Smackdown

[The Man They Call WMD]

After reading last nights spoilers (no spoilers in this post) I drew the conclusion that the current smackdown stable is putrid. In the me event scene they have 1 upper level guy- edge. Let me clarify they others are guys who aren't elite status.
Kane was jobbing before he won the title, and to my dismay is a mid card guy now. I know he has the title but once he losses it and he will be back in the mid card
Big show- see as above for kane
Mysterio- better off not being the main draw , and fighting ppl like delrio
del rio- has promise but not a true draw
Ziggler -see del rio , but I'm high on the guy its just too soon
Cross rhodes- not a draw

Back to my point tho edge is a main event guy but still barely a draw anymore. Im a huge wrestling fan and if smackdown came to my home town I'd have a hard time to spend money on this show. how about you?

 

[Tommy Rage]

Personally I see Smackdown as the brand where young guys are allowed to shine. I'd be more inclined to pay money to see guys like Kaval, Del Rio, Masters, McIntyre, Swagger, Rhodes, Ziggler etc wrestle than to watch Edge and Kane.

It seems like when the same guys are pushed, people complain that no young guys are getting a chance and talented wrestlers are being held back, yet when younger, talented guys who represent the future are being spotlighted, people complain about them not being draws.

People don't become huge names and huge draws overnight. I think Smackdown are doing the right thing by putting the spotlight mainly on guys who are the future of the industry. Obviously we have had the Kane/Taker feud as the main event, but all of the above names have been featuring prominently on the brand and that can only be a good thing in my book.

I would also say that Rey Mysterio is a huge draw no matter where he is on the card. People pay to see that man.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I disagree. From top to bottom, SmackDown! is a better show than Raw in my opinion. Before the WWE's youth movement was in full swing, SmackDown! was a show where younger talent could be displayed prominently and were less likely to be lost in the shuffle than on Raw. SmackDown! is generally stronger than Raw when it comes to actual wrestling content and that's an important factor for me. I'm not saying that there should be 2 hours of just wrestling or anything like that, but SD! usually has 2 or 3 very strong matches on the card each week.

As for the roster, I'm not so sure that Kane will go back to being a mid-card jobber once his title reign is over. Over the course of the summer, Kane has been better than he's ever been in my opinion. He's been pure gold on the mic and he's simply been far more interesting than he's ever been. Kane has done well as champ and has improved vastly, so there's no guarantee at all that he'll just go back to what he was doing.

Big Show is still a name and he's pretty popular right now, but I tend to agree overall. Show is really just not all that great and I've little interest in most of the things he does. I do like his new energetic face character, which is probably more in line with who he actually is, but he usually doesn't do much for me.

Mysterio has always been hugely popular on SmackDown!. Among Hispanic viewers, SmackDown! is often the most watched show the WWE has and Mysterio is, as expected, the most popular star. Mysterio can always be counted on to provide very strong matches so I have no real problems with him.

As for Del Rio, what do you expect? He's only been on SmackDown! for maybe 2 months now. He's shown a lot of promise and is already very over as a heel. I don't believe he's ready for a main event position, but I see it happening in the future.

Dolph Ziggler has most definitely improved over the course of his run as IC champ. He's had some great matches with Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston & Edge, he's finally started to generate heel heat from the fans and has started getting a little mic time. He has a lot of promise.

Cody Rhodes is great in the character he has right now. The whole metrosexual thing is something that can draw heat if done properly and Rhodes has done it. Rhodes comes off as a pretty boy and we all know that a pretty boy heel has always been a character that fans just boo the crap out of. Both Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre are quite young, both are only in their mid 20s I think, so there's still a lot of time for huge things to happen to them.

Truth is, I think that Raw could benefit by looking to SmackDown! as an example. SD! usually combines overall strong wrestling matches with strong promo segments and there's very little sillyness going on. Raw has done a great job in 2010 of getting rid of a lot of pointless and corny joke segments & matches. Some does worm its way in every now and again, but it doesn't dominate the landscape as it did in 2009.

 

[ABMorales787]

Smackdown seems more fluid than Raw. Not to mention that Raw's main event scene has two guys that haven't been in the main roster for long. While Smackdown may lack "star power" it doesn't lack delivery. It doesn't need to ride one story to have a proper show. There is more focus on talent development on Smackdown than there is a on Raw. It constantly changes. Meanwhile Raw has been running with small edits of the same formula for quite a while.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

I enjoy Smackdown as much as RAW every week and sometimes Smackdown is the Better Show during the Week. With Veteran guys like Edge,Kane,Big Show,Rey Mysterio,Undertaker to the Young guys like Dolph Ziggler,Alberto Del Rio,Drew Mcintyre,Jack Swagger it keeps me tuned in Every Friday Night. I have been to a couple Smackdowns over the years here in Atlanta and I have enjoyed them all.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I think Smackdown is truly growing every week I watch. I was quite entertained when I got to see a live show/taping earlier this month when Edge made his return to SD after being traded for CM Punk. I haven't always been a fan of DelRio and Ziggler, but those guys are AMAZING live to watch. Aside from the VPL (visible panty lines) in DelRio's gold trunks, he really does know how to work a crowd. Ziggler is no slouch either. I do say that the Blue Brand is becoming a favorite to shine with the younger stars. Not that they are ignoring their older vets either like Big Show and Edge. I do say that they are finding their niche, and as proven by their huge wins at the Bragging Rights PPV recently and the rumblings that VKM seems to be putting a lot of his weight being that brand as well. I do think the SD show is increasing in popularity and in appeal and think that they are doing good with this formula for success and hope that they keep it up.

 

[AmazingRed]

i agree edge is the only elite star

if they brought in y2j
that would be great for the brand

since they both have huge egos

 

[MrHashasheen]

I think the main problem is storylines. There's good wrestling, but not much in the way of storylines right now on Smackdown.

On Smackdown, we've got the feud between Edge and Kane starting to build, and the unresolved issues between Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio. The Intercontinental Champ has no storyline, neither do most of the men. The Diva's are basically Laycool showing up and being annoying. The Nexus is doing some stuff, but not much.

On Raw we've got the split-up of the Hart Dynasty going on, the Nexus invasion of Raw, tension between Otunga and the rest of the group, Barrett versus Cena, Barrett versus Orton, DiBiase versus Goldust and Sheamus versus Morrison/Santino.

So yeah, the bare-bones booking of Smackdown kinda grates on me.

 

[GLOBAL ICON]

As said, storylines are the main problem on SD!. There are awesome matches with awesome segments but... no storylines. Each match is a random man put against another one. The promos contain "I am better than everyone else" shit. The only storyline on SD! is Rey-Alberto. Edge vs Kane is not a storyline. Its just a random guy challenging the champ for the gold (just like people challenged Cena for the WWE title back in 2006-07).

Whereas on RAW, I personally feel that they are building up main-event talents like Miz, Sheamus, Barrett, JoMo etc instead of mid-card talents like Ziggler or Cody. They have the better storylines, more entertainment and certainly more stardom. Their storylines include the best storyline in the WWE for 6-7 years and that is the Nexus-Cena-Orton fued. Plus, there is another awesome Sheamus-Santino/Morrison fued. For the mid-carders, there is a DiBiase/Goldust fued and the H.D split.

 

[kingofkings1984]

I attended the smackdown house show in liverpool U.K., on the actual night of the show afterwards i was abit disappointed with the outcome of the show and the kane v show main event they had on was jus like two huge trucks tryin to reverse, big man vs big man never works in my book.
Swagger, Ziggler, MVP, Masters, Hart Dynasty, Chavo, del Rio, Kofi, Rey (never wrestled but still turned out), Rhodes however had the card stacked with talent which did entertain me but in terms of a big superstar headliner draw there was no one.

Now the thing that really bothered me was originaly yes, the main event was taker v kane v show then due to taker's injury it got changed weeks in advancewhich is fair enough (even tho tons of taker merchandise could still be bought which may have given un-suspecting kids/parents the wrong idea) but all smackdown tour advertisement had pics of Cena & Bret Hart. Leading to believe that they would be part of the show. Once again there was plenty of Cena merchandise to buy. No Cena on the show. Instead Cena AND Orton the champ are across towns in Birmingham i believe on the same show (yes i know Cena and Orton are RAW guys but only goin off the promotional material the wwe choose to use) and no Hitman.

So my issue wasnt really the quality of the talent it was more the false advertisement on wwe' part, i presume it was due to the arena only being 3/4 full which they would of known about leading up to the show....que Cena pick to boost sales hmmmmm

 

[wrestling god]

this is what it is supposed 2 be..... raw having most of the big stars and mostly better storylines and mainevents. but having said that smackdown is still good with its current roaster.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Kane was jobbing before he won the title, and to my dismay is a mid card guy now.

A don't consider someone that can put over young talent and still be able to look like a championship threat a jobber. Chris Jericho has this ability. Do you consider him a jobber?

Big show- see as above for kane

I've never seen Big Show job to just anyone in his illustrious career. Like Kane he can be featured in the first match on the card and still be considered a threat. It's uncommon for a superstar to do that.

Mysterio- better off not being the main draw , and fighting ppl like delrio

Who else on Smackdown will deliver an aerial show for the crowd? He should be considered a Mexican legend; right on the level with guys like Edge.

del rio- has promise but not a true draw

Only been around for two or three months. He is still a rookie and is already featured in Main Event-like storyline on Smackdown.

Ziggler -see del rio , but I'm high on the guy its just too soon
Cross rhodes- not a draw

You mean Cody? I agree he isn't a major draw at the moment, but these guys are young and getting pushed thanks to the empty space on the card. I'd rather see these guys do battle compared to the sound of a Mac getting an email.

Back to my point tho edge is a main event guy but still barely a draw anymore. Im a huge wrestling fan and if smackdown came to my home town I'd have a hard time to spend money on this show. how about you?

I would pay to see actual wrestling, which isn't exactly the main point of RAW right now. Everyone they allow on television has impressed me, even Cody Rhodes. The characters are fresh, the storylines coming out are fresh or taking new direction, and there are no random Guest Hosts.

Smackdown has been my main show ever since 2002. I've witnessed Stephanie McMahon "Quit", Paul Heyman do it Old-School, Kurt Angle playing a handicap, and Teddy Long keep it real. I consider "The B Show" better because they focus on the actual wrestling. For that I applaud them.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Its funny. Smackdown is like a really big FCW or other developmental sub-company. It develops most of the younger talent until they are considered ready to move on to the A show. Yep smackdown grows the talent, raw picks it and leaves smackdown with more rookies hence why smackdown is usually devoid of storylines. The guys who can cut promos and are a better whole package generally move on to raw but that is a little bit of a generalisation.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I don't know what you mean. Seems like you are more of the kind of fan that would watch every second of The Rock and Stone Cold. But when Chris Benoit or Lance Storm or Dean Malenko was on, you would go take a piss.

I actually really like SmackDown. I think there is some talent on that show that will be along side the top stars in the company in a few years time. I totally disagree with your comment about Rhodes. I think he is coming into his own. His gimmick fits him unbelievably.

Sure if the talent isn't built or pushed, then they will never amount to anything and neither will SmackDown itself. But I think the building is what is happening as we speak. While guys like Rey, Kane, and probably Edge, hold the world title. The other guys, Del Rio, Rhodes, McIntyre, Tyler Reks, are all building their gimmicks and are carrying SD to be honest.