Well we have finally seen it happen, the WWE likes RAW better than they do Smackdown, but why? It isn’t because the best wrestlers are one RAW is it? I mean Jeff Hardy, Triple H, The Undertaker and Edge are all on Smackdown, so that should help right?
It is such a heavily discussed opinion, but I finally have figured out, see as you have seen RAW was the first WWE TV show. When Vince McMahon JR, the man we know as Mr. McMahon, took over the WWF from Vince McMahon Sr. he wanted to make the company marketable.
He knew that wrestling had fans all over, but he also knew that people couldn't always make it to every show. He started bringing the WWF to events all across the country more and more.
And finally got the idea that the wrestling fans need a weekly show, a show that was always new, and never a re-run. It will have new material and matches every week that the fans want to see.
They would sell out arenas, but also they would show live or taped broadcasts across the US. That is when RAW came in, it has had different names, like RAW is War, Monday Night RAW, and just plan RAW.
But it was always the same concept. The WWE has always wanted it to be the staple of the WWE. It is the show that most of the WWE returns or big events happen. Every year the Wrestlemania hype such as special guests, are always done on RAW.
Floyd Mayweather Jr was introduced to be in match with the Big Show last year, and yet Big Show was a Smackdown superstar, and yet another return was on RAW. Chris Jericho's huge return was again on RAW.
Although Chris Jericho was always known as a RAW superstar pretty much. Every wrestler in the WWE wants to be on RAW. All superstars get their chance to shine on the show too. Take guys like Edge, who made their big break on RAW.
He became a WWE Champion and a well known fixture in wrestling on RAW then was moved to Smackdown and brought in good ratings. Guys like HBK and Triple H have been fixtures on RAW for years.
The return of DX on RAW by the way. Even the McMahons hardly ever show up at a Smackdown show, unless they were the GM at one time. And again every superstar on RAW is bigger than that of a Smackdown superstar.
Unless they were on RAW at one time as Jeff Hardy, Triple H, and Edge were. Yet they keep the tow biggest stars in the WWE on RAW, in Randy Orton and John Cena. The only one who has survived as a Smackdown superstar, and is the only one whose legacy has not been affected is The Undertaker. He is such a big draw, that they had to keep him on Smackdown just to get sufficient ratings.
Big Show, and Edge cannot carry the show. And Hardy and Triple H were moved to Smackdown by the WWE because ratings were getting bad on Smackdown.
And the only Live show in the WWE is RAW, ECW has been live before but it is not live as much and is now taped after the live RAW. Smackdown is taped on Tuesdays, and is the only show in the WWE that has never been live.
Every good show for me is one that is live, and it seems as in the WWE fans think that too, therefore most of the ratings go to RAW because of that. The Tribute to the Troops every year is a RAW show too.
And it may seem as if the WWE doesn't want any of their shows to get the better on RAW. They make a big fuss over RAW's 25 anniversary and its 800th show. Yet not much is made for Smackdown.
Sure they made a big thing on the move from the CW to MyNetwork TV, but that is it. Smackdown has and always will be a good show, but never a great show. And that is because the WWE doesn't want it to be.
My opinion is that they should be after ratings on Smackdown especially since it is on regular TV and not cable as RAW is.
More of the rating go to regular TV Channels, such as NBC, FOX, CBS and CW than that of a cable channel. That is because just about everyone in the world has a TV but not everyone has cable.
But one bad thing the WWE did was they put Smackdown in MyNetwrok TV and only Americans can see it on its regular date. We see it ion Fridays and it on Demand in other countries.
And RAW has been on Spike and USA which are available for anyone who has cable or satellite around the world. That is the only reason the WWE could favor RAW over Smackdown.
So basically the WWE is killing one of its shows, but why? You be the judge, I gave you my opinion, what is yours?
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about 1 month ago
im confused as to what you are saying about when they play smackdown in other countries? you say only americans see it on fridays, but i watch smackdown every friday on sky sports. if anything, because of the time difference, i watch it before you
from about 1 month ago
forgot to mention i live in england
from about 1 month ago
ya americans see it on MyNetwok TV as usual but sometimes it is blocked off other places, where as it wasn't on the CW, England actually cut the show short when it was on CW so that the fans wouldn't get hooked to storylines, and they have CW but not MyNetwork TV, so they got thr fans off the show so that they wouldn't want to watch it. The WWE actually did their shows all in the same coupekl of days when they went to England a small while back and showed RAW like usual and had SD! on locally
from about 1 month ago
WOW I heard they did that if they didn't then I apoligize for givign wrong info
about 1 month ago
Why? Well that is simply. Vince prefers RAW. Because it is available to a wider audience and is been a reliable show for years and fans are more familiar with it over Smackdown which is now on a network that is viewable by even fewer people and plus RAW is live.
from about 1 month ago
EXACTLY!! YOU GET IT
from about 1 month ago
Also you said in your article that Smackdown was always a "good" but never a "great" show and I have to disagree with that.
Back in late 2002 and early 2003 a certain man was head of creative on Smackdown and was doing such a good job with the talent he had at the time (Taker, Lesnar, Benoit, Angle, Edge, Mysterio, Guerrero) that Smackdown was viewed as the "A Show" over Raw for a period of time and what did they do with him yeah they fired him a couple of years later.
I miss Paul. =/
from about 1 month ago
Well I ahve to agree that it was a good show back then, but at that time it was kind of cenetered around a competetion between McMahon and Flair. Vince had SD! and Flair RAW so you had to think that he was trying to do that for him, later on you saw Benoit, Angle, Edge and even Benoit go to RAW. And even Mysterio was recently moved. But the creative back then your right was good for the shows also you had Stephanie on SD! too, so you had to think she had her dad put better talent on there because of that reason. Lesnar was on RAW for a while to before being moved, but again he made hs debut on RAW and the WWE draft was on RAW too.
from about 1 month ago
Well I ahve to agree that it was a good show back then, but at that time it was kind of cenetered around a competetion between McMahon and Flair. Vince had SD! and Flair RAW so you had to think that he was trying to do that for him, later on you saw Angle, Edge and even Benoit go to RAW. And even Mysterio was recently moved. But the creative back then your right was good for the shows also you had Stephanie on SD! too, so you had to think she had her dad put better talent on there because of that reason. Lesnar was on RAW for a while to before being moved, but again he made hs debut on RAW and the WWE draft was on RAW too.
from about 1 month ago
Well it hard to say the talent has anything to do with it becuase it hard to find anyone on the roster thta hasn't been moved with the exeption of HBK and Taker for obvious reasons.
about 1 month ago
Excuse me! I said EXCUSE ME! I think Smackdown has gotten MUCH better since the draft, and now with EDGE back and feuding with Jeff Hardy it could surpass RAW IMHO.
from about 1 month ago
could be Randy, lets hope, but from where I am sitting it looks unlikely, 4 of the 5 returns in the WWE this week were either RAW related or on RAW. the 5th obviously Edge on SD! And you are right, SmackDown has seemed to have gotten etter since the draft, I mean big talents such as Jeff Hardy and Triple H were added. And yet it seems RAW has still won, they had to give away two of their biggest stars, just to keep RAW from tanking. And yes guys like Taker and Edge are on RAW and have been for a little while now, but that is the only thing they can hang their hats on. I don't see them surpasing RAW when Cena and Orton along with Batista, Mysterio, Jericho, CM Punk, and Kofi and many of the ECW stars are on RAW. By the way ECW is now going to be taped before RAW every week. And I loved the Vickie Guerreo line too dude, funny
from about 1 month ago
RAW definitely is stacked with more talent. We'll have to see if WWE signs Christian, and where they place him. If he goes to RAW instead of reuniting him with Edge then I'll officially declare RAW the victor. Of course I personally think that would be a huge mistake considering the story opportunities that would be wasted. Also, my biggest problem with Smackdown is devoting a majority of the air time to the Undertaker. I've never been a big fan of 10 minute ring entrances and all of the supernatural B.S. It just got old for me.
from about 1 month ago
ya Randy I would garuntee if Cage comes he will go to SD! bothe Micheal Hayes and Edge have gone to Vince and said they want Cage on SD!, by the way Kizarny is comign this week to SD! WOO!, not. Sometimes I have to TvO SmackDown myself, so I can watch it Sat. myself and I alway fast foward Undertaker's entrance. But it has alway been that way too, so you have to think about that
about 1 month ago
Joe, I think this should have been a creature versus creature. You should have got with someone and each of you took a show.
I personally feel Smackdown is better. They focus more on wrestling there. RAW gets better ratings because it is available to more people, as Ross said. Everyone doesn't get MyNetwork TV and everyone isn't home on Friday nights. If RAW was shown on Friday nights, its ratings would be much less.
Another reason RAW gets preferential treatment is because it is the first show. That's where it all started. It is also on cable so their is less restrictions and I bet USA brings a bigger return to Vince than MyNetwork or the CW.
from about 1 month ago
ya I touched on that in the article too, but I just don't get wh all of the best talent has to be there, when digtal TV kicks in in a few months we will have to see what they do, because that changes who sees what. Everything might be on demand, if you want to see SD! or RAW you can just ask. Vince may have to consider that
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