Are Fans getting ripped off at Smackdown House Shows?

[C.Msupporter]

It's Always been obvious that RAW is the Superior Brand, mostly because they have the better roster which makes all the overall matches better. But when you pay the same price to see a RAW house show over a Smackdown Show, the fans are kinda getting ripped off.

At your Standard RAW House Show, you get 3-4 Lower/Mid Card Matches (one or two are pretty decent) then another 2 Good Main events.

At a Smackdown House Show you get like 5 of these Lower/Mid Card Matches(1 Match will be good, 2 if your lucky) and then a Main Event. When you read some of the match card results you notice that Smackdown House Shows have more battle Royals, Mostly so people won't just walk out when they realise this wasn't worth their money.

Sorry but when you compare the calibur of matches between both sets of House Shows, Smackdown is barely worth it for Money.

 

[klunderbunker]

I was at a Smackdown house show back in January and it was a blast. There were two very good matches (Kofi vs. Ziggler and Edge vs. Kane) and the rest was pretty solid. Everyone was working hard and they put on an entertaining show. I think a lot of the fact that you're there helps a lot because while the card looks weak on paper, a match between Chris Masters and Cody Rhodes was really fun because Masters got us into a quest of his to slap Cody in the face. You get to see the matches have more time and let things develop better. On paper it may look weaker but being there live helps a lot. At least that was the case at the show I was at which didn't have the battle royal aspect to it.

 

[Lucid]

You know what I think is more of a "ripoff"?
When certain posters here, in defiance of all posted signage and any common courtesy for their fellow "fans" make post after post about spoiler material.
That said, I do not think there is any swindling going on in reference to house shows.
Consumers know what they are paying for, and they pay for it.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Isn't SD shows usually less expensive? Raw came there the Valley of the Sun in January and the cheapest seat was 35 bucks. For the show here in June, the cheapest seat is only 20 bucks. Maybe it is just our wacky state. lol


I don't think the fans are getting cheated. If you watch the television, you pretty much know what to expect. The flashier/bigger names will be at the Red shows while the guys that could give you your money's worth as a wrestling fan will be at the Blue shows. It is up to the buyer if they want to go or not.

 

[C.Msupporter]

I must agree to the fact that Smackdown does up the fan interection to make things more interesting but i still find RAW house shows better value for money

 

[Azane]

Every local event I went to was cross brand (Small venue too)
but the Midcard and high fliers are WAY more fun to watch live, I'd go as far to say I'd rather watch Smackdown with their pre-draft roster than their current lineup.

 

[therockiswwf]

The WWE has the same interaction for both brands at house shows. Being there live always makes everything more fun (well except NXT that always sucks). More major stars are on Raw but Smackdown is where the wrestling and more development is at. Now the development part can be argued now, but for a few years, Raw was at a standstill with the mid-card/main eventers. Smackdown is great but when compared to Raw, Smackdown is not as exciting.

PS - They have battle royals for pops, fun, something to do. Happens at Raw ones too.

 

[Defekt]

Raw may be superior, but I dont't think its a rip off to go to a Smackdown show. The guys try just as hard, and the WWE generally delivers what they advertise.

 

[Yesiamaduck]

I always find Smackdown shows are more entertaining then Raw ones on the whole, both on and off TV. The in ring ability of the guys on Smackdown is arguably greater then that on Raw.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Well this is my 2006 expeirnece when RAW and Smackdown! Brands came to the my country in the same year (in a 11 month span).

On paper you would think RAW would have had a better show since at the time the roste had John Cena, Edge, Ric Flair, RVD, Triple H, The Big Show, and Mick Foley. While Smackdown had Batista, King Booker, Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, and Mr. Kennedy.

In actuality I enjoyed the Smackdown! show a lot more for some reason. Considering it was 2006 and the Smackdown Roster was considered "weak" it was quite an accomplishment but looking beyond the main event card and seeing the mid card Smackdown had Finlay, Matt Hardy, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Chavao Guerrero, Willaim Regal, Bobby Lashley, Big Vito (wearing a dress), and The Miz.

In a 3 hour event full of wrestling (and no storylines) I'd rather see the Smackdown main event and mid card roster with RAW main events and Snitsky, Eugene, Tyson Tomko, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, Torrie Wilson, and such.

Interesting story is that this was a time when the The Miz virtually meant nothing. I was watching with my friend and he told me that he enjoys The Miz and actually sees him as a big player down the line. I scoffed but did see some promise in his inring ability. 4 years later who would have thought he would have risen the way has now.

What's my point here? Well Smackdown! is often seen as the Wrestling show and, while, RAW does have a stronger Midcard now than 2006. I see the Smackdown! roster more than capable of having a great show. I mean seeing Chavao Guerrero in 12 min House Show match shows his wrestling ability more than a 4 min TV match.

 

[justinsayne]

I'm going to a SD! house show at the end of the month, and am looking forward to it, for me it's gonna be a shit load of fun being able to see guys like Orton, Christian, Barrett, Zeke, Sheamus, Bryan, Kane, Rhodes etc. finally preform live

As said before alot of the fun of going to a show is just being there live, the atmosphere is fucking amazing, I went to a TNA house show last year, and that was fun as all fuck too, and I didn't know shit about TNA at that point, I hadn't been following it for months, I just want to see it live cause I knew a live wrestling event is gonna fun, adn I was right, I despise the product they put on TV but if they decided to come back I'd go again

 

[baufan2025]

Wow, very very disappointing. I'm going to give a positives and negatives breakdown.

Negatives:

*Feels like a House show, production values are non existent.

*Maybe 2 out of 10 or so matches for the night was worth watching, the others where borefests.

* Every time a wrestler talked on the mic you couldn't hear a word they where saying. It's like the sound system was turned down too low, again that's a mark against production.

*The Arena was maybe 1/8 of the way full, I saw more people in town for Cats and other broadway shows. Birmingham used to have huge wrestling crowds. I point the finger at this on the lack of advertising. I have seen few tv and print ads for this event in the last few months.

Positives

*Sin Cera was entertaining.

*Triple Threat main event was good as well.

Overall I don't know if the WWE has given up on Smackdown or what, but they should just go ahead and cut the show all together if that is the type of tour they are going to put on. This show wasn't worth the ticket price. It feels like pieces are there to put on entertaining shows, they just aren't been booked well at all.

 

[baufan2025]

Wow apparently it was a house show. Which it mentioned nowhere on the ticket master or events site. Wrestle Birmingham used to put on better shows than that Smackdown one. I slept on it and I'm still pissed about the quality of said show.