WWE News: No Plans for SmackDown to Go Live on Tuesday Nights

Well, it seems as if the experiment is finally over.

According to this report at Lords of Pain (originally sourced to F4Wonline.com), there are no plans of moving SmackDown to Tuesday nights and making it live.

As most saw, recent live specials on Tuesday for the Blue Brand have been disappointing.

My Thoughts on This News

First, I always caution the WWE Universe with reading "stories" on the Internet. Some will end up being true, while others are just laughable.

I think this story is very easy to believe.

It simply makes zero logical sense for SmackDown to move nights and go live. Fans may want to jump up and down over the thought, but WWE is a business.

If it doesn't make sense financially, why do it?

Last Tuesday's special saw an extremely low 1.50 rating. The replay three days later actually had 50,000 more viewers than the original live airing.

Tell me the last time a replay for any show beat the original, new episode.

That was ridiculous for the network and WWE. I think that may have been the final straw, but there have been countless other examples.

Just two months ago in February, the live Tuesday show drew the lowest rating in six months. Does anybody even remember what happened that night?

I think CM Punk and Daniel Bryan were the focal point. That brings on a totally different issue I won't get into here...

Spoilers do not matter in the ratings. This was proven Monday night and continues to with SmackDown doing great on Friday nights.

All in all, it was yet another decrease in viewers and a low number for fans to stare at. That sure sounds inviting for Vince McMahon.

In the end, WWE gets more viewers for a taped show airing on a Friday night than they do with a live show airing on Tuesday nights.

The excuses of "people are out Friday nights" clearly don't work anymore. Those shows dominate Tuesday's ratings. Saying "big names" should be moved to SmackDown has next to no merit anymore, folks.

It costs more money to produce a live show, so unless ratings improve, it does not make financial sense. In a business, WWE needs to make smart decisions.

The fact is (as I wrote about in December) SmackDown should stay on Friday nights in a taped format. That is simply the best option moving forward.

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