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Other Voices: Reader suggestions for Smackdown's future channel, WWE 24/7 first reaction
Feb 14, 2008 - 6:08:06 PM |
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I just read a suggestion on PWTorch that the WWE should offer its second show Smackdown to Disney for broadcast. I think that this would be the perfect way to get a better image in the media, as well as a very sneaky way to lure The Rock back to wrestling.
First of all, it's Disney. Disney equals family entertainment and the coolest television network for younger kids. If you get kids watching like they did on Saturday mornings in the Eighties, you'll have a growing fanbase that will continue to watch for years. That's how American Gladiators got restarted and why Hulk Hogan still has a job today. Kids loved them 20 years ago, they'll watch as 20-somethings now.
Next, you have The Rock. Everyone knows that once an actor or actress sells their soul to Disney, their contract is a guaranteed path to voicing a random talking animal in the next Pixar movie. Or, in this case, it's a guaranteed tie-in promo opportunity for a company you thought you left, only to get closer once again. Once Disney has your name on paper, they'll put you to work on video game voices (like Kingdom Hearts), cartoons and movies (John Arnold was a giant blue monster AND the new voice of the Jungle Book bear!) and television promotions on the Disney network (even if it's rated PG-13 like Pirates of the Caribbean).
How does this happen? First of all, they need to tone it down to make it Disney-friendly. The new heroes of the show will be the John Cenas, the Jeff and Matt Hardys and the Rey Mysterios. The new villians will be the angry and scary ones. MVP isn't a good sport, so he'll be a good candidate. Kane can go back to be child's dentist. Edge will need to stop making out with his older version of Lita, Vickie Guerrero, but he can continue being evil by saying how much he likes to do bad things, like telling people to shut up. Also, the women might need to adopt storylines straight out of Saved by the Bell. That might make some fun television right there.
Will it happen? Probably not, but if it does, the fans will have The Rock back, Disney will have a major rating show that they can use to promote their movies and other stuff, while WWE will have something that will improve their image. The downside will be that it will look like the WWE is selling out and Disney may receive a huge PR nightmare if anyone brings up Benoit.
A.A. Norman
Tulsa, Okla.
***
As we all know, the CW will not retain WWE Friday Night Smackdown after the Fall Quarter of 2008, meaning that it's possible (Jim Ross mentioned this as well) that Smackdown goes back to Thursday.
Wait... isn't... isn't TNA Impact on Thursdays?
You know what that means? That's right kids, we could enter into a whole new Ratings War! Competition! Excitement! It's all so nice and wonderful, just think, this could skyrocket the quality of wrestling.
Of course, that's when you'll remember that TNA is nowhere near being close enough to challenge WWE. Knowing that, the logical course of action would be to eliminate TNA before they become a threat to WWE ratings. TNA has the talent - Styles, Joe, Cage, Angle - to threaten the dominance, and if, God willing, TNA's booking improves, things could get interesting.
If WWE is serious - and I do mean serious - about squashing the bug that is TNA, then moving Smackdown to the USA Network - mimicking the Impact time slot, as well - is the first logical step. Impact can barely beat ECW, in case you forgot. Smackdown has enough star power to bury TNA. Put the pressure on viewers; you've got a choice, either Smackdown or Impact. The ball will be in the court of us, the fans.
For WWE, it's a very smart risk to take. The chances that TNA improves to the point where it can actually compete are nil. However, the chances that WWE puts so much pressure on TNA that they crumble...well, let's say those odds are a lot higher than nil.
Unless TNA radically changes gears and starts promoting themselves properly - and, by extension, starts putting out quality matches, because they have talent that can produce on a big time level - then this could be a deathblow to Dixie Carter's business.
A lot of "old-school" wrestling fans will call that dirty and under handed. Ignore them, because that's pure idiocy. If McMahon puts the screws to TNA, he'll be doing what any other intelligent business man would do: challenging his competition.
Quite frankly, I'm not sure TNA is up to the challenge.
Adam Adkins
***
Now I will admit that over the last 18 years I have bought a lot of things that WWE has offered and regretted it later. And Friday night around midnight as I sat reading the latest "news" on wwe.com. Yes midnight on a Friday night I was on wwe.com (sigh) I began to look under the subsctiptions link and saw that they offer WWE 24/7 online.
I was aware of it before but had never really looked at it, I have Time Warner digital cable and at this point they still do not offer WWE 24/7 on demand, one of the last major cable companies to do so as well. So natually I feel a bit deprirved about not getting to watch wrestling all the time, so for only $40.00 and a lot of time I decided to buy a year of their website version. And honeslty I think its one of the best wrestling related investments I have ever made. Literally 30 different catagories of videos to watch, and an average of 10 to 30 videos per catagory to watch. New stuff added monthly and even a few web exclusivies.
I highly suggest that any wrestling fan that has 40 bucks to waste should skip some of the bad cards this year on ppv and invest in an entire year of history and wwe, wcw, ecw, awa and wccw history.
Jim Hinson
Ventura, Calif.
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