Nick Aldis Placed on Administrative Leave as SmackDown GM Following Night of Champions Fallout

WWE has confirmed that SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis has been placed on administrative leave, triggering a management shake-up on the blue brand. The news broke during Monday Night RAW, with the company announcing a temporary replacement will step in while the situation plays out.

The move stems from the fallout of Night of Champions, where a heated confrontation set off a chain of events that ultimately led to Aldis being sidelined. While the specifics of what escalated things to this point are still developing, WWE made clear the decision was significant enough to address on live television rather than quietly handle behind the scenes.

Aldis had been serving as SmackDown’s on-screen authority figure, a role he stepped into following his departure from NWA, where he had a lengthy run as both champion and figurehead. His transition to WWE brought a polished, old-school gravitas to the GM position, and his absence — even temporarily — leaves a notable void in SmackDown’s authority structure.

With a replacement now in place, the direction of SmackDown’s creative landscape could shift in the short term. Whether Aldis’s leave is a short-lived storyline development or something with longer-range implications remains to be seen, but WWE clearly intends to make the transition a focal point of the product going forward.