There's a real sense that WWE are killing time until the end of the year, or at least until TLC is over and done with. The injury to Seth Rollins during a UK Tour date in November did cause problems, but it seems like the company haven't quite recovered from that setback yet. The decision was made to put the WWE World Heavyweight Title on Sheamus, and have Roman Reigns chase him for the belt instead of Rollins. Thus far, this has broken down to a war between 2 distinct groups. On one side, The Authority and The League Of Nations. On the other, Reigns apparently heads up 'The Family', a stable which also includes Dean Ambrose and The Usos. This week's episode of Smackdown continued the rivalry between both those factions.
Downs...
3. Opening Segment Misses The Mark Due To Piped In Crowd Noise
Pretty much since the program was debuted by the company, WWE have piped in post-production crowd cheers and jeers during Smackdown. Generally speaking, the cheers are supposed to give viewers the impression that the live audience are going nuts for a top babyface. The problem is that the noise feels completely fake, and sounds ridiculous. On this week's episode of Smackdown, the show opened with Roman Reigns talking about The Usos and Dean Ambrose in glowing terms. Referring to the men as 'The Family', Reigns tried to gain empathy from the fans by talking about how important family is. People didn't appear to be digging it, at least not visually. That didn't stop the production team from inserting awkward cheering during the promo. Things worsened when Sheamus and the rest of the League Of Nations converged on the stage. Even though adding cheers to broadcasts isn't a new thing for WWE, it seemed like some of the boos levied at Sheamus were piped in too. That's worrying. Looking at things from a stand point of aesthetics, the fake crowd noise doesn't even sound realistic. It actually ruined the opening segment.