What to do with WWE's "B" shows when they jump to USA...

Y2J The King Of The World

And, no, I don't mean Smackdown here, folks. With WWE leaving Spike TV in a few weeks and "going home" to USA, they're losing an hour of TV time versus their current deal. So, that means that either Heat or Velocity would be no more.

Not that WWE acts overly concerned about making Smackdown not seem second-rate or anything, but if they nixed Velocity and kept Heat, which kind of appears to be the case, then Smackdown would be downgraded lower than it currently is.

My idea is this: WWE's new weekend timeslot on USA is a Saturday morning slot - they could use this as a recap show for both brands - nothing more. What do they do with the guys who don't make the "A" shows, then? Well, I think that WWE putting the first hour of Smackdown on WWE.com this week is a good precursor to a potential goldmine for them if they were to move both Heat and Velocity to WWE.com. Think about it: neither draws solid ratings, so they're not losing out on any ad revenue. But, by having them on their website, they can cross-sell merchandise, their on-demand Jukebox service, and promote other shows, PPV's, etc. Plus, they can sell ads for the internet-based versions and insert the ads into the streaming download. Additionally, they can make the broadcasts longer than an hour if they chose to do so - maybe develop storylines on the internet shows versus just having matches that build up to nothing, as is usually the case now.

What do you all think about this? I think that it'd be an innovative way to build up their internet traffic while keeping the treatment of the brands equitable.

The Phantom

I totally agree with you Y2J. I brought this up in another thread. It seems to me that WWE has been airing "special" matches for a few weeks and this past weeks Smackdown as sort of pilots to see if the demand was there. I believe it is, and it's also another way of utilising WWE.com.

One thing they have to do is make these programs free. If they charge a small fee like they do for the Jukebox then it's not going to work.

Zar

I like it, alot. I think though that it would also be cool to use the website to show the process new guys go through, Maybe from their first "dark" matches, to an eventual spot on the internet show, get people emotionally invested in the wrestler, then put them on TV.

Blitzkrieg

It's not a bad idea, I think people are getting more used to the internet way of watching matches, like with TNA for example, or old school matches. They probably wouldn't lose much if anything as far as the ad revenue goes.

The only thing though, if USA has one hour of programming available other than RAW, I don't think WWE should use it as a strict recap show. It only takes a few min. to recap something, we don't need to see th whole match again, so I would still like it if they had matches from Velocity or Heat or both..

WWE.com can be used for matches exclusive to the website, and maybe the one hour show can have matches exclusive to that show, so we aren't just seeing the same things over and over again.

This also helps the smaller guys on the roster build, they won't need to release anyone, and there will be no need to rush guys who aren't ready.

Boz

I think they should nix Smackdown and use that extra hour to make Raw 3 hours long.

AudioSavior

I don't like watching tv on the net. I think it is a bad idea and that they should stick strickly to TV. If that were the case, TNA would have been happy with keeping Impact on their site.

I am more likely to watch the B shows if they are on tv than if they are on their site. I would be greatly disappointed if that were to happen.

HellKat

From what I've read they're going to nix Heat and Velocity. But I think that they should def. have a recap show on USA, just b/c if you aren't able to catch RAW or SD! at least you get the highlights.

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thirty7

I would love to see the return on Superstars. i thought that was a fun show, especially when you missed parts of an episode of Raw or Smackdown.

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Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I have a question kind of related to this. Was the first hour of smackdown this week on wwe.com just a one time thing? Or is it going to stay like this?

The Phantom

It was just a one time deal. I believe it was because UPN aired a TV special in relation to the Hurricane disaster, which was aired during the first hour of which Friday night smackdown would have aired.

(Please correct me if i'm wrong)