10 Times WWE Was Categorically Worse Than It Is Right Now

5. SmackDown 2012 - 2016

Goldust Stardust
WWE

After a partial recovery from its darkest days towards the back end of the decade (thanks ironically to Triple H leading a charge of stars in 2008), SmackDown collapsed again following the advent of the 'Raw Supershow' midway through a hideously clunky power shift behind the scenes.

The character John Laurinaitis' rise to prominence as 'The Executive Vice President Of Talent Relations and General Manager Of Raw And SmackDown' coincided with 'The Game' gradually ousting him as a force on the other side of the curtain. It was around this time any semblance of the brand split was wholly abandoned ahead of Raw permanently gaining an extra hour that July.

The celebration of the flagship hitting its 1000th episode kicked off the terrifying new tenure, but the sister show was well and truly GoodBrothered by such increased focus. SmackDown was effectively a zombified live-to-tape highlight show for years, featuring Raw rematches or meaningless that angles that somehow couldn't steal a minute from the 180 to spare every Monday. Rare appearances from bonafide headliners were just that - a rarity, with even transparent rating spike angles such as The Shield's first pinfall loss or a John Cena match here and there actively diminished by their 'B-show' placement.

2016's switch to its current Tuesday night live spot, for all its faults on occasion, completely saved the show.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.