What should the WWE do with Smackdown! compared to RAW

[Kaneanite]

Obviously I'd imagine for everyone there is some annoyance to the fact that RAW far surpasses Smackdown!. I mean, it SHOULD be expected. One show is live and has John Cena AND Randy Orton. Whereas the other is recorded, doesn't have the coveted "WWE Championship", and only has an Undertaker appearance once in a blue moon. However...

RAW has a major group of Main Eventers. Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Edge, Jericho, even Khali has had the WHC. That's not even including Barrett who will be there probably by the next PPV (and did main event the last one...), HHH who is hurt, Miz who is ready to be there with the MiTB, and Morrison who probably would be a main eventer on Smackdown!.

Now... Smackdown!'s? Kane is WHC... look at my username, I'M A KANE FAN. I'm thrilled he has the title and all but to put it in generous terms I guess I'll just say it's "different" having him as champ. Not sure about you guys. Now, yeah, they have Undertaker and Rey Mysterio. One hardly ever appears and the other is a beat up guy who pretty much everyone is sick of with his constant "underdog" crap. Jack Swagger and CM Punk are indeed bright spots. Both ex-champions, one is very over and the other is getting there though I think Swagger has taken a step back a little bit these past few weeks (losing to MVP....) but nonetheless they are good. Still... Compare Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Edge, Jericho, Miz, HHH, and Barrett to Kane, Taker, Mysterio, Swagger, Punk, and Big Show... Clear difference.


Ok now for what I was getting at... Someone in another thread said that the WWE was looking to improve their SD! roster. What do you think would be the right moves by the WWE to improve their SD! showing without ruining the greatness that RAW currently has?

Me personally, I'd like to see Jericho and Miz go to Smackdown!. Here's why; Jericho is a great guy for the company. He puts on great matches and you could put him anywhere on the cards. He could be putting guys over like Kofi or Cody Rhodes, or in a feud with Kane for the WHC. He's loved by almost ALL wrestling fans thus no doubt improved ratings I'd imagine. And obviously a great wrestler whether heel or face. Another great guy for SD! would be Miz. People are really starting to fall in love with Miz and he cuts great promos. Miz and CM Punk being the lead heels on SD! would be a great
young core for Smackdown.

This could also loosen up the RAW roster for some better more lengthy rivalries. Instead of the constant switching of title holders, guys could hold it for awhile because of the less superpowers on one show. Sheamus/Orton feud could really take off with maybe an added guy like Edge or Edge could help put Morrison over in a feud. Whereas Cena and Barrett could go at it and maybe have a US Title rivalry between DiBiase and Daniel Bryan. Now I know that's a lot of just random suggestions but see the possibilities?

I think having too many allstars on one roster is actually a bad thing and could really prevent some guys who could put on great title runs from getting that opportunity.

 

[Heartachetonight926]

From What I hear they are planning on moving Edge back over to the Smackdown roster in the fall, I think that's a pretty good move basically because I don't really understand why they moved him back to RAW in the first place.

I don't see them moving any HUGE names over like Cena or Orton, But I think the Miz is a Possibility or maybe even Jericho.

I guess we will just have to wait and see

 

[sTyLnK]

Well honestly for the longest time I found Smackdown to be the better brand. They had some younger guys who were being brought up from ECW at the time so it made it better to watch. Raw was very bland and boring on the other hand with same wrestlers going at it. But, obviously with the whole Nexus angle going on it's improved Raw and made it better. With all the Nexus guys going at with the Raw roster, obviously it's a breath of fresh air. Wrestlers no one knew wrestling WWE superstars? Now that's different!

Smackdown on the other hand has become stale. Kane vs Taker, Swagger vs MVP blah blah blah. Get some young guys in there to shake things up. I'm tired of all the same wrestlers facing each other. It's been done a million times and fans are getting tired of it. Raw had the same problem until NXT brought in some talent on the show.

That's why Raw is working right now. It's not the same wrestlers going at it day in and day out. It's not boring so the fans are taking it in. I think they need to move some NXT guys to Smack down and fast.

 

[King_of_Swing1520]

edge deffinatelly needs to go back to smackdown, punk needs to be pushed back to the ME, and either miz or morrison needs to go to smackdown and claim their spot in the me, or jericho.

cena and orton are staying on raw forsure. remember once the nexus angle is over atleast 3 of them should be moving to smackdown...just to spread the group out a bit. wwe is obviousely high on the members of nexus so i'd assume they'd want to spread them out and give them each a chance as a single competitor. some could even stay together to form new tagteams. smackdown will be just fine when it comes time for them to move to syfy

 

[DX98folife]

I like Smackdown how it is at the moment;

Smackdown is a place where superstars can build credibility. Kane wouldn't be WWE champion if he was on Raw right now I guarantee it. Smackdown is a place where young guys/underused guys get their come up-ins.

John Morrison: IC Champion on Smackdown was going toe to toe with WHC Champion Jack Swagger. Since his move to RAW hes jobbing to whomever heel is hot at the time.

R-Truth: Gained alot of momentum from feuding with CM Punk late last year, and competed in numerous number 1 contender bouts and was in a WHC title match(it was an Elimination chamber but nonetheless.) Moved to RAW won the US title for a total of 4 weeks and is Jobbing with his "tag team" partner Morrison.

Great Khali: Sucked on Smackdown sucks even more on RAW

Chris Jericho: Won the WHC this year headlined WM26 and held a great feud with Edge. Moved to RAW and jobbed to Evan Bourne for awhile.

on the flip side....

Big Show: Played up the Miz's ego on RAW held the tag titles for awhile before moving to Smackdown becoming a face and started getting interesting again even competing in 2 WHC matches.

Jack Swagger: Jobbing to Santino Marella on RAW. Moved to Smackdown and won WHC elevated into instant top Heel.

Kofi Kingston: Was successful on RAW feuding with Randy Orton before jobbing to Sheamus and whoever else was hot for the early part of this year. Moved to Smackdown won the IC title and held if for a good 2-3 months, even putting over Dolph Ziggler, something John Morrison tried and failed many times at.

Cody Rhodes: Boring ole Cody Rhodes was left for dead when Legacy broke up, moved to Smackdown and now he has his own segment and new gimmick.

Even MVP who wrecked his career on RAW is showing signs of life on Smackdown again.

If I want to watch Superstars of Randy Orton/Sheamus bury the mid card i'd watch RAW. Smackdown is the place where anything can really happen to be honest. Younger guys/underused guys get to shine more on Smackdown. Its not just the Mid-card if Edge or Jericho moved to Smackdown you can bet your ass you'd see them with a WHC reign at some point too. Provided Taker coming doesnt bury the main eventers again.

 

[daddyJ_t]

isnt it obvious smackdown is gonna get its own nexus2.0 season 2 of nxt is about over and smackdown will get generation nexus if you will. sad thing is, by that time it will be played out and fail. now for the good part. eli cotton= monster heel, and smackdown will get kaval,mike mcgillicutty and husky harris. at least 3 ggod stars, presuming riley goes to raw to join the original nexus. maybe darren young will come to smackdown to "lead" the new nexus. if this all does happen and fails, we have at least some new blood injected into smackdown for a little while at least

 

[KKarvox]

Honestly, i like smackdown as is right now. It has much higher quality matches, bright young stars like Jack Swagger, Kofi, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, and Alberto Del Rio. Kane is WHC, and giving the BEST promos of his carreer, i mean, his promos in the last few months have more than warranted a World Title run. His promo last night was just perfect, the background music, the lighting, his calm, cold, heartless tone, it was a masterpiece. Kane has really stepped up in recent months.

Smackdown also does not need a Nexus, because it would absolutely kill the SES, which is finally regaining some steam as of last night. Punk has been poorly used since his losses to Taker a while back, and having Nexus come in would kill his push, as well as other young heels like Swagger, McIntyre, Ziggler, and Del Rio.

Plus, Smackdown's mid card title is actually used, and treated with a degree of prestige, instead of being rarely used, or even defended, which will hopefully change when Bryan gets the title.

Smackdown is kind of doing double duty right now, showcasing major stars like Kane, Taker and Rey, and taking ECW's role in building young stars up, and i think it is a nice change of pace from Raw every week. Raw is for entertainment, Smackdown is for Wrestling.

 

[yur_momma]

a big thing you must remember also is that some places dont even get smackdown. where i live there is one area that does get it and three others that dont. my friend lives just a few minutes away and my brother a few blocks away and they dont get it.

after smackdown moves to syfy channel you may start to see smackdown get beefed up again.

 

[localcompetitor]

I think there's a couple of things that Smackdown needs to do:

1) Be Broadcast Live: This would mean that people would have to watch the show instead of reading the spoilers from the tapings.
2) Have it's Own Distinctive Style: The set is too much like RAW's and I think more people would watch it if it had a different feel.
3) Make all your matches have a point: There seems to be a lot of matches on Smackdown that really don't have any purpose this means that guys like MVP, Christian, Matt Hardy, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntrye are losing momentum as they don't seem to be going anywhere.
4) Create more main-eventers: With the exception of Punk and Swagger all the other main-eventers have been with the company at least eight years and in some cases haven't gone long left. There's enough talent on Smackdown to have a really thriving main event.
5) Transfer over some guys who are getting lost in the shuffle on RAW: Morrison's hardly done anything since he transferred over, Jericho's style suits Smackdown's wrestling-based style better while Evan Bourne, Zack Ryder and Yoshi Tatsu would definitely get more screen time if they were bought over.
6) Bring in the guys from NXT Season 2: Kaval, Michael McGilligutty and Husky Harris would probably all find a place on Smackdown.

On the plus side Smackdown seems to give new talent a chance to develop - Drew McIntyre, The Dudebusters, Archer and Hawkins and now Alberto Del Rio.
Or for established stars to re-invent themselves - In my opinion Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler and even CM Punk have made more of an impact on Smackdown than they ever did on RAW.

 

[silverwraith720]

I haven't been able to watch SD for a while, but after last night, it's much better than I thought. For one, Kane's promo last night (along with the one he cut a few weeks ago where it seemed like the SS match was going to be a casket match) were AMAZING! Where has that Kane been? SmackDown is just a much better place for developing stars. I was not very big in to Cody Rhodes before, but after he spent time as a guest commentator, I feel like he has a great future. I also absolutely love CM Punk. He makes a great heel, and I for one enjoy the SES story line. I'm also really glad Serena started wrestling. I think she could really strengthen the Diva's division. If I was a WWE superstar, I'd want to spend a few years on SmackDown and then move over to Raw as a main eventer. At first I was pissed that Kofi and Christian were sent to Fridays, but I think that will really help them out.

 

[ctln4rko]

I love smackdown, raw, and for one, love nxt. I started watching in late 2007, right when matt hardy's ankle was broken by mvp, prob 1 week b4 that. I cant stand thus "PG era" bull crap. I like cena being the hero, and orton being so evil, hes good. but i have a few tips for smackdown.

ok obviously, the nexus needs to come to smackdown. when smackdown moves to syfy would be a great time for them to come to smackdown. i agree with alot of u that say miz should come to smackdown, punk should main event, and ya, get jericho back. AND PLEASE! THE UNDERTAKER NEEDS TO HAVE MORE THAN 3 MONTH STINTS FOLLOWED BY A HIATUS FOR THE SUMMER. God that makes me mad. The nexus attacked kingston at summerslam, possibly planting the nexus vs smackdown seeds. Miz should cash i on whoever's champion when smackdown moves to syfy. Undertaker will hopefully/probably batter kane, giving miz a perfect, or AAAAAAWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEE opportunity. If that happened, along with nexus coming to smackdown, that would really perfect smackdown. or, the draft should be in like january, have the nexus in the draft, split the team in 2, and make one half, tag champs, the other half, somebody have the united states or intercontinetal title. I think barret will win the wwe title at NOC, which would really establish the nexus, as long as he held on to it for 2 or 3 months.

and a few of u say that darren young should lead nexus season 2 of nxt. i completly disagree. watson and harris suck, so they got eliminated, mcguillicutty's bland, so kaval and riley are the only good ones.

 

[oldschool123]

I actually really like Smackdown!.

However, it is almost as if WWE wants it to fail.

Number 1, they intentionally put all of the stars on Raw and raid Smackdown! for new ones.

Number 2 and 3 are kindof rolled into one, its taped and put on Friday which both certainly drive down ratings. Even though I try not to it is really hard not to look at the spoilers every week. I know it is more geared for kids and theres DVR but what adult is consistently at home on Friday nights so they can watch Smackdown!?

 

[hhhfactor]

In my personal opinion, I would like to see The Miz and Randy Orton move over to Smackdown. With John Cena and Triple H when he comes back as the major players, I think with Randy Orton's popularity that he could raise the Smackdown ratings. I would like to have Randy Orton feud with Cody Rhodes and Jack Swagger before moving up into the Main Event scene. After Legacy broke up we never saw a feud with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Jack Swagger and Randy Orton started to have a feud before the draft but it never played out. The Miz could start out carrying out a feud with his tagteam partner the Big Show and stay feuding with upper mid-card wrestlers like Matt Hardy, Christian, Rey Misterio, and Koft Kingston, before moving up to the main event. I think Smackdown would be the opportunity have the Miz shine. I personally would like to see a Miz vs. Randy Orton main event for Wrestlemania.

 

[Ming]

Right now Smackdown is being used almost as a sideshow for younger talent, I don't think the roster on Smackdown is too bad right now.Yes I know Kane is WHC but he derserves it if you take a look at his career in the WWE, Smackdown just need to get a few good feuds going because right now it's just two decent feuds going on with Taker and Kane then Ziggler and Kofi (after last night possibly MVP and Swagger, I know WTF) I wouldn't mind seeing Del Rio feud with Mysterio after all it could get the Del Rio over. Christian, Matt Hardy, Drew Mcintyre, Cody Rhodes, Big Show and CM Punk, some of these guys need to get into feuds with a solid storyline and be used correctly (Big Show's feud with the SES is not very good). Smackdown have a very good midcard whereas RAW doesn't have a midcard and it's just all about the Nexus feuding with Cena and Orton feuding with Sheamus.

 

[Frozen Fire]

i think Smackdown definitely lacks d star-power that Raw has.... barring d Undertaker, Smackdown doesn't really have any1 else.... Rey is there but not on d level of Cena or Orton or HHH. i think d only reason Morisson, Edge and Chris Jericho were moved to Raw was to beef up d Raw roster during d Draft as Raw was going to go head-on against Monday Night Football, as J.R. wrote in 1 of his blogs. i think d WWE should move Edge, Morisson and guys like Yoshi Tatsu and Evan bourne to SD. it'll provide some high-flying action on SD with Mysterio, and dos Caras jr.. Edge can really have a good program with Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger giving them pushes.. i think d Miz is holding his own on Raw and sending hime to SD might just kill his push..

 

[MoxViolence]

raw is killing smackdown right about now. too many main eventers. and in a way it holds some ppl back. 2 yrs ago i woulda said JoMo would be main eventing by now. but on a show with ppl like john cena, randy orton, hhh, chris jericho, edge, miz and sheamus all ahead of you makes main eventing seem out of reach. personally id like to see edge go back to smackdown, along with the miz (2 jericho's on 1 show doesnt work for me) and morrison. it'll open up some spots for ppl like r-truth on raw and JoMo on smackdown. we shall see.........

 

[Zigglerfan227]

You know, I really love Smackdown right now. Smackdown has entertained me for quite some time now. Just like RAW, it gets stale sometimes, but for the most part it sits on top of the wrestling world. The matches on Smackdown are great, You have Young talent who actually gets used, you have older talent that are misused who are actually used (like Kane), and you have someone to hate (Rey Mysterio!).

The only thing I can think of that Smackdown might need is John Morrison, Edge, and possibly Chris Jericho. CM Punk should be used in the main event sometimes instead of hiding behind the SES and getting crushed by his opponents. By the Way, I am not suggesting to get rid of the SES, keep the group, but push them!

 

[CAPT SPAULD1NG8]

i think they should bring the bigger talents from smackdown like kane, big show, rey mysterio, matt hardy, mvp, cm punk, and finlay to raw. this will bring some more talent in from fcw and give the younger stars some experience. with all those main eventers it just causes the younger talent to gat burried. if u bring these supersters back to raw u can start some great fueds and huge matches. smackdown can be used for future stars.

 

[Nada]

Smackdown only has 1 face that often works, Rey Mysterio, Taker is too often away.

Big Show will never become a real fan favorite, sure people cheer on him but overall he isent as big (no pun intended) as Rey amongst the fans.

Yet Smackdown does have great heels, CM Punk, Alberto del Rio (who had a fantastic debut) and Swagger whom they dropped the ball. 3 guys who can work, talk and wrestle and arent too old yet.

McIntyre, Rhodes and Ziggler are decent tough need work. They are all on their way it seems.

So that leaves Kofi to get elevated, or get a RAW guy over. There is no chance i hell that either Cena or Orton will be on Smackdown.


If it was up to me, id throw Bryan Danielson to SD and let him work big programs with CM Punk and Alberto del Rio, the matches would most likely end up being too good and overshadow whatever Cena/Orton/HHH/Sheamus combo they do.

A Bryan vs Punk Ladder match for the title, give them 20 min and let them tear the house down.

Its just a ashame that CM Punk has had his legs cut off, his program with Jeff Hardy was fantastic and made SD the show to watch, i dont know what "backstage powarz!" are holding Punk down but its silly, he is one of it not THE best heels in the company.

 

[brighamosity]

The problem with Smackdown is that its clear to everyone that it's a B Show. If they want to make it comparable to Raw, then it needs more than "the guys on Raw who aren't doing anything." It needs credible main eventers. I say stick Orton on Smackdown. He's comparable to Cena so it makes sense to have one of the big guys on each show. Or you could stick Triple H on Smackdown when he returns. But moving guys like John Morrison isn't going to do anything for Smackdown because they already have plenty of mid-cart talent. If you move guys like Orton or Triple H over there, they can help to get over some of those midcarders to credible main event status.

Part of me wouldn't even mind if Cena switched to Smackdown. He's been on RAW for years so Smackdown would give him a whole new set of people to feud with. The only problem is that I don't think SyFy has nearly the ratings potential that USA has. And I'm sure USA would have a big problem with giving up the biggest draw to a rival network. So I don't see this happening at all.

 

[The Calgary Kid]

First things first: Cena and Orton are NOT going to Smackdown any time soon. The two of them are the current faces of the company and heavily involved in Raw storylines. Moving one or both of them would cripple any momentum that Raw has built in recent months. I'm not going to entertain the NXT2 = SD Nexus idea, because that would be redundant and boring. No one would care. It was shocking on Raw, it would be predictable on SD and fans wouldn't buy into it the way that they have with Raw.

To all of the people saying that The Miz would benefit from moving to SD, as would the show, you are completely off. Not only is the MITB specifically reserved for the Raw roster and WWE title, he is being pushed heavily right now, on a rocket to the main event. He is going to be one of the top heels on Raw, alongside Sheamus and Barrett/Nexus. Moving him out of Raw, where he is doing a hell of a job making a name for himself, would be like taking him out back and putting a bullet in his head. He is not enough of an established "star" that he could jump rosters to a different show on a different night on a different network and be a reason for people to tune in. If he wins the title by cashing in and has an opportunity to work some decent matches and generate good heat in the main event scene, then I could see him possibly switching over during the 2011 draft, but moving him now would be just plain silly.

With the Raw main event being so crowded, I do think that they will try to work something out where a few people end up jumping ship, if for no other reason than that they want the network transition to be more like fireworks than a fart. To me, two of the most logical choices are Edge and Jericho. They were doing perfectly fine on SD, battling each other in a world title match at WM before the move and since then have done little, if anything, of consequence. Jericho involved himself in the Miz/Hart feud, which was a joke, and Edge had the aborted feud with Orton alongside a random and stupid heel turn. At this point though, given that they have mended fences and created an alliance of sorts, I could see them potentially teaming up and going after the Harts for the tag titles. There isn't another tag team on the entire WWE roster who has enough credibility to take the titles off of them without making people even more apathetic about the tag division. If the tag titles have to be defended on both brands, it could be a good opportunity to have them make the switch and have it be logical.

Consider that they've just made new belts, given them a new title and they are moving SD to a new network just a short time after. SD is a secondary show, but they will want to have some new angle that gets people to watch. Having Edge and Jericho parading around with new gold, claiming that they're free to be on either brand now, talking about how the good old days of SD are back because that's where they'd rather be, is a small, but logical impact move that I could see them justifying. If the tag titles are just going to be gaudy ornaments for the most part, it gives them, their move and the show credibility and it doesn't take anything away from the Raw scene, either.

From there, there are the opportunities for singles feuds, including the long awaited Edge/Christian feud, and if Jericho ever ended up turning face, he could feasibly want revenge on Swagger for "stealing" his world title. (I may as well take the opportunity to say that some sort of Christian/Edge/Jericho alliance is something I've dreamed about for ages, though I'm not sure it would actually ever happen.) Merely hypothetical scenarios, but I see it as a good way of bringing top talent back to the blue brand with explanations and without tossing a grenade at Raw's momentum or someone's career.

 

[brighamosity]

With the Raw main event being so crowded, I do think that they will try to work something out where a few people end up jumping ship, if for no other reason than that they want the network transition to be more like fireworks than a fart. To me, two of the most logical choices are Edge and Jericho. They were doing perfectly fine on SD, battling each other in a world title match at WM before the move and since then have done little, if anything, of consequence. Jericho involved himself in the Miz/Hart feud, which was a joke, and Edge had the aborted feud with Orton alongside a random and stupid heel turn. At this point though, given that they have mended fences and created an alliance of sorts, I could see them potentially teaming up and going after the Harts for the tag titles. There isn't another tag team on the entire WWE roster who has enough credibility to take the titles off of them without making people even more apathetic about the tag division. If the tag titles have to be defended on both brands, it could be a good opportunity to have them make the switch and have it be logical.

Consider that they've just made new belts, given them a new title and they are moving SD to a new network just a short time after. SD is a secondary show, but they will want to have some new angle that gets people to watch. Having Edge and Jericho parading around with new gold, claiming that they're free to be on either brand now, talking about how the good old days of SD are back because that's where they'd rather be, is a small, but logical impact move that I could see them justifying. If the tag titles are just going to be gaudy ornaments for the most part, it gives them, their move and the show credibility and it doesn't take anything away from the Raw scene, either.

From there, there are the opportunities for singles feuds, including the long awaited Edge/Christian feud, and if Jericho ever ended up turning face, he could feasibly want revenge on Swagger for "stealing" his world title. (I may as well take the opportunity to say that some sort of Christian/Edge/Jericho alliance is something I've dreamed about for ages, though I'm not sure it would actually ever happen.) Merely hypothetical scenarios, but I see it as a good way of bringing top talent back to the blue brand with explanations and without tossing a grenade at Raw's momentum or someone's career.

Excellent idea! And very logical. I could easily see Jericho and Edge winning the tag titles and jumping ship to Smackdown. Between them, that's a good15 minutes a week switched from one brand to the other, and that just might be enough to even them out, in my opinion. Like you said, they could always be in singles feuds as well. I do think they are the two most logical people to switch as well. Like you said, the chances of them moving Orton or Cena is slim to none. And people like The Miz and John Morrison (or Kofi or any of the upper-midcarders) would likely get lost in the shuffle on Smackdown and be just another midcarder. What Smackdown needs is more credibility, and Jericho and Edge can give it that, without particularly hurting Raw.

 

[TheSandmanShane]

Not trying to change the subject here but I wish WWE would go back to the way they were in the 80's since they're PG now and the interviews are so clean and lame. The 80's were shut up and wrestle but most of the guys on the roster back then were way better entertainers than nowdays also. Does anybody remember how WWF's main show on Saturday evenings were?? I think it was called SuperStars of Wrestling, then they had All American Wrestling on Sunday mornings then Prime Time Wrestling Monday nites that showed lots of matches that happened everywhere during the week.

I have a stack of those old WWF Coliseum Videos and the other day I was watching them and just the whole style the way the shows were run and looked back then to me were more entertaining than now. It could be a way Vince could get his ratings back up, use the wrestling styles of nowdays on the 80's format.
Anybody agree?? Sorry for rambling on.