Can you save Smackdown?

Knyte

Okay. Given all the current storylines and fueds as of July 28th's Smackdown, all the writers get fired, and it is up to JV's boys and girl (us), to try to save the show. How would you bring Smackdown back up from drowning? How would you continue or resolve the current pile of steaming $#!T angles and make the show entertaining again?

Everyone try to pick one or two angles to focus on, to fix and end in an entertaining way...

"The Fire Still Burns!!!"
youtube.com/watch?v=4WXTI20W-ms

K Jay

Hey, I auctually comtemplated posting this thread two days ago (no proof). The thing is my idea's kinda lame. I'd do no backstage/out of the ring storylines at all for something like 6 weeks. The fueds I had planned Id play out by run-ins and other in-ring angles (tag partners leaving/turning on there partners). And I'd have Teddy Long have one/two vignettes a week promoting Smackdown as th e pure wrestling show.

The thing is I liked the sound of my idea then I got bored it real quick so I figured other's would too.

I had a sig, once.

Blitzkrieg

I'd like to hear your thoughts K Jay..if you had anything to add. I always like to hear what goes through people's minds. The real fans.



As far as how I'd save SD! ...I'd have to think long and hard about how to undue this mess. Maybe later.

K Jay

Cheers Blitz for the encouragement but to be honest thats as far as my ideas go. I was just giving the medium back to the talent then I'd see how to push it...

I had a sig, once.

Y2J The King Of The World

Saving Smackdown....it could be tricky, but I think WWE's at least done some good things with the draft to help freshen up the brand. Here are a few changes I'd make:

1. Go Live. The big thing that is holding Smackdown back is the fact that it isn't live. No big surprises or storylines are booked for Smackdown because the element of surprise is non-existent with internet spoilers. Since there aren't any surprises, Smackdown is really a glorified house show in that the perception is that nothing important happens on the show. Sure, it's more costly to have the production crew on the road more often, but the payoff should more than make up for the added cost.

2. Go to cable. As evidenced in the Muhammed Hassan drama in the last month, Smackdown simply can't be as edgy as Raw due to stricter regulations on broadcast networks versus cable ones. I think that Hassan had huge potential as a player on Smackdown, but now the plug has been pulled and all of the effort WWE put into building his character is down the crapper. Plus, with UPN screwing them and putting them on Friday nights, I think that a jump is called for - and maybe a move to Wednesday nights instead of the ultra-competitive Thursday time slot as well.

3. Make it different from Raw. When the brand extension originally happened, Smackdown was more of a wrestling show whereas Raw was more of a storyline show, and Smackdown was far superior. Now, both shows have kind of come to the middle and have a mix of both. The success of Smackdown's storylines is already impeded by it being taped versus aired live (point #1), but it's really trying to be a poor man's Raw - comparable ringwork but weaker storylines. Making it live would help with this, but there really isn't a differentiating factor between the two brands in the product they put out. I put up a post a few months ago about going to some kind of a point system for the matches that would make WWE seem more like a sport with legit rankings instead of having matches booked without reason. Sure, a win is a win, but if it meant truly elevating a wrestler up the ranks, the match would have a lot more significance. I think that Smackdown should go to this method - it'd be something fresh, and it could coincide with my next point, so that if they wanted to do away with it, they'd have an easy way out.

4. Get a new General Manager. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like Theodore Long at all. His goofy-ass catch phrases seem forced and are tired. If I had my way, I'd say put Paul Heyman back in that spot, but he isn't a wrestling purist by any means, so it wouldn't make sense for him to want the points system I mentioned above. So, I'd say someone like Shane-O-Mac should replace Long as GM and shake things up. Shane always gets good response from the crowd and he's articulate on the mic.

5. Push the Cruiserweights. I know WWE's mindset is that bigger is better when it comes to its wrestlers, but they need to wake up and realize that people watch wrestling matches for action and not the same old slow paced stuff. They have talented cruiserweights, and if they actually invest time into them and make the division matter, they could rival TNA's X Division in quality.

6. Make Tag Teams!! This goes for Raw, too. The tag titles are worthless. MNM has the potential to carry the division, but they need real competition and to not drop the belts to makeshift teams like Heidenreich & Animal. There are no other tag teams on Smackdown aside from those two. If you look back 15 years ago (just for example), the tag roster was stacked - The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Colossal Connection, The Rockers, The Orient Express, and The Bolsheviks all had matches at WrestleMania VI. Those tag teams were full-time teams and marketed as such - they had team names instead of being "Person A & Person B" and made for some great tag team matches. I could go on forever with this...

7. Make Raw the Competition. Instead of having Raw recaps and all that garbage that they have on each others' shows now, I think that Shane should cut off the Raw Recap segment on his first show as GM and say that he doesn't want to promote them Raw - they're the enemy and he's going to take them down. This could lead into a Survivor Series situation where the matches are all Raw vs. Smackdown with the survivors facing each other in a War Games-style finale where the winning side gets to draft one person of their choice from the losing brand. It'd freshen up the Surivivor Series PPV and bring back the competition between the brands that Stephanie McMahon & Eric Bischoff had when they first took over their respective brands.

That's what I think could get the ball rolling on making Smackdown a good show. They have the talent on the show, they just need to use it and make it matter.

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

Wow you really put some thought into that. Those are some very interesting ideas that if nothing else would get people talking. Good job Y2J King of the World.

Daredevil

This should be the breakdown of titles very soon. These would make me happy.

Heavyweight title - Randy Orton or Undertaker
US Title - Christian
Cruiserweight Title - Rey Mysterio or one of the Mexicools (preferably Super Crazy)
Tag Team Title - bWo

The roster is so thin of top shelf wrestlers. They all seem to have gone to Raw. I will put it this way, if Raw was the Yankees in the 50s-60s, then Smackdown is the Red Sox between 1919-2003.

Blitzkrieg

Well..I agree with Y2JKOTW on most of his points..being live, moving to cable, etc..That would all definitely help the brand. I also like his idea of Survivor Series, not that I don't already like that PPV..but his idea seemed like it could work.

With my post I'm going to focus on the individual..The roster of the SD! brand is pretty much set in stone at the moment so what they have, they have..It's not as great as the RAW roster but it does have some potential.

Here's a look at what some people should be doing..

JBL: I've had enough of him as a main eventer..it doesn't work. The guy can't wrestle and his gimmick has become stale. However, I do think JBL would be a solid mid-carder...You know how Million Dollar Man was at the end of his WWE run? This should be JBL...You can have him hold the U.S. Title or not, but he should be given wrestlers to manage and be a mouthpiece for..and he can "BUY" people even like MDM used to. But main event? No.

Chris Benoit: I'd turn Chris Benoit heel. With JBL out of the picture, Benoit could step up and be one of the main event players on the heel side. The matches would be great as always..I just liked Benoit as the no-nonsense Heel wrestler. As a face he's nothing more than a mid-carder because of his lack of mic skills, but as a heel all he has to do is be an asshole like when he had that feud with Y2J in 2000. He's damn believeable as the serious take no shit guy.

Christian: WWE needs to pull the trigger on a big push for him..Y2JKOTW mentioned that maybe he could get his old last name back (it was Cage) and maybe a valet to spice him up even more..I'm not saying he has to be World Champion but he's obviously a better worker than JBL and better on the mic than most people in WWE...Does he have that "It" factor? Maybe not..but we need to find out.

Booker T: His time has passed. There is no need for him to contiue to be pushed up the card. First, I'd like to see his wife off of TV, and then he can go back to the mid-card face role..He'll retire soon enough.

Eddie: Obviously he'd be another big time heel..I'd like to see him go back as the charasmatic face that we all knew before..The lying, cheating, stealing, was gold. C'mon WWE get it together.

Rey: It's obvious he's not a main eventer..Let him play with the Cruisers, that'd be the best out of him..With Rey, The Mexicools, Kazarian, Noble, Spanky, Daivari and London..all of a sudden they'd have a CW division comparable to that of TNA.

Undertaker: He's fine as a top face. It's where he belongs.

Randy Orton: He can be the top heel on the brand, no question about it..You just let him do his thing as a heel and he's fine..

Mark (Muhammad Hassan): He'll be back..but as what? To me, the guy is a natural heel. I don't mind Ida's idea of him coming back as another dead man to stalk the Taker for leaving him for dead at the Bash..If done correctly it could be a money feud..Maybe he could pick up a gimmick kind of like what Mordecai had..but the guy who played that didn't have all that much potential..Mark does.

Batista: Well..I'm not a huge fan of his, but for now I'd just leave him how he is..The one thing though, is that he should be fighting people who can carry him in the ring, and he also shouldn't be talking too much..Keep that to a minimum..

Nova: I think he should go back to old Nova and start wrestling like he did in ECW..But that's easy..everyone knows that..I can't believe WWE doesn't.

OJ: I wouldn't mind seeing the rehash of the Virgil/Ted storyline with OJ/JBL..OJ is better in the ring than he's shown as a heel. He could be a solid mid-carder.

Of course I agree there does need to be more tag teams than just MNM and Animal with Heidenreich, but I'm not sure where to get them and who to team up.

If Brock Lesnar ever came to the SD! roster, than they'd have another legit main eventer on the roster. Heel or Face, he could do both.

Jackie Pies

I remember when they were kindof doing this and then they'd go back and forth where one week the shows/brands didn't like each other then the next week we'd seen those recaps again.
I'm glad they picked which way they want to go, but I agree that they picked the wrong (buddybuddy, we're 2 brands but the same company) way.
(but I do hate Shane so that would suck, but I get what you're saying in that he does (usually) hate his dad.


I'm so glad someone else besides me likes OJ, everyone's been so down on him lately I was beginning to wonder if I was nuts in thinking he has potential and can be a good wrestler.

Otherwise I agree w/ Y2J, Cable, and Live.

The Problem Solver

I think WWE will do this angle after Batista defeats JBL at Summerslam and OJ loses the US title to Christian.

However, I think it would be good to keep the US title on OJ and have tension start then have JBL win the US title by cheating, the fued could continue from there and keep JBL out of OUR main events!