The Smackdown being laid on Smackdown (WWE Smackdown)

Member Name: sattyc85

Product:	WWE Smackdown
Date:	26/08/08 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good wrestlers

Disadvantages: Poor storylines, not a lot of vairety of good-quality wrestlers

Continuing with my series on WWE reviews, I have decided to write the final review on the company that provided my childhood with a lot of violence, blood and gore. This review is different from that of my RAW and WWE reviews as I feel that this show is the downside of the WWE.

Smackdown was created in 1999 and was another show for the pro-wrestlers that were employed by the WWE to perform on. With this programme, the WWE managed to squeeze its competitors out of the market because the show, as with RAW, contained a new glitzy and glamorous way of producing wrestling events. Also, Smackdown ensures that more of the superstars that were employed had the opportunity to appear on t.v. and make a name for themselves.

In 2002, after WWE had purchased the WCW and ECW, the company went through a "brand extension phase". This meant that the two acquired companies were merged into the WWE, making it the largest pro-wrestling brand. It also made the two main WWE shows (RAW and Smackdown) exclusive. A wrestler would now only compete on one show instead of appearing on both. The only time that a wrestler would fight anyone from the other roster was when there was a pay-per-view event.

The show currently has 4 belts defended on it: The WWE championship, the WWE tag team championship, the United States championship and the Diva's championship. As of 2006 (when the WWE decided to create ANOTHER separate brand known as ECW) all of the belts can be won by members of either of these 2 rosters. It is a 2-hour show that is aired on Sky Sports 3 in the UK. The actual position of Smackdown I feel has been somewhat lowered even further because of this. As RAW is standing on its own 2 feet, Smackdown is not only ailing in itself, but also having to carry a "little brother" too!

After this brand extension, I personally feel that the WWE has struggled with having these "separate" shows. The way I have seen it is that RAW has consistently had the better quality of wrestlers on it, the chairman of the company and his family tend to only make appearances on RAW and they seldom appear on Smackdown, the storylines and "superstar" wrestlers on Smackdown also lack the technical ability of some of their counterparts on RAW.

The show Smackdown itself I feel has disintegrated into a poor quality spectacle and is in need of a revamp. I personally feel that the WWE have put too many gifted wrestlers on RAW and are therefore restricting further domination of the pro-wrestling scene. If only they had put more quality on ECW and Smackdown, maybe these shows too would be as successful as RAW.

Summary: An ailing show that appears to be on its last legs