Backstage News, Producer List for WWE Raw & Smackdown May 9-13
Fightful learned of 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 against Ciampa: Abyss
– Bianca Belair vs. Asuka: Petey Williams
Smackdown producers:
– Riddle vs. Sami Zayn: Abyss & Ariya Daivari
– Ronda Rousey vs. Raquel Gonzalez: Petey Williams and Molly Holly
– Madcap Moss Promo: Adam Pearce
– Sasha Banks & Naomi vs. Shayna Baszler & Natalya: Tyson Kidd
– Kofi Kingston vs. Butch: Jamie Noble and Joe Hennig.
– Roman Reigns Promo: Michael Hayes
Other ratings
– There were no producers listed for the Ezekiel/Kevin Owens or Judgment Day promotional segments
– There were three matches scheduled to be taped for the main event, versus the usual two. There was conflicting information internally between the summaries. 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 race sheets, Ariya Daivari was supposed to produce Truth and Otis’ draw, which we’re told isn’t accurate.
– Raw was listed as 45% used and 50% with comps for the show, based on the maximum arena 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) during the pre-show, and Bobby Lashley vs. Omos (produced by Jason Jordan) after the show.
– This appears to be good news for Ariya Daivari, according to internal WWE documents.
After a month of service as a producer with help from others behind the scenes at WWE shows, Daivari was listed on internal rosters for his first solo assignment last Monday. While taping the company’s Main Event, he was assigned to produce Akira Tozawa against Apollo Crews. Other docs had him listed to produce a tie between Otis and R-Truth for the same recording, but we’ve confirmed that it was in fact to be Shane Helms. Usually during the trial period there is a veteran producer listed with someone who gets the trial.
Joe Hennig, who also participated in the tryouts, was not listed on WWE Raw, but did participate in the Smackdown tapings. Ariya Daivari was back to work with a veteran producer this Friday.
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