The Top 10 Reasons Post-Draft Smackdown Isn't Living Up to Its Potential:

Back in 2009, a lot of people looked at the changes made to the Smackdown roster and saw them as negative. The blue brand lost its biggest star in Triple H and gained a multitude of unproven talent that were going to be counted on to carry the program.

However, superstars like Edge, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, Kane, Shelton Benjamin, Umaga, and CM Punk stepped up and put on one of the best few months in WWE history on Smackdown, with consistently great matches on every episode. In my opinion, it was some of the best wrestling in WWE history.

Fast forward to 2011 and we have a similar situation, with Smackdown losing some of its big names and gaining a lot of raw talent (no pun intended) that could step up to make the show great to watch.

But while Smackdown is having some interesting matches and feuds, it hasn’t reached that level of consistency and intrigue that they had on Smackdown two years ago.

This article will analyse exactly why Smackdown has not had the success it had after the draft in 2009, despite the fact that they have the talent to do so.

The Corre (And Ezekiel Jackson)

Now, this is nothing against any member of the Corre, because Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, and Ezekiel Jackson are great talents and Heath Slater is a passable performer. The problem comes in the way this group has been booked and how superstars have been booked around them in the past few months.

Every week on Smackdown a decent chunk on the show is dedicated to a Corre match, and the matches are almost always muddled with interference and DQs. While this is standard formula for heel factions, this is not being done to any specific end.

They’ve simply been re-establishing the same characteristics for the past few months while hinting at tension within the group.

Needless to say, Jackson being removed from the group was hardly adequate payoff for an angle that has been going on without progression for months now, and it appears it will continue without Jackson into the future.

The Corre members are good singles wrestlers, but average/below-average tag wrestlers, and these matches are simply wasting time.

When one of your top angles has simply been spinning its tires in the mud for months, it takes a toll on the rest of the program.

Big Show and Kane

Big Show and Kane have been in WWE for a long time, and they’re two superstars who are known for switching brands constantly. Before losing the titles to the New Nexus this past Monday, these two were the tag champs, and were engaging in seperate feuds with the Corre and the New Nexus.

These two are on the list because they do very little on Smackdown other than be antagonists for the Corre, yet they get plenty of airtime and a constant push as major threats.

Unfortunately, these two have been stale for quite some time now, and their act of beating on the two factions has been sour for the past month or so. Their wrestling, especially in these tag matches, is generally uninteresting and repetitive.

While they’re not bad wrestlers, the constant presence of these two holds back the younger, more athletic superstars who really need the air time.

It would seem Big Show is injured and will no longer appearing on Smackdown, so this is a problem that should be remedied from this point forward.

Lack of Diva Presence

It’s no secret that the diva’s division has not exactly been at its peak these past few years, but contrary to popular opinion, it’s not due to lack of talent.

Looking down the Smackdown roster, you’ve got Natalya, AJ, Tamina, and Rosa, four talented female wrestlers who haven’t gotten any ring time on Smackdown recently. Now that Kharma is out for a while, why not get a little competition between these divas going on Smackdown?

If the WWE is serious about rebuilding the diva division, it’s not going to happen overnight. Get these ladies in the ring, give them some time, and show the audience that they’re more than just tack-ons to the main shows.

No Love for the Intercontinental Title

Though not as bad as the divas division, the Intercontinental Championship has seen a reduction in value over the last few years as well, to the point now where it’s mostly just a decoration for Wade Barrett to carry around so the Corre don’t look totally worthless.

Back in 2009, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, and John Morrison had great matches over the Intercontinental title, many of them at PPVs, and it provided some of the most entertaining mid-card wrestling since the days of Eddie Guerrero and he who shall not be named.

While those guys may all be gone now, Smackdown still has the right pieces to have a competitive and engaging mid-card title picture. Daniel Bryan, Tyson Kidd, Ted DiBiase, Trent Barreta and Alex Riley (if he ever actually starts competing on Smackdown) are all guys who need some direction and can work great matches.

Give one of them the belt and have them battle over it, it could be WWE’s answer to the X-division.

Mark Henry

Mark Henry has rejuvenated his career on Smackdown, going from an afterthought on RAW to main-eventing on the B-show.

But that success comes at the expense of the rest of the roster, and the show in general. Henry has been getting long match times with top babyfaces on Smackdown, often times taking around 10-15 minutes.

And I think it is apparent to everyone that Henry is very limited in the ring. He basically employs basic heel big man moves, knocking down smaller opponents with his bulk and wearing them down.

These are the type of guys that belong in 5 minute matches on RAW, not 10-15 minute matches on Smackdown.

In addition to this, Henry is at the tail-end of his career, and unlike other older superstars like Big Show and Kane, he isn’t a huge draw.

There’s really no reason for him to be taking the main monster heel role on Smackdown, when it could easily go to someone like Sheamus or Brodus Clay, who can wrestle much more interesting matches with Christian and Randy Orton.

Too Many Gimmicks

Monday Night RAW has always been about the drama and theatre of pro wrestling, while Smackdown is more about the in-ring competition.

However, in recent weeks, Smackdown has been much more gimmick-heavy, and while that may make the stories more interesting, it cuts back on ring time for the superstars. Let’s see a quick list of the angles going on right now:

Christian/Orton’s frenemies relationship + Sheamus/Henry title hunt

Cody Rhodes and his American Psycho gimmick

Khali/Jinder Mahal

Chavo taking credit for Sin Cara

Corre implosion

Of these five main angles, only the Orton/Christian and Chavo/Sin Cara angles provide solid matches on a weekly basis, while the other three usually just progress with a squash match.

And between these angles, there is no room for WWE to just put two mid-card guys in there and give them 5-10 minutes, the way they could in previous years.

Smackdown needs to play to its strengths, and those strengths are in the wrestling ability of its superstars combined with simpler but well-told stories, not Machiavellian plotlines.

Wasted Talent

In previous years of post-draft Smackdown, superstars who were lost in the shuffle on RAW could come to Smackdown and get opportunities to appear on one of the big shows.

This year, however, there are a large clump of talented wrestlers who get little to no airtime, even though they have so much to offer the show.

I’m talking about guys like Tyson Kidd, Trent Barreta,  Brodus Clay, The Usos, Ted DiBiase, and Yoshi Tatsu.

It’s understandable that you can’t get everyone in, but there is time on Smackdown being spent on things like the Booker/Cole segment this past Friday, and when I see something like that I’m just thinking how much I’d rather see a Kidd-Barreta match or something along those lines.

If WWE gave these guys something to do, I guarantee they’d make the most of it. A huge part of Smackdown is getting to see guys who wouldn’t normally get airtime on RAW get a chance to do something, and it’s an element that has been sorely lacking on Friday Nights thus far.

Michael Cole

Although his in-ring days seem to be over, Michael Cole is still very much a presence on WWE programming, and his heel shtick seems to have only taken a small bump from his foot-kissing at Over the Limit. This past Friday, he was almost back to his old self, looking down on the faces and worshipping the heels.

I never understood why Cole was put on Smackdown, considering most of the guys he is involved with are on RAW now, basically Miz, Del Rio, Swagger, and of course Lawler.

Cole hurts the show not only because he is ear-gratingly annoying, but because it is abundantly clear that he can’t handle calling longer Smackdown-type matches.

Almost any time there is a lengthy singles match on Smackdown, while Booker and Matthews talk about strategies and specific wrestling moves executed, Cole struggles and always tries to bring the talk back to the characters, or just quiets down for awhile.

I don’t mind some character talk here and there, but Cole will trail off on abstract tangents about things outside of the match and the audience tends to get distracted and forget about the match themselves.

Cole’s style of commentary is better suited for RAW where it’s more about the stories and characters. On Smackdown, it should just be two guys talking about the matches and in-ring strategies, it makes the whole show feel more legitimate.

Lack of Direction for the Mid-Card Talent

Outside of the  main-event feud involving Randy Orton, Christian, Mark Henry, and Sheamus, the feuds on Smackdown just seems to be putting out the same thing every week.

Sin Cara will win a match, Cody Rhodes will usually wrestle a quick match, and there will be a beatdown from the Corre. Nothing new is really established for the characters, and it makes these segments feel skippable, which may be the worst offense a taped TV wrestling show can make.

The match quality is not good enough right now for people who are on the fence about watching Smackdown to elect to tune in this week if it’s same old, same old.

When everyone seems locked in the same spot, the matches seem less important because no one is really moving up or down on the card from the results. Is Daniel Bryan going to get a push off of beating Rhodes on Smackdown?

This match probably won’t effect either man’s position on the card. This come-and-go type wrestling is seen regularly on RAW, but on Smackdown it should be about these different guys fighting for opportunities, and those opportunities aren’t there for them right now.

Randy Orton

The reason I put Orton at the top of this list has nothing to do with his in-ring ability, because as shown at Over the Limit, when Randy’s on his game he can go with the best of them.

The reason Orton is here is because booking-wise he is now basically the equivalent to John Cena. He takes 80 percent of the offense in his matches and yet always finds a way to win, usually with an RKO out of nowhere.

Smackdown babyfaces have generally been more vulnerable than those on RAW in the past. Guys like Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, and recently Christian are huge draws, but none of them are afraid to drop a clean match now and again.

In my opinion it’s a better set-up and makes these characters come across as more human, as they make mistakes and move on. It also makes their matches more exciting because you know there’s a possibility they could lose.

Face Orton doesn’t lose clean more than once in a blue moon, and everyone else suffers because of it, because when you’re watching his matches, you know either he’s going to win or there’s going to be some swerve involving a DQ or something along those lines.

On a show like Smackdown that is centred less around big stars and names and more around wide-open action and newer guys getting a chance, Randy Orton is set-up to dominate everyone on the show and essentially become an equivalent to Cena for Smackdown.

While I’m not against Orton bringing his talents to Friday Nights, some tweaking to his character and possibly making him a little more vulnerable would make the show much more enjoyable on the whole.

Conclusion

So those are my top 10 reasons Smackdown has not been as good as it could be.

Hopefully, WWE brings some balance back to the program in the coming weeks and we get some consistently good in-ring action.

Thanks for reading, and take it easy on me; it's my first article.