SMACKDOWN LIVE SUPERTHREAD

J. Marston

Ouch, Smackdown had its worst rating in its history last night, on a road to Mania show too. Even the Christmas day episode had more viewers.

Monokne

Key to note that it was head up with Trumps State of the Union Address. Which mitigates it somewhat, but it's still a bad sign.

Omackeral

J. Marston wrote: »

Ouch, Smackdown had its worst rating in its history last night, on a road to Mania show too. Even the Christmas day episode had more viewers.

Couldn't be arsed myself to be honest. Miz and Shane as tag champions is a disgrace. You've Gallows and Anderson doing jobs to beat the band, Sanity I haven't seen in forever and they split a very over Rusev Day up. Three much better options there that could've been included.

The whole Man Becky Lynch thing didn't do much for me anyway tbh but if they're gonna have this Authority vs her thing over both shows while she does her ultra fake meany face then I'm honestly gonna just zone out.

The Chamber for the WWE Title I feel will be good and I enjoy Andrade and Zelina's act but outside of that there isn't much to keep me invested. They've slaughtered Shinsuke's aura too, even Asuka is just kinda there and she's the champion.

ERG89

First hour wasn't up against the address tho.
Just watching some of this show & it's like 90% of Smackdown shows in the sense you could miss it & you'd miss nothing worth going out of your way to see. The arenas sound half empty most weeks probably cause they are.
Even though he's cutting decent/funny promos Daniel Bryan's gimmick is not main event material. Even if the women weren't main eventing this year he still wouldn't be & that's with the other world champion being an incredibly stale act for years.
My favourite part of the show was that Paige cut the exact same promo on Raw & they just said to themselves ah that'll do.

J. Marston

ERG89 wrote: »

First hour wasn't up against the address tho.
Just watching some of this show & it's like 90% of Smackdown shows in the sense you could miss it & you'd miss nothing worth going out of your way to see. The arenas sound half empty most weeks probably cause they are.
Even though he's cutting decent/funny promos Daniel Bryan's gimmick is not main event material. Even if the women weren't main eventing this year he still wouldn't be & that's with the other world champion being an incredibly stale act for years.
My favourite part of the show was that Paige cut the exact same promo on Raw & they just said to themselves ah that'll do.

Have to agree with that. I find the promos mostly entertaining but trying to look in from the outside if you see Raw's champion, a larger than life beast of a man who brutalises opponents, compared to Smackdown's, a 5'9 lad in a cardigan whinging about climate change with his wooden championship.

I mean, come on...

Lord TSC

In 3 of the last five weeks, I've not even bothered going beyond watching a few clips on Reddit. Which annoys me cause I do think Smackdown is a decent show.

But the fact is, decent just doesn't cut it right now. If you're going to ask people to dedicate 2 hours a week to a show (ignoring, for a moment, that it's more when you factor in Raw and other shows), then it needs to be a far, far stronger level of writing. I don't mind the characters, I think it's the strongest selection of characters they've had in years. But the stories are non-existant.

Off the top of my head, you've got Becky's story (which the live crowd obviously do enjoy), and you've got the weird Mandy/Naomi story.....and that's it. After that, it's characters facing off without much direction other than "Me no like you".


Now, devil's advocate....the way people are watching stuff is changing. The ratings might be down, but are ratings as be all and end all as they used to be, prior to the Network? When you have people going to Youtube to catch up? Its probably tough to just measure engagement focusing solely on ratings.

RollieFingers

Have to agree with all of the above, and it's a shame because there is definitely potential for Smackdown to be a very entertaining two hours of wrestling programming.

The already boring Becky vs Authority angle dominating both shows with the brand's champion an afterthought, the absolute worst option they could pick for tag champs etc. The chamber main event is decent but that's about it.

Impact, MLW and NJPW all a much better watch at the moment, not perfect by any means but at least their shows feel fresh.

Rjd2

Lord TSC wrote: »

Now, devil's advocate....the way people are watching stuff is changing. The ratings might be down, but are ratings as be all and end all as they used to be, prior to the Network? When you have people going to Youtube to catch up? Its probably tough to just measure engagement focusing solely on ratings.

Doubt the lads at Fox who paid a fortune for Smackdown will be to be cutting WWE much slack for that.

Monokne wrote: »

Key to note that it was head up with Trumps State of the Union Address. Which mitigates it somewhat, but it's still a bad sign.

They did 2.5 million or so last year v SOTU and this year did not crack 2 million. Its a serious issue indeed.

Monokne

Rjd2 wrote: »

Doubt the lads at Fox who paid a fortune for Smackdown will be to be cutting WWE much slack for that.



They did 2.5 million or so last year v SOTU and this year did not crack 2 million. Its a serious issue indeed.

Oh I agree that the audience is dwindling and it's a big problem. Just pointing out that this week in particular had a reason to be lower than, say, last week.

Lord TSC

Kind of relevant, but WWE had their 4th Quarter earnings released today.

I'm italicizing the two points relevant to what I said earlier.

Notables:

WWE subscribers grew to 1.59m

Yearly Revenue up 28%

Digital Engagement Year over Year: Views up 57% and Hours consumed is up 77%

Live Event Revenue was Flat (14 less shows in Q4)

Average NA Attendance is 5000 (down 7%)

International Attendance avg up to 6900 (up 33%)

CastorTroy

What's with Kayla's "hard hitting" interviews? She seems to basically start off all interviews by saying "So you've been doing crap lately..."

J. Marston

So ratings and domestic attendance are down but international attendance, the network and revenue are up, up, up. Seen a headline that said they had record revenues this year and expect it to grow again next year.

WWE are like Man United, the product might not be as successful or entertaining as years gone by but the money just keeps rolling in.

HandsomeBob

The actual product not being important....I can see the resemblance alright. :P

Mr.Nice Guy

I like Becky but she's not proving to be a draw. Raw's number was poor too. I'm not liking the angry pouty face either. It's coming across as a bit too OTT to take seriously. I wonder how long it will be before fans turn on it.

Have to agree about the Bryan gimmick too. I enjoy it but it screams upper mid-card act rather than WWE Title main event act.

Seems like they're throwing a bunch of stuff up and hoping something sticks. It feels like such a B show.

SureYWouldntYa

I do really like the Bryan thing but yeah it's not main event worthy at all even if DB himself is playing a blinder

I know we're supposed to hate the title, but is he really going to be wearing that thing around in the days before and at Wrestlemania? I don't mind it as a month long thing but the main reason I want to see someone else win the Elimination Chamber is to get rid of the hemp title, I suppose it's achieving part of it's purpose really then

Pentecost

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I like Becky but she's not proving to be a draw. Raw's number was poor too. I'm not liking the angry pouty face either. It's coming across as a bit too OTT to take seriously. I wonder how long it will be before fans turn on it.

Have to agree about the Bryan gimmick too. I enjoy it but it screams upper mid-card act rather than WWE Title main event act.

Seems like they're throwing a bunch of stuff up and hoping something sticks. It feels like such a B show.

As I’ve said before ad nauseum I love Becky but I don’t see her as ‘carry the show’ material, certainly not ‘carry both shows’ material. She deserves her push this year but if she were to take a step back and just be one of the stars going forward I wouldn’t be too worried. The live crowds love her though.

I’m not sure anyone they have currently would be a draw to be honest. Brock maybe. It’s a very odd situation where nobody really wants to watch the weekly show on TV but they’re making more money than ever. As mentioned above, Fox won’t be too happy if this keeps up though.

J. Marston

I think Brock is the only draw they have, possibly Cena too.

I'm really surprised Ronda doesn't seem to be.

nannerby

I don't like the DB stuff its like a bad gimmick from the 1980s..Becky has been great but this week watching I felt hmmm if this really is going all the way to mania its going to be a long boring ride all the way there.

HandsomeBob

I'll admit to getting worked at times by things I know to be true. For example Ronda's claim that she'd kill Becky. So yeah, Ronda absolutely should be a heel.

Itssoeasy

HandsomeBob wrote: »

I'll admit to getting worked at times by things I know to be true. For example Ronda's claim that she'd kill Becky. So yeah, Ronda absolutely should be a heel.

If Ronda could get her promos sorted to the point where it's almost automatic and sounds convincing she'll be golden. She has the in ring part down and if she can get the promos down she'll be the total package.

Although in saying that there are ways around promos like a manager. I mean some wrestlers over the years made Danny Healy Rae sound like a BBC news reader from the 1940s.

Monokne

J. Marston wrote: »

I think Brock is the only draw they have, possibly Cena too.

I'm really surprised Ronda doesn't seem to be.

There are so few metrics by which to measure how one draws in 2019 that it is difficult to ascertain. What were you going by?

There's really no evidence in 2019 Brock is a draw. It's not like there's a surge of network subscriptions for shows he's on or he moves a ton of tickets at the gate. He also sells almost no merch - I can't think of someone in such a prominent position who's shirts you see so few of. Charlotte is close I guess. To be honest, I would call his bluff and allow him leave for UFC if I were Vince. He is not worth close to what they pay him if the numbers bandied about are true.

Ronda appears to move a lot of merch and she has done ok at the gate but nothing that is especially notable. It would certainly be a stretch to call her a draw.

Cena is the last man standing in that regard. There is almost never a time you read business breakdowns in the Observer or by the Wrestlenomics guys even to this day where he doesn't bring people to the shows. Obviously he's not selling nearly as much merch now he's a part timer but I am sure he's still shifting some.

nannerby

Rhonda on the mic the other night mentioned being booed,,its only a matter of time to when she turns hopefully its soon cause she could be a great heel.

Bounty Hunter

Obviously there is still fecking ages until Wrestlemania but the SD womens title really really seems like an afterthought atm

ERG89

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Obviously there is still fecking ages until Wrestlemania but the SD womens title really really seems like an afterthought atm

Most of the women are in the chamber match, Smackdown literally had no qualifiers such is their dearth of talent. Even Ronda taking on Riott; nobody cares about that match or takes it remotely serious.

Omackeral

Should just have a WWE Women's champion and a Tag Team Championship. Let the champions float between Raw and SD when needed, seems like they're gonna do bag with the tag straps anyway.

RollieFingers

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

Obviously there is still fecking ages until Wrestlemania but the SD womens title really really seems like an afterthought atm

Clean victory via tap out over the supposed star of the show at the Rumble and then gets toatlly ignored afterwards and treated as an after-thought, typical WWE.

J. Marston

Who is the most worthy challenger in terms of popularity and talent? Carmella? Naomi?

No thanks.

The White Wolf

J. Marston wrote: »

Who is the most worthy challenger in terms of popularity and talent? Carmella? Naomi?

No thanks.

I'd be confident they'll make the SD women's title match a multi women match at Mania. There's no one to build a feud with. Riott Squad would be ideal too bad they're on Raw.

CastorTroy

Not only a long time, but also 2 PPVs. They need to have Asuka get into a story with someone

Lord TSC

I'm still holding out hope they do Auska/Charlotte, and that the whole Becky/Ronda/Charlotte stuff is a bluff.