On Monday nights where can you find me? Watching “WWE Raw.” On Thursday nights, “TNA Impact.” On Friday’s, I’m at work and ignoring the “Smackdown” brand all together. Why is this?You would think as a pro wrestling fan I’d be watching all three shows. That’s not the case, however. “Smackdown” is considered the ‘B’ show, even in WWE. They claim that they care equally about both shows, but we can see that that is far from the truth.
I had the opportunity to go see “WWE Smackdown Live” on May 2 at US Bank Arena. The only good match on the entire show was Chris Benoit vs. Finlay. The match was mostly a technical wrestling match, which is what I prefer to see. The other matches were just fillers and promos. The only other good thing about the show was afterwards getting my picture with WWE Smackdown Ref “Little Natiche” Charles Robinson (WCW fans will understand the reference).
When comparing “Raw” to “Smackdown,” you can see they focus more storylines around the Raw wrestlers. They also have more main event wrestlers on “Raw.” I can name the main eventers on “Smackdown” with one hand: Rey Mysterio, JBL, and The Undertaker (when he shows up). That is definitely sad.
What’s even worse is that WWE’s competition, TNA, has gained more viewers on Thursday nights than people watching “Smackdown” on Friday nights. That’s another thing: why would WWE change “Smackdown” to Friday nights? Most people are out on Friday nights. It’s just another way to show that WWE has no love for the “Smackdown” brand.
What’s WWE doing to fix this? Bringing the ECW brand back (the brand that Vince bought out like WCW). Sure, it will bring in the ECW crowd, but what about trying to get “Smackdown” viewers? Don’t get me wrong. I liked watching ECW, but why not try to get your ‘B’ show to be watched before you bring in another brand?
One thing that might help this lack of interest in WWE’s “Friday Night Smackdown” is getting rid of the roster split. The split began in 2002. It was a good idea at the time, but now that some of the older wrestlers are going away and newer guys are coming in, getting rid of the roster split would help a great deal and possibly save the “Smackdown” brand.
I remember watching both “Raw” and “Smackdown” before the roster split, because I could see what the outcome of Monday night’s storyline involving HHH and Stone Cold was. How would HHH react? Will Stone Cold beat the crap out of him again? Now I have to wait until the following Monday to see how this progresses. My advice to Vince. “Get rid of the roster split!” That way more fans would be willing to watch both shows and gain interest once again in the WWE as a whole.