Why SmackDown Doesn't Need the Undertaker to Be the WWE's "A" Show

SmackDown is quickly becoming the WWE's most interesting show.  It can even be argued that if CM Punk wasn't able to cut promos on RAW and wasn't actively competing that SmackDown might be better than its Monday night counterpart.

The fact that the Undertaker, who is a part of the SmackDown roster, isn't there doesn't seem to be hurting the show.  In fact, it is probably helping it.

At this point, The Phenom is considered to be one of the best wrestlers in the company character-wise. He has been there so long and been built up over such a period of time that it wouldn't make sense for him to lose to anyone on the roster.

And if he was on the show every week, think of what fans wouldn't see. How could Mark Henry be a monster heel?

If Undertaker was a face, he would easily be able to dismantle Henry.

If he was a heel, he would be able to systematically beat Henry to the punch and stand as the top villain.

In the end, there would be only one man on the blue brand's roster who might even begin to match up to him from a character perspective.

And that is Randy Orton.

It would be the same thing that fans have been subjected to over the years and it would lead to the same stagnation that, up until recently, seemed to be on both shows.

Now, with Orton on the back-burner and Undertaker on hiatus, fans are getting to see matches like Mark Henry vs. Daniel Bryan.  Sheamus is becoming a top face.

And with these wrestlers stepping up to take the main-event slots, it means that other wrestlers are getting the chance to move up to mid-card.  It elevates the status of a number of WWE talents who might have otherwise languished outside of TV.

And in many ways, it is giving fans fresh faces to watch and new storylines to see unfold.  In some ways, it is better than watching John Cena and Alberto Del Rio for the millionth time on RAW.

By not having the Undertaker on SmackDown he remains something special.  Something fans need to buy pay-per-views to witness.  It makes him something that fans won't get bored of.

And at the same time, it gives them something new to watch every week.

So it isn't that SmackDown might become the better show, even without the Undertaker—it's that SmackDown is becoming the better show because it doesn't.