Last week, I attended the WWE Supershow in East Rutherford, New Jersey. For those of you who don’t know, a WWE Supershow is where the WWE records both SmackDown! and Raw at the same event. SmackDown! is taped first and then is followed by the live episode of Monday Night Raw. Telltale signs of the Supershow include black ring ropes and the Raw polygon-shaped Titantron.
The show started with a dark match featuring the return of Bob “Hardcore” Holly. The fans were supportive of Holly’s return to the ring.
SmackDown! followed the dark match and the fans were pretty much sitting on their hands until Ken Kennedy and Batista had their match. The crowd did not care for SmackDown! as evidenced by a sign I saw, “I only came here for Raw.” The Chavo/Rey segment did not get as much heat as it should have. Two people in front of me tried to start an “Eddie’s Dead” chant. I found that quite distasteful and disrespectful of the late, great Eddie Guerrero.
King Booker and Undertaker had a quality match that the fans appreciated. However, the crowd was hot for Raw even though the episode of Raw was really no better than SmackDown!
The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.
It just shows the sad state of the WWE. WWE constantly puts over Raw as the “flagship of the WWE” and puts down SmackDown! At least JBL tries to put over SmackDown! as the “A Show.” The fans have bought into the WWE thinking that SmackDown! is the B show and not worth watching. For a short time, SmackDown! was the real A show with Kurt Angle, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros, John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show and Brock Lesnar.
Every time SmackDown! has some momentum, the WWE undercuts it. Take a look at that list – who is left? Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero are left. Triple H took Edge and brought back Orton to Raw. Show and Angle are anchoring the WWECW with star power.
SmackDown! is usually saved by a Raw wrestler coming over to the show. When Batista vacated the World Heavyweight Championship, Raw’s Kurt Angle managed to win the SmackDown! championship. Shortly thereafter, HBK got a pinfall victory over Angle on Monday Night Raw (while Angle was the SmackDown! Champion) to further show the fans that Raw is superior to SmackDown!
I cannot understand why the WWE would bother to do this considering any WWE brand brings the WWE money. For some reason, WWE is choosing to bury one show at their own expense. WWE could be making money on all of their brands, but chooses to do so with Raw and the new ECW. SmackDown! has quickly become the third brand.
So if anyone from the WWE is reading this, build up SmackDown and ECW to be equal to Raw and just make some serious money. When the brands are built up, fights between SmackDown! and Raw during the big-money PPVs would generate buyrates. The perfect example is the interpromotional classic, Raw’s HBK vs. SmackDown!’s Kurt Angle. Two superstars whose interactions were limited by being on separated brands allow for a slow building feud that can take months and their match will make money on a joint-brand PPV.
The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.
State of Wrestling 