Rumors are saying that WWE Monday Night RAW may combined with WWE Smackdown to bring back the WWE RAW Super Show TV taping concept. According to Jim Ross, this would be done to save the money company until the WWE Network becomes self-sustaining based upon subscription numbers.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , it’s already been officially announced that WWE Smackdown is moving to Thursday nights , which will probably make Thursday night football fans sad since they’ll have to choose between favorites.
Unfortunately, we still don’t know when the not so Friday Night Smackdown will be recorded. Our earlier reports discussed the possibility of WWE Monday Night Raw merging with Smackdown , but it’s also possible that the video taping will take place on Tuesday nights.
But when Jim Ross wrote on his blog about the idea of combining WWE Monday Night RAW and Smackdown he indicated his source was from within the company.
“Someone with WWE told me that WWE was considering going back to the Super Show TV Taping concept where they do RAW live on Monday night and also tape Smackdown the same evening,” Ross said. “That’s a load of work….more than a load….but it would save WWE tons of money by eliminating the Tuesday Tapings. Time will tell if this cost cutting move will actually happen but it’s a giant undertaking nonetheless. If it does occur then it might be a timely move to split the announce teams on the two shows so that the announcers can all prepare for one show plus it would make the shows sound differently as they all sound pretty much the same including the PPV’s.”
If this rumor about the return of the WWE RAW Super Show is true, this would indicate that Vince McMahon believes the financial crisis created by the much lower than expected WWE Network subscription numbers is far worse than they would like to admit. As it is, the company was originally shooting for reaching the one million mark by WrestleMania 30, but so far they only reached around 700,000 and about 128,000 quit the WWE Network after their six-month commitment was over. This is why you so often hear the shows pushing the $9.99 price point, although we don’t know how much SummerSlam 2014 affected the WWE Network subscription numbers. In the worst case scenario, the infamous WWE layoffs may continue along with other cost-cutting measures in order to get the WWE back to profitability.
What do you think about the rumor that WWE Monday Night RAW and WWE Smackdown may combine into the same night?