The Best Thing For The WWE?

[Dave]

So, over the last couple of weeks, I have been reading a lot of threads that seem to be really getting into the business end of the draft that is definitely on it's way for the WWE. Now, having had a long think about who I would like to see move in other directions, a sneaking realisation crept up on me last night and I would love to share it with you guys.

John Cena going to Smackdown would be the best thing to happen to the WWE in a long ass time!

Now, I should make it clear from the outset that I am a Cena fan but that should not take away from the fact that the WWE stands to gain more than they will lose by moving John Cena to Smackdown. Let's look at it.

People tune into see John Cena

There is no doubt in my mind that John Cena is the biggest draw for the WWE right now. Perhaps sometime in the future that wont be true but the WWE needs to use him properly. Let's face it, people are going to watch Raw regardless of whether John Cena is on it or not. I like to think that I am a voice for the causal fan of the WWE. I will watch Raw as long as they are giving me a reason to. Most of the time, John Cena is not that reason but I will still be tuning in every Monday night.

If the WWE were to move John Cena to Smackdown, then they could capitalise on the name value that he seems to carry with the younger audiences. People still want to see him and taking him over to Smackdown could boost the ratings for the Friday night show. Perhaps it could bring a little more parity to the shows and by having him on Smackdown for a while, not even the full year, people might just stick around.

It would leave some more room for other talents to emerge

So, I also saw that Vince McMahon seems to be high on Skip Sheffield. As many have stated recently, Vince seems to think hat he can slot in behind John Cena as a major babyface for the company. With that in mind, wouldn't it make sense to give him that opportunity to show us what he can do in that position. Moving John Cena to Smackdown will mean that there is a void that needs to be filled, I doubt anyone like Randy Orton or John Morrison could do that and it could make an ideal time to have Skip Sheffield take that place.

With John Cena on Smackdown, Skip could come to the forefront of the company and could really start to shape a career for himself. I think it might be a little soon but if Vince thinks very highly of him then there must be something in his game that leads Vince to believe that he can be the next big thing in the WWE. Let's give him a chance.

The fans would finally shut up

The booing of John Cena is really off-putting, no doubt about it. The guy is supposed to be a top face and every week he gets the arse torn out of his promos because some people in the WWE Universe are unhappy with his character. I watch the show, and maybe like some of you guys, I get annoyed by the fact these people cannot just immerse themselves in the show. They bitch and moan about everything he does and it ruins parts of the show for me. Moving him to Smackdown ought to remedy this as he would be a new attribute for Smackdown. The fans would buy into it and the problem with booing of the top face in the company might subside a little bit.

So, with all of that being said, do you think that moving John Cena to Smackdown would be beneficial to the WWE and John Cena? Or would the WWE stand to lose more form the move than they would gain?

 

[Avrusha92]

WWE's motto for the draft is "It's time to shake things up again"

They shook things up when John Cena was drafted to RAW, made a great business decision.
John Cena started to become the biggest face of the company, while Batista another rising star of that company moved over to SmackDown so he can be the top face there.

Vince knows that no matter how much Batista and Cena were the rising stars of WWE, John Cena could sell, and get people to tune in.
It made sense to move Cena to RAW, and Batista to Smackdown.
Cena rose to the top, as Batista became the leader of Smackdown till he started becoming stale, which caused him to turn heel and became top heel on RAW.

RAW is the number one show, and the number one star is John Cena.
But with Vince trying to have SmackDown as an A Show I feel if he wants to shake things up, bring Cena to SmackDown, but I feel thats a stupid business decision.

The man who they should bring to SmackDown is Randy Orton, the crowd pop like nuts the moment Randy comes out. This would be beneficial to SmackDown, and great for marketing reasons.

If I would not be thinking about business, I would most probably say Cena would be a great asset for SmackDown, since he is on top, and SmackDown is lacking with the main event faces.

They need to freshen up the rosters as well, have some surprising drafts.
But it wont be beneficial for Cena to move to SmackDown, as RAW needs him.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

More likely at this point would be Triple H making the move, as he can be "The former RAW but now Smackdown GM" and work the backstage at RAW, where he is learning the ropes from Vince.

I think we need to just end the whole exclusivity thing and let champs champ be on both shows again, that way Cena can hold a belt (US or IC) and be on both.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I don't think that this move will work in Cena's favour. As you said Cena is not the reason why casual fans mostly tune into Raw. They tune into Raw because they have been doing so from the time they began watching wrestling and it has become a habit for them nowadays. Similarily there is a reason why people do not watch Smackdown. That is because Friday nights are generally considered the worst nights for viewing television and I do not think there is any superstar on the roster who is popular enough to make fans who generally do not watch Smackdown tune into the show.

Also historically too similar moves have not worked. You might argue that Cena is a bigger star than Batista but in 2005, just after his feud with Triple H had ended, I would say that Batista was just as big as Cena. Then the draft happened and Batista and Cena switched shows. I cannot remember if there was any noticeable rise or fall in the Smackdown rating at that time.

Smackdown is not watched mostly because of its odd timeslot and I think even WWE realizes this fact. That is why they are now using Smackdown as a show to either groom new talent or to send Superstars who are finding it difficult to get over on Raw. If Cena goes there, I can only see him losing his spot as the face of the company to Orton, in all probability. Like I said Smackdown gets fewer views than Raw due to its timeslot and I do not think that there is any wrestler popular enough in the WWE who has the capacity to make fans tune in to a show that they do not watch.

 

[Smart Mark]

This is something I highly agree with. I really thought he was going over when he was fired from raw, but no he just came back. Honestly I dont know why they dont do this, its the smartest move both creatively and business wise. They want smackdown to have higher rating? Move John Cena. They want a less crowded main event scene with room to push newer stars to main even level? Move John Cena. Really its a no brainer.

 

[Souls On Fire]

I have to agree that moving John Cena to Smackdown would be the best move for the WWE. As long as Randy Orton stays on Raw there will be no loss in the ratings. His pops are just as big as Cena's and he doesn't get the mixed reactions that are constantly thrown at Cena. I believe it is a well known fact that Raw draws an older audience in the manner of those 18 and up, while Smackdown is followed more by the younger audience.This of course is due to the time slots where Raw being on at 9 on a Monday being a school night for Cena's biggest fans and Smackdown being on at 8, a non school night but a night where the more mature audience is usually out for some weekend extravaganza.

It would also finally give Cena fresh feuds for example Ziggler, Del Rio, Swagger, hell even Chris Masters, Chody Rhodes, Ezekial Jackson. It would be the change that every fan is dying for. Of course the true question if this was the case who does Raw get in return which in my few there is only one superstar who is that option which is The Undertaker. Yes that means there will be no Cena/Undertaker feud but honestly that needs to at this point be pushed of till next years Wrestlemania when the Undertaker should be looking for his 20th win. Adding to the fact that the dead man is at the end of his career he shoud get one last run on Raw where he can feud whith Sheamus, Miz, C.M. Punk and Randy Orton before Wrestlemania time next year.
Will this scenario happen? Most likely not, the rumor has always been that Undertaker and Triple H don't see eye to eye hence why they've been kept to separate brands. Would Trips agree to trade to Smackdown as well? Not likely but it would be interesting to see if him and Cena on Friday nights could bring Smackdown to Raw's equal. Of course the biggest problem with the draft is once its over it usually leaves you stuck with the same superstars just on opposite shows and the same boring feuds. The draft should be limited to about 5 picks overall for each show. If it was laid out that way I'd like to see it go along these lines.

Raw(from Smackdown)
1. Undertaker
2. Beth Phoenix
3.Drew Mcyintire
4. Tyler Reks
5. Curt Hawkins

Smackdown(from Raw)
1. John Cena
2. Natalya
3. Triple H
4. Evan Bourne
5. Tyson Kidd

The outcome of this would allow few changes but with major impacts. Cena and Trips along with Edge, Big Show, Kane, and Mysterio as your big established names on Smackdown with up and comers Del Rio, Ziggler, Swagger, Big Zeke, Barrett as heels. A mid card filled with Kingston, Rhodes, Masters, Slater, Gabriel, Bourne, Kidd, Baretta, and of course the king of midcarding Christian. Maybe the possible reintroduction of the cruiserweight title with the like of Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Evan Bourne, Trent Baretta.
Meanwhile on Raw you can have a rebirth of the tag division with Hawkins teaming up with former partner Zack Ryder, The Uso's, Santino/Kozlov, Mcguilicutty/Harris. The main eventers would remain the same with the exception of the Undertaker in place of Cena but due to his limited work schedule it may give a guy such as John Morrisson a chance to really step up his game.
The wild card of course is that by the way things seem to appear it looks as though Del Rio or Ziggler will get the move to Raw. If this was the case i'd prefer to see Del Rio make the switch and then have Ted Dibiase Jr end up on smackdown where he would have a chance to become an upper midcard heel. Del Rion being on Raw could bring the option of bring up Los Aviadores from FCW to be his goons and add to the rebirth of a tag division.
So i guess i got a little in depth and off topic but it just shows that minimum changes as long as they are the right changes can shine a whole new light on each brand as a whole. However if Cena doesn't go to Smackdown its never gonna feel new and different.

 

[ECWcyrus]

Im not a huge cena fan, but i think a move to smackdown would the best thing for WWE and Cena. it would help with the ratings for smackdown. plus it would give him some new people to feud with. i would actually like to see him feud with Del Rio and Ziggler. the few matches he had with Dolph were pretty good and i think a proper feud between the two would be nice.

That said, Cena should move to Smackdown sometime in the future. Plus i really dont think it would RAW at all. Randy Orton gets just as big of a pop from the crowd as cena, so I would say Orton could easily be the "face" of RAW, depite his actions are more of a tweener as opposed to face or heel

 

[Adalam]

Cena to Smackdown would help, but I think that creative may be trying to turn Wade Barrett and the Corre into a face group. Plus the possiblity of McIntyre turning face, it's kinda hard to see who will be what. There's also the pending retirements of Mysterio, Taker, and Edge, all of whom are in their twilight years and could be retiring all too soon. Big Show may not even be lasting that much longer, though there have been no rumors regarding him. Christian, Barrett, and McIntyre may very well hold up as the faces of Smackdown, without Taker, Edge, and Mysterio, but that's all on a big if. Heck, my whole post was part of a tremendous what if, so oh well.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm not really a huge fan of Cena. I mean I think that he's pretty good overall and does get a lot of undeserved hate. The simple truth of the matter is that I'll also tune into Raw as long as I find what's going on interesting and entertaining. I don't need John Cena to be part of Raw in order to watch.

Sending Cena to SmackDown! might not be a bad idea generally speaking, but there's no guarantee that he'll boost ratings for the show. SmackDown! has been generating the kinds of numbers that Vince wants to see over the course of the past 3 weeks. Even if Cena's presence doesn't lead to a ratings increase, the symbolic gesture of Vince sending his biggest star to the blue brand is obvious. Since SD! moved to Syfy, which is a network owned by NBC Universal, Vince has made SD! a priority again so I don't really see much of a downside if Cena heads to SD!

Personally, I think it'd be a refreshing change to see Cena gone from Raw and head to SD!. It probably won't happen but, even if it did, I don't see it developing into a problem.

 

[MinistryDeadman95]

Yes, I think it would. WWE needs a great and major second face in the WWE. Putting him on Raw makes that so much easier and better, and I think there are people on Smackdown that Cena hasn't feuded with, and mostly it's younger guys so that's good. It would also give Smackdown a huge step toward being as popular as Raw.

First though, they have GOT to move Smackdown to Thursdays. Most people, likely myself aren't home on most Fridays, and have to watch it another day. Making it live, on Thursdays, and moving Cena there would make Smackdown just as popular as Raw, if not more. Smackdown currently gets like 2/3 of Raw's weekly rating, and being on Fridays is why.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

Ideally, moving Cena to the Smackdown brand would do wonders for the blue brand. First and foremost, there would be the increase in ratings. As stated in the OP, John Cena is by far the biggest draw in the WWE; so moving Cena to SD would give a nice increase. Second, the Cena-haters will stop bitching and moaning as much as they do because Cena will no longer be hogging the glory on the main show, Raw. Third, the feuds that could come as a result could be tremendous. I'd love to see John Cena vs. Undertaker finally happen. Finally, the SD! brand would gain a major increase in terms of star power as well – thus leaving RAW to have another major power to come forth.

Unfortunately, this won't happen as it is nothing more than an ideology that will never come about. And the reasons for this are the following:

Fridays are dead: Pretty much what rattlesnake said. Friday nights have always been the worst time slots for television shows in general. Not many people are home Friday night – thus bringing the possibility of ratings increasing way down. Sure, Cena would bring the ratings up a bit (ideally), but it'd still be a huge gamble as it's unsure how much of an increase would there really be due to the Friday night death slot.

Cena Draws on RAW: While I do agree that the main reason a "casual" fan would watch RAW would be just because it's "RAW", you can't deny that a good portion of the audience that watch RAW is soley because of Cena. It may not be a big number, but I'm pretty sure if you have Cena move to SD!, the numbers on Raw would have a noticeable decrease. Afterall, Cena draws. More specifically, he draws to the kids. But if Cena's not on Raw, will the kids continue watching RAW? There's no certainty in that.

The bitching and moaning won't stop: As it is with every aspect of the WWE fanbase, people love to complain for just about everything they can that goes on in the WWE. If it's not Attitude Era, then it sucks. How many times do we hear – just in this forum – that so-and-so should get a push, only to later hear that that very person doesn't deserve the push. The truth is, the IWC is always contradicting itself. And I don't think Cena going to Smackdown will be any different. So long as Cena is in the WWE, people will always complain about him – that's just the way the IWC is; they complain about everything.

Vince will never do that: This is by far the biggest reason why I can't see Cena on the blue brand. Cena is one of Vince's favorites, if not his all-time favorite; not to mention, he's the company's biggest draw; as well as the poster boy of the company. Keeping all this in mind, do you really think that Vince would just openly send Cena to the B-Show? I think not. Vince is too stubborn to let that happen. He would never want his biggest money maker to go to Smackdown where he could draw millions on the A-Show, Raw instead.

In closing, while ideally, moving Cena to Smackdown would be fricken awesome, the reality of the issue is: it won't happen. Too many factors get in the way from that happening. Would I want to see it? Fuck yeah, I woud. Will it happen? No, unfortunately...

Great thread, Dave!