Half empty arena at the Smackdown tapings in Oklahoma City

[cero2k]

Source: wrestlingnews.co

Thanks to Robby for sending in these photos. WWE had about half of the arena tarped off for Smackdown this week. Raw only drew 6,000 fans on Monday night in Tulsa. That’s very good for a house show but not so good for a Raw episode.

[Bob-O]

-To be fair, they're taping Main Event. Not saying that crowd doubled or anything, but it likely grew as the night went on.

-Haven't they had issues in Oklahoma City before?

-Still looks better than Slammiversery.

[Big Red Machine]

A lot of people have also been noting that the crowds haven't been very hot as of late. Maybe people just aren't into the product?

[Bob-O]

A lot of people have also been noting that the crowds haven't been very hot as of late. Maybe people just aren't into the product?

It's the booking! Everything has just gotten so predictable. What's to get excited about? Even in a house show setting, everyone already knows the finish as soon as the introductions are done! They need to drop this mentality that if somebody eats a loss they're being buried or becoming irrelevant.

Vince stated in Austin's podcast that they "have to" tell stories, because that's what the fans want and blah blah fart, but those stories NEED TO BE GOOD, and right now they are not and they haven't been. Unfortunately, in building these predictable stories they've lost all sense of COMPETITION. Sitting in a live crowd, why am I going to give a single shit about watching Los Matadores wrestle anyone? I know they're gonna lose! There's no point of cheering or booing anyone when the outcome is so predictable, and it's starting to catch up with them...

[Big Red Machine]

A lot of people have also been noting that the crowds haven't been very hot as of late. Maybe people just aren't into the product?

It's the booking! Everything has just gotten so predictable. What's to get excited about? Even in a house show setting, everyone already knows the finish as soon as the introductions are done! They need to drop this mentality that if somebody eats a loss they're being buried or becoming irrelevant.

Vince stated in Austin's podcast that they "have to" tell stories, because that's what the fans want and blah blah fart, but those stories NEED TO BE GOOD, and right now they are not and they haven't been. Unfortunately, in building these predictable stories they've lost all sense of COMPETITION. Sitting in a live crowd, why am I going to give a single shit about watching Los Matadores wrestle anyone? I know they're gonna lose! There's no point of cheering or booing anyone when the outcome is so predictable, and it's starting to catch up with them...

I agree with your comments about general predictability, but at the same time, I have actually found the undercard to be very unpredictable.. but for all of the wrong reasons. I'd take what you said about them being afraid to beat anybody one step further. Some people NEED to lose a bunch. If guys just trade wins on the midcard with no rhyme or reason, nobody will ever escape the midcard. It's the old Kevin Sullivan quote: "some must die so that others may live." You can't just take a guy, put out a press release that that he is now officially a main event guy and throw him out there in main event situations and expect the crowd to buy him as a main event guy just because you say he is (which is exactly what WWE has done with Rowan and Harper). You have to SHOW us. You need to show us the guy getting wins and moving up the card and build him up to the point where we can actually believe that he will beat an established main eventer. And to do that, he has to beat other midcarders. Cleanly. Without then going back and losing to them again for no reason.

[Bob-O]

Some people NEED to lose a bunch. If guys just trade wins on the midcard with no rhyme or reason, nobody will ever escape the midcard. It's the old Kevin Sullivan quote: "some must die so that others may live." You can't just take a guy, put out a press release that that he is now officially a main event guy and throw him out there in main event situations and expect the crowd to buy him as a main event guy just because you say he is (which is exactly what WWE has done with Rowan and Harper).

THIS is the problem! WWE has 2 kinds of guys, no matter where they are on the card. The guys they're pushing and the guys they're not. I guess you can include the guys they were pushing just a little bit ago to put over the guys they're pushing near the top, making it 2.5 kinds of guys. Mark Henry illustrates all 2.5 better than anyone else on the roster. He's been all over the card the last few years, but his role is always so incredibly defined.

They treat guys that haven't had a win in MONTHS like credible challengers for their division, and they wonder why the crowds are dead and attendance is down.

The art of cross-booking angles has been lost and it's such an easy quick fix. Tell me even the worst Raw episode couldn't be salvaged by some compelling matches. Dean Ambrose vs Stardust with Goldust in his corner? Bray Wyatt vs Jimmy Uso? Sheamus vs Mark Henry? It shouldn't matter if Rusev loses to Cena in the main event of Raw! That doesn't mean Rusev is "buried"! It won't make his feud with Ryback or whoever ANY less interesting and it'll give the crowd something new to watch! I'm not saying to fill the card with them, just something that's actually COMPETITIVE.

[cero2k]

Some people NEED to lose a bunch. If guys just trade wins on the midcard with no rhyme or reason, nobody will ever escape the midcard. It's the old Kevin Sullivan quote: "some must die so that others may live." You can't just take a guy, put out a press release that that he is now officially a main event guy and throw him out there in main event situations and expect the crowd to buy him as a main event guy just because you say he is (which is exactly what WWE has done with Rowan and Harper).

THIS is the problem! WWE has 2 kinds of guys, no matter where they are on the card. The guys they're pushing and the guys they're not. I guess you can include the guys they were pushing just a little bit ago to put over the guys they're pushing near the top, making it 2.5 kinds of guys. Mark Henry illustrates all 2.5 better than anyone else on the roster. He's been all over the card the last few years, but his role is always so incredibly defined.

They treat guys that haven't had a win in MONTHS like credible challengers for their division, and they wonder why the crowds are dead and attendance is down.

The art of cross-booking angles has been lost and it's such an easy quick fix. Tell me even the worst Raw episode couldn't be salvaged by some compelling matches. Dean Ambrose vs Stardust with Goldust in his corner? Bray Wyatt vs Jimmy Uso? Sheamus vs Mark Henry? It shouldn't matter if Rusev loses to Cena in the main event of Raw! That doesn't mean Rusev is "buried"! It won't make his feud with Ryback or whoever ANY less interesting and it'll give the crowd something new to watch! I'm not saying to fill the card with them, just something that's actually COMPETITIVE.

you also need to consider that Smackdown is a joke of a show now, WWE pretty much killed it since the debut of the RAW Supershow years back. There is really no reason to watch or attend a Smackdown unless you have nothing to do and money to spare. Nothing ever happens at Smackdown anymore, yeah yeah, sometimes there is story development, but the fans don't go to shows for that, they want to be present for the big things, and those ONLY happen at RAW, I mean, there's no brand separation anymore, and the big names still don't work Smackdown, there's really not a big reason to attend.

[Big Red Machine]

Some people NEED to lose a bunch. If guys just trade wins on the midcard with no rhyme or reason, nobody will ever escape the midcard. It's the old Kevin Sullivan quote: "some must die so that others may live." You can't just take a guy, put out a press release that that he is now officially a main event guy and throw him out there in main event situations and expect the crowd to buy him as a main event guy just because you say he is (which is exactly what WWE has done with Rowan and Harper).

THIS is the problem! WWE has 2 kinds of guys, no matter where they are on the card. The guys they're pushing and the guys they're not. I guess you can include the guys they were pushing just a little bit ago to put over the guys they're pushing near the top, making it 2.5 kinds of guys. Mark Henry illustrates all 2.5 better than anyone else on the roster. He's been all over the card the last few years, but his role is always so incredibly defined.

They treat guys that haven't had a win in MONTHS like credible challengers for their division, and they wonder why the crowds are dead and attendance is down.

The art of cross-booking angles has been lost and it's such an easy quick fix. Tell me even the worst Raw episode couldn't be salvaged by some compelling matches. Dean Ambrose vs Stardust with Goldust in his corner? Bray Wyatt vs Jimmy Uso? Sheamus vs Mark Henry? It shouldn't matter if Rusev loses to Cena in the main event of Raw! That doesn't mean Rusev is "buried"! It won't make his feud with Ryback or whoever ANY less interesting and it'll give the crowd something new to watch! I'm not saying to fill the card with them, just something that's actually COMPETITIVE.

Totally agree with you about cross-booking, and it would also limit the problem of overexposing match-ups. Rusev vs. Cena is a bad example, though, because Rusev's first real loss (and even any loss by Rusev at this point still, IMO) does feel like a big deal.

[Big Red Machine]

Some people NEED to lose a bunch. If guys just trade wins on the midcard with no rhyme or reason, nobody will ever escape the midcard. It's the old Kevin Sullivan quote: "some must die so that others may live." You can't just take a guy, put out a press release that that he is now officially a main event guy and throw him out there in main event situations and expect the crowd to buy him as a main event guy just because you say he is (which is exactly what WWE has done with Rowan and Harper).

THIS is the problem! WWE has 2 kinds of guys, no matter where they are on the card. The guys they're pushing and the guys they're not. I guess you can include the guys they were pushing just a little bit ago to put over the guys they're pushing near the top, making it 2.5 kinds of guys. Mark Henry illustrates all 2.5 better than anyone else on the roster. He's been all over the card the last few years, but his role is always so incredibly defined.

They treat guys that haven't had a win in MONTHS like credible challengers for their division, and they wonder why the crowds are dead and attendance is down.

The art of cross-booking angles has been lost and it's such an easy quick fix. Tell me even the worst Raw episode couldn't be salvaged by some compelling matches. Dean Ambrose vs Stardust with Goldust in his corner? Bray Wyatt vs Jimmy Uso? Sheamus vs Mark Henry? It shouldn't matter if Rusev loses to Cena in the main event of Raw! That doesn't mean Rusev is "buried"! It won't make his feud with Ryback or whoever ANY less interesting and it'll give the crowd something new to watch! I'm not saying to fill the card with them, just something that's actually COMPETITIVE.

you also need to consider that Smackdown is a joke of a show now, WWE pretty much killed it since the debut of the RAW Supershow years back. There is really no reason to watch or attend a Smackdown unless you have nothing to do and money to spare. Nothing ever happens at Smackdown anymore, yeah yeah, sometimes there is story development, but the fans don't go to shows for that, they want to be present for the big things, and those ONLY happen at RAW, I mean, there's no brand separation anymore, and the big names still don't work Smackdown, there's really not a big reason to attend.

Word on the street is that they are trying to change that.

[kirbs2002]

Promotions have been tarping the hard camera side for ages. I don't get why it's a big deal now. When I went to the Raw/Smackdown mega show in San Jose years ago there was almost no one on the hard camera side for that one.

[Big Red Machine]

Promotions have been tarping the hard camera side for ages. I don't get why it's a big deal now. When I went to the Raw/Smackdown mega show in San Jose years ago there was almost no one on the hard camera side for that one.

It's not the tarping. It's the smaller than usual house that is the issue here, I think. They didn't do well on Smackdown in the UK, either. It's not just one bad house. It's been quite a few, and many of the other crowds recently have been dead even if they were big.

[Bob-O]

Word on the street is that they are trying to change that.

I remember them making some comments a while back, conveniently while they were negotiating TV Deals.

[cero2k]

Word on the street is that they are trying to change that.

I remember them making some comments a while back, conveniently while they were negotiating TV Deals.

well, they're moving to thursdays, that should surely help the audience as it's easier to watch. Still doesn't fix the live crowd problem

[Big Red Machine]

Word on the street is that they are trying to change that.

I remember them making some comments a while back, conveniently while they were negotiating TV Deals.

well, they're moving to thursdays, that should surely help the audience as it's easier to watch. Still doesn't fix the live crowd problem

If the crowd knows that the stuff they are watching is actually important, it'll be easy for them to get into it.