Source: wwe.com

A SmackDown shakeup is about to completely reshape all of WWE. Beginning July 19, the second longest-running weekly episodic program in television history, SmackDown, will move from Thursday to Tuesday nights and air LIVE each and every week — for the first time ever — at 8/7 C on USA Network, the exclusive cable home to WWE’s marquee properties.

This bold move will have major ramifications for all of WWE and exemplify the New Era, as both Raw and SmackDown will each feature their own unique rosters and rivalries following an imminent Superstar draft.

"WWE's flagship programs will both leverage the incredible depth of our talent roster, distinct storylines and the unpredictable nature of live TV," WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon said. “This move will undoubtedly build more excitement and deepen engagement with our fans around th­e world.”

With so many explosive competitors emerging from WWE NXT, and top Superstars like John Cena and Seth Rollins returning from injury, WWE’s star-powered roster has never been stronger. Its historic division and the monumental revelation of SmackDown’s shift to a live format each week reflect the excitement and unpredictability of WWE’s New Era.

What awaits SmackDown on its new night, starting this July? Which live shows will claim your favorite Superstars? What will this all mean for the future of sports-entertainment? Stay tuned as WWE prepares to get shaken up like never before.

From F4Online.com

Additional notes from Ryan Frederick

In the DVR era, how to get people to watch shows live (and hence, watch commercials) has almost become more important than what they are actually watching. Pro sports and other live entertainment has flourished with higher rights fees deals, especially in the latter. Many believe there's a bubble that will eventually burst, but no one is seeing a needle just yet.

In the latest effort to take advantage of that, WWE announced Wednesday morning that Smackdown will not only air live starting on July 19th, but it will officially move to Tuesday nights at 8 PM. The announcement was made in Variety.

A twist that was buried in the story also indicates a brand split may be coming as well:

"A draft will be held before the “Smackdown” launch date to determine which wrestlers on the company’s talent roster will be assigned to which program. Each show is expected to feature separate cast, plots and writing teams."

The initial brand split happened in 2002 and ran through 2011, long after fans realized that it was pointless considering talents from both show were regularly appearing on the other show on a weekly basis. There was a yearly draft that started in 2004 that always shook up the deck a bit, but over time, the main stars were on both shows anyway.

The move to Tuesdays will also move Smackdown away from the ratings juggernaut that is NFL Thursday Night Football, which returns in September with extra added emphasis over past seasons. Smackdown has seen its ratings drop during the season, and the move to a live Tuesday format should avoid that strong night on television. Moving to Tuesday will also put it head-to-head against TNA, which likely won't hurt Smackdown ratings, but could have a big impact on the TNA ratings.

Variety noted that Smackdown has captured an average of nearly 1.06 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 on a live-plus-seven-day basis while Raw has a 1.85 million viewership number with the same demo, "season to date".

I've been saying this was something they needed to do forever. It is by far the best way to accomplish pretty much all of their goals. This might even spur me to actually write some sort of article or something today. Impact can wait. There's policy analysis to be done!

now Cena and Reigns can be champions at the same time!

cero2k wrote:now Cena and Reigns can be champions at the same time!

Not going to happen (and I'll explain why in my article CHEAP PLUG). But Cena supposedly winning the US Title from Rusev upon his return plays into this a bit.

Meltzer is saying that there is a huuuge indie/international raid coming

Does this mean that they're gonna bring a title back so there's a major one on each show? Otherwise Smackdown (because RAW would never be without a Champion) would still seem like a show I don't need to watch.

Serujuunin wrote:Does this mean that they're gonna bring a title back so there's a major one on each show? Otherwise Smackdown (because RAW would never be without a Champion) would still seem like a show I don't need to watch.

My guess is that they make the WWE World Heavyweight Title and probably the Women's Title "traveling" belts, but the IC Title on Raw, US Title on Smackdown (with Cena as champ to boost both the title and the show... and also to create a reason to not do Cena vs. Roman), and the tag titles... could be traveling, but could also be stuck on one show and a newly reactivated Cruiserweight Title would go to the other show.

cero2k wrote:Meltzer is saying that there is a huuuge indie/international raid coming

It makes some sense. You'll need to fill some empty spots on the main roster and you've got Joe, Balor, Aries, Nakamura, Asuka, American Alpha, and EY, all sitting around in NXT even though they're all ready for the main roster. They'll feel the need to refill NXT to keep it strong, even though doing so by raiding top indy/international guys kind of defeats the purpose of it being developmental.
Think about it: Since they really started pushing the indy guys (let's say since the first half of 2014), which new "stars" (meaning NXT main event level wrestlers) have been "made" in NXT that weren't well-established indy names?

Baron Corbin
Nia Jax
American Alpha

And who else?

Alexa Bliss? She's probably ready for the main roster, although they've never really given her a chance to show what she can do in a real high-pressure situation with real main event time in the ring.

Dana Brooke- pretty much the same as Alexa except she hasn't show anywhere near as much in the ring.

Vaudevillains? They're really only over with the NXT audience

The Revival- arguable. They're certainly better than the Vaudevillains, but I think they need a little more time in NXT to find themselves on the mic and find a bit more of a mean streak in the ring

Enzo & Cass? Arguable, but I'd argue that they really aren't any more over than they were back then, and really haven't shown much improvement in the ring.

Arguably Bayley and Sasha, although they were already on their way up.



Since they started bringing in and pushing so many indy guys they have been pretty much failing as a developmental program. Sign guys you think can be major stars or important role players in WWE and sign some guys who will be perennial NXT talent whose real purpose is to teach the things that can only be taught in the ring, during the match.