WWE's Raw & SmackDown: Is a Tired Vince McMahon the Key to Good TV Nowadays?

It has started leaking out from different sites that Vince McMahon's age might finally be catching up with him. An article from wrestlezone.com mentioned that McMahon, the head of the WWE, had a flu and was allowing it to show and affect his work. Apparently this hadn't always been the case in the past and it was just recently that it started happening.

McMahon seems to have let his health and aging affect how he controls both shows.  In the article mentioned above he has continued to try and micro-manage RAW and change it even to the point where some question if the tweaks to the script make sense.

It makes sense in some ways as RAW is seen as the flagship show and helps push the WWE towards new fans and getting pay-per-view buys.

McMahon also focusing on RAW has been a great thing overall as putting his attention on one product and trying to study every minute detail has helped it to avoid slip-ups.  

Part of this might be CM Punk's influence as the straight edge champion has seemed to be able to push more of his agenda and attitude on RAW, but McMahon is still a wrestling genius and his ability to focus on only one of his two major shows might just be what was needed.

Then there is SmackDown.

For as much focus as McMahon seems to be focusing on his "A show" it seems to have been diverted from the taped blue brand.

According to a subscriber-only newsletter at the Wrestling Observer via Wrestlinginc.com, McMahon has seemingly backed off of his old schedule and is leaving SmackDown alone.

For as much as focusing all of his attention on RAW may be helping it become better, his lack of focus on SmackDown is doing the same.

The brand has always suffered from a weaker roster and a lack of story lines, but recently it seems to have been made into a show with stacked characters and interesting points of conflict.  This freedom from an older and perhaps worn down McMahon is allowing Ed Koskey, the head writer of SmackDown, to do his job more efficiently.

Where as McMahon has had to worry about two shows, two rosters, and dozens of story lines in the past, advancing age may have forced him to finally narrow his focus and put all of his efforts into it.

It's allowed SmackDown to not only have an organic growth that it wasn't getting until recently, but it also is giving it a different vision and look than it has had in the past.  Instead of both shows being a vision created by Vince McMahon, RAW looks like his creation where as SmackDown comes off as being built by Koskey.

It is never easy to grow old or to get weaker, but in McMahon's case it may just help his product.