Backstage News On Producers For This Past Friday's WWE SmackDown

The December 2 episode of "WWE SmackDown" emanated from Buffalo, New York, and aired on FS1 instead of FOX due to college football coverage. The episode featured a few notable headlines including the return of Tegan Nox, plus the finals of the WWE World Cup tournament that took place in the main event. Fightful Select reports that the show produced "nearly 56 minutes" of in-ring competition across only four matches.

Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus was the opening bout produced by Chris Parks, formerly known as Abyss in TNA. Fightful noted that this was the first Zayn vs. Sheamus singles match since August 2016, although they have crossed paths over the years in multi-man matches including the recent Survivor Series: WarGames main event. Molly Holly produced Emma vs. Shayna Baszler. This was Emma's second televised match since returning to WWE in October. It also marked the first time she ever faced Baszler one-on-one.

Adam Pearce was in charge of producing Kofi Kingston vs. Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER in a non-title match. This was another first-time-ever matchup, which was ultimately won by GUNTHER. Damage CTRL appeared in-ring for a promo segment, which was interrupted by Liv Morgan and included the WWE return of Tegan Nox. Shawn Daivari produced the segment as Fightful noted that Nox's involvement was not "telegraphed internally" although her deal to return had "been done for quite some time."

In the main event, Ricochet took on Santos Escobar in the finals of the WWE World Cup tournament. Jason Jordan produced their 20-minute clash. It marked the first time the two had crossed paths in a WWE ring after previously competing against each other on "Lucha Underground" in years past. Ricochet pinned Escobar to win the tournament, earning himself a future shot at GUNTHER's Intercontinental title.