SmackDown to be Improved?

[Big Red Jericho Punk]

2009 Smackdown was the only reason to watch wrestling. Punk, Mysterio, Hardy, Taker, Jericho, Morrison, and Truth were all really fun to watch. It was the wrestling show with compelling storylines. Even in early 2010 when Edge came back, it was miles ahead of Raw. Then the 2010 draft came and Raw took Jericho, Morrison, Edge, Truth away. Then Smackdown fell off.

It needs to be improved, too many run on matches and lack of innovate ideas on the show.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Yeah, I'll believe this when I see it...

 

[Deezy]

All Smackdown! realy needs is comprehensive storytelling to call its own and kick ass wrestling matches. On a Friday slot, there isn't going to be as much interest as a Monday show anyways, should be the place where WWE does their experiments.

 

[SAIYANS]

When was the last time SD was really on par with Raw? I guess you could make a case for 2008/09 but I reckon that was more due to the fact that the booking of SD was lightyears better than Raw (Especially in 2009) rather than pure strength. Honestly the last time I can remember was the days of the SD 6 back in 2002/03 which is really a shame.

When HHH and Jeff were there probably.

SD for years could always be a must watch for casuals with Dave, Rey, Edge, and Taker being exclusive to their brand. They really have no core guys now though, let alone a 4 headed monster like that

 

[CGS]

When HHH and Jeff were there probably.

SD for years could always be a must watch for casuals with Dave, Rey, Edge, and Taker being exclusive to their brand. They really have no core guys now though, let alone a 4 headed monster like that

Yeah that was 2008 I believe. Even then I would still say Raw had the much stronger roster and was treating like the "A" show, Just a case of the booking being awful so SD capatilised big time.

 

[SAIYANS]

I agree but getting HHH and Jeff was huge for them. They had a big title feud and series. SD also had a ton of big moments. They reunited the Hardy Boyz and the Brohers of Destruction. They created and crowned their own female champion.

Stuff like that is what all separated things from them then, and them now. They had their own brand and they were only sharing talent with ecw too.

SD needs an exclusive roster, a Thursday slot, and its own feuds. 3 hours is a semantic thing. I don't like it personally and I feel they would need NXT talent called up. They also should start a hour earlier IMO if they do make the move as opposed to ending a hour longer. I get the thinking straight away that the only way they can appear equal like back in the day is if they have a similar running time, so its a bullet to bite. Plus I get why SyFy may like it, its a high rated hour added to their network and Universal in general, much like with USA and Raw,

 

[PHX]

2009 Smackdown was the only reason to watch wrestling. Punk, Mysterio, Hardy, Taker, Jericho, Morrison, and Truth were all really fun to watch. It was the wrestling show with compelling storylines. Even in early 2010 when Edge came back, it was miles ahead of Raw. Then the 2010 draft came and Raw took Jericho, Morrison, Edge, Truth away. Then Smackdown fell off.

It needs to be improved, too many run on matches and lack of innovate ideas on the show.

Yeah 2008-2009 Smackdown was the shit for me personally. In 08 still am a fan of Trips title run on Smackdown specifically his feud with Jeff Hardy. Then in 2009 Jeff/Punk is one of my all time favorite feuds still. Just a lot of excitement during that period. If they want to get back to that they need to keep the rosters exclusive and let Smackdown be the wrestling show it was. SD usually was the show that seemed to have T.V matches of the year left and right. That and actual storylines is all that is really needs to be improved. Ever since the brand split basically ended SD has just been a watered down extension of Raw that get lucky to get Punk or Cena on the show every blue moon.

 

[Zolph Diggler]

Splitting the brands again would be the best thing moving forward. Let SmackDown be the entry for young superstars, let them build up on SD and move them to RAW some time down the line.

 

[Deezy]

Splitting the brands again would be the best thing moving forward. Let SmackDown be the entry for young superstars, let them build up on SD and move them to RAW some time down the line.

Noone is splitting brands in a contract year, WWE fell into this Syfy contract after CW told them to fuck off. They are lucky to even have Smackdown!, this is contract year, they want their rights fees doubled. Not going to potentially fuck that up by saying, "we're going with young talent on this show". Why would Syfy sign on for that? Even though it is their higest rated program, they can easily use the excuse that wrestling doesn't help the other shows on Syfy. Wrestling fans only watch wrestling, and maybe that isn't the audience they want to attract. Easy counterpoints in a contract year. So it would be to WWE's best interest to promise having John Cena, Orton and Punk on Smackdown!.

 

[Troy]

Splitting the brands again would be the best thing moving forward. Let SmackDown be the entry for young superstars, let them build up on SD and move them to RAW some time down the line.

I don't think WWE have enough big names to have two separate rosters. It made sense after the Invasion storyline since they had so many stars that the best way to utilise them was for two different rosters but now it wouldn't work. Smackdown can be a place for them to experiment but they still need the appearances from the big names as well and splitting the brands would be too restrictive.

 

[SAIYANS]

I don't think WWE have enough big names to have two separate rosters. It made sense after the Invasion storyline since they had so many stars that the best way to utilise them was for two different rosters but now it wouldn't work. Smackdown can be a place for them to experiment but they still need the appearances from the big names as well and splitting the brands would be too restrictive.

I would say RVD, Jericho, Big Show, Ryback, Henry, Christian, Del Rio, Swagger, Cesaro, Miz, Rhodes, and Sandow should be the exclusive focus of SD.

Raw can easily make due with Punk, Cena, Sheamus, Bryan, Orton, Shield, Wyatt Family, Kane, Kofi, Truth, Vince, Trips, and Rock, Brock, and Takers appearances. Dolph and Big E, the Bellas, AJ, Vickie, and so on can fill it out with the poor per segments and promo time

If one things been seen, its that RVD can bump their viewership. They just need to drop some of his house show dates, same with Jericho and the two giants. I would also bring Mysterio back on a TV and ppv schedule to SD.

They can be separate, its just that they need to assign the right guys. Then fill out the midcard with wrestling amongst the divas, tag teams, and NXT call ups. Oh and I would give Heyman and Axle steady time there

 

[Deezy]

Exclusives kind of breed stagnant shows, there are just so many times you can have feuds between this guy and that guy all year before a draft, which I hated btw, what a waste of a show drafts were. Also, if you need star power from Raw to boost Smackdown! ratings when it starts dipping as it does, whats to say you don't start getting Batista's and RVDs bitching about being on the B show again?

And when did people stop adding the "!" to Smackdown!?

 

[CGS]

Exclusives kind of breed stagnant shows, there are just so many times you can have feuds between this guy and that guy all year before a draft, which I hated btw, what a waste of a show drafts were. Also, if you need star power from Raw to boost Smackdown! ratings when it starts dipping as it does, whats to say you don't start getting Batista's and RVDs bitching about being on the B show again?

And when did people stop adding the "!" to Smackdown!?

And they shows ain't stagnant already? . Even without the brand split we tend to have the same feuds carrying on for months on end so separating the shows and in the process giving a lot more guys airtime seems like a win too me. Plus while I do think it worked a hell of a lot more back in 2002 because they basically had 3 companies mixed into one I still do think it could work in this day and age. Especially when you consider all the guys still down in NXT.

Honestly just gotta make sure the star power is split pretty even and you would be fine.

 

[Troy]

I would say RVD, Jericho, Big Show, Ryback, Henry, Christian, Del Rio, Swagger, Cesaro, Miz, Rhodes, and Sandow should be the exclusive focus of SD.

Raw can easily make due with Punk, Cena, Sheamus, Bryan, Orton, Shield, Wyatt Family, Kane, Kofi, Truth, Vince, Trips, and Rock, Brock, and Takers appearances. Dolph and Big E, the Bellas, AJ, Vickie, and so on can fill it out with the poor per segments and promo time

If one things been seen, its that RVD can bump their viewership. They just need to drop some of his house show dates, same with Jericho and the two giants. I would also bring Mysterio back on a TV and ppv schedule to SD.

They can be separate, its just that they need to assign the right guys. Then fill out the midcard with wrestling amongst the divas, tag teams, and NXT call ups. Oh and I would give Heyman and Axle steady time there

I still don't think that it would be a smart move. Three of the top draws you named for Smackdown are part time and therefore won't be working house shows, how will they draw on the road with Ryback, Henry, Christian and Del Rio as the top guys? It just isn't worth splitting them especially at a time when more veterans are working part time deals and quite a few big names are nearing the end.

Logically separating the rosters would give more time to some underutilised midcarders but it never works out that way and all that ends up happening is more time spent on the top names of each brand.

 

[Deezy]

And they shows ain't stagnant already? . Even without the brand split we tend to have the same feuds carrying on for months on end so separating the shows and in the process giving a lot more guys airtime seems like a win too me. Plus while I do think it worked a hell of a lot more back in 2002 because they basically had 3 companies mixed into one I still do think it could work in this day and age. Especially when you consider all the guys still down in NXT.

Honestly just gotta make sure the star power is split pretty even and you would be fine.

What shows are you watching? I've seen no drawn out feuds the past two or three years, sure there have been rematches, but you do that at any wrestling tv show. it's TV.

I'd rather watch Bryan/Barrett's of WWE than see anything from the Zack Ryders/Yoshi Tatsu's of WWE.

A brand split isn't going to automatically make stars, besides Cena, what star has Smackdown! made who wasn't already an established guy somewhere else?