DISCUSSION - Should the WWE televise the "WWF Attitude Era" instead of Smackdown?

[Heyman]

DISCUSSION - Should the WWE televise the "WWF Attitude Era" instead of Smackdown?

After reading Lara Emily's thread, I started thinking:


God DAMN the WWE used to rule back in the day. With that in mind, why not use the current "Smackdown" timeslot, and televise the entire "WWF Attitude" era instead (Survivor Series 97' - Wrestlemania 17).


1) Fans wouldn't have to be subjected to piss poor show that currently defines Smackdown.

2) Old fans can re-live the popular "Attitude Era", while new fans to wrestling can see what they missed out on.

3) One can certainly argue that RATINGS for the Thursday timeslot would be HIGHER if they showed the WWF Attitude Era (instead of the sub-standard Smackdown show that we are currently witnessing).

4) From the Attitude Era, they can show PPV's (in a 2 hour timeslot, they'd have to edit stuff.....but fans can still see old PPV's for free).

5) The WWE can compete with the WWF attitude era! It sounds gay, but think of it like this. If hardcore wrestling fans really start tuning into Smackdown to re-live the Attitude Era (combined with new fans and old WCW fans who never saw most of the Attitude Era), then ratings could be fairly high. With that in mind, the WWE can take it upon themselves to challenge THEMSELVES in out-rating the other show.

Basically - they'd be telling the fans. Yes - the "Attitude Era" was great, but the current era is even better!"


6) One Roster. One Quality show: I have never spoken about re-uniting the rosters before, and so I'll talk about it today. I genuinely feel that the rosters should be re-united. With one quality show, Raw would be BONERIFIC...week in week out.

7) Sunday Night Heat: More importance can go to Sunday Night Heat....just as it was back in the day. Even back in the day, Sunday Night Heat used to draw in the numbers that we see on Raw and Smackdown at PRESENT. With the talent currently employed in the WWE right now, even Heat could be stacked with depth. Perhaps the WWE can make Heat into a two hour show at a later date? (or atleast an hour and a half).


So basically - the WWE would piss on Smackdown, and replace it with the old "WWF Attitude era". The first show would be Survivor Series 97' (editted to fit the 2 hour time slot), while the last show would be Wrestlemania 17. This would be cyclical (so the week after they show WM-17, they start again at SS 97').



I realize that for the most part, showing re-runs of former popular shows doesn't exactly pan out. I mean - it's not like the SAME people who watched Seinfield and Cosby Show back in the day, tune in ALL THE TIME now to catch the re-runs.

Still - I think there's a bit of a difference. I'm 2 lazy to go into detail as to why I feel like this, but oh well.

Discuss.

[Savio]

If it did happen I'd be surprized....they probably would get better ratings though.

[Xero]

I would say keep Raw and SmackDown! the way they are, but change the Saturday timeslot to a two hour show (Get rid of Heat and Velocity) and do what you said... It would get great ratings, while still keeping their current shows... Cause I think they need two shows to show most of their tallent...

[Heyman]

I would say keep Raw and SmackDown! the way they are, but change the Saturday timeslot to a two hour show (Get rid of Heat and Velocity) and do what you said... It would get great ratings, while still keeping their current shows... Cause I think they need two shows to show most of their tallent...


^^^^^^^

What he said.

[Mayo]

I think that Smackdown is definitely improving right now. The US title scene is on fire, the tag team champs are fresh and great wrestlers, they are beginning to use the Cruiserweight division properly, and I think that JBL is doing a pretty good job as WWE champ (though I didn't think he would). Kurt Angle, arguably the best wrestler on the roster, has just returned from injury, and the Big Show should be coming back as well. Smackdown is definitely exciting right now, and I think it might even be more exciting than Raw at the moment. Cancelling it now would be a waste, when they should have cancelled it about a month or two ago (not that I would cancel it at all).

[Batsu]

It would suck ass if they did that...

imagine all the blurred-out WWF logos, and "blanked" out references to "the WWF"...

SmackDown is getting better. Very soon, I feel, after some changes, it will go back to its former "shades of WCW" status.

[The CyNick]

This might be your worst suggestion of all time.

The biggest problem is that people dont tune in droves to see re-runs. Look at the difference for an old episode of Friends on say TBS vs one that is run for the first time on NBC. There is no way UPN would allow constant re-runs to be on their network because nobody will be watching.

Next problem is that you kill the brand extension, which is not what the WWE wants. If they had any ideas of doing away with the brand split it would have happened at or shortly after Mania. There are a lot of benefits they get from running two crews, and I dont see them going back anytime soon.

Even if they were to switch the weekend shows for re-runs that would be a bad idea too. Why? Simple, the 24/7 concept. That is going to be launched in the near future, and the whole point of that is to get fans to pay for old matches that they can watch at their leisure. If you give away the same old matches for free every week on TV, why will people pay $xx/week for it as a special service? Doesn't make any sense.

And you think reuniting the rosters will be a good thing, but I think it would do more harm than good. If you bring the rosters together you can say good-bye to TV time for guys like RVD, Edge, Booker T, Jericho, and all the CWs (except maybe Rey). Because the top guys will now take up the top spots on both shows, and nobody will come up. Reason being, all these guys who are currently on top will have a whole bunch of fresh match ups, and will never have to give up their spots. Which would suck.

In all honesty Smackdown has got a lot better over the past 6 weeks or so, in fact there were a lot of weeks I thought SD was better or just as good as RAW. Tonights episode was really strong IMO. With guys getting back from injury, the show will continue to improve.

So I wouldn't do anything too drastic to change the company.

[LK]

Keep Smackdown and Raw and maybe use this idea instead of Heat and Velocity

[Jaded-Dragon]

Keep Raw and Smackdown!. Heat and Velocity are useless. Instead of the attitude era though, I would actually prefer to see some old Nitro's from 96-98. Maybe they could switch every week. One week an old Nitro, next week an old Raw.

[Cruiserweight 3:16]

In all fairness, Smackdown hasn't been doing too badly recently. Its rating are just as good, if not better, than Raw's and it supposed to be one of the most popular shows on UPN. Heyman, you may not like Smackdown that much, but I think it's a pretty decent show. Not quite in terms of great storylines like the attitude era (it'll be hard to think of an era where the storylines and PPV's will be as consistently good again) but at least we're seeing decent cruiserweight action every week.

I'm not exactly too sure as to specifically what footage you would want the WWE to show again. Would it be repeats from the first Smackdown onwards?? My personal opinion is that the wrestling itself was not greater back then... it's the characters, storylines and the culmination of them that made the attitude era as good as it was.

Even if the WWE were to show old footage on TV and ratings were high, surely that could have a knock-on effect in terms of PPV buyrates. Why would people want to pay to watch wrestling when they could just watch the classics instead for free? Also, if the WWE showed old footage of HHH as the WWE champion in 2000 and the ratings for the show were high, surely that would give him more leverage to ensure that he stays in the main event even longer