Nightmares, huh? You mean the ref Danny Davis right? Because I just found a twelve minute match from the Spectrum with him vs Sam Houston.

 

Different Danny Davis

I was being a dick, yes. I like "the world's second best Bill Dundee" memphis Danny Davis a lot.

I have this week's episode of "Smackdown!" on in the background and holy hell you guys were right; it is all video packages and recaps.

 

I have been rapidly losing interest in current WWE over the last four months or so and I'm pretty much ready to erase it as a scheduled recording on my DVR.

Smackdown has very clearly been a secondary show for a long, long time. It has some really good matches and continuations of B stories (C stories?) but you can never watch it and be 99% up to date with the WWE.

this probably belongs in a John Cena Microscope thread but whatever

 

I just randomly watched the Rey-Cena WWE title match from '11, and Cena is mostly good, very good base for Rey, but there is one spot where he catches Rey and audibly talks to him, and it just took me right out of the match, a match I was really digging. The match was flowing really well and Cena was rolling with the punches, and Rey was guiding him through it seemingly at points, and then Cena just is like "ok, we're gonna do this now" audibly and it kind of kills it for me

 

That's one of my (and a lot of people's) biggest knocks on Cena. Scripted to the max, and you can hear him talking spots in matches. And it's not like he can't work on the fly, but it is really noticeable at times and it takes me out of the moment

this probably belongs in a John Cena Microscope thread but whatever

 

I just randomly watched the Rey-Cena WWE title match from '11, and Cena is mostly good, very good base for Rey, but there is one spot where he catches Rey and audibly talks to him, and it just took me right out of the match, a match I was really digging. The match was flowing really well and Cena was rolling with the punches, and Rey was guiding him through it seemingly at points, and then Cena just is like "ok, we're gonna do this now" audibly and it kind of kills it for me

 

That's one of my (and a lot of people's) biggest knocks on Cena. Scripted to the max, and you can hear him talking spots in matches. And it's not like he can't work on the fly, but it is really noticeable at times and it takes me out of the moment

I've made this point before, but if nobody is willing to reprimand Cena for excessive and loud spot calling, shouldn't the production team take it upon themselves to shoot his matches differently (less close-ups)?

I've always wondered why, when shooting a guy like Cena who's known for loudly calling spots, they seem intent on getting the closest shots possible as if they were trying to have it broadcast. There's been times where you might as well given him the house mic he was doing it so long.

It made the Punk series pretty brutal for me since Punk was really bad at hiding it too.

I would like to see John Cena on RAW, come out & cut the same ol' "never say die" promo he always does, about how you have to kill him, he won't quit, he bleeds this business, etc. Only instead of finishing the promo, Brock just comes out & kills him. On RAW. Stretcher job & everything. No thumbs up, not commentators telling us the doctors said he'll recover. Make Cena not even make the next PPV. THAT would add intrigue. The Authority is going crazy 'cause they can't control Brock and don't have a PPV main event. Heyman is getting restless because he thinks Brock went too far (especially after the promo last week where Heyman said he would have loved to have Cena as a Paul Heyman guy). Just Brock Lesnar is an unstoppable, destructive gorilla that went too far & no one can stop him. He took out 'Taker & The Streak. He took out the ace of the company.

 

Build that shit up! And I'm talking about an uncomfortable beating too. Beat him with a chair. Put him through a couple tables. Hit him with an F-5 into a post. Show Heyman saying "that's enough" but Brock not stopping. Show someone like Triple H coming out to stop him and have Brock throw him off. Just an unstoppable Man-Ape hellbent on destruction.

 

The last thing this story needs is an immediate rematch three weeks later where they go 50/50.

I asked in I think the SummerSlam promo how do you get rid of Brock because eventually (and I think sooner than later) he'll want to quit. Coffey's idea made me think the best thing would be an entire locker-room beatdown not that different from Undertaker at Royal Rumble '94.

Smackdown moves to Thursdays starting on 10/2

I know Thursday is a better TV night than Friday, but why? Everyone in their right mind avoids the NFL at all costs.

A lot of Thursday games were shitty last year, since teams have a shorter turnaround time for travel and/or recovery from the last game. They're doing even more this year so I would expect there to not be a huge effect to Smackdown after maybe the first week or two.

Shittyness of games has nothing to do with it. It's an easy win for NFL on a Thursday night. SmackDown! moving to Thursdays doesn't make sense. Its ratings are nowhere near the Thursday night games.

The NFL is coming out with divisional games almost every Thursday. Some of the exceptions are match ups like Bears vs. Cowboys, so one of the oldest and most popular franchises vs. the most popular franchise. The games might have a dip in actual quality because of the shortened week, but it isn't going to hurt ratings especially now that they're on CBS.

They know they're not a legitimate ratings competitor with the NFL. They've been on Mondays since MNF actually meant something, and the seasonal dip is fairly predictable and accounted for (at least I seem to remember Meltzer saying it's similar year to year). It's possible they see more positives in moving from the least watched TV night in the US to one of the most watched than they see negatives in competing with the NFL on a second night (third, if you consider Sunday PPVs).

 

Also, whatever the extent WWE even thinks about TNA these days, beating the hell out of their TV head-up is still something they'd like to do.

TNA moved to Wednesday and Monday Night Raw is a strong enough brand that they'll take a ratings hit but still keep pretty solid numbers. Thursday Night Smackdown hasn't been a thing in what, 10 years?

Shitty games or not, they were watched well enough on a Thursday night (already a hot TV night) that CBS had a desire to acquire them. The NFL couldn't be happier themselves, as they eliminated their biggest competition for Thursday nights (Big Bang Theory) from the equation by doing this.

 

I guess the WWE is hoping that with a strong TV night, that more eyes will glance at Smackdown, whether it's on football commercials, channel flipping, etc. It's not a terrible thought, but if the show is mostly a recap show, they'll need more than that. It's hard to think they'll do much worse than on Fridays though, as that night is hardly a good TV night at all.

 

Another "days of the week" thought: One wonders if, with the explosion of Sunday Night Football on NBC, if WWE shouldn't have moved their PPV days to a Saturday night instead. It's somewhat of a moot point now, with the shows on the Network and all, but with Sunday nights being heavily watched (Sunday night hockey is about to become a thing here in Canada), I wonder if they might've drawn more going a day earlier. There's still some advantages to that, in fact. They really need to make every PPV "can't miss" in order to sell the Network strongly. If there are harder-hitting matches (for lack of a better term) that help that cause, the guys and girls get a day rest before RAW.

TNA moved to Wednesday and Monday Night Raw is a strong enough brand that they'll take a ratings hit but still keep pretty solid numbers. Thursday Night Smackdown hasn't been a thing in what, 10 years?

Whoops. Yeah, I brainfarted that one. I still think the total viewing audience bump is worth it.

There are 8 Thursday games on network TV. It's absolutely worth taking the hit for two months to get off one of the worst nights of the week back to the most prestigious.

Probably, but I am looking forward to the freak out and call of it being a failed move on those eight weeks when the NFL gives them a big hit.

This football vs. wrestling talking point has always made me laugh.

 

How much overlap is there really. Okay, some, but I don't think it's as significant as a few of you and Meltzer make it out to be.

 

Plus, football doesn't run all year - and if I'm understanding correctly, NFL isn't airing the prestige games on Thursday (then again, WWE isn't airing its prestige program on Thursday either).

the NFL didn't run prestige games on Thursday in past years because they were on the NFL Network, which wasn't even available at all on Comcast for a good while. now that they moved to network TV, the schedule has been significantly beefed up with lots of classic rivalry games.

 

also i would say the overlap between wrestling and football is significant, just because *everyone* watches football

This football vs. wrestling talking point has always made me laugh.

 

How much overlap is there really. Okay, some, but I don't think it's as significant as a few of you and Meltzer make it out to be.

 

Plus, football doesn't run all year - and if I'm understanding correctly, NFL isn't airing the prestige games on Thursday (then again, WWE isn't airing its prestige program on Thursday either).

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/01/08/nfl-2013-tv-recap-205-million-fans-tuned-in-34-of-35-most-watched-shows-this-fall/227726/

 

The NFL's kind of a big deal. Like funkdoc said, everyone watches football. If we drew a Venn diagram of US TV viewship, it's basically one circle saying "NFL fans" with everyone else within it.

I think that we MIGHT be moving away from that as Wrestling starts to appeal to a geekier hipster audience? Though I guess they're just the ones who do Fantasy Football?