April 28th, 1999. To many, that date doesn’t mean anything. For most people, they couldn’t tell you the significance of that day. Or what groundbreaking development happened on this brisk Spring day in April of 1999 that would change the face of professional wrestling forever. After over five years of Monday night mayhem, the World Wrestling Federation was in full control of most of the wrestling fan base. They had money rolling in hand over fist. Their Pay-Per-View sales were looking up. Monday Night RAW was beating WCW Monday Nitro virtually every week, and had been for the better part of three months. This trend would continue. And Vince McMahon and his billion dollar empire saw a opening to debut a new show. A show that would prove to increase WWF’s dominance over Bischoff and the WCW. A show that would cater to the fans later in the week, much as WCW would do with Thunder. The show would give Vince a chance to showcase his talent’s abilities, and build on storylines. It would add thrill to Pay-Per-Views, and give the fans a extra taste of the WWF that they weren’t used to having, only seeing RAW every Monday night. World Wrestling Federation risked everything to debut this new show. Not knowing if the fans would become bored with the product, after seeing it twice a week. Not knowing if the fans would clinch to this show like they had done RAW back in 1993. It was a risk, but a necessary risk. And a risk that would move Vince McMahon and his wrestling company out of Connecticut to new heights, that we are still feeling today.
Today, SmackDown is still going strong. Well sort of. The show has grown, and fallen, seen both up’s and it’s fair share of down’s. But through and through, the brand has stayed strong. The year of 2004 laid many tests on the table for SmackDown. When Brock Lesnar, there brand’s biggest heel, left WWE after WrestleMania the brand was scrambling to find a replacement. Instead of hiring a new star, billing him as the next big star, and grooming him to be the biggest heel they turned to one of their old regulars. Bradshaw was in the perfect position for change. His partner in the popular team APA was fired, and he needed a gimmick change to get the fans interested. So what did WWE do? They let Bradshaw be Bradshaw, and turned the volume way up to create a new character in John Bradshaw Layfield. JBL was a perfect heel. He knew what to say to the fans reacting to his words, and he knew exactly what steps he needed to take to create SmackDown’s new top heel. WWE gave him the ball, and he ran with it. At this time, Cena was transforming himself as the brands biggest face. By the time Cena won the WWE championship from JBL, the SmackDown brand was cooking into 2005. Then the draft came. If you want my honest opinion, I wasn’t impressed with the draft.
WWE used the draft to do some shuffling, and to transform SmackDown into their B-Show. Yes, their B-Show. They took the biggest face in SmackDown, John Cena, and put him on RAW. No offense to Dave Batista, but he isn’t as over with the fans as Cena. So here WWE pulls the rug from under SmackDown, and replaces the biggest star on SmackDown with a mediocre champion like Batista. Batista doesn’t even like SmackDown. If you remember his comments in his interview last year, he even proclaimed SmackDown as the second rate show. So now we have a face on SmackDown, that would rather be on RAW. Not only that, but WWE sent the biggest heel on SmackDown to RAW in Kurt Angle. Angle wasn’t as big of a loss. SmackDown got Randy Orton in return, combined with two other heels in JBL and Eddie Guerrero. If you ask me, with the addition of Christian as well, heels outweigh faces on SmackDown. And that’s not a good thing. Fans like seeing faces win. Even if WWE were to decide to give it to a heel champion, they at least pit the champion against WWE’s biggest faces to at least keep the faces locked in. With a shortage of main event faces on SmackDown, the show has seen a big blow. What can WWE do? Do what they did with Bradshaw? Take a superstar, mold them, and pray to god that their character gets over with the fans. Even as a JBL supporter, I can tell you WWE got lucky with Layfield. They won’t have that luck every time.
I was absolutely thrilled to hear about the arrival of Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera, and Super Crazy. All three will be good additions to the Cruiserweight division. But I wasn’t thrilled that instead of putting them in singles competition, and giving them a chance to shine individually, WWE is forced to pair them up in a trio known as Mexicools. The trio is about as lame as the name makes them out to be. This shows what I already knew, and that’s that WWE doesn’t know to get Cruiserweights over. That fact is clear each week when they are shoved on Velocity, feed to the biggest of WWE’s superstars, and given rare matches on SmackDown that even more rarely have a definite ending. So instead of pushing three world class superstars on their own, WWE has too pair them. Otherwise, the idiots that write WWE don’t know how to use them. It’s like when Nova was placed on the table, and the writers didn’t know how to showcase his talent. So what did they do? Make him a Richard Simmons knock off. Or how about a talent less performer like Matt Morgan. Instead of building his character up, they give him a goofy gimmick of stuttering. If Mexicools is the best WWE can do with these three wrestlers, then I’m not holding my breath when I thought WWE was going to give the Cruiserweight division another chance on the heels of WWE’s Friday night switch with SmackDown. Then I see Chavo Guerrero get shipped too RAW in the trade. Does WWE really care about their Cruiserweight division? If they do, their not proving it. The Cruiserweight division could be a great asset in the Friday night switch. Fast paced, high flying action is bound to get fans in tune. It helped establish TNA as what it is today. It helped keep WCW on top back in 1997 and 1998. Fans love Cruiserweight action. But instead of capitalize on that fact, SmackDown shoves the division to the sideline. I guess Melina and Michelle in a catfight is more important!? Go figure.
Speaking of Melina and Michelle McCool, SmackDown has another new diva according to the post-draft trades. Candice! So we have Torrie, Candice, Michelle, Melina, Dawn Marie (whose pregnant), and Joy. Basically the A list of talent less bimbos who couldn’t wrestle a decent match if their lives depended on it. That means were bound for pointless bikini contests, cat fights, bra and panties matches, and just about anything WWE’s perverted writing team can come up with. If they think sex sells, they should refer to 2002 with the HLA angle. Sex can only take you so fair, before it gets tiresome and boring. Yes boring.
What about the lack of creativity on SmackDown. Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero, both two awesome wrestlers, seem to be continuing their never ending feud with three matches so far and a fourth that seems to be in the works. Too tell you how horribly SmackDown’s writers don’t know how to use talent, these two are still feuding. Everything to accomplish in a feud, has been accomplished. They had three great matches. Rey Mysterio should get a push now. Eddie Guerrero should be boosted to the main event picture. But no. Instead of doing the logical thing, WWE writers continue the feud. But WWE writers aren’t dumb, oh no (sarcasm.) They know the feud is getting boring. So what do they do? They create a storyline about a “secret” Eddie has. Last time someone had a secret, Kane killed Katie Vick and Triple H raped Katie Vick’s “body” in one of the more tasteless acts in WWE history. I get a headache just thinking what WWE will do. And I get a headache, knowing with the Friday night switch in September, that the WWE writers don’t know how to properly use talent. That’s the dangerous factor that is making WWE resort to turning SmackDown into the B-rated show.
WWE writers know they can’t save SmackDown. They didn’t learn that in Hollywood. If you have three Cruiserweights with talent, instead of pushing them individually and spicing up the division, you make them form a trio with a lame name that reminds me of a Taco Bell side platter. If you can’t get your product over with storylines and matches, put a bunch of talent less divas in the ring to strip and dance. And if you have a shortage of faces on your show, what do you do? Put more heels on SmackDown. Because fans love heels, especially when SmackDown is dominated by them (more sarcasm.) I’m deeply disturbed by the fact that WWE is slowly trying to transform SmackDown into their version of WCW Thunder. Their desperately panicking to make RAW the best show they possibly can, while pulling the rug from under the SmackDown brand. When WWE was given the proposition of moving to Friday nights, instead of beefing up their product and giving SmackDown fans something they’ll enjoy to watch, they basically dismantle the brand and give up on the operation. When I say WWE has gotten ignorant and arrogant, I mean it. If you want proof, the proof is in the SmackDown brand. WWE’s F U attitude is getting real old, real fast. SmackDown is a good brand, and could be a great brand with work. But WWE writers wouldn’t know the definition of work, if it slapped them in the face. So instead SmackDown is sidelined. SmackDown is downgraded. SmackDown is given the ax…….
SmackDown is B-Rated.
Well that’s all for this week. From the self-proclaimed and wrestling acclaimed most controversial columnist, this is Jordon Wright saying I’ll see you all right here, next week.
Till next time…..
Have A Nice Day, The Wright Way!
E-Mail: wrightideacolumn@yahoo.com
AIM: PhenomenalJordon
