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WWE News: ‘WWE Smackdown’ To Feed Off ‘WWE Raw’ After Debut On USA Network

By Jon Fisher
Published on: 18:41 PST, Dec 8, 2015

The WWE is in need of another brand to carry WWE Raw out of the bottom of the ratings. For those who don’t know the numbers, the WWE was close to another record-breaking low on Monday. Here were the numbers: First hour – 3.270 million; Second hour – 3.042 million; Third hour – 2.850 million. That last hour featured one of the worst main events in WWE history.

Sheamus and Roman Reigns took part in a “heated” exchange that saw two scripted promos that just didn’t work. For nearly two months now, some have been calling for change inside the WWE. While the opener of WWE Raw felt different as it tried to create positive chaos, it lacked logic. Reigns defeated the entire League of Nations in a 1-on-4 elimination, handicap match on WWE Smackdown.

Why did it cause a lot of trouble for Reigns to defeat the League of Nations with three others at his side? It lacked logic and continuity. One thing the WWE is missing is another brand to bounce storylines off of to enhance them. Smackdown had that effect at first, but it’s now known as the “Raw Replay” show. Luckily, that may change very soon.

According to Cageside Seats,WWE Smackdown’smove to the USA Network could benefit the program in a big way.

Look for SmackDown and Raw to get on the same page a lot more with the former’s impending move to USA in the States. One of the main ideas for making the show important again is having events continue from Monday nights onto Thursday and perhaps even vice-versa.

As usual, most people look to Jim Ross for his opinions on the wrestling industry. On his blog, Ross talked about WWE Smackdown’s move to the USA Network and explained the big potential it has.

“Expect some noticeable changes to WWE Smackdown when it moves to the USA Network in January. Hopefully, Raw and Smackdown will be more episodically produced after they both start airing on the same network.”

For the first few months, WWE Smackdown has no choice but to excite the people and make them want to watch. Right now, many WWE fans that are vocal on social media record it, because they read the spoilers online on Tuesday night. Not going live is what’s hurting Smackdown the absolute most. Why would folks want to tune in when they already know the end result?

WWE Raw always will have the advantage of having a live audience in the crowd to feed off of. Ross put it perfectly when he talked about noticeable changes. They need to feed off each other. That, or WWE Smackdown must remain a separate brand. When it was at its peak in the mid-2000’s, they had all the talent in the world. Edge, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and others perfected the roster.

It had the best wrestling, while WWE Raw had the entertainment. The world of wrestling is very opinionated, and Mick Foley is one of the most-opinionated of them all. Ric Flair, on a recent podcast, talked about Foley’s outspoken comments.

“The problem I have is [Foley is] not there. Like, to me, Mick has become a Monday morning quarterback. He’s only observing what he’s watching on TV. Do you know what I mean? And I don’t think it’s fair to the company to be ostracized or scrutinized by someone that’s not there.”

Perhaps if more WWE fans voice their opinion, then they will change programming. Then again, it took CM Punk six years to change the WWE.

[Photo by Joem Pollex/Getty Images]

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