This is pretty much a no-brainer, but in this case it doesnt have to just be limited to fiddling with the colour of the ring ropes. If you want Smackdown to have its very own television identity, apart and aside from the one thats worked well for RAW for two decades, you need to change fundamental aspects of the production design. Things like moving the announce booth and timekeeping/bell area to the other side of the ring: those are tiny changes, unimportant from a practical standpoint, but serve to freshen up the look of the show. Want something bigger? How about moving the hard camera from stage right to stage left? The talent working on Smackdown days would need to make sure that they keep it straight which direction to be facing, but realistically the choreography remains the same: its just that the ramp and the stage would be to the performers left instead of their right. If you're not keen on the fundamentals being changed, why not some gimmicks? Remember some of the old Smackdown sets the giant fist, for example? How about new versions of those old school motifs? Stick with the classical, the mythological lightning bolts, clashing titans, you know the kind of thing. Finally the name Smackdown is synonymous with a kind of bored, apathetic disinterest its sad, but its true. Are WWE really married to this brand name, especially given that the brand extension doesnt exist any longer? The biggest change they could make, but a small one in the vast scheme of things, would be a complete rebrand and a change of name for the shows new identity. Just a thought.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
