The Big 12 and WWE announced a partnership bringing Friday Night SmackDown to Big 12 cities during the 2025-26 college football season. There will be 4 events from August 22 to October 31.
All of the events will take place in Big 12 cities on Friday night, before a Big 12 game on Saturday.
Friday Night SmackDown will be coming to Cincinnati on October 3, at Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati. The game the following day will be Iowa State at Cincinnati, which does not yet have a kickoff time scheduled.
Bearcat fans might remember WWE's Monday Night Raw coming to Cincinnati this past year with Bearcats Dontay Corleone, Joe Royer, Brendan Sorsby, and Gavin Gerhardt sitting ringside.
The Monday Night Raw event was such a success that they are bringing it back to Cincinnati as part of the deal with the Big 12.
The Bearcats will be featured in another Friday Night SmackDown weekend when they travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes on November 1. Friday Night SmackDown will take place on Halloween night at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
Other SmackDown Dates:
Friday, August 22- SmackDown at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland (Iowa State vs. Kansas State on Saturday, August 23)
Friday, October 24 - SmackDown at Mullet Arena in Tempe, Arizona (Houston at Arizona State on Saturday, October 25)
Sources: The Big 12 and WWE are expanding their partnership this fall. WWE will hold several episodes of Friday Night SmackDown in Big 12 markets, the night before football games.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) May 29, 2025
Includes a Week 0 show in Ireland before KSU/ISU and an Orlando show before UCF/UNC. pic.twitter.com/ukrGZ23S07