Ranking The WORST Era Of Every Major Wrestling Show

2. WWE SmackDown

The Big Show Randy Orton
WWE

WWE stopped giving a toss about the brand split in 2011 when Raw was temporarily renamed 'Raw Supershow'. This was a hollow marketing exercise along the lines of "All your favourite Superstars under ONE roof!" 

The subtext being "...hardly any of them are over, but that's why we're bantering off SmackDown".

And banter off SmackDown WWE did. For around five years. 

Yes, Mark Henry's Hall of Pain run was really, really good (and an effective ratings driver). Between 2011 and December 2013 (when the titles were unified) WWE did at least promote the World Heavyweight championship as something of an exclusive entity. And hey, you got the Randy Orton Vs. Christian feud out of that. Also, the Shield, inexplicably, lost their first match on SmackDown. There, Three things. Also Alberto Del Rio won the belt, but he doesn't count. 

Elsewhere, SmackDown in effect became a Raw re-run. Imagine watching early 2010s Raw twice. A fourth and fifth hour of WWE Monday Night Raw. Well, you didn't have to do that. You lived through that hell. 

Can you remember a single thing that happened on WWE SmackDown in 2012? 

Consider something like the September 25 taping. The Big Show beat Randy Orton in the main event. Underneath that, Ryback beat Tensai. Underneath that, Chris Masters defeated Vladimir Kozlov and MVP beat Festus. 

Except those last two matches didn't happen because none of the four worked for WWE at the time and you've no idea because that period of SmackDown was so utterly forgettable. 

 
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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!