THIS is the original write-up I had for this episode, which I FULLY planned to follow:

Several WWE stars will not make it to tonight's Friday Night SmackDown on Fox due to plane issues in Saudi Arabia.

There is a lot of turmoil right now in Ring Of Honor as a veteran performer who was working as a producer for the company has been let go and it is causing a big rift within the locker room.

A sheet writer has actually been tabbed to be one of the people involved with "WWE Backstage" on FS1. WWE has also experienced a drastic drop in  income recently which is causing concern and may be based on a fan exodus that started after the disappointment that was Hell In A Cell.

All of these issues and MORE will be discussed TONIGHT.

THEN a whole group of NXT stars were brought up to fill in and the best of SmackDown in years happened. Sit back and enjoy my analysis of Friday's episode.