With its pending move to a network, ‘SmackDown’ can become a must-see wrestling show again, but it will take some effort on WWE’s part for it to become a reality.
Arguably the biggest wrestling news of the past week didn’t occur in the ring on television, but in a network boardroom. Last Tuesday at USA Network’s upfront presentation it was announced that SmackDown is going to be moving from Syfy to USA in the first quarter of 2016. Though on the surface this is just a bit of corporate reshuffling since both networks are owned by NBC/Comcast, it actually makes a great deal of sense that could impact fans beyond simply changing the network that they’re watching on Thursday nights.
For one, WWE programming on Syfy always seemed to be an incongruous pairing, one borne of necessity when the show moved from The CW to MyNetworkTV for one year, before landing on Syfy in 2010. Sure, the network tried tie-ins like scheduling Haven(featuring WWE Hall of Famer Edge) afterwards for a time, but it always felt like a forced marriage. Having both of the major WWE shows under one network’s roof, with Raw already staked out Monday nights, is more streamlined and lets fans know without hesitation where they can go to watch WWE’s weekly programming.
Perhaps the bigger benefit is that this move could force WWE to begin treatingSmackDown like an equal to Raw, or at the very least like a 1A companion as opposed to the often-forgettable, recap-laden show that it currently is.
For years, there’s been a clear hierarchy in WWE’s TV product. With the exception ofNXT, which has become its own alternative brand, it’s long been Raw as the flagship,SmackDown as the obvious B-show where moments of consequence happen infrequently, Main Event as the forgettable C-show, and Superstars as the show that only the hardest of the hardcore fans watch.
With this new arrangement, however, you’d think that due to USA’s higher profile as a cable network when compared to Syfy, it’ll likely be expecting a bigger return on its investment with SmackDown than Syfy was getting -especially with USA now taking an hour out of a night that it’s done decent business on with its original programming. With Raw typically drawing an average of four million viewers give or take each week, it’s likely that USA will be expecting similar (or at worst only slightly reduced) numbers with SmackDown instead of the roughly two and a half million viewers that SmackDown has been bringing in for Syfy.
In order to do that, there are two pretty clear options at WWE’s disposal that could make SmackDown must-see television once again. Option one is to return to the brand split that WWE eliminated in 2011. By making some wrestlers exclusive to Raw and others exclusive to SmackDown, WWE would be letting fans know that in order to see their favorites, they’d have to tune into a specific show on a specific night.
It would also force WWE to begin exhibiting more creativity in booking its feuds. Over the past few years, a pattern has developed where if Wrestler A is feuding with Wrestler B, they’re opposite one another in singles matches, tag matches, promos, etc. for the entirety of the month, as if there’s some hard and fast rule that no other individual can be involved in those two wrestlers’ orbit. Stretching those feuds over eight shows leading up to the blow-off causes the story to seem more than a little tired by the time the PPV comes around. By cutting that timing in half with a brand split, feuds would be fresher and the PPV matches would feel bigger once again.
One of the largest roadblocks with this plan, however, would be that WWE would have to make the resulting rosters as even as possible, instead of showing favoritism towards Raw like they did during the brand extension days. This might be less of an issue now that both shows are on the same network, though nothing is out of the question when dealing with Vince McMahon’s ego, as Raw has long been his baby.
Perhaps a more likely and less radical scenario would be for WWE to run more cliffhanger-type storylines that stretch from show to show in a similar manner to what WCW used to do between Nitro and Thunder before the latter became that company’s throwaway show. This would also theoretically force WWE to do more long-term and interesting booking in its programming, something that’s sorely needed in today’s rewritten-on-the-fly climate. Stories could theoretically be tighter like they are on NXT, which is something WWE’s main product sorely needs.
Maybe it’s being too optimistic, but right now, it seems that SmackDown’s move to USA is nothing but a positive for WWE fans, that is unless WWE insists on keeping the status quo of SmackDown being positioned as a missable show. And no one wants that… least of all USA Network.
Stray Observations:
*Seth Rollins is WWE’s best heel right now and he’s grown in leaps and bounds on the microphone in the last year. He really is the kind of wrestler that you can build a company around. For example, here’s Seth disingenuously trying (and intentionally failing) to put Kane over to the Austin, TX crowd on Raw for being in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal after already hyping The Big Show for winning: “And Kane… Kane was there too. Yeah!” The final “Yeah!” really sells it.
*On a related note, the Rollins vs. Neville match was one of the most excellently booked Raw in-ring segments in a very, very long time. Frankly, this was NXT-level stuff, which any wrestling fan knows is very high praise. They made Neville look more like a star here than they’ve done with almost any other NXT call-up, and it all made perfect sense. Neville having the stones to challenge the champ. Positioning him against the company’s top heel to make sure that the crowd would be behind him. Giving him just enough offense in the match, but having him come up a hair short. Just great, great stuff all around.
*Neville’s SmackDown match with Curtis Axel wasn’t quite as great as the Rollins match, but it just shows how tightly and crisply the Man Who Gravity Forgot works in the ring. He’s really something special.
*WWE actually acknowledged AJ Lee’s retirement, and they did it in a positive manner. That’s frankly more than I was expecting from them.
*In its second week, the John Cena US Championship Open Challenge gave us another really good match as Cena faced Stardust for the title. While some might see this as LOLCenaWins vs. a host of hot names, I’m actually looking at it a little less cynically. It gives the audience a chance to see some fresh matchups and gives WWE a chance to see who on the roster meshes well with one of the company’s top guys. Plus, there has to be some kind of long game in mind, in that whoever takes the title away is going to be huge in many fans’ eyes almost immediately by virtue of beating Cena.
*”We clap, or we snap.” The New Day’s heel turn is working. I like where this is headed, and as with many heel turns, these guys are instantly more interesting than they’ve been in a long time. I think they’re heading towards an eventual feud with the tag champs, but maybe not quite at Extreme Rules yet.
*It looks like we’re going to be treated to a Sheamus/Dolph Ziggler match at Extreme Rules and that’s one that I’m really looking forward to.
*Bray Wyatt cut one of his patented cryptic promos that makes it seem like he’s targeting someone new, but it’s as yet unclear who that might be. Just a guess: Ryback?
*Keeping Daniel Bryan off Raw in order to sell his SmackDown beating from the previous week at the hands of Sheamus was a bit of a curious decision, but it’s beginning to look like WWE wants SmackDown to be top-lined by Bryan and the Intercontinental Championship. If that’s the case, I don’t have much of a problem with them giving Bryan that kind of showcase, to a degree. If he can raise the importance of the IC Title, maybe he can do the same thing for SmackDown prior to the USA move.
*With that said, inserting Roman Reigns and The Big Show into the already announced Bryan/Ziggler vs. Sheamus/Bad News Barrett tag match seemed like a transparent attempt by WWE to try to siphon some of the popularity of Bryan and Ziggler onto Reigns. And to the surprise of many, it seemed like it might have actually worked, as the fans were very into Reigns during the bout, albeit it was a traditionally babyface-friendly Texas crowd.
*Cesaro sarcastically doing the New Day clap right in Kofi Kingston’s face to taunt him on SmackDown was one of the million things that Cesaro does well. If only WWE would take notice of how good this guy actually is.
*Jerry Lawler has long outlived his usefulness. WWE is trying (to moderate degrees of success) to portray the Divas more seriously, yet they still let Lawler spout garbage like “I love it! Catfight!” when two of the women on the roster are battling. Retire him soon, WWE. Your show will be better for it. Also, maybe take Mick Foley’s logical and intelligent suggestion and ditch the “Divas” name and its negative connotations altogether and just go back to calling it the “Women’s Division” while you’re at it.
Extreme Rules Card:
Announced Matches:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Bad News Barrett
WWE United States Championship Match: John Cena vs. Rusev
Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler
Rumored Matches:
Divas Championship Match: Nikki Bella vs. Naomi
Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show
Educated Guesses:
Tag Title Match: Cesaro/Kidd vs. PTPers
Tables Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper
I Quit Match: The Miz vs. Damien Mizdow
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