SmackDown Is Firmly The B-Show Now - And I'm Gonna Stop Watching It

[the Omega Brand]

I actually think that Smackdown is in a better position than raw because its storylines have more potential and they actually have new people. In the last year raw went from having John cena, randy orton, chris jericho, etc. being in the main event all the time to having John cena, randy orton, chris jericho, etc. being in the main event all the time. Im sick of it. If anything raw has lost credibility. (I think thats a better word for it.)


(And Zack ryder is on raw. Just Sayin)
( http://www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/zackryder/ )

 

[stilltippin]

Yeah smackdown has been the better show for a couple years now.. this recent draft has messed things up for the show though.. and now i watch it very seldom much like raw..

Im hoping things will fix once we get closer to october first, cuz surely wwe is planning on moving atleast one main guy back from raw.. its so dumb, with all the main talent on raw they aren't even being utilized.

Smackdown should heat back up soon though.

And smackdown has had the better wrestling since the brands split up..idk what you guys are watchin on raw, thats just saturday night live to me.

 

[worldchamp101]

I do believe that Smackdown is losing its prestige. I remember when I started watching wrestling around 2002-2003. Smackdown had great matches and fueds, especially the fued between Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. I used to watch Smackdown religiously. Nowadays, there isn't much that keeps me interested in Smackdown. This past friday I didn't even bother tuning in when Smackdown started. Raw is getting boring as well. The only thing that keeps me interested in WWE is Nexus and I gotta admit even Nexus is getting sort of stale.

 

[bluejt16]

Now Excuse Me If This Isnt The Best Of Therads And There Might Of Been A Thread Like This Before But Ive Got A Point .

Years Ago .. Smackdown Was The Top Brand And Had The Best Supperstars ..
HHH , The Rock And Brock Lesner Some Of The Best WWE Have Ever Had .

Now , Theve Got Drew Mcintrye , Zack Ryder And Luke Gallows .

They Had Some Supperstars Like That Before , But The Matter Of The Fact Is ..

Smackdown Dosent Intrest Me Anymore .

Its Lost Its Prestige .

Okay Theve Got Rey , Kane , Taker And Arugebly Cm Punk .. Who Are Great Wrestles But There Story Lines Bore Me .


What Do You Think On The Matter ?

And As I Said Its My First Theard ..


_________________________________________________________________

"Sweet Chin Of Muisc "

couple of things...

#1 zack ryder is a raw superstar.. he faced sheamus for the wwe championship like 2 weeks ago?

#2 when raw has the likes of goldust, santino and primo how can you mock the smackdown mid card?

#3 IMO undertaker has a bigger draw than any body in the WWE. so that alone gives smackdown prestige.

and finally, although smackdown doesn't have all the best stars you can't lose prestige that fast, taker, big show, punk, mysterio and kane are pretty big in the WWE, all world champions in the past and present and lets not forget that the likes of Cena, batista (not in WWE anymore but still big wwe star in the past), orton all started on smackdown.. really smackdown gains more prestige for that.

 

[kingofkings01013]

What i find funny is that people keep saying how great the Nexus angle is, and simply put it is not. Writing on SD has been bad for a while but that has been company wide. Raw 900th episode stunk!!! It was a Supershow that was it no appearance from veterans, no gm, and no big surprise or anything. PPV have been weakly booked with DQ's and dumb endings to matches being the norm. It is not that SD is bad WWE is just not that good right now, but at least it is way better than TNA. So i guess as long as you doing better than TNA everything is okay (ugh).

 

[balkinator]

Undertaker isn't even close to the number 1 draw. It's clearly John Cena, as evidenced by all the money they make off of him at events and why he's always on the posters for PPVs.

I will say that Smackdown is seriously lacking right now. Swagger isn't enough to hold the crowd, Mysterio is getting old and boring and the SES is dying, even though I think CM Punk is quite good. Alberto Del Rio is a good heel, but they need a push for a face, like Christian or someone like that. Christian, imo, is one of the best technical wrestlers in Smackdown right now and deserves a big push. I just wish people would pay him more attention!

BTW, Zack Ryder is an excellent wrestler and needs a new gimmick and a big push. He could be a real face for the company.

 

[K4P-Unleashed]

I haven't watched SD! in months - that's just an opener; If you asked me what I think keeps me from watching it, it's SD! roster. You've noted this in the first post, but I don't think it's as bad as you say. When Jericho and Edge were on SD!, that was when I watched. When they were drafted to RAW, I don't know why, but CM Punk wasn't enough to keep me watching Smackdown. Now seeing as though Punk is one of my favorites in the business right now, I do miss not being able to see him on TV but it isn't worth 2 hours of my Friday night just to see one wrestler. Has SD! lost it's "prestige", no. Has it lost it's star power, defiantly.

 

[Notorius-NEXUSxBREAKxY2Jx]

Yes it is. I remember when I completely ignored RAW. I hated RAW. SD! was my favorite show but now...you know like I LOVE WWE but SD! is just losing it.. losing stars, lame storylines, superstars...i USED TO BE SO SIKED FOR FRIDAY NIGHTS NOW.. i just watch SD! when I have nothing to do. BTW RAW ISNOT BORING. WWE IS DOING ITS BEST WITH THE TALENT IT HAS.
MARYSE IS HOT! I LOVE HER.

 

[LigerBomb]

Now Excuse Me If This Isnt The Best Of Therads And There Might Of Been A Thread Like This Before But Ive Got A Point .

What?

Years Ago .. Smackdown Was The Top Brand And Had The Best Supperstars ..
HHH , The Rock And Brock Lesner Some Of The Best WWE Have Ever Had .

Since the brand split SD has never been the "A" show.

Now , Theve Got Drew Mcintrye , Zack Ryder And Luke Gallows .

I'll let you respond to that

Theve[sic] Got Rey , Kane , Taker And Arugebly[sic] Cm Punk .. Who Are Great Wrestles

They Had Some Supperstars Like That Before , But The Matter Of The Fact Is ..

Smackdown Dosent Intrest Me Anymore .

Its Lost Its Prestige .

Nothing to say there except please write in complete sentences with traditional paragraph formatting. Seriously, please.

Okay Theve Got Rey , Kane , Taker And Arugebly Cm Punk .. Who Are Great Wrestles But There Story Lines Bore Me .

Suck to be you eh?

What Do You Think On The Matter ?

I think SD is generally an entertaining programme and has always been a venue for talent to display their abilities both in the ring and on the mic. It's given us a lot of great moments over the years and continues to do so; all the while showcasing some of the business's best performers e.g. CM Punk, The Undertaker, Kane, Rey Misterio.

And As I Said Its My First Theard ..

Believe me, it shows. Welcome to the Forums. Please enjoy your stay.

 

[JoonDaGr8One]

On another thread i argued that smackdown wasn't the B show but after thinking about it, it is and the main reason isn't the ME picture its the mid card. Raw has the miz, morrison, ted, r-truth, the great khali, edge and jericho. They have three former champs in mid-card right now. That alot to compete with but they are gonna keep Raw stacked with talent bc its live and that reason alone is gonna always make it the A show. Whoever gets hot on Smackdown and catches fire will be drafted to raw, you can take that to the bank.

 

[coledogripper]

As a lifelong WWE fan, yes, Smackdown has lost it's prestige and is clearly the B show. However, I believe that it is not recently that this started to happen, I believe it started happening as soon as they made the switch to Friday nights in 2005. There was a period of time where Smackdown had it all!! Undertaker, Big Show, Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, etc. but now all that comes to mind when I think of Smackdown is how bad they are ripping fans of with a weak Straight Edge Society and a very annoying Vicky Guerrero (I have always been able to tolerate heels at all times but when she comes out, I immediately change the channel.) If Smackdown would take the same approach that they did in 2002-2004, then they would have an excellent show for the week!!

 

[realdealasshole]

I watched Smackdown for the first time since the days of Stephanie McMahon as the GM this past week. I fell asleep through some of it because I worked a ridiculous schedule the day before, but here's what I can say...what I did see, I enjoyed far more than I've enjoyed any Raw this summer with the exception of that absolutely awful Hornswoggle skit. In fact, that scene literally offended me as a viewer. Do they really expect anyone, even children, to find that entertaining? Awful. Just awful.

Anyways, on to what I saw. I saw a match with Christian that I enjoyed more than any match I've seen on raw this whole summer. There has not been one match on Raw that has kept me into it the whole time. I also saw a women's match which actually kept my attention. Good stuff. The Undertaker/Kane thing, I hate that they're doing the same storyline as they've done a million times, but even with that, Kane's doing awesome and I enjoy that. All in all, that storyline has me more interested than anything Raw has put out there throughout this summer. So as for Smackdown being the B show, even after seeing only 1 hour of the show, I liked it more than I've liked any Raw episode in who knows how long.

 

[The Pagan]

First off I have to strongly agree with everyone's opinion of MVP.....he sucks....he needs to go.

Smackdown does need some work, but it really seems to me that WWE just isn't trying anymore. The 900th episode of Raw was just horrible. I can't believe how bad it was. I think if they switched Edge and John Morrison over to SD it would help quite a bit.

I would have to say my favorite match in the past year or so was the Edge and Christian match on Raw a while back. If they could get Edge over on SD and get the 2 of them going back and forth for a while it would really help boost the ME scene.

Now Morrison is very talented, not real great on the mic (at least as a face), but he had me watching ECW when he was champ there. I think he could really shake up the mid card on SD.

There is plenty to work with on both SD and Raw, but I truely believe that the main problem in the WWE right now is the writers.

 

[balkinator]

I think the best moves for SD would be:

1) Bring R-truth over and get rid of that stupid song at the beginning. Just let it play without him singing. He's a talented wrestler and he could shake some things up.

2) Take Edge or Cena or both over to SD and get people excited about SD again. Cena v Big Show, Cena v Taker, Cena V Kane, Edge v Christian, Edge v Cena, Edge v Kane, etc. So many great opportunities.

3) Let Trip stay on Raw for his return and give Orton a huge push on RAW.

4) Start cross-brand stars from the mid cards to get them more developed and wrestling more. Bring Zack Ryder out (w.o the gimmick), John Morrison, Santino, Hardy, etc and let them have a good cross-brand feud, etc to get more exposure and people tuning in to each of the shows each week.

5) FEATURE DANIEL BRYANT SOMEHOW. He's quite possibly one o the best technical wrestlers out there today, on any show, brand, or company. He is a stunning athlete and needs to be featured.

Oh and I forgot - get Jericho on the way to a Championship of somekind. Perhaps pair him up with someone and give him a push to make him a face again, with cross-brand fights for tag teams - the tag team card is seriously horrible right now.

Oh and one more thing - stop letting Kelly Kelly lose! Just give her a few wins and get her to Trish Stratus fame levels! We want a hot champion, not these bozo bitches that win every week...

 

[darqknyt]

He's the problem: SD! has alot of talent, but its un-developed talent. Drew Mcintyre, Swagger, Cody Rhodes, Kingston, Ziggler & Alberto Del Rio are extremely talented & are all WOrld Championship material.But for some reason, Vince spends time pushing Taker instead of nurturing talent.There is still no valid excuse IMO for Punk having to have jobbed to Taker at HIAC2009.Punk was the hottest heel in the WWE at the time & SD! was brilliant.

Worse still,whenever someone becomes a big deal on SD! (e.g Morrison & R-Truth), they get drafted to RAW.At least SD! has better "wrestling" matches, but has poor storylines, where as RAW's heavy on the "entertainment", low on actual wrestling.

 

[AndyUK]

I agree with you for the most part, although it stook a step in the right direction with the last show for me. I mean, it has always been the B show but it has shown more since the draft when they lost a lot of star power. Since the draft, there really hasn't been much interesting on thes show at all and RAW has been head and shoulders above it. RAW is stronger than it has been in a while. Like I said, I do think it took a step in the right direction last week with a some interesting segments and while they have gone a little OTT with some of the elements in the Taker/Kane feud, such as the music during promos and the special effects, I think it is a compelling story so I'll watch the show just to see that feud again.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

Smackdown is a way better show, less RAW politics, more wrestling, only things I dislike are laycool and the commentary.

Undertaker/Kane is the BEST thing going in WWE right now, finally a fued worth a shit and a new twist added onto their history with KANE finally being depicted as the strong one.

I mean great, let's watch raw, and see Great Khali botch all the time........

 

[Bobby B]

We're a month away from Smackdown's move to Syfy and now you denounce the product.

Yeah, it's pretty ordinary at the moment, but you've got to wait and see what WWE do with it. The talent certainly isn't there right now, but that doesn't mean it won't be.

I'm certain there will be big movers to Smackdown on October the 1st. Edge will go, Jericho might (if he's resigned), and I have an feeling that Orton may move aswell (he certainly should, whether he will is another issue).

Give Smackdown until the end of October. If you don't like it then, fine. But they deserve the chance to give it a re-launch before you give it up.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

• Surrealism. I'd hoped the more surreal elements had died off in the WWE. OK, so professional wrestling is pretty surreal as is, but surreal is a wide spectrum, y'know? Undertaker and Kane bickering over who the devil's favourite demon is and how they build houses out of fire while dramatic music plays in the background is just a bit too rich for my tastes.

• 
  
  I see where you're coming from Sam, but surely this is something to be used to criticize Taker and Kane rather than SD? They've been doing this sort of crap together for 11 years now, it's not something new that the SD writers have suddenly introduced.
  
  

  [*]MVP. Total shit.

  
  The guy is rarely even featured on the show these days. MVP is the new Carlito, just he hasn't started whining about it yet.
  
  

  [*]Alberto Del Rio. People go on about him like he's the second coming of Christ. Other elements of the IWC go crazy for heels and luchadores though, so I can see why their panties would get wet for this guy. Oh my God, he winked! Genius heel psychology! All I see is a Carlito clone with JBL's entrance - cocky heel #3352. I think of Mirko Cro Cop knocking him the fuck out whenever I see him.

  
  I like Rio. Yeah, he has only had 2 or 3 matches, and yes he basically is Carltio with JBL's entrance, but unlike Carlito, he hasn't been given a ******ed gimmick to try and make work. I don't think he's the next being thing by any means, but i would like to see what he can do on PPV, where he's given a good 15 minutes to showcase his talent on a live show.
  
  Plus he beat the shit out of Rey repeatedly and did it in a captivating manner, that's enough to gain my attention.
  
  

  [*]Under-utilisation of Punk. I'm of the opinion that Punk is probably the best promo man in the business right now. Similarly, he'd had a couple of great matches when let off the leash - his ladder match against Hardy, his WM match with Rey. Unfortunately, he's being left in the midcard to stagnate - and the whole SES storyline is starting to draaaaaag. Maybe a return to the main event for Punk would reignite my interest.

  
  A - When he can deliver a quality promo that isn't about being Straight Edge, then i'll agree. Spouting his actual real life views with some exaggeration thrown in and changing the name of the guy he's talking about doesn't say to me that he's the best in the business, when there are guys like Jericho still in the company. He's definitely awesome on the mic, no question about that, but i wouldn't go so far as to say 'the best in the business'.
  
  B - Winning a match over someone who isn't JTG, would reignite my interest. There's nothing wrong with how the SES angle is going, except that they ALL constantly lose, when facing someone from the ME tier. Now i know the heels are supposed to lose when all is said and done, but surely there needs to be at least one win in amongst all the losses? In his fued with Rey, i don't think Punk actually won once did he? So therefore, the highlight of that fued where Punk is concerned, was that he interupted Rey's daughter's birthday. Oooooooooo, aren't you bad ass?
  
  The highlight of their fued with Big Show so far, was that they held him down long enough to stamp on his hand, only to find that when it actually mattered, it wasn't hurt at all. So, 3 guys can't even hurt 1 guy's hand badly enough for it to still hurt just over a week later.
  
  Can you see how they've turned this 3x World champion into a total waste of space, pussy? If he didn't have the mic skills that he does and those 3 title reigns under his belt, i could so imagine him being future endeavoured before WM next year.
  
  

  [*]Raw's really good right now. I mean, really good. SD just looks bad by contrast.

  
  Granted the stories are a lot better, but the matches rarely seem to go on for more than 3 minutes a time.
  
  

  The only bits of the show that I find myself liking are the Cody Rhodes segments

  
  I laugh at them for how terribly homo-erotic they seem to be. I nearly puked when he was giving tips on how to shave your legs.
  
  

  Kofi Kingston matches, which I'm gradually coming round to

  
  I semi-agree. I'm liking Kofi's matches recently. His matches with Drew were good and his matches with Ziggler latley seem to have brought out the best in both of them. Their IC match at Summerslam was probably the best on the card right up until the ending where Nexus ran in and totally ruined that whole match.
  
  SD definitely has it's problems. Hornswoggle and Teddy Long are 2 of them. As difficult as it is to believe, the leprechaun is even more pointless now than he was before switching brands. Teddy Long is so boring as a face GM because he seemingly doesn't even get involved in anything. He just sits there in his office until someone comes in and demands something and that was it. At least when he was purposely getting involved with Drew he was semi-interesting, but he's gone back to being boring as hell.
  
  And somehow Christian has gotten lumped into this whole 'we need to try and make people care about Drew McIntyre' scenario, when they could leave that to Hardy and have Christian work with someone else, like Cody. Instead it's become 'let's lump Drew and Cody together (even though Cody just got out of a tag team) and they can fued with Matt and Christian (two guys who are trying to convince WWE Creative, that they are more than just tag team guys)'.
  
  But otherwise, i think SD is pretty well balanced all in all. It's not going to make me stay in on a Friday by any means, but i don't think it's so bad that it deserves to be stricken off someone's list of 'TV Shows that are worth watching.'

 

[hArdyPUNKmArk]

Many have often though that, quality wise, SmackDown is truly the A-show. As of today, I do not share this opinion. SmackDown is the B-show in each and every aspect.

Because it’s always been the B show and always will.

I think SmackDown has just joined the hallowed list - along with TNA, NXT, Lost, Big Brother and others - of stuff I'm just plain not going to bother watching. I'm just totally uninspired by it.

Fair enough, if you don’t enjoy it then switch it off. But, are you not somewhat curious as to what they’ll be like in a few months? Both shows turn to shit every once in a while but I keep watching because sooner or later it usually picks back up again. I’d say keep watching, you’re a wrestling fan after all.

Surrealism. I'd hoped the more surreal elements had died off in the WWE. OK, so professional wrestling is pretty surreal as is, but surreal is a wide spectrum, y'know? Undertaker and Kane bickering over who the devil's favourite demon is and how they build houses out of fire while dramatic music plays in the background is just a bit too rich for my tastes.

So what if they are throwing out some theatrics from time to time. It’s Kane and Undertaker for fucks sake, of course they will be going over the top. It’s what their gimmick is. I find their feud very captivating this time around and I’m personally keen to see where it goes.

[*]MVP. Total shit.

Wow, has the IWC turned on this guy. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with MVP. He has the mic skills to be in WWE and can wrestle a decent match. Now, I’m certainly not saying he should be pushed to the moon and he deserves a world title. In my eyes he doesn’t but I’ll give credit where credit is due and MVP deserves some credit. He’s talented enough to be featured on WWE television and to sum him up as “total shit” is an asinine statement. There are so many worse superstars in WWE who are far worse than MVP, cut the guy some slack.

Alberto Del Rio. People go on about him like he's the second coming of Christ. Other elements of the IWC go crazy for heels and luchadores though, so I can see why their panties would get wet for this guy. Oh my God, he winked! Genius heel psychology! All I see is a Carlito clone with JBL's entrance - cocky heel #3352. I think of Mirko Cro Cop knocking him the fuck out whenever I see him.

There’s no winning with you is there. Del Rio has had a great debut! How could you debut him any better? He’s entertaining and he’s causing a stir in the roster. He’s not the second coming of Christ and he’s certainly not the best on the roster but he’s captivating enough to deserve his mid card spot. Let’s see how he improves and see where he goes.

Under-utilisation of Punk. I'm of the opinion that Punk is probably the best promo man in the business right now. Similarly, he'd had a couple of great matches when let off the leash - his ladder match against Hardy, his WM match with Rey. Unfortunately, he's being left in the midcard to stagnate - and the whole SES storyline is starting to draaaaaag. Maybe a return to the main event for Punk would reignite my interest.

This point I can agree on. If Punk wasn’t cutting awesome promo’s he’d be very much in the bad books. He’s not winning enough matches considering how good he was last year. They have certainly dropped the ball with him over the past few months but to stop watching SD because of it is a bit silly. Hell, the WWE drops the ball with a lot of factions. What about Legacy last year? What about Nexus? They’re both from RAW and they’ve both had ups and downs. The SES looks to be ending soon anyways so hopefully Punk will be back in the WHC scene once Taker and Kane are done doing their thing.

[*]MVP. I gave him two bullet points of thinking time. He's still shit.

I gave it 2 replies... You’re still overreacting.

[*]Raw's really good right now. I mean, really good. SD just looks bad by contrast.

Really good ay? It’s ok I suppose but it’s not that good. The past few weeks have been very disappointing given the hype of the Nexus and what not. Raw is getting by on name value right now, I find Smackdown’s feuds more compelling these days compared to Raw and Cole’s constant bull shit. Each to their own I guess...

The only bits of the show that I find myself liking are the Cody Rhodes segments - because of the practical tips on offer, obviously - and Kofi Kingston matches, which I'm gradually coming round to. I like his attire.

Both good superstars and both have potential by being on Smackdown. If they were on Raw you wouldn’t see them so much.

I think aside from three or four guys, the show's just bereft of talent. It needs a new injection of talent ASAP.

The roster has plenty of talent but most of them are too green to be given much TV time. The only older guys they have is Taker, Kane and Show. There’s no one over there to help build and carry the younger ones up. If they had Edge or Jericho back it would do wonders for the roster.

Raw, as of tonight, has my complete, undivided attention.

Fair enough