10 Major Problems Facing WWE In 2017

5. SmackDown's Lack Of Depth

For all the talk of WWE’s gigantic roster, it’s easy to forget just how shallow SmackDown is. The show has been excellent since the Brand Split, and it regularly provides wrestling’s most entertaining weekly TV show. Programs like The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler and AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose have been a big part of that, but aside from those four (and John Cena), nobody else is ready to rise up and grab the proverbial brass ring.

AJ Styles’ next two title challengers are James Ellsworth and Ziggler, who has had a great bounce-back year, but is a transitional contender at best. After that, the only real option is to pair Styles back up with John Cena, but they’ve already done that feud to death, and it’s not something they can sustain beyond another couple of months.

Similarly, The Miz looks set to defend his Intercontinental Title against Ambrose, but where do they go after that? Most likely it’ll be a Baron Corbin or Apollo Crews, who have their positive qualities, but barely elicit any kind of crowd response. Elsewhere, the tag division is equally light on credible challengers to The Wyatt Family, and beyond Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, and Nikki Bella, the women’s division is threadbare.

SmackDown faces some real booking problems once their current storylines reach the end of their lifespan. There’s an urgent need to build underlings like Corbin as potential headliners before SD becomes a creative vacuum, which would be a huge disappointment in the wake of their recent improvements.