Why WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament Has SmackDown Stars Involved

During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed WWE is using the World Heavyweight Title Tournament to try to increase television ratings while going up against strong NBA playoff competition.

“This whole show was designed to try to save viewers from switching over," Bryan Alvarez said.

Dave Meltzer added, “I will tell you Monday, Friday, and Wednesday, all three of those shows were booked 100% to hail mary. ‘We got to try to save as much as we can.’ AEW is basically booking a pay-per-view on Wednesday night. They’re coming back and putting the Raw World Title…if people are wondering why the Raw World Title is in a tournament on SmackDown, this is the reason – because they know a normal show right now will do a poor number, so they cannot do a normal show this week. AEW knows the same thing. We know what these numbers will end up doing…..wrestling fans are definitely getting benefited greatly by the fact that both of these promotions know that this is a bad week with that Warriors/Lakers series.”

The finals will take on May 27 at WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia.