If you were Smackdown GM....

Mr.Nice Guy

I can't speak for anyone else but I think it's clear that Smackdown is way behind Raw in the entertainment stakes.Raw is entertaining throughout but Smackdown has moments where the action slows down and the main events are frequently dull.
I'm going to highlight what I think are the main problems and what I'd do if I were the GM:

1.JBL(This guy isn't fit to carry Smackdown.Although I like Booker T I don't think he is either.If I were running things,Taker would've won the title at No Mercy and I would've started a feud with Kurt Angle that would've culminated at Wrestlemania 21.)

2.Too kiddy-orientated.(This is a major problem in my view.Raw takes things to the extreme while Smackdown targets the young age group.This is wrong in my view.Last week was the first time in ages tables were used.If I were running things,the Dudleys would be actively targeting people for tables!Maybe I'd set up a storyline where they targeted all the divas on Smackdown and I'd have some faces sticking up for the divas.)

3.Hardcore title(This would be a great way to toughen up Smackdown and the show has several former ECW guys there anyway.I enjoyed a couple of years ago when Smackdown would have guys like Steve Blackman,Hardcore Holly,Al Snow etc fighting for the hardcore title.This is just what Smackdown needs!)

4.Tag team division(The tag team division on Smackdown is stale.For example,Kidman and London were doing well and the WWE break them up!If I were in charge,I would work to bring in some great competition for the tag team division.Also I'd have more 6 man tag team matches kicking off Smackdown with two single stars teaming with tag teams like the good old days!

5.More backstabbing,ruthlessness and competition!(Compare the title picture nowadays to a couple of years ago.Back then all the guys desperately wanted the title and would do almost anything for a title shot.Now,Booker T has the title shot and no one gives a damn!If I were in charge,Angle,Eddie,Van Dam,Big Show,Cena,(when his film's done )Taker etc would be outlining to Booker how unhappy they are he has the title shot.Furthermore,the other contenders would also be at each others throats!Remember the old days like the Armageddon hell in a cell feud?6 guys all after the title!We never see that any more.But we would with me at the helm.)

I think I've come up with some pretty good ideas for revitalising Smackdown.What do you all think and what do you yourselves feel should be done?

el rabitos

well, if you were more than 14 u might know that the GM is only another gimmick thats part of the show

Mr.Nice Guy

el rabitos wrote:

well, if you were more than 14 u might know that the GM is only another gimmick thats part of the show

I know the GM is just a gimmick.I felt it would be simpler to go with the gimmick though.Would you have preferred me to entitle the thread,"If you were the boss' son-in-law".....?

Ph3n0m

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

1.JBL(This guy isn't fit to carry Smackdown.Although I like Booker T I don't think he is either.If I were running things,Taker would've won the title at No Mercy and I would've started a feud with Kurt Angle that would've culminated at Wrestlemania 21.)

You are joking, Taker cant work like he used to - best people to have been given the title, if we could travel back in time would be RVD, Angle or Eddie

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

2.Too kiddy-orientated.(This is a major problem in my view.Raw takes things to the extreme while Smackdown targets the young age group.This is wrong in my view.Last week was the first time in ages tables were used.If I were running things,the Dudleys would be actively targeting people for tables!Maybe I'd set up a storyline where they targeted all the divas on Smackdown and I'd have some faces sticking up for the divas.)

Already been done before, and strangely enough was done by the Dudleyz

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

3.Hardcore title(This would be a great way to toughen up Smackdown and the show has several former ECW guys there anyway.I enjoyed a couple of years ago when Smackdown would have guys like Steve Blackman,Hardcore Holly,Al Snow etc fighting for the hardcore title.This is just what Smackdown needs!)

Never will happen, the belt is retired - plus most of the hardcore matches became boring and stale.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

4.Tag team division(The tag team division on Smackdown is stale.For example,Kidman and London were doing well and the WWE break them up!If I were in charge,I would work to bring in some great competition for the tag team division.Also I'd have more 6 man tag team matches kicking off Smackdown with two single stars teaming with tag teams like the good old days!

This is a roster problem - there are not enough tag teams to justify having two seperate tag champs

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

5.More backstabbing,ruthlessness and competition!(Compare the title picture nowadays to a couple of years ago.Back then all the guys desperately wanted the title and would do almost anything for a title shot.Now,Booker T has the title shot and no one gives a damn!If I were in charge,Angle,Eddie,Van Dam,Big Show,Cena,(when his film's done )Taker etc would be outlining to Booker how unhappy they are he has the title shot.Furthermore,the other contenders would also be at each others throats!Remember the old days like the Armageddon hell in a cell feud?6 guys all after the title!We never see that any more.But we would with me at the helm.)

An interesting idea, but again you are rehasing the part, nothing new here and if it were used again, that too would become stale and boring

I think I've come up with some pretty good ideas for revitalising Smackdown.What do you all think and what do you yourselves feel should be done?

Mr.Nice Guy

"You are joking, Taker cant work like he used to - best people to have been given the title, if we could travel back in time would be RVD, Angle or Eddie"

What makes you think he can't work like he used to?I think he'd be no less risky than Angle or Eddie.Angle has serious neck problems that could recur and Eddie got deeply depressed a while back at viewing figures for PPv's while he was champion.Vince had to reassure him he was not to blame.Taker is healthier than Angle and calmer and more experienced than Eddie.RVD is a good shout,though but he never got a title shot.

"Already been done before, and strangely enough was done by the Dudleyz"

Yes it was done before and was a great storyline.If I remember correctly Gerald Briscoe declared he would stick up for the faces.It was a good storyline and deserves another go in my view.

"Never will happen, the belt is retired - plus most of the hardcore matches became boring and stale."

The belt should be brought back like the IC title was.It would give those wrestlers on Smackdown who are too big for the cruiserweight division but too unworthy for the US title something to aim for.

"This is a roster problem - there are not enough tag teams to justify having two seperate tag champs"

I know that's why they should quit signing up new singles wrestlers and start signing up tag teams.

"An interesting idea, but again you are rehasing the part, nothing new here and if it were used again, that too would become stale and boring"

You act like the WWE don't rehash old storylines.What about JBL and Orlando?Remember Ted Debiase and Virgil?What about the short-lived Taker rip-off Mordecai?Also how could increased competition between wrestlers be "stale and boring"?Stale and boring to me is seeing Booker T encountering JBL and Orlando every week without anyone else showing an interest in the outcome!It's supposed to be the WWE title after all.

What do you suggest for Smackdown?

Ph3n0m

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

What makes you think he can't work like he used to?I think he'd be no less risky than Angle or Eddie.Angle has serious neck problems that could recur and Eddie got deeply depressed a while back at viewing figures for PPv's while he was champion.Vince had to reassure him he was not to blame.Taker is healthier than Angle and calmer and more experienced than Eddie.RVD is a good shout,though but he never got a title shot.

That stuff about Eddie being depressed was an alleged fact from wrestling news sites. Taker is in no way healthier then Angle, if he is, its because his schedule is far more relaxed then anyone else on Smackdown. Taker has been battling hip, back and groin injuries for the past year, and these problems are still on going

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

The belt should be brought back like the IC title was.It would give those wrestlers on Smackdown who are too big for the cruiserweight division but too unworthy for the US title something to aim for.

However you run the risk of the belt becoming boring and stale, just like it did before it was retired. Not too many of those on either wrestler would want to wrestle hardcore each night, every night. And I do mean hardcore, as fans wont accept chairs, tables and aluminum trash cans - they have seen that in regular matches - hardcore matches would need something special

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

I know that's why they should quit signing up new singles wrestlers and start signing up tag teams.

Nope, in my opinion, they should start creating and sticking with tag teams - remember the Bashams? They were getting over bit by bit with Shaniqua and then where are they now - jobbers on Heat. Rosey and Hurricane should have been tag champs months ago - their pop on tv was incredible but now look at them - rumour has it Hurricane is going heel and single.

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

You act like the WWE don't rehash old storylines.What about JBL and Orlando?Remember Ted Debiase and Virgil?What about the short-lived Taker rip-off Mordecai?Also how could increased competition between wrestlers be "stale and boring"?Stale and boring to me is seeing Booker T encountering JBL and Orlando every week without anyone else showing an interest in the outcome!It's supposed to be the WWE title after all.

Duh, those similiarities are quite obvious. The problem is a few years ago, WWE was an innovator, an originator of good storylines and wrestling. Now the problem is the writers are too interested in doing the "soap opera" and tbh, fans dont want that. Lita/Kane/Snitsky storyline, Katie Vick, etc - storylines like that are what makes fans turn off and tune out.

Fans are sick of seeing the same wrestlers fight each other week in and week out. They are sick of the same old, formulaic matches that do happen. No one is being innovative, no one is trying to capture the fans imagination in the ring anymore.

Take Mysterio - once the high flyer, innovator, the daredevil - now look at his matches these days - they are bloody predictable and dare I say bordering on the 5 moves of doom - senton splash, hurricanrana, springboard legdrop, reverse a move into a DDT, 619. In WCW he used to bust his ass breaking out a new move nearly every week and these days he looks like he is just going through the motions.

Take RVD - a man, who should have been given the belt, a man, whose pop is so insanely over that WWE must have been deaf. Now he is just going through the motions.

The problem is that WWE is a tired old dinosaur, its the lame horse that should have been shot or replaced by a younger model.

There are plenty of problems with WWE, and its not just limited to Smackdown.

Mr.Nice Guy

I agree with alot of what you say except about Angle being healthier than Taker.From what I've heard from interviews by Angle he is concerned with his injuries himself and I read an interview recently where he saisd he felt he'd 2-3 years left in the business tops.

You're right about the storylines in the WWE.Apparently the WWE are pinning their hopes on Heyman now which is probably why RVD has been getting more high profile matches lately.I think their treatment of him has been shocking and if I remeber correctly he was left off the card for Summerslam which is really incredible.Can Heyman sort out the WWE though?

Kencu

Captain flip flop(RVD) hasn't got the personality to carry the title for any lenght of time, the guy doesnt love the business enough. If he did he would have got the title by now. Thats always been the knock on him, going way back to his ECW days, he never did manage to become ECW champ did he? And dont give me bull bout how he didnt need it. He'd make a decent transitional champ but the Future for Smackdown is Cena(Who's ring work will improve) and possibly Carlito(Good Heat or bad Heat, he's pretty much the only heel drawing any at the moment).

More will come and someone like Dupree may end up latching onto a killer gimmick and going with it(hard to believe it was Hunterhearsthelmsley, the ringmaster and Rocky Maivia, who drew those scay numbers a few years back!). The WWE is no more a "dinosaur" now than it was when they were running the "New Generation". Wrestling has always been circlicar and will always be. All the need is a spark, one guy who catches the imagination of the public ala Hogan, Austin, NWO and they'll be back on track. Maybe Cena will be that guy but he needs a mainstream avenue and i'm not talking about a Rap albumn.