Smackdown Issues
By Scott Keith on 8 May 2013
I just read a report saying how WWE was concerned about the attendance at last night's Smackdown taping. Apparently, it was one of the lowest in the past several months and over half of the venue needed to be tarped off.
My question is whether this is something WWE should be legitimately concerned about for the future. Since the end of the brand split (which has occurred whether WWE admits it or not), Smackdown is not even billed as an equal show to Raw. It's a big deal when guys like Cena or Punk bother to make appearances on the show. Should WWE move it to smaller venues to avoid looking foolish with no one in the seats on TV? Should they go back to how it was prior to the brand splits and have everyone on the show, treating it equal to Raw? They already run house shows on Friday nights. Maybe they should just air one of those live. Thoughts?
My question is whether this is something WWE should be legitimately concerned about for the future. Since the end of the brand split (which has occurred whether WWE admits it or not), Smackdown is not even billed as an equal show to Raw. It's a big deal when guys like Cena or Punk bother to make appearances on the show. Should WWE move it to smaller venues to avoid looking foolish with no one in the seats on TV? Should they go back to how it was prior to the brand splits and have everyone on the show, treating it equal to Raw? They already run house shows on Friday nights. Maybe they should just air one of those live. Thoughts?
They SHOULD cancel it because it's not needed to follow the narrative of the story, but I can certainly understand why they wouldn't. It's funny how fast things can cool down again once the Rock leaves, because they were selling out Smackdown tapings and house shows for weeks leading up to Wrestlemania, and now I can get floor seats for the house show in Regina on the 25th right now if I wanted. I think it's just too much product and fans are getting burned out after three hours of RAW, and unfortunately Smackdown is the main victim. Maybe they should jettison the whole concept and do an hour of Main Event and an hour of NXT for the show?