When we look at Monday's WWE draft, many of us forget one important factor: Smackdown is about to lose its spot on The CW network.
Starting in the fall, Smackdown will air on MyNetworkTV, a loose collection of independent stations. This leads to the possible perception of Raw being the "A" show (on the USA Network), Smackdown as the "B" show, and, of course ECW being the "C" show on Spike TV.
That means, instead of switching brands, the wrestlers could be seen as getting promoted to Raw or demoted to Smackdown or ECW.
We can solve this problem with a three-step plan:
Step 1: Go ahead and make Raw the "A" show by putting all of the major stars on Raw.
Can you imagine Raw with John Cena, Triple H, Edge, Batista, Big Show, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, JBL, Mark Henry, Undertaker, Kane and Great Khali?
Put Mick Foley in the Commissioner spot again, and you’ve got must-watch TV live every Monday night.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Merge the World title and the WWE title in February at No Way Out, with the winner facing the Royal Rumble winner at Wrestlemania for the undisputed championship.
Step 2: Devote Smackdown to the cruiserweights and tag teams.
These guys are treated as afterthoughts every week, getting squished in two minutes or left off the show entirely. Imagine if these talented wrestlers had a whole show to themselves.
WWE could bring back the cruiserweight titles and bring over A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels from TNA. Jeff Hardy and Rey Misterio could also spend a year on Smackdown before moving to Raw to challenge all the big guys.
Also, the tag team titles could be combined in a ladder match at Wrestlemania. A lot of existing talent on the WWE roster would get the opportunity to shine.
Step 3: Make ECW the exclusive home of new talent.
If anyone enters WWE, they have to start in ECW. This will allow the company’s minor-league call-ups to get their feet wet without being crushed by the big stars every week.
WWE can also invite promising independent talent to wrestle in ECW. It won't matter if they win or lose. The fans could vote on who they like the best, and the two who receive the most votes every six months will earn a full-time contract.
This will allow fans to see guys like Low-Ki, Chris Hero, Bryan Danielson and Mike Quackenbush, and, if the fans want them in the big time, they will be there.
To make it in WWE, the new guys would have to go through veterans like Tommy Dreamer, Stevie Richards, Hardcore Holly, William Regal and Val Venis.
This plan would energize all three brands. Every wrestler would be important in the context of his or her show, so every match and every interview would be important.
It would shake up the WWE and attract new fans to all three shows. Let's see it!
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5 months ago
Your ideas won't work. Nobody's going to watch Smackdown or ECW if there are no big names on it. They'll fizzle out, and cease to exist. The Jeff Hardy idea on Smackdown is terrible. They're building him to main event status on Raw, it would make no sense to demote him for a year.
The only good idea here is unifying some of the titles.
They need to get rid of the brand extention completely (and the ECW show) for people to care. Go back to having one roster for Raw and Smackdown. Cut the jobbers like Haas and Venis, the guys that aren't used at all. Create some new big names - DiBiasie is a start...
5 months ago
What they need to do is setup a standings grid. Wins and Losses. Wrestlers earn title shots by the amount of wins they get. You lose, you're dropping in the standings. That would make EVERY match (not just title matches) important.
It worked with Flair...every match was exciting to see how Flair was going to come out on top. Before the angle, I couldn't honestly say Flair was exciting to watch in about 15 years...
5 months ago
Also with the standings grid, it would make WWE about the wrestling again, not the dumb, unbelievable storylines. Sure, you can still have good feuds/storylines, but those would be secondary to the wrestling.
5 months ago
Are you crazy? You can't move all the stars to Raw! If you do this then there would be no point in watching SmackDown or ECW! When you bring new talent to the show it is so that they can go up against the best. If you are only putting new talent on ECW then how are they going to be tested with the best.
Basically, your idea stinks. They way that this is written it is like you have never watched wrestling. All the names that you have stated above about moving to Raw, well they all have been on Raw. Did you just start watching? Kinda sound like it.
5 months ago
Not to sound rude, but this might be the worst idea ever. There are so many flaws in the "move all the big talent to Raw" statement, it's unreal. A.) taking all the top talent off of Smackdown! makes it worthless in the ratings. B.) No "star" is going to want to be in the mid-card, which is what's going to happen with all that talent in one place.
Moving Jeff Hardy in the midst of a main event push? Not happening. And I don't know if you've noticed, but ECW basically is the home of new talent.
Unifying titles would be good, though, as far too many are in existence.
5 months ago
Also, acquiring guys like Ki, Dragon, Quack and Hero is easier said than done. Dragon doesn't fit WWE's body type. I'm sure Quack doesn't either. Not sure why Hero hasn't even been offered. Ki doesn't fit the WWE mold. Bring in AJ Styles from TNA? To job on their C show? Yeah, that makes sense considering he's a main event player in an up and coming company.
Man, this article is more ridiculous by the moment.
5 months ago
I think vince should get rid of the draft. All wrestlers should be able to paticipate on both shows ( raw and smackdown). Vince needs to create a new storyline. Would it be interesting if t.n.a wrestlers invade wwe organization. Just think, Sting, The Abyss, Samoa joe, and other top tna wrestlers go to wwe to compete against wwe superstars, Just for one night only. It would it be history in the making.
5 months ago
I'm convinced that I'm the only non-mark here.
5 months ago
Hey guys, I appreciate your comments, even though nobody agrees with me.
I think you may be missing the point that the guys who would wrestle on Smackdown and ECW would be BIGGER stars than they are now, since they would have long, important, entertaining matches.
I think Smackdown's ratings would go down a little, but they would bounce back when people realized that the quality of the show had increased dramatically.
I can see London and Kendrick being as popular as The Rock & Roll Express.
Kofi Kingston can become as popular as CM Punk is now if you put him on Smackdown
Morrison and Miz could be as hated as The Midnight Express.
Without banging their heads against the bigger stars, these guys will BECOME the bigger stars on Smackdown. It's like a vaccination. It will only hurt for a second, but eventually you'll feel much better.
And if you click on my profile, you'll see that I'm neither a mark or a new fan. I've been an announcer for 14 years, including three in Ring of Honor.
from 5 months ago
While I agree that Londrick, Kofi and Miz & Morrison deserve pushes, your statement that all the top talent in the company should be on one show doesn't make a lick of sense.
People aren't tuning into Smackdown for Jimmy Wang, Deuce & Domino or Mark Henry. People are tuning in for the stars: Edge, Taker, Batista, Matt Hardy, MVP. Taking them away will no doubt destroy the ratings to an ECW-type level.
Putting guys who wrestle on Smackdown & ECW over on Raw wouldn't make them bigger stars automatically. I think putting Punk on Raw would be a huge mistake because he'd be buried underneath Cena, HHH, HBK, Orton, etc. Let him go to Smackdown where he can develop against upper-level heels like Edge & MVP and see if he can get over enough that he'd be deserving of a Raw slto.
You need to think about this not only as a wrestling fan but the way Vince does. He doesn't care what the fans think. As long as he's making money, he'll continue to do what brings in money. If that means putting Cena in the main event all the time, he's going to keep doing that. It's that simple.
4 months ago
I actually like this idea, but more casual fan who tune in to see John Cena or Triple H wouldn't want to watch all the undercard guys on Smackdown or ECW, thus casuing lower rating on the shows. WWE has been trying everything in thier power to increase rating on SD and moving all the under-card/tag team would only make things go down hill for Friday Nights. I like your thinking anyways, great read!
4 months ago
I think the branding thing is a load of crap to be honest! It should go back to being one show where any wrestler can participate on any night. The way it is set up at the moment is too restrictive for my liking. Although I am happy that Edge cannot get a shot at the World title again I would like to see Batista kicking his arse!!
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