week on a tryout basis. Axel hasn’t wrestled since his WWE release two years ago, although we’re told there has been interest on the behalf of independent promotions. Hennig is tasked with producing the Sasha Banks vs. Liv Morgan match directly under TJ Wilson/Tyson Kidd.
“Another name is Ariya Daivari, the brother of WWE producer Shawn Daivari. The 32-year old has been very active since his 2021 WWE release, as he’s worked NWA, New Japan, and AEW as recently as a month ago in addition to several indie companies. He helped produce the Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre match under Abyss.”
The latest edition of SmackDown saw the debut of three NXT 2.0 stars- Raquel Gonzalez and 2/3 of Imperium (Gunther and Marcel Barthel) all made their main roster debut. WWE had changed the name of Barthel and Raquel Gonzalez to Ludwig Kaiser and Raquel Rodriquez respectively. We will have to see what the company has in store for them moving forward.
