Backstage Notes From 12/16 SmackDown

Fightful Select has shared some backstage notes regarding the December 16 episode of "SmackDown."

First off Fightful Select has reported on who were the producers behind last night's matches. Petey Williams produced the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match between the champions Damage CTRL and Liv Morgan and Tegan Nox, while Road Dogg produced the match between LA Knight and Bray Wyatt.

Jamie Noble produced the Intercontinental Championship match between Ricochet and the current champion Gunther, Jason Jordan produced the segment between The Bloodline and John Cena, and Adam Pearce produced the Hit Row vs. Legado Del Fantasma vs. Viking Raiders match. 

The dark match between Mustafa Ali against Mansoor was produced by Shawn Daivari. It was noted in the report that Ali is still on the "Raw" brand, but because his family was in attendance, he was booked for the "SmackDown" match. 

Fightful also reported that last night, WWE taped two shows and Gunther is now stylized as GUNTHER. 

Due to what is being called a "nightmare travel situation," Kevin Owens was written out of last night's episode. Owens was originally supposed to be face-to-face with the Bloodline and introduce the video of John Cena. It was also noted that fans were buzzing about the hooded figure, which ended up being Xia Li. The speculation was that the hooded figure was either Chelsea Green or Deonna Purrazzo. According to Fightful, Green is slated to make WWE her return soon, while Purrazzo is still under contract with IMPACT Wrestling.

Full results of last night's episode of "SmackDown" are available at this link here.