WWE: SmackDown’s Top 10 List is Latest Dud in Long List of Bad Ideas

WWE introduced the “SmackDown Live Top 10 List” this week. And, well, it’s a not going to be a good thing.

One thing WWE has to be given credit for is their willingness to innovate. Sure, they may innovate everything besides the same old tired booking. But when it comes to trying new things in all other respects of their business, WWE isn’t afraid to think outside the box.

Think of all the things the company has tried out over the years. Vince McMahon is both famous and infamous for his moving away from – and destruction of – the territory system of wrestling promotions. Taking his promotion national was a bold move that ultimately paid off. Factor in risking the financial health of the young company on a closed-circuit television experiment, and many would probably say McMahon was nuts.

That closed-circuit television experiment eventually moved to pay per view – WrestleMania, as it was and is still called, is now the focal point of WWE’s booking. As the centerpiece of the company’s show schedule, WrestleMania is a huge money maker these days.

Which made it all the more surprising when WWE pulled out of the pay per view game and launched the WWE Network. Rather than get fans to spend $50 and up every month for a single show, the company decided to charge $9.99 per month for almost everything they’s ever recorded – including live pay per view events, like WrestleMania.

While going national, WrestleMania, and the WWE Network have been successes for WWE, the promotion isn’t infallible. Remember the WBF? Tout? How about the XFL? Don’t worry if you forgot that one – it’s coming back in a few years.

More recently, WWE started the Mixed Match Challenge. It has not been as big of a draw as the company anticipated. There’s several reasons for this, but one possibility has to be WWE fatigue. There’s just so much programming in a given week – devoting 20 minutes or so to a single match at 10 p.m. ET on a Tuesday is ludicrous.

But there’s an even more recent swing and miss than the MMC – which only kicked off in January. This week on SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan introduced the “Top 10 List.” Allegedly, this list is voted on by the superstars of Team Blue, and it’s based on locker room leadership, talent, and athletic skill. Ha, yeah right. Next you’re going to tell me that the superstars actually listened when told not to vote for themselves.

Bryan – who, along with Shane McMahon, doesn’t vote – stated that the results of the voting will determine how future opportunities will be assigned. So let’s put that to the test right off the bat. Here’s the initial Top 10 List:

1. AJ Styles
2. Charlotte Flair
3. Shinsuke Nakamura
4. Naomi
5. Bobby Roode
6. The New Day
7. The Usos
8. Becky Lynch
9. Randy Orton
10. Tye Dillinger

And the first match Shane and Bryan have scheduled with championship implications after the reveal of the list? Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler, with the winner being added to the Fastlane triple threat match between Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship.

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If you’re like me, you noticed immediately that Owens, Zayn, Corbin, and Ziggler are all absent from the rankings. Wouldn’t you think that superstars like Randy Orton and Tye Dillinger would have been better choices to fight for a spot in the WWE Title match at Fastlane? After all, their peers voted them as better than the ones actually facing off.

There’s no guarantee the Top 10 List will ultimately be a failure. In all fairness, it’s still early on in the life of this new idea. But they say you don’t get a second chance at a first impression, and right off the bat this seems shady, suspect, and poorly thought out. That combination usually spells disaster for innovation.

With any luck, the Top 10 List will go the way of 205 Live. After a terrific Cruiserweight Classic tournament, WWE experimented with a cruiserweight-exclusive show. A year into it’s run, it was floundering – but now it looks to be turning the corner. A different direction in the presentation has helped. Maybe we need to give the Top 10 List more of a chance than three days.

Next: 25 Greatest Pay Per Views in WWE History

Do you think the SmackDown Top 10 List will be a success?