Is Monday Night Raw killing SmackDown?

[The English Dream: Diety Sodes]

It's threads like these that make me want the brand extension back.

Smackdown can be hit or miss, but one constant is the fact that it is diluted with recaps and replays from Raw; surely that's what Bottom Line is for? The creation of Main Event baffles me because if WWE trimmed the fat from Smackdown, the wrestling that's on Main Event would fit comfortably within the 2 hour broadcast.

[silrock316]

I'm sorry but this question has a fairly obvious answer.

Firstly,

- Its the secondary show: It doesn't have guys like Cena and Punk consistantly on the show building storylines.

- It is NOT live: When you can read spoilers you already know what is going to happen so you aren't going to go out of your way to watch something you already know is going to happen. Maybe if its live and you don't know, you will have a tendency to stay in and watch the show opposed to reading results and bypassing it. If you read the results of a movie are you going to sit in and watch it from start to finish? Probably not because you know the end game.

-Its day and time slot: Its on Friday nights during the 8-10 time slot. Meaning lots of people are either going out or having friends over.

To me it simply boils down to those 3 things.

[3drinks]

I watch all three shows, RAW, Smackdown!, iMPACT! though I feel this is mostly out of "routine". I am so used to it that I always make sure I can make time to watch my shows. While it's obvious that World Wrestling Entertainment needs to do something more to spice things up (and yes, I do believe TNA is better at the moment) nevertheless I still find myself waiting to tune in and watch.

This is probably from my watching religiously since 2000 and the "Who ran down Stone Cold" angle.

[TempestH]

Originally Posted by AttitudeChild

Monday Night Raw is basically just SmackDown right now. Besides the CM Punk, John Cena and Brad Maddox stuff everything else is a SmackDown storyline. Team Rhodes Scholars, PTP, Rey & Cara, Team Hell, 3MB and all the other tag teams are made up of SmackDown Superstars. The Intercontinental title is a SmackDown championship and the US title is held by a SmackDown Superstar. The Divas title storyline belongs to SmackDown(As well do most of the Divas). Orton, Berrate, Sheamus, Show and Del Rio? I mean come on. If anything, Raw isn't killing SmackDown, SmackDown is saving Raw.

Actuually, the two midcard belts "switched" shows. The Intercontinental Title is the RAW midcard title now, and the U.S. Title was given to SmackDown's Cesaro to make up for giving the IC Title to Miz. But other than that, you're right. Most of the roster is technically on SmackDown.

Honestly I think that at this point they should just restructure the brands, and give up on the idea that they are any bit equal. I think that all of the high tier guys like Orton, Sheamus, etc. SHOULD be officially drafted to RAW, and all of the midcarders like Ryder, Santino, etc. should be officially drafted to SmackDown.

Let RAW be the flag ship show with all the high tier guys. And instead of pretending that SmackDown is RAW's "sister show" let SmackDown be the show where the midcarders are allowed to shine and get over with the fans, with 1 or 2 big names randomly showing up for a marquee match for the sake of ratings/ticket sales. Basically make it a combination of Superstars' and Main Event's concepts.

[Azane]

In the ratings game, Smackdown is doing well, and for being on the channel and timing, it's doing extremely well.

But as to personal feelings, It has killed Smackdown for me. I haven't watched a single Smackdown since they made Raw a supershow, I've just really lost interest as Smackdown feels like Sunday Night Heat now. Nothing important to the story happens there, and I'm not missing anything major by ignoring Smackdown. It feels like it's a waste of 2 hours with the current way the product has gone.

As much as I hated the brand split, it was much more necessary and I can see it clearly, now that the split has been blurred. Without major championship decisions and overall storyline progression being a main selling point of Smackdown, it's felt much less interesting. It's similar to why I stopped watching it a few years ago, when they showed the RAW Rewind 8 times a night, and I got more Smackdown on my Raw.

3 Hour Raws have been hit or miss for me, as sometimes they can fill those 3 hours, but that extra hour does hold my rationalization back from watching both products, I rarely watched WWE-ECW/NXT for similar reasons, as I know my limits of overdosing on wrestling that turn me off the product no matter how good (although I could watch RAW, Nitro, Thunder and Heat all together when I was younger).

I think it's fine though, as WWE pushes RAW more than Smackdown, it's not hurting Smackdown's overall appeal, and RAW is flourishing in my view, now.


As someone touched on too, Smackdown has always been a bit lighter on me, because I can't avoid spoilers no matter how careful I am. When Swagger took the title off Y2J a few years back, it made me watch a youtube video of that moment, but I felt the entire show was a wash out without paying attention, live Smackdowns use to appease me, but they don't save any surprises for them like they used to, it just conveniences their schedule. RAW still has the "anything can happen" feel every now and then.

[Mustang Sally]

Smackdown is simply a grander version of old back up shows like "WWE Superstars" and "Tuesday Night Titans" (which I'm old enough to just barely remember). Of course, those shows had no original match content, only recaps from RAW and a few clips from house shows, while Smackdown has original content, which is what makes it a grander version.

But Smackdown was never intended to beat or be the equal of Raw. Originally, it was just a way of giving us even more exposure to the biggest stars in the company at that time: The Rock, Stone Cold and Triple H. The Rock even called it "my show." Interestingly, with the end of the brand extension, the show has largely gone back to the star format, giving the lesser performers less exposure. If the company has Smackdown performers they want to push, they're moved to Raw: ex: 3MB. Slater, McIntyre and Jinder were all Smackdown wrestlers, but when they're given a feature segment, we see it on Raw.

No, Raw isn't killing Smackdown. The secondary show is what it's supposed to be. Some weeks, the writing for Smackdown is pretty good and the production runs slickly; at those times, it seems the show can thrive on it's own. On other weeks, the writing is uneven and I don't even care if Smackdown is on or not. After all, if we want to see Smackdown headliners like Orton and Del Rio, we can see 'em on Raw (which is probably the big reason this topic is asking whether the #1 show is killing #2).

Honestly, I never understood why the powers-that-be thought Smackdown would serve them better on Friday night after having originated the show on Thursday. Friday isn't a good TV night; it's the weekend. Of course, now that TNA operates on Thursday, the argument might be moot. But I liked Smackdown on Thursday night much better than Friday. It'd be interesting to see what would happen to TNA if Smackdown was moved. Probably we'd wind up with "TNA Impact on Wednesday Night."

[MWRedskins]

no, RAW isnt killing Smackdown. Smackdown isnt really a show that WWE is trying to make as great as RAW, dont get me wrong, they want Smackdown to be great, but not compared to RAW. if they wanted Smackdown to be as great as RAW, then guys like Punk and Cena would be there weekly, but they arent. my one issue with the show is there's too many matches where we usually know the winner, the World title picture isnt one i love and i admit, the spoilers do tend to not help the show, but i will usually watch it if something really interesting happens, like a new world champion, it's not killing smackdown though, RAW is the A show and Smackdown is the B show.

[Dagger Dias]

I watch both shows, and enjoy both. I'd certainly say though that Raw entering its Supershow format last year was bad for Smackdown. The brand lines being basically done away with made it to where Smackdown guys can appear on Raw. If we can see people who were originally Smackdown exclusive on Raw then that makes watching Smackdown less of a priority. Say guys like Sheamus, Orton, Del Rio, Barrett, or Big Show were only seen on Smackdown and never on Raw. Would you watch Smackdown to see them? If you can see them on both brands, just about any fan is more likely to watch Raw over Smackdown. Raw was the "A" show and the flagship brand before the Supershow format was even in place, so fans have pretty much always viewed it as more important.

The fact that it's still in taped format does not help either. Raw is live so you do not know what to expect. I watch Smackdown because I enjoy both brands, however I will be completely honest here, I find Raw superior in nearly every category. Smackdown tends to have better matches, but that is it. Raw's Supershow and lack of brand lines have indeed done a number on Smackdown. I won't go as far as to say that it's killing the blue brand, although it's definitely not helping it. Some wrestlers and some Championships should be Smackdown exclusive if they want it to receive more attention. They seem to be content with the way things are going though and fans will continue to remain far more interested in Raw with guys who SHOULD be Smackdown exclusive appearing on both shows. I'm not complaining though, I watch both brands every week anyhow.

[KNPKH2ster]

SmackDown is meant to be the secondary show. The problem is over saturation of the product. Ever since Raw went 3 hours, and the addition of Main Event, there is nothing that makes SmackDown a must see show. I watch Raw live, and DVR SmackDown but I don't watch the whole SD episode since there are some things that already happened on Raw.

[XXJJ]

Originally Posted by TempestH

Let RAW be the flag ship show with all the high tier guys. And instead of pretending that SmackDown is RAW's "sister show" let SmackDown be the show where the midcarders are allowed to shine and get over with the fans, with 1 or 2 big names randomly showing up for a marquee match for the sake of ratings/ticket sales. Basically make it a combination of Superstars' and Main Event's concepts.

Yeah, I wouldn't be against that, but if they do that they need to unify the World and WWE title and just get rid of the brand extension. Turn Smackdown back into the 2nd tier wrestling show instead of a 2nd tier brand. The Raw's during the attitude era were great because you had Austin, DX, Rock, Undertaker,Foley, Kane etc all on one show. When you have Cena, Orton, Punk, Sheamus, Ryback, Daniel Bryan etc all chasing after 1 world title you will have a fresher world title scene. Raw wont have much filler because all your top stars storylines will all take place on Raw. They could make Raw really action packed where you feel like you cant miss an episode.

Like you said, focus more on midcard title feuds and the tag titles on Smackdown. Have longer wrestling matches on SD. Obviously your not going to turn Smackdown just into a midcard show because of ratings and attendace..Have Cena show up on SD and push whatever current angle he is involved in, next week Orton shows, then Punk etc etc.

I feel like they either need to go back to a real brand extension or just completely get rid of it. I dont like what they are doing right now... Having the World and WWE champion show up on Raw every week is just stupid. Plus, they are trying to spread out the smackdown storylines with both shows every week and they just end up repeating ideas and watering down their product.