Wacko Bob talks about Friday Night Smackdown

Smackdown looking like it could be WWE's A show?

By Wacko Bob

Its not even been six months yet into there deal with the CW network. And the WWE really seems to be wanting to deliver on almost everything with them. With a talent line up thats really in all honesty better then raw. And the better stories and wrestling going on you would really wonder if Smackdown was more the forgotten brand of the two WWE shows. But now its looking like Smackdown is something that people want to see more of over Raw now. With The Undertaker competing more rite now and the return of both Chris Benoit and Dave Batista it did help to make the brand more interesting again. And when you add those 3 names in with Mr. Kennedy, King Booker, Kane, Matt Hardy, The Countless Tag Teams that are in there now, Finley, Gregory Helms, William Regal, and others you can see why its looking better then Raw as far as talent goes even with Rey Mysterio and Mark Henry on the shelf with injuries.


Now when you look at Smackdown's ratings its looking like the fans are noticing this now as well. And when you look at Smackdown now on the CW network as appose to the last few years on the now finished UPN network you gotta admit the heart and passion is over there now like it never was before. UPN which is in all homes in North America where cable is only in 70-80% of homes. And UPN was not really living up to everything with WWE in lots of the areas always pre-empting the shows and in the end really brought the ratings down on the show and forced a majority of the big names to be only on Raw. And since there move to the CW network Smackdown has been seen in every city in America with now real pre-emptions any where to make it hard on WWE and that brand. There for making it to where Smackdown can have some better names on that brand now. And now even with them being on Friday Night for the last 2 weeks you now see results happening there with them getting a 3.1 rating on the 2/3 addition and a 3.0 on the 2/10 addition of the shows on the CW network. This is something that has not happened on Smackdown since moving to Friday Nights over one year ago getting rating in the 3's. And its honestly making smackdown to more honorable show of the 2 big shows and even ECW as well. And a more solid show as well with there better stories and wrestling matches. And I have the feeling that WWE does have high hopes and a future plan to really make Smackdown almost number one with WWE programing. People mite say I'm looking to high with this , but it also makes all the sense in the world too with free TV that is the CW network being the bigger arena over cable in all reality.


When you look at whats going on creative wise on Smackdown over Raw and the more solid wrestling too how do you deny giving Smackdown its props. With the creative and the wrestlers all working together Smackdown looks to be one or two steps away from being WWE's premier show. With Raw and there creative team always looking to shock people and really only putting on mock sessions now its looking like that brand is the brand struggling now. Even Raw's ratings are up but that also could be the thing thats leading some wrestling hungry wanting to be entertained wrestling fans over to Smackdown as well. And with all the hype for WrestleMania 23 and the match with Batista and The Undertaker drawing interest with what mite happen the interest in Smackdown is truly up now. And should rating keep going up Smackdown on a better night like maybe back on Thursday nights again would make smackdown look much better on paper as well. Making new stars and bringing more stars in and would make for more in creative for new and better ideas too. But rite now with that show being on Fridays theres still a road to follow before to can get that. And with the format that brand is running rite now you really don't wanna change that rite now because its all running good and its now showing with the increase in the ratings now. And like JBL would say "Smackdown is the A show" and honestly when you here that you gotta say "thats a shoot" because its starting to look true.


Truth is with Smackdown now is you do see the fire that this brand once had lit once again. And now the fire is back on Smackdown and lots of good things should come in the future for the WWE with Smackdown. And one year ago that would have been hard to say. With ratings going down to to pre-emptions and lack of interest. And now with more people interested in Smackdown with no pre-emptions the brand is now heading up and appearing to be in the rite direction. And this should help to lead to more star power on that show as well just like Raw gets too. And with the future of wrestling and the future of the WWE looking more promising I do believe you can see the interest in Smackdown picking up more then that of Raw and really becoming the A show leader that would in a practical sense only be fitting for the show thats actually in all the homes of North America.


Should the WWE sign some talent thats in demand again for the fans you could wind up seeing them on the Smackdown brand to add and help the structure of that brand. And with the creative team thats in place on all the WWE shows Smackdown seems to have an idea of what they're doing and what they are gonna do. And Vince McMahon will wanna put that money into a show that is gonna give the very best to the fans on what he will know as the best fit for his money. The Future of wrestling is promising and so does Smackdown's.