Is this the End of Smackdown

[Ceen]

I just was looking at the PPV’s since Wrestlemania. There has not been a Smackdown PPV Main Event, as there has been a really decrease in the roster and the show, as there has been too long storylines (Jeff and Nakamura or Nakamura and Styles, or even now is probably gonna be Miz vs Bryan).
There is any way to solve it?
Obviously, the first thing is came back to the Branded PPV, as there is more depth in both cards and we can see a lot more of the midcard.
The second could be an Unification of the World title, as there are two (as I said in the old forum) and one turns irrelevant, as it happaned with the World Heavyweight Championship a few years ago. You can keep it relevant with divisions and not as brands.
Also, we can notice a lack of star power (Shane) in SD, as if he is not involved in the brand. Probably Smackdown is winning Survivor Series due to some sort of civil war in RAW and they are gonna make it look as both brands are on the same level.

How you predict the future of the brand?

 

[Hyorinmaru]

As long as it's making money it's not going anywhere.
They won't be unifying the titles any time soon either. As for not being the main event of a PPV does it really matter when you're consistently putting on amazing matches regardless of card placement?

What they are going to do is exactly what they're doing now which is be a lot more entertaining than RAW and having the best wrestling out of any show not called NxT

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The thing is that right now like you said, they're is too much depth in WWE, that's why the brand split exist. The brand split was more for the live events then for t.v. mostly because it gave them a reason to have title matches on both set of shows.

As far as PPV is concern, i feel they don't see the main event concept the same way we do. For us, the main event is the last match on the card, for them it's pretty much the world title match. In fact if you go by their logic, Summerslam had three main event. Raw had 2 with the Reigns/lesnar and Rousey/bliss matches and smackdown has one with Styles vs Joe. That's there logic. On big show they don't have one single main event anymore, it's the Raw main event and the smackdown main event and sometimes you have a women's main event when Ronda rousey is on the card. That's the WWE way and it won't change anytime soon.

Personally, i actually liked it when you had single branded PPV because it gave guys that never got a chance to be on PPV to be on it and all the titles fro that brand were defended on a regular bases. Now, if you're not on in the top tier of the roster, you're not getting a match on the show and sometimes they don't even find a way to get all the champions on the card because they don'T have enough space on the show for everybody. For god sake, the cruiserweight title as been defended twice on PPV since the brand split. How do you want to promote that brand if they don'T get any exposure on PPV.

Anyway, this is just a long way to say that right now, they like that model because that model works and they can't unify the titles because it would make the brand split obsolete if they do that, plus ending the brand split would mean they would have to do the one thing they hate to do lately and that'S do the spring cleaning of the roster and release a bunch of guys they don't need anymore.

 

[Dave]

Definitely not. And for a few convincing reasons.

First, WWE is about to celebrate the 1,000th show of Smackdown's tenure. I've heard a few rumblings that the WWE are going to make a big deal of this, kind of similar to what they did with Raw 1000 and Raw 25th Anniversary. In fact, I'm sure SD is just behind Raw as one of the longest running TV shows of American TV. The WWE loves little tidbits of info like that and love to push their own accomplishments in these markets.

Second, I'm sure that the WWE are just about to sign a very lucrative TV deal for their two biggest shows. The viewer numbers may have fallen since the Attitude Era but they are still very respectable and do good business. Cable channels know that the WWE gets an audience and are about to pay (or have paid) record sums to have them on their channel.

Lastly, the WWE can I'll afford to start winding down TV shows when they look totally devoid of depth as it is. Raw is struggling for the most part and audiences are diminishing. Taking half of their product away is counter intuitive to say the least.

What this really reeks of is Smackdown being treated like the B-Show, as it always has been and always will be. Sometimes, Smackdown gets a turn and seems to be making strides forward. But, whilst Vince is in charge, that's the way it'll always be.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

With the fact that they sign of multi year deal with FOX to air smackdown on a big network on Friday night next year, I don't see smackdown going anywhere, in fact I wouldn't be surprise if they try to make it feel more important after mania next year so that when it debuts on FOX, it feel like the a show.

Smackdown will get a lot more exposure when they move to fox, so It's going to get more of a big place on Ppv I'm guessing. But for now, they won't focus as much on it since It's leaving USA next year and the network doesn't care about smackdown.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I wish they would go back to more branded PPVs. So many Raws and SDs feel like they are in a holding pattern with the longer breaks between PPVs. It was also nice to get a larger variety of talent with more time and in "bigger" spots.

But all that said, I don't think SD is going anywhere. It is clearly the B brand, at least when it comes to having the last match of the night but that doesn't mean it is going anywhere. This isn't a new phenomenon and it hasn't gotten that much worse. If anything, SD has increased its level of talent over the past year via the recent talent switch. Throw in the Fox deal and SD may very well become the A show.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

No. And that's not an opinion. It's a fact. First of all, they signed a billion dollar deal with FOX. So Smackdown isn't doing anywhere for at least 5 years. That alone pretty much answers your question. But, they also have a ton of wrestlers and a ton of space to fill on the WWE Network. And they're making money. They're not getting rid of Smackdown.

The reason there is no Smackdown main event is because Lesnar and Reigns are on RAW. RAW is also the flagship show. That is all. That is the reason.

 

[Malefic Messiah]

I enjoy SD more often than I enjoy Raw so I for one would prefer it if it were to remain for the foreseeable future. I'm a big fan of AJ Styles too.

 

[ABMorales787]

Raw blatantly favored over Smackdown is not something new. The last time the Smackdown brand World title headlined a show was Hell In A Cell 2009. The last time it headlined Wrestlemania was Wrestlemania 24. The first brand extension ended in late 2011.

Will the Fox deal change things? Who knows. If WWE is good at one thing, it's dragging things past their point of expiration and a brand extension is no different. Bringing it back has been hardly helpful to WWE's overall presentation and feels more like a sped up version of the first one. In the end Smackdown will just be the shorter of the two shows.

 

[thebarber]

Jesus what a dumb thread. They just signed the richest television rights deal I. History with Fox to air Smackdown live. Of course it’s not dead or going anywhere. WWE continue to shove Reigns and Lesnar down our throats as the”main event”, I can’t recall AJ. Styles headlining a joint ppv since he won it 11 months ago. It’s a joke, he’s the best they have