Smackdown Needs.... A Wrestling God?

[nightmare]

Obviously WWE creative is quite nervous as of late & Vince is scrambling to make some changes. With the sudden departure of Edge, the imminent retirement of Undertaker & Rey possibly leaving in the near future- Smackdown needs some serious assistance. The draft is certianly going to shake up the rosters, but at what cost? Can Vince afford to remove John Cena from RAW? Would Orton be worth moving without some actual competition to keep it interesting?


Enter the return of a wrestling god. JBL. Vince has no problem with bringing back old faces to boost ratings or build storylines & JBL just might be the 'shot in the arm' Smackdown needs. I have no idea what his schedule looks like, but by his recent appearance before WM- it seems that he is open for some sort of return. I say that Vince could gain some serious ratings by convincing JBL to come back for a few months. He is fantastic on the mic & would be a huge name to add- boosting the very thin smackdown roster.

He already has a great feud set up, without even being on tv. Alberto Del Rio. JBL and ADR would be great. Bradshaw has made it well known about his characters 'dislike' for those south of the border. Cut from the same financial cloth as 'self made men' it could start a huge storyline for the show & further solidify ADR as a WHC contender by going at one of the best in Smackdown history.


Could JBL help save Smackdown?

 

[Nate DaMac]

What? Are you really suggesting that JBL could help boost ratings? What could possibly lead you to jump to such a bold conclusion? Now I wouldn't hate to see JBL make a return for a while, but only to be a mid carder to help put the young guns over. That's even a stretch though as the only reason I enjoy him is due to his mic skills. He could get heat like very few can, but his in ring skills were mediocre at best. He's not good enough to put on quality matches anymore, not that he ever really was to be honest.

But seriously, did you see him on Raw? He's been gone a couple of years and he looked like he had aged 10 years. I highly doubt he is physically fit enough to come back to wrestling full time.

So no. Just no.

 

[nightmare]

Definately not full time. For a few months at best. Del Rio has a even pace to his matches & JBL would hold up fine. He wouldnt have to put on a crazy match or even be expected to have a 5star bout. Someone with history on the brand taking time to help the younger guys is a plus. WWE is pushing the new talent, but could use some help to get them over faster before fans start to lose interest. Smackdown is lacking in those with skill on the mic & wouldn hurt to have JBL around in that dpt.


Alot of people i know stopped watching Smackdown every week because it just hasnt had the same feel. Bringing in an established guy cant hurt, & JBL was suggested b\c of an instant storyline with ADR. Creative wouldnt have to write much in order to get a good storyline because they are similar characters on opposite ends of the coin. It could work with a few others, but JBL came to mind first due to ADR being one of the few on smackdown i care to watch.

If R-Truth is moved to friday, Booker could be used in the same way. Even Nash could be used as a manager or part time tag partner for someone. WWE can use this formula in a smarter way than TNA does. Vince can make better choices to where the returns wont feel stale or become a let down to fans.

 

[Sir_Michael_Cole]

He retired because of injuries didn't he? I don't think we'll see him wrestle again. I'm happy with JBL showing up from time to time like Austin, but I wouldn't mind a couple more matches/ feuds if he really wanted to do it. Not with ADR though. That wouldn't make much sense. ADR shouldn't be turning babyface any time soon, and a babyface JBL wouldn't work. I could picture JBL working with either Daniel Bryan or Christian. Those guys are good enough to make up for his limitations in the ring and could give him a good match.

 

[mykeymayhem]

heres the truth about the wwe's problem right now there are to many faces and i don't mean good guys i mean guys you just look at but what do they really bring to the table...in the 90's every wrestler had a personality even everyones favorite jobber had some sort of story to him now theres just a bunch of guys with no established personalities. i get it they want it to be more real and maybe the days of gold dust,cactus jack,stone cold steve austin are gone but seriously wwe mick foley had 3 different personalities in the 90's why do some of the talent have nothing behind them. for instance what is yoshi tatsu's thing forgive me if i spelled his name wrong....why are some super stars in limbo like debiasi or ryder....why do they force the same 3 or 4 guys down or throats ever week when they have 50 some people on the wwe roster make some story lines for these guys/women make them someone....not just a buch or reality show winners who show up every week and are in some group noone cares about.boring wwe

 

[Morpheus101]

Del Rio can effectively take on a similar role to the one JBL so successfully performed for well over a year, when he reached main event status at the twilight of his career. Del Rio has the same kind of arrogance and can be used in the same way. JBL is not coming back. He achieved what he wanted to achieve and he has outside interests, being a successful businessman.

 

[Dagger Dias]

JBL returning would NOT save Smackdown. He retired and is not returning to the ring anytime soon. Plus, Smackdown has plenty of guys that they can push. Orton is now a member of the blue brand. He can pick up where Edge left off as the new top face. Or could he turn heel? There's also Christian. He and Orton will be the obvious two top guys unless one of Raw's upper card heels is drafted over such as Punk. There are far better options than having JBL come back because they need to (and CAN) push people currently on the roster and not bring back people from the past who have already retired.

 

[ugotpwned999]

I really don't see JBL returning to smackdown doing anything to bump the ratings. I dont think many more people would tune into smackdown just to see JBL. Plus, you've got Orton and Christian on the same brand. I'm sure many more people would rather tune in to watch a fued between those 2 than JBL standing in the ring talking shit week after week without doing anything. The most extreme thing JBL should do if he returns is commentating and thats it. Nothing else.

The ratings arent gonna lift if you bring back JBL and he will just turn into another person on the roster that isn't needed.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

As the most vocal supporter of JBL on this board, while I'd personally enjoy it, I have to say he wouldn't help the ratings increase at all. I love JBL, think he's entertaining as hell and enjoy his in-ring work, but he is not a major draw. SmackDown was in a terrible position in 04' and while he rescued it creatively as the heel champ, ratings wise, he wasn't exactly the second coming of Steve Austin. His run in 08' continued to show that. He's great vocally and would be a fine choice in a commentary or General Manager role, but he certainly isn't going to turn over major ratings for RAW or SmackDown.