7 Ups & 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (May 31)

2. So Smackdown Wont Suck Anymore?

shane mcmahon stephanie
WWE.com

Its understandable that WWE is going to want to promote the hell out of Smackdown moving to a new night and going live. Its a major move for the company, one that WWE and the USA Network clearly hope will translate into better ratings.

But WWE went about it in a horrendously insulting way. In announcing the July 19 move seven weeks in advance, Shane and Stephanie McMahon basically admitted that the current product is inferior. First, most fans understand that Smackdown is taped two days in advance of when it airs. But making the big selling point that it will be live just like Raw was an acknowledgment that Smackdown is taped, something that has never been denied, but also never inferred as a detriment.

Throw in Shanes declaration that a live Smackdown will be a better show, with better opportunities and better matchups, and you get the feeling that WWE is admitting that taped Smackdown sucks, but once it goes live, everything will be better.

Oh but wait, theres more to this momentous change for WWE

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.