Backstage News, Producer List For WWE Raw & Smackdown From May 9-13
Fightful learned the following producers for WWE Raw on May 9:
– RKBro vs. Street Profits: Michael Hayes
– Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley: Molly Holly
– Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest: Petey Williams
– VIP Lounge with Omos: Adam Pearce
– Alexa Bliss vs. Sonya Deville: Shawn Daivari
– Veer Squash: Shane Helms
– Cody Rhodes vs. Theory: Jamie Noble
– Sasha Banks & Naomi vs. Doudrop & Nikki ASH: Kenny Dyskstra
– Mustafa Ali vs. Ciampa: Abyss
– Bianca Belair vs. Asuka: Petey Williams
Smackdown Producers:
– Riddle vs. Sami Zayn: Abyss & Ariya Daivari
– Ronda Rousey vs. Raquel Gonzalez: Petey Williams & Molly Holly
– Madcap Moss promo: Adam Pearce
– Sasha Banks & Naomi vs. Shayna Baszler & Natalya: Tyson Kidd
– Kofi Kingston vs. Butch: Jamie Noble & Joe Hennig.
– Roman Reigns promo: Michael Hayes
Other notes
– There were no producers listed for the Ezekiel/Kevin Owens or Judgment Day promo segments
– There were three matches scheduled to be taped for main event, up from the usual two. There were some conflicting information internally between rundowns. Reggie vs. T-Bar (produced by Kenny Dykstra), R-Truth vs. Otis (produced by Shane Helms) and Akira Tozawa vs. Apollo Crews (produced by Ariya Daivari) were the Main Event matches listed internally. On some run sheets, Ariya Daivari was supposed to produce the nixed match of Truth and Otis, which we’re told isn’t accurate.
– Raw was listed as 45% utilization and 50% with comps for the show, based on the arena’s max capacity in Hartford.
– “Hell in a Selfie” was the working title of the show.
– The Smackdown Dark match was Viking Raiders vs. Los Lotharios (produced by Shawn Daivari) on the pre-show, and Bobby Lashley vs. Omos (produced by Jason Jordan) after the show.
– It seems like some good news for Ariya Daivari, if internal WWE documents are to be believed.
After a month of serving as a producer with the help of others backstage at WWE shows, Daivari was listed on internal rundowns for his first solo assignment this past Monday. During the company’s Main Event taping, he was tasked with producing Akira Tozawa vs. Apollo Crews. Other documents had him listed to produce a nixed Otis vs. R-Truth match for the same taping, but we confirmed that was actually scheduled to be Shane Helms. Usually during the trial basis, there is a veteran producer listed with someone getting the tryout.
Joe Hennig, who also participated in the tryouts, was not listed on WWE Raw, but participated in the Smackdown tapings. Ariya Daivari was back to working with a veteran producer that Friday.
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