Why Smackdown ratings so low?
 

SMACKDOWN RATING TANKS AGAIN
by Dave Scherer @ 5:55:00 PM on 9/10/2004

It appears that competition from the NFL and NBC's premieres of Joey and The Apprentice 2 took a major bite out of the Smackdown rating, as the show did just a 2.6 broadcast rating, with a four share. That is barely up from last week's anemic 2.5. At least last week the show was preempted in 1/6 of the country. This week it was only preempted in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA. Football from 8 to 10 did a 9.0 on ABC, while the NBC shows did a 12.1 and 9.3 respectively. CBS' power-packed lineup was still in reruns. is strong but not as much so as the CBS and NBC lineups did last season combined. Clearly, this is not good news for WWE no matter how they may try to spin it.



I think the product is improving but the ratings is down. Raw rating however is up and still around the same area as usual. What's going on?

This kind of reminds me of WWE in 96 and 97. The product had it's low moments but the great moments were classic and the ratings was awful.

Maybe it's time to do a Raw/Smackdown Invasion Angle. I'm sure the fans will look at Smackdown more.

Or maybe Smackdown needs one more character who can bring up the ratings like Mick Foley.

No, its because guys like Heidenrich and Suzuki are on tv, when they shouldn't be.

They need more experienced guys over there. Instead of releasing Scott Steiner, they should have moved him over to Smackdown.

An invasion might work, but then they need to figure out away of coming up with a reason for it.

In the last few weeks Smackdown has been the better show imo. :o

End the brandsplit.

No, Raw has improved greatly over the last year. Smackdown is what I like to call a piece of shit.

Here's a simple solution. Move SD! to Spike TV with the rest of the WWE shows. Anyone like that idea?

what would that do, besides lower ratings in the first few weeks while the few people who dont' know how to use a tv guide/tv listing/brain try to find out what happend to smackdown

:y: :yes:

That is actually a good idea. UPN is stifling what the WWE can do with this "family-oriented programming" bullshit.

And Smackdown's rating is not surprising, considering that the product has been sucktacular and powerhouse shows like The Apprentice and the NFL have the same timeslot.

Put some hardcore sex on Smackdown. or bring kane and Y2J over in the M.E. slot.

Orrrrrr, they could push the guys they have and make stars out of the (mostly) young roster they have.

Not with Holly, Gunn and Taker around.

Though Big Show's return was something done right.

just curious...why do u think John cena and randy orton have had such great pushes, and why guys like charlie haas, garison Cade, Eugene, Regal and several others are getting regular airtime.

Its because of this awful brand split.
Look at the past:
1994-'96; ur main eventers and upper midcarders are Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon
1998-'00; The Rock, HHH, Steve Austin, Undertaker, Kane
Nowadays: HHH, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Chris Benoit, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, JBL, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, RVD, Booker T

How are you supposed to 15+ upper midcarders and potential main eventers on one show? It is not possible.

There is absolutly no logical reason to stop the brand split. The brand split has been great for wrestling IMO

Finally someone with common sense as far as the brand split goes.All I hear is how much all the talented wrestlers get no air time.Sure if the joined together maybe Bradshaw wouldnt be champion,or Suzuki or Heindrich wouln't be on TV.But all bringing the split to an end will bring is a bunch of underused talent.WWE has a hard enough time now finding room for Booker,RVD,Benoit,Hardy the list goes on.Do you really wanna see more HHH every week.

Yeah But they should bring some Main eventers from raw over to Smack down.
Smack down only has 4 JBL(:nono:) Angle Undertaker and Eddie Guerrero. RVD and Booker T are now only mid carders.

SD ratings will probably go down even further now that the regualr TV shows are back. RAW will too, with MNF coming back.