10 Things That Have Contributed To WWE SmackDown Live's Fall From Grace
It will take a ton of rehabbing to get SmackDown Live back to its apex.
When WWE's second Brand Split went into effect in the summer of 2016, it was unknown how SmackDown Live would fare against Raw considering its roster wasn't nearly as star-studded. The show also had two hours to work with compared to Raw's three, so from the get-go, the blue brand had the odds stacked against it.
Despite that, it slowly but surely emerged as the A-show over Raw; maybe not in the ratings, but definitely in terms of quality. Almost every week for a year straight, fans raved about all the things SmackDown was doing right and how it made the most of who and what it had.
Unfortunately, not all good things can last forever, and shortly after WrestleMania 33, SmackDown took a turn for the worse. Over time, Raw became the better brand, but the decline in quality wasn't too noticeable until the atrocious Battleground pay-per-view in late July.
Granted, SmackDown has certainly improved in recent weeks and has shown promise in returning to the heights it was once at, but 2017 has so far not been too kind to the Tuesday night program. Many factors have contributed to the show's gradual downfall, but these are easily the ten biggest reasons.
10. Mauro Ranallo Leaving Commentary
It was pretty apparent when the commentary teams for Raw and SmackDown Live were announced following the 2016 WWE Draft that SmackDown got the short end of the stick with Mauro Ranallo, JBL, and David Otunga. Of course, Ranallo has been an amazing asset to WWE since joining the company at the onset of 2016 and working exclusively on SmackDown, but he had his work cut out for him considering he would be alongside the obnoxious JBL and the painfully pointless David Otunga behind the booth every Tuesday night.
SmackDown produced a ton of great moments from 2016 into 2017, and Ranallo was on the call for every single one of them (including AJ Styles' WWE Championship win at Backlash). His commentary style is so different to anyone else's in the company that he successfully gave the blue brand its own feel for the time he was there.
Unfortunately, Ranallo was pulled from SmackDown's announce team in March due to medical reasons with it later being reported he had no desire to return. That was a big blow to the brand's commentary as well as the show itself, and although he's now back in WWE a part of NXT, Tom Phillips is no Mauro Ranallo.