In a potentially huge update on the future of WWE SmackDown , it is rumored now that the show could go live once it hits the USA Network in January of 2016. WWE SmackDown is set to finish out the rest of the year with the SyFy Network and move, in the first quarter of the new year, to USA Network. This is the first time WWE has had two regular wrestling shows on the same network, barring WWE Tough Enough as a reality show by WWE.
Many felt that the move would be big for WWE and it would come with some changes for WWE SmackDown . There is a thought that the WWE brand-split could happen once again, seeing as WWE has a lot more talent these days with multiple shows to put everyone in. The best thing they can do is split them up again, as the same problem existed for WWE years ago when a lot of former WCW and ECW talent joined the roster, as well as other talent WWE had in development at the time.
Almost everyone in WWE that is a star today can credit the brand split partly for them getting time to show what they could do. John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Triple H, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, and many more were able to show what they could do because a split gave them opportunity. Multiple shows including everyone made things tougher for mid-carders and jobbers to stand out before this. So, a split is possible.
Another thing many want is to see WWE SmackDown go live, which we might just get.
WWE Hall of Famer and SmackDown broadcaster Jerry Lawler was at a recent USA Championship Wrestling event in Metropolis, Illinois. There, he met with fans and was nice enough to sign autographs for many. Fan Jeff Wyatt sent a report to ProWrestling.net regarding his experience and said that Lawler told him something very interesting regarding SmackDown , saying as follows.
“Lawler did meet and greets most of the day and brought his own Batmobile (Adam west era). I met him and he was extremely nice. He autographed a picture and I got my picture with him. I told him I remembered driving to Evansville to see him wrestle Bret Hart back years ago. He remembered the event, asked me if it was a title match (it was) and he remembered it was right before Bret left (a month before). I asked if he liked being on Smackdown to which he said ‘he loved it.’ He told me they were moving to USA Network and possibly going live, possibly on Friday nights. He was extremely nice and thanked me for being a fan all these years.”
While Lawler having a Batmobile is cool and all, the big news from this is that we could be seeing a move to Friday once again, as well as a live show. Usually, live shows by WWE are much better than taped, mainly because they put more into them. There is some cost in doing a show live, which is why WWE does not normally do multiple live shows a week. Usually, just WWE RAW gets such treatment.
One would imagine that if USA Network wants SmackDown live, they could very well help WWE with the cost of doing it if there is any issue. A live SmackDown could make the show far more watchable. However, the big thing that needs to happen is a split and storyline difference. Otherwise, SmackDown will still remain as the RAW recap show to fans.
[Image Credit: WWE]