10 Ways SmackDown Live! Can Recover Before 2018

In the present day and historic variants of WWE's brand extension, SmackDown has always been considered the 'B-Show', an inferior sister broadcast to longstanding flagship Monday Night Raw.

As is often the case in professional wrestling, perception has become reality. Shifted around in the schedules and often raided for talent, the blue brand routinely suffers unjust ignominy that comes with a six year gap in tenure between itself and the 'longest running weekly episodic TV show', or however the currently choose to fictionalise it's lengthy Monday evening stranglehold.

Rare glimpses of the brand becoming a more creative or commercially successful endeavour than the beloved 'A-show' often result in a systematic breakdown of all that it made it worthy, ordinarily resetting the table until a superstar or storyline can help the broadcast rise again.

Such has been the case for much of 2017. Comfortably the better of both shows throughout the entirety of 2016, the rechristened SmackDown Live! was destination television. With exciting, refreshed storylines and AJ Styles as WWE Champion and roster ace, the brand promised and delivered on a far more regular basis than Raw. A shift of the title to John Cena in January saw momentum decidedly dip, but an April Superstar Shake-up did little to cleanse the palette, and by the time riotous wrap-up show Talking Smack was cancelled, it wasn't just the set-dressing that was blue.

WWE can always readdress the balance of course. They have the power and knowhow to completely awaken the sleeping giant. But will they?

AJ Styles reopened the 'United States Championship Open Challenge' on SmackDown Live!, taking on Tye Dillinger despite Baron Corbin's best efforts to ruin the match before it even began. Ultimately, 'The Phenomenal One' was successful in the match, and then again in the post-match aggro with 'The Lone Wolf', and it's hard to see him coming up short in their eventual pay-per-view clash.

Meanwhile, Jinder Mahal trundles on as possibly one of the most boring WWE Champions of all time. Drained of the controversy that may have originally come along with his surprising victory, 'The Maharaja' has barely managed an enjoyable contest since dethroning Randy Orton way back in May.

'Barely', because the one time he did look like an actual headliner was unsurprisingly against AJ Styles.

Styles, in his role effectively as the best wrestler in the world, did everything he could to make Jinder look like the star he's supposed to be. Neither Randy Orton nor Shinsuke Nakamura have proven quite so capable, and it may be worth considering offering a Title vs Title clash as a SmackDown Live! equivalent to some of the amazing main events Monday Night Raw currently seems to have at its disposal.