goc Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 I really doubt that WWE thinks they've got a bad Smackdown roster. They put Cena and Orton on SD and despite all evidence that Orton is totally stale and finished as a top act, WWE still clearly sees him as one. Add in the fact that they let SD keep the WWE Title and gave them Daniel Bryan as GM and I'm pretty sure WWE sees the rosters as fairly even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 You say that, yet Orton is the only full time top act they put on Smackdown (Cena's not doing houseshows for the rest of the year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 The way they did the draft inherently screwed over Smackdown. Three out of every top five wrestlers went to Raw, so 18 of the top 30 acts (60%) went to Raw. Then they did the even split in the back half of the draft. The better way to do this would have been to do an even split in the top half of the draft and then do the 3 of 5 picks go to Raw deal to fill out the Raw roster. Raw doesn't need significantly more top guys on their roster to fill 3 hours, they just need more warm bodies for matches since they're a longer show. Instead, the Smackdown roster is so weak that Dolph fucking Ziggler needs to wrestle Dean Ambrose in a Smackdown title match at SummerSlam that nobody is going to give two shits about, since Ziggler has been putting over Baron Corbin for the past 3 months. It's been said before, but WWE really could have done this better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 27, 2016 Report Share Posted July 27, 2016 You say that, yet Orton is the only full time top act they put on Smackdown (Cena's not doing houseshows for the rest of the year). Â If you're not judging Ambrose as a full time top act (and you're in your rights to do so, I suppose), then what other full time top acts does the company even have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Â You say that, yet Orton is the only full time top act they put on Smackdown (Cena's not doing houseshows for the rest of the year). Â If you're not judging Ambrose as a full time top act (and you're in your rights to do so, I suppose), then what other full time top acts does the company even have? Â Â Ambrose is only a top act by default because he has the belt, considering he spent his time prior losing feuds and getting ragdolled by Brock. Â As far as other full time top acts you have Seth, Roman, Enzo & Cass (they're already seen as top guys by the fans), Balor (seen as top by the company it appears), and Jericho is full time at the moment even though we know that won't be for long. Plus they have guys like Owens and Zayn who are clearly going to be more focused on now. Â Right now SD has Ambrose, Cena for PPVs and TVs, the desiccated corpse of Kane, the Miz and everyone else is pretty much the C Show All Stars. How are they supposed to draw anyone to houseshows with their current roster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted July 28, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Why do you care what they draw? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 The reports around the time of Reigns losing the title were that the Dean Ambrose headlined house shows were drawing better than the Reigns house shows so it seems like Ambrose is doing a good enough job of selling house show tickets that they feel confident in him being the top guy for SD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Del Rio is apparently already in burysville and counting the days until his contract expires. Â From what I understand, Vince has always liked him and wants to push him but it seems like Triple H, for some reason, is always able to convince Vince to put the kibbosh on that push and just lets Del Rio flounder. Triple H has an apparent grudge with Del Rio but over what, I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Del Rio implying that HHH was a racist after he got released seems like a good candidate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Aaaaaaaaah, that's what I was forgetting about. Makes absolute sense then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcmmnx Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Del Rio being about as over as Zika doesn't help his chances of getting pushed either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutenberger Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 Smackdown just feels, at this moment, as the absolute little brother of Raw. Especially with Raw having that chic new stage, the commentators moved and everything and Smackdown just looking exactly the same, like having the wear the big brother's old clothes. Â And the show itself so was very bland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 It's way too early to judge Raw vs. Smackdown quality. It's only been one week and yea Raw would seem like the better show when they went hot shot crazy by having Sasha Banks win the Women's title with no real buildup and put a guy in the SummerSlam main event after one whole episode of TV on the main roster. Of course you can't have a big title change or a monster debut every week which people seem not to be taking into account when they're proclaiming that Raw is going to be super awesome and Smackdown is already dead in the water. Â They also seem to be aware that Smackdown needs to bolster it's roster since that's where the returning guys like Shelton and Rhyno are going to. Neither of those guys excite me AT ALL but there are some people who seem to be excited about Shelton coming back. Personally I don't see why they're bringing back guys who are 40 years old and will never be bigger stars now than they were in the previous runs when Chris Masters is only 33 and has a much higher ceiling but that's neither here nor there. Â I think it also seems clear that Bayley (along with the next batch of call ups) will end up on Smackdown instead of Raw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 I think guys like Benjamin, RVD, Rhyno, and Carlito aren't meant to be breakout stars or anything super special to the product at a top-level. The 50/50 booking is what has killed a lot of heat for guys and what is needed in WWE (especially Smackdown at this stage) are JTTS. Corbin, Crews, Kalisto, and Wyatt need dancing partners as Smackdown will need to be careful not to blow its load before other from NXT can come up (presumably Joe, Nakamura, etc.). The four names I mentioned earlier all have name value, are over with the fans, and can still go in the ring (mileage varies of course, especially with RVD). Corbin running through the likes of RVD, Benjamin, Rhyno, Carlito, and ADR (since he is supposedly on his way out anyway) on the way to a title shot at Survivor Series will make Corbin look good while ensuring Corbin isn't doing that SS run to the title mowing through Crews, Kalisto, and other guys who will actually need to be elevated to ensure Smackdown ratings and live events numbers don't drop due to the perception of Smackdown being consisting of nothing but Cena, Styles, Ambrose, some old guys, and a bunch of jobbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted July 28, 2016 Report Share Posted July 28, 2016 They're the modern day Freddie Joe Floyds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parties Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 Styles should also not be dismissed as a top act on SD. He endured the de facto Jericho feud. He made Gallows and Anderson into something tangible. He had two of Reigns' best matches and made their pet project look great in the process. He provided Cena's best match in ages. Time will tell what he becomes, but as of now he feels like at least an Orton-level "top guy who isn't *the* guy". He's also wrestling's 2016 MVP and the likely Thesz/Flair award winner, no small feat in a year where he had to transition from Nakamura at the Tokyo Dome to tagging with Jericho against Curtis Axel and Adam Rose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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