Why WWE SmackDown Still Has a Chance After the Draft

Despite the overwhelming amount of star-power that Raw loaded its roster with on Tuesday night’s draft, Smackdown may still have a shot to compete with the flagship show.

After Raw’s impressive, star-studded Draft selections, it was easy to see why so many felt that Smackdown was in an immediate disadvantage. However, don’t count out the show just yet; Smackdown might very well still have a chance to stand toe-to-toe with Raw on a weekly basis.

While a majority of Smackdown’s draft picks may not necessarily have the appeal as some of their Raw counterparts, the new Smackdown roster possesses enough firepower to hang with what Raw is sure to let off.

Related Story: WWE Draft 2016: 5 Reasons SmackDown Roster is Better Than Raw

To many fans, Smackdown has oft been regarded as the B-show; it’s been this way for about a decade. However, it wasn’t always this way. In retrospect, after the original 2002 Draft, Smackdown was the superior brand. It was home to established ring veterans in The Rock, Undertaker, Kurt Angle; the then-incumbent WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar, as well as rising star John Cena. Smackdown back then had superior wrestling matches (for example, the Eddie Guerrero vs Brock Lesnar WWE Championship match at No Way Out 2004, and Kurt Angle vs Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Title at No Way Out 2006) as well as better storylines, in particular, the Eddie Guerrero-Rey Mysterio feud. In addition, the creative team for Smackdown during this time included Paul Heyman. A stark contrast to the Eric Bischoff-led Monday Night Raw following the 2002 Draft, which saw messy, uninspired storylines, and ho-hum quality wrestling matches.

many of the talent who wrestled on the brand would always refer to it as the “wrestling show”

While Smackdown could never truly shake the notion of being the perennial B-show, many of the talent who wrestled on the brand would always, without fail, refer to it as the “wrestling show”, compared to the “entertainment hour” that Raw was. It was implied that Smackdown gave the wrestlers more time and more creativity in the ring, as opposed to the notoriously short-matches that were featured on Raw, due in part to time needed to be given to sponsors, and a focus on ratings rather than wrestling. This of course would all change in 2005, when the most popular star at the time, incumbent WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to Raw with the title, swapping spots with Batista and the World Heavyweight Championship to Smackdown, and Raw has since never looked back.

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Fast forward to 2016, a look at the Smackdown roster, and you get the sense, that once again, it aims to become the “wrestling show”. Their first draft pick was Dean Ambrose, not only the reigning WWE Champion, but the self-proclaimed “iron man” of the company and the quintessential work horse.

Their follow up pick was AJ Styles, widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in the industry today. Smackdown would also draft the two biggest stars in the PG Era, John Cena and Randy Orton to bring the much needed star-power and established ring veterans, who will undoubtedly be used to get some of the newer stars over, especially, the next pick, Bray Wyatt, who, despite not having all of his family with him, can possibly emerge as the top heel in the brand; a necessary reboot of sorts for Wyatt.

Furthermore, Smackdown drafted Becky Lynch, arguably the best pure women’s wrestler in the company today, as well as several high profile NXT stars in Baron Corbin, who has an incredible upside and can also become a premiere heel on Smackdown working against the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton; and American Alpha, perhaps the best tag team out of all the ones on the main roster.

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These picks confirm that Smackdown is striving to be less talk and more action. Becky Lynch will have the benefit of having two, maybe three segment matches on a two-hour show, while Charlotte and Sasha Banks, for all intents and purposes, due to their star power and entertainment value, may be featured more prominently in in-ring promos and segments on the entertainment show rather than long wrestling matches. AJ Styles, while solid on the mic, will be able to do what he does best: wrestle, perhaps even more so than his Raw counterpart, Seth Rollins, who will take up a good amount of time on the mic with his partnership to Stephanie McMahon. Ironically, as Cesaro pointed out, Raw is too focused on the upper management side of things and not the actual wrestlers and wrestling matches, something that Smackdown commissioner Shane McMahon and Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan seek to address and rectify.

there are burning questions that Smackdown must answer

Still, there are burning questions that Smackdown must answer that may be resolved in the near future. What championship will Becky Lynch chase after? Lynch is without question the top woman on the Smackdown roster and an invaluable cornerstone in the division; once her feud with Natalya wraps up, what is she to do without a title to go after seeing that the WWE Women’s Championship is on Raw? Also, while Raw may have The New Day, Gallows and Anderson, and Enzo & Cass, Smackdown has American Alpha, The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, and potentially the Hype Bros; with the WWE Tag Team Championships residing on Raw around the waist of the New Day, what titles will a team like American Alpha have to hunt down? Finally, with a 1/3 chance of the WWE Championship staying on Smackdown with Dean Ambrose being the sole representative of the show against Raw’s Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, what happens to Smackdown’s top tier title if Ambrose loses it at Battleground?

Next: WWE Draft 2016 Results: Live Pick Coverage, Analysis and Grades

Questions abound, Smackdown has more than enough talent for them to be able to compete with Raw on a weekly basis. And with the ship being steered by Shane McMahon who proposed all of this change from top to bottom when he first returned, as well as Daniel Bryan, who undoubtedly has the wrestlers’ best interest in his mind, don’t be surprised if Smackdown once again becomes the superior show as it was over a decade ago.