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Stone Cold to Join Smackdown Kickoff, Remind Us When WWE Was Good

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Stone Cold Steve Austin will be a special guest on tonight's Smackdown kickoff show on Fox. The network is hoping to boost ratings for what it's calling the Season Premiere of Friday Night Smackdown, even though Smackdown is a show that runs all year long without any breaks. And Fox has apparently learned from WWE that the proper way to boost ratings is to bring in stars from the Attitude Era, so that's what they're doing with ol' Stone Cold.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin finally gets his hands on Mr. McMahon during the Royal Rumble Match: WWE
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin finally gets his hands on Mr. McMahon during the Royal Rumble Match: WWE.

In addition, baseball star David Ortiz and NFL star George Kittle will be joining the Smackdown kickoff show. Renee Paquette (fka Renee Young), Booker T, and… ugh… Michael Cole will be hosting the show. In an unusual move for WWE, there are already five segments booked for Smackdown tonight. Usually, WWE just likes to let wrestlers get into disagreements backstage and book matches on the spot, but this week they've made some plans. Roman Reigns will defend his Universal Championship, for instance, against Braun Strowman in the main event, with Strowman headed to Monday Night Raw the following week as a result of last week's WWE Draft.

Fox Sports released this graphic for the Smackdown kickoff show.
Fox Sports released this graphic for the Smackdown kickoff show.

In addition, meathead incel Lars Sullivan will face Jeff Hardy one week before Hardy also moves to Raw. The New Day will have a final match together as a trio against Sheamus, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura, with Big E stating on Smackdown but Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods moving to Raw. The Street Profits, who traded belts with The New Day ahead of their move to Smackdown, will defend the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. And also, Daniel Bryan will make his return to WWE and his first appearance in the Thunderdome.

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Jude TerrorAbout Jude Terror

A prophecy once said that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero would come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events. Sadly, that prophecy was wrong. Oh, Jude Terror was right. For ten years. About everything. But nobody listened. And so, Jude Terror has moved on to a more important mission: turning Bleeding Cool into a pro wrestling dirt sheet!
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