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So What's Going to Happen to SmackDown?


sek69

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It's looking more unlikely that UPN is going to renew SD, and they seemed to plant the seed on RAW for a title unification match at some point. Not to mention NBC/USA doesn't want any SD wrestlers on the Saturday Night's Main Event telecasts as long as it's on a rival network.

 

So what's in store for SmackDown? Instead of talking about ending the brand split, there might not be a second brand at all. I can't imagine USA devoting another nigh to wrestling, where would SD go if not on UPN?

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I think they're just planting seeds in the event UPN doesn't renew SmackDown. But in reality, the ratings really haven't dropped off like anybody thought they would (and in fact, UPN has more people watching Friday nights than they probably ever had), so they'd be foolish to cancel it.

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Yeah, people usually don't understand why UPN would even consider not renewing SmackDown, but I don't really think they make that much money off it and would probably make the same if not more with a block of shows they produce.

 

Not to mention anyone who works with Vince McMahon usually gets tired of it eventually.

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Yeah but UPN is probably getting the same ad revenue out of some show pulling a 1.0. Plus Vince will probably demand too much money again like he did with Spike. I think Smackdown will be gone when the contract comes up and the brand split will end.

If that happens, at that point we'll ever see a total turnaround in WWE or we'll see the gross self-destruction of a once prosperous wrestling company in due time.
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"At UPN's presentation today before the Television Critics Association at the Winter Press tour, president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff indicated they are looking to keep WWE.

 

The contract for Smackdown expires in September and WWE was at first unhappy with being blindsided last year with the move to Friday night. However, Smackdown numbers have improved in recent weeks to being only slightly down from Thursday after a rough first few months.

 

"We fully intend to have wrestling on our schedule," Ostroff said today, and noted they are in negotiations for a new deal." - Dave Meltzer

 

So it sounds like Smackdown is going nowhere, unless Vince shoots himself in the foot again by asking for a ridiculously large hike in rights fees, which is possible but one would hope he has learnt his lesson from last time.

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You know, honestly, at this point, I wish WWE would just end the damn brand split. It's like, they don't seem like two different products and they're never going to. The "dual-brand" PPV's don't really mean a whole lot and I know on at least a couple of occasions I've not watched a couple of PPV's because they were "Smackdown only" and my local cable provider doesn't get UPN so I wouldn't have had any idea of what was going on and why each match was happening.

 

Of course, if the brand split were to end, Vince's dream of getting up to twenty-four PPV's a year would be out the window. That shit is ridiculous anyway. I swear, with Raw and Smackdown PPVs and now TNA, there's a PPV on like every-single-Sunday. The Royal Rumble is next week and we've already had two PPV's this month.

 

People can talk about "new stars being made" and all that shit all they want. The fact is, we still have the "healthy" top tier guys on top. Triple H is still around. The Undertaker when he's on TV main events. Kurt Angle is right there. Shawn Michaels too. We saw Batista and Cena both get built-up. We're seeing Carlito and Masters, Kennedy and some other guys getting a chance to shine too. Couldn't WWE do that with one brand anyway though? I mean, it's not like people are clamoring for shit like The Boogeyman eating Jillian's mole and I can't help but think if the brand split were gone, we might not have to watch that or another failed Mark Henry run.

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In the immortal words of Steve Austin, "If they wanna put more people on TV, why not just ... put more people on TV?"

 

A much easier solution than the roster split would have been to just change the way they write TV and not have every single wrestler on every single show every single week. They're much less likely to get burned out that way.

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Yeah, it never really made sense to me either. It's not like the matches get a lot of time. The matches that do get time are usually in the main event slot anyway. So, just throw a couple new people into a backstage skit or vignette one week and then different people the next week.

 

For example, whatever happened to Trevor Murdoch?

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I've been clearing my TiVo and watching all the SD's from the past two months today. This is a seriously good wrestling show. Sure, I'm FF-ing a lot of stuff, but the Rey/Batista v MNM matches are as good as anything I've personally seen this year and everyone seems to be working hard and doing their best. There are still some stupid things like Boogeyman, but I can't think of a single feud right now on SD that doesn't involve at least one person who can carry things. And MNM are the hot tag team to enter main events we've all been looking for. They're the modern day Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. I plan on writing more about them later.

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Guest Spaceman Spiff

And MNM are the hot tag team to enter main events we've all been looking for.

Problem is, they'll face Rey/Batista in the ME's, but then they'll be back on Velocity for weeks (like this week). SD has the teams for a really good tag division (MNM can be faces or heels, Mexicools are over, FBI can be a jobber heel team, London/Spanky can be the young high-flyers, the Dicks, Gymini, Regal/Birchall), but they don't do anything with it. Considering the health problems SD has experienced, you'd think they'd use the tag division to fill out the show.
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Watching SD the last few months has been a very fun experience. It's a throwback show where the focus is on the wrestling and Sports Entertainment is mixed in once in a while. It's a relaxing experience if that makes sense. Watching RAW is often nerve racking as there are so many cutaways and the show proceeds at such a rapid pace that it makes it an uneasy viewing. I don't even mind the Boogeyman as he is getting good reactions. That's why I'm dreading the new Orlando Jordan character because it's going to eat up a lot of air time and it's going to be embarrassing listening to Tazz and Cole try to put it over as something important. The wrestling on the show doesn't even have to be that great as long as they are telling the stories in the ring and focusing on wins, losses, competition, momentum, etc.

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I think most of the hotshotting and overbooking happens on RAW because it's live and is a more pressure-packed situation, leaving Smackdown to be a much more simple, relaxed show with far less angles and far less thought put into it. That results in a better show, ironically enough, because the McMahons aren't kicking announcers in the balls or having weekly therapy sessions. Smackdown is much less erratic. There's still standard, stupid stuff, but much less of it. The announce team is also far superior to that on RAW and while there is some stale talent on top on Smackdown, no one in wrestling is as stale as the majority of the RAW main eventers.

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Guest SweetMama Scaat

Even the bad stuffs not that terrible. Is the Boogeyman really any worse than alot of WWE gimmicks? Other than hte Jillian Hall mole thing, (which was actually kindve clever using one bad gimmick to kill off another one) whats he done that he doesnt deserve to be on tv 5 minutes a week.

 

That's why I'm dreading the new Orlando Jordan character because it's going to eat up a lot of air time and it's going to be embarrassing listening to Tazz and Cole try to put it over as something important

 

Tazz and Cole are pretty decent actually. Theyve developed a tendency to ackowledge that stuff is stupid. Then they laugh at it.

 

If they want a bisexual character they should do it with a female. Which would actually know, work. Yes I know thats a double standard, but a Mickie James that makes out with Trish Stratus and Tyson Tomko woudl get over much quicker and better than an OJ who nails Trinity and some random dude.

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