Reported reason why WWE booked the world heavyweight title tournament on RAW and Smackdown

In regards to why WWE booked the RAW world heavyweight title tournament matches on television instead of having them take place at a premium live event, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com brought up Monday night’s NBA playoff games as being a factor. Meltzer stated that it was WWE’s attempt “to avert what otherwise could be one of the biggest third hour drops in history.”

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer mentioned that AEW booking the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley steel cage match for Dynamite was for the same reason…

“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.”

“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.” (quote courtesy of WrestlingNews.co)