21 Years Of WWE SmackDown Mistakes

12. 2008 - WWECW

Cheating here, but it would be as criminal as WWE were with Chris Harris' wrestling career not to bring up Braden Walker as a by-product of the ECW/SmackDown shared taping cycle that commenced in 2008.

Walker was part of a new talent initiative kickstarted by Teddy Long as he floated amiably between the blue brand and its oft-ignored 'Extreme' cousin. Long before SmackDown Live! was branded as a 'Land Of Opportunity', it attempted to actually be one. Like virtually every other method of talent development at the time, it was a profound failure.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, 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. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett