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X-Blog #0097: 6 Dos & Don'ts For WWE When Smackdown Moves To SyFy

By Derek X


I'm sure we all know by now that come October, Smackdown will move from MyNetwork TV on network television to basic cable on the SyFy network. In the minds of some of the WWE Brass, this is an opportunity to make Smackdown better. Well, they're definition of better and mine are probably two different thing. Here are some suggestions that I think will make Smackdown better and I hope they will be kept in mind as WWE makes the switch.

1. DO: Push CM Punk Back Into The Main Event

The Straight-Edge Society was a failure. I've come to grips with that and it's time WWE did too. But I can understand their behest in declaring SES a failure. WWE has a long history of creating great and memorable stable. (i.e. The Ministry of Darkness, Nation of Domination, The Corporation, D-Generation X, Evolution, etc.) Lately, however, their attempts at building and sustaining successful stables have failed miserably or are in the process of coming apart at the seams. (i.e. Legacy, SES, Nexus) This is mostly due to WWE's refusal to push anyone not in the main-event already. Legacy should have been a platform for second & third generation wrestlers (most of whom already have very recognizable names) to become superstars in the company, but instead it became Randy Orton's own personal army of underlings. By the time they allowed Rhodes & DiBiase to actually have a high-profile rivalry with DX no one took them seriously because they were booked as weak for so long.

The SES did not elevate Punk the way it was thought it would. Instead, it weighed him down with talent that was/is not up to Punk's professional standards. Drew Hankinson was good as Festus until that gimmick ran it's course, but he's drab as Luke Gallows. I think the 'Luke Gallows' role would have been played better by Mike Knox if he was given the opportunity. Knox was already tough and intelligent, all he needed was a haircut to fit the SES mold - something that I'm sure he would have been up for. Knox is more talented than Gallows and he can cut an excellent promo. Serena was perfect for the SES, but that ship has sailed and I've already made my feelings about that known. And as for Joey Mercury, he wasn't a big enough name to unmask. The Masked SES Member should have stayed that way.

Punk, thankfully, hasn't lost a step since creating the Straight-Edge Society. He's still at the top of his game and he's still a heat magnet when he gets on the mic. It's time WWE cut Punk off from his SES chains and allow him to flourish the way he did when he first turned heel. For the foreseeable future, the Undertaker/Kane rivalry is going to dominate the main-event scene on Smackdown and I don't suggest entering Punk into that rivalry. But once that's over, I think Punk & Taker should begin a rivalry whether Taker comes away with the title or not. That rivalry would draw big in my opinion.


2. DON'T: 'Stack' The Roster

The SyFy network falls under the NBC Universal umbrella of networks just like USA does. Evident by this past year's draft, USA wants RAW to draw huge by stacking the roster with main eventers. Bonnie Hammer, USA Network President, suggested this be done to Vince McMahon and corporate stooge that he is, Vince obviously agreed. There's no reason to believe the same won't be suggested to Vince when Smackdown moves to SyFy.

As it stands, there are only four true main-eventers on Smackdown right now: Kane, Undertaker, CM Punk & Big Show. Rey Mysterio will be on injured leave when the move to SyFY happens. An argument could be made about Jack Swagger because he's a former champion, but I root for the other side of that argument.

Now, a concession or two could be made for this. For instance, I wouldn't mind if Edge came back to Smackdown. Edge is a great worker and he could carry Smackdown on his back like he did a few years ago. The only problem with this is that Edge would have to become a babyface. Mostly it's due to the fact that Smackdown is kind of heel-heavy right now. The only main-event level babyfaces currently on Smackdown right now are Undertaker, Big Show and Rey Mysterio - one of whom is injured right now.

Plus, it wouldn't make sense to turn Edge babyface right now since he basically admitted he was faking his face role through Wrestlemania. So, whoever would be traded or drafted to Smackdown from RAW would have to be a main-event babyface and I doubt Randy Orton or John Cena would be eligible, so the pickings are very slim.

Which leads me to...


3. DO: Elevate MVP, Christian & Matt Hardy

All three of these guys are excellent workers. They're all very good on the mic and they're all extremely over with the fans. Only two of them are currently in main-event shape, but that's been overlooked before...

"Who, Me?" Yes, you.

Obviously, I'm talking about Matt Hardy, who has ballooned in the weight department over the past year or so. Sure Matt is the lesser of the Hardy Brothers who, like 'em or not, have paid their dues in this business. I marked out hard when Jeff Hardy finally won the WWE Championship. Jeff gave everything he had in the ring every time he went out there and Matt is no different. Jeff was/is primarily a spot-monkey and Matt is no different. Jeff elicited huge positive reactions from the crowd and Matt is no different. Jeff had public problems with drugs and Matt is... well, actually Matt has set himself aside in that department. That kind of makes Matt the good Hardy brother, doesn't it? He has all of Jeff's upside with none of the bad. Plus Matt gave us one of the best rivalries of the past 10 years between himself and Edge. That rivalry showed me that when Matt is motivated, he can perform at a high-level. The keyword there was when. Since then, I haven't seen much motivation from Matt until just now. His rivalry with Drew McIntyre brought out that 'Will Not Die' attitude that he claims he has. Now, if he's really serious about his career and not biding his time until he can jump ship to TNA with his brother, this is the time to capitalize.

MVP won me over when he continued to perform satisfactorily throughout his lengthy losing streak. He'd already shown me what he was capable of on the mic since the day he debuted, but it's his resilience that impresses me the most. He has a very long, very spotty background that I won't go into, but is easily found out. Throughout all of that, he still managed to make something of his life instead of falling victim to the recidivism rates that are pretty high for a guy like him. That story is never really told, but alluded to a lot in his promos. I think, for the most part, a lot of people connect to his plight because he went from being a very convincing, deservingly very hated heel to inexplicably over as a babyface. And while I love me some heels, I'm not completely opposed to him remaining a babyface for the time being. I was under the assumption that MVP would catapult to the top when he debuted on Smackdown, but it didn't happen. But he kept working, kept fighting and kept a positive attitude, even when he was being underutilized (like right now). That's a testament to the resiliency I mentioned earlier. MVP is too good a wrestler for them to continue to overlook. If they're not careful or don't take advantage of him soon, they'll miss out on what I believe could be a great championship opportunity.

Christian is bit different from Matt & MVP. He's been at the top. He's been World Champion. Just not in World Wrestling Entertainment. I wrote when Christian debuted that he chose money over substance, and no truer words have been written about him. If you need any evidence of that fact, WWE chose to debut him on the flailing ECW instead of making him the attacker of Jeff Hardy in what could have been a great launching pad for him. Now, Christian has been on both RAW and Smackdown since ECW's last last fall (no, that was not a typo) and he's done nothing significant. This is probably due to Vince not seeing Christian as a marketable star according to internet reports that surfaced a little while back. I know internet rumors are to be taken with a grain of salt, but I've yet to see anything that refutes the report. And no, an ECW title run is not evidence. Hell, even Mark Henry & Chavo Guerrero were ECW Champions and we all know that's as high as either of them will ever go in this company. Christian is still capable of performing at a very high level. All he needs is a legitimate opportunity to prove that to his nay-sayers. Nay-sayers, mind you, who aren't the fans. The fans love him.

In fact, the fans currently love all three of the guys I just named. Maybe WWE should take the time to listen to their fans instead trying to find new and interesting names for us.

4. DON'T: Lose Quality In Favor Of Quantity

Aside from having a stacked lineup, RAW is also guilty trying to do to much. RAW tries to fit in all the main-eventers' separate storylines, while alloting time for a divas match or two, a comedy sketch/match, a guest host or AnonGM announcement and then a cliffhanger at the end to whet our appetites. RAW does all of this in a two-hour span with a ten-to-fifteen minute run-over. Sounds like quality television, right? Wrong. RAW manages to do all of that, yet when it's over I feel like they've done nothing at all.

Smackdown, meanwhile, remains free from the tyranny and oppression that is the Guest Host segment and for the most part avoids the whole failed comedy routine. Although, now that Hornswoggle has reared his head back on the screen, I don't know how long that will last. Lately since Tiffany has been suspended and with Beth injured, there's been no reason to have diva matches on Smackdown and for two of the past three weeks, there hasn't been. That's what wrestling heaven must feel like.

Smackdown is usually good for at least one good fifteen minute match between two or more talented superstars. I live for those matches every Friday night. Smackdown usually has a good ratio of wrestling-to-promo/sketch time. Smackdown has a lot of very good young talent, who can carry a match to fruition without the normally necessary rest holds. I don't want Smackdown to become so obsessed with putting on a good entertainment show, that they forget it's also a wrestling show. That's what RAW is guilty of. And I'm not putting RAW down for this. I mean, sure, the guest hosts and failed comedy bits annoy the hell out of me, but I come to expect that from RAW. I expect wrestling from Smackdown. I don't need two shows that are exactly the same.

5. DO: Allow The Young Heels To Keep Growing

I mentioned earlier that Smackdown is very heel heavy. Well, most of those heels are young guys. (i.e. Rhodes, McIntyre, Del Rio & Ziggler) One of the reasons why I love Smackdown so much is because of the guys I listed. I'm already a heel fan and I love watching the young talent work their way into infamy. And all of those young wrestlers I listed can actually wrestle. Not only can they all wrestle, they can cut a decent promo and all of them garner a lot of heat. This is what WWE needs to be doing and they're doing it so well on Smackdown right now.

My fear is that Vince thinks that in order to gain fans on a new network and to a new audience, you need to give them someone to cheer for - and it's difficult to do that when they're getting beat down and embarrassed by all the young heel talent. The truth is - he's right. I feel these young heels will suffer because of that.

Another fear is that they decide to turn any of them babyface. I don't think Del Rio is danger of any face turn due to the time and effort they're putting into him as a mega-heel, nor are Rhodes & McIntyre since they're seemingly in the hunt for the Tag Team Titles. Ziggler, however, is in the most danger of possibly turning face. All it would take is him turning on Vickie like Edge did. Vickie is such a great heel, that it instantly turn him babyface.

But, then again, Kofi's newfound aggression has him teetering on the cusp of becoming a heel and maybe that'll be a fair trade, because Kofi is a hell of a heel when he plays the part. If you haven't seen him as a heel, pray that he becomes one soon.

And speaking of playing parts...

6. DON'T: Go Sci-Fi For SyFy

WWE did exactly this when ECW went to SyFy and it failed miserably. They put Kane, Kevin Thorne and The Boogeyman on ECW in hopes of capitalizing on the science fiction element of the SyFy network. This failed for two reasons:

a) Just because there are science fiction fans who watch science fiction shows on a science fiction network, it doesn't mean they're going to watch wrestling with a science fiction element. Vince is big with generalizations. I say generalizations because I don't want to say stereotypes. Just look at John Cena. Cena becoming a "thug" initially had nothing to do with gaining kids as fans - he was trying to capitalize of the growing number of urban fans. I say urban because I don't want to say black. But, yeah, that's basically why. I think he saw 8-Mile one day and a spark ignited. But back to the main point, I am a huge science fiction fan. I even watch a couple of SyFy's original programming (i.e. Warehouse 13, Haven & Eureka), but that doesn't mean my channel stays on SyFy all day long. In fact, my channel probably stays on ESPN for the majority of the day. But in Vince's mind sports fans are jocks and science fiction fans are geeks, so he focuses in on one specific genre and pushes hard instead of going the broad public.

b) Professional Wrestling is already science fiction enough without adding to it. Okay, maybe not the science part, but it's pretty fictional. I think we all know by now that it's all staged. There are no illusions to the game and I, for one, wish it was marketed that way. But instead you've got suspensions and firings handed out when a wrestler breaks kayfabe outside the realms of WWE. That's just stupid. My absolute favorite show on television right now is Dexter. In the show, Micheal C. Hall plays a serial killer. Were I to see Micheal C. Hall in public one day, I wouldn't run away in fear I was his next victim - I would probably tell him I love the show and congratulate him on beating cancer. I know Dexter is a television show just like I know WWE is a television show. Were I to see Serena at a bar having a drink or had attended Undertaker's non-vegetative wedding, that wouldn't sully their respective characters in my eyes. If anything, I'd probably connect with them more because I realize they're just human beings.

Okay, I admit I kind of digressed a bit on the second half of that last one, but my point is to just keep Smackdown pretty much the way it already is and it should succeed no matter what network it's on. You gotta give us smarks at least one show we can enjoy.

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