12 Radical Ideas That Could Save WWE Smackdown

7. Showcase Your Undercard

WWE has a large and impressive roster, many of whom aren€™t being adequately served by the hours (and hours, and HOURS) of television time the company puts out every week. This is a waste of resources, financial and personal. Vince McMahon and WWE love to tell the men and women performing for them that they€™ll get the opportunities they work for, the push that they deserve. Three minute matches can only tell a specific, very small set of stories, and we€™ve seen them all. We don€™t need to see the same people lock up the same way, run through the same few moves and end up with a distraction roll-up for the finish. Not again. The talent must be tired of it too. How can you get a new character over like that? If you don€™t have time to devote to a match, then drop the comfort zone: give the talent the space to demonstrate why you hired them. Tell them: you€™ve got three minutes, and this guy needs to go over like this€ then ask them to impress you. You€™ll be surprised what you end up with, because it€™s almost certainly what they€™ve been waiting to hear. Part of the problem with WWE is that there is only one, maybe two brass rings to be grasped. So give them more: smaller opportunities on smaller stages, like Smackdown. The WWE audience has shown that it€™s crying out for new acts to fall in love with, when things like Damien Mizdow, The New Day and Daniel Bryan have slipped through the cracks and made them care. Your undercard can get over if you give them a chance to shine. Look at Tye Dillinger on NXT: reports from house show matches kept talking about his €˜Perfect 10€™ character, how it revitalised the performer and the work he was doing, and what a crying shame it was that the character wasn€™t on television. As soon as the gimmick finally did appear on TV, the NXT faithful pounced on it. Give us more like that, and if there€™s no room on RAW €“ give it to us on Smackdown.