Am I the only one who thinks...

[Guest cabbageboy]

I read all over the net that "SMDN is consistenly better than Raw, SMDN has a better direction, better roster, etc."

 

Am I the only one who still enjoys Raw more on a regular basis? To me Raw is THE main WWE show. It is live, and there is a sense of excitement every week because I don't know what will happen.

 

SMDN just seems like a B show. Maybe it is due to being taped, or the crappy UPN production values, but SMDN never leaves me with a big rush like Raw does.

 

Maybe it is just that Raw seems to have more coherent storylines? On Raw we have Brock/RVD, UT/Hardys (lately at least), Booker and GD vs. the NWO, and a bunch of other feuds. SMDN just seems like a show with a whole bunch of guys that are doing nothing. There aren't any belts on the show to feud over at the midcard level. Maybe the cruiser title but they never give those matches any time. What are guys like Val Venis, Hardcore Holly, Randy Orton, D'Von and Batista, etc. doing on a weekly basis? Nothing. They just have matches, but have no feud or angle.

 

Anyone else feel this way?

[Guest jester]

I certainly feel that way, and I actually think I've heard more people say Raw is the better show on this board.

 

jester

[Guest Austin3164life]

Raw is easily the WWE's premier show. It's been their staple for more than 5 years. It's the show that has beaten the NCAA, NBA, and NFL in ratings. It's the show where you never know if anyone will come back or if someone new might win the World Title......

[Guest Mr Monday Night]

Raw definately has a more enjoyable show. Smackdown has alot younger talent it seems though.

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

RAW has been the better show, despite getting the shaft in the split. Smackdown has the better roster, it just doesn't know what to do with it.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

I like Raw better too.

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

The RAW thread has 25 pages of posts.

 

The Smackdown thread has 5.

 

What does that tell you?

[Guest mach7]

I read all over the net that "SMDN is consistenly better than Raw, SMDN has a better direction, better roster, etc."

I think Raw is better as well

 

I dunno, maybe it's because I never started getting Smackdown until a few months ago.. so I never really cared about the show and I've never gone out of my way to watch it. But I think it's more because the workers on Raw interest me more than the ones on Smackdown (well, except Angle, Storm & Christian).

[Guest RicFlairGlory]

The RAW thread has 25 pages of posts.

 

The Smackdown thread has 5.

 

What does that tell you?

It tells you that since Smackdown! is taped, nobody watches it live on the thread.

[Guest TheSoleSurvivor]

You know, when I first saw the RAW roster I thought "Oh, GOD is RAW going to bite." Then Eddy Guerrero came. "Well, maybe it won't suck THAT much." Then the Booker T/Goldust antics....."Hey, that stuff is pretty entertaining..".....and then......BENOIT! RAW is, in my opinion, pretty superior to Smackdown now. Firstly, it has the advantage of being a live show, which Smackdown can't help. Secondly, I just find Smackdown to be sort of bland nowadays, even with Angle, Jericho etc etc. (but the whole team canada thing is very intriging). I just like RAW more as a whole now....maybe that will change with the return of the Rock, but whatever.

[Guest Ram]

Personally, I think that Smackdown! is more enjoyable.

 

Smackdown feels fresh, whereas RAW can only depend on BookerDust, RVD, and Benoit/Eddy.

[Guest M Nyland]

I enjoy them both pretty equally actually....I just watch RAW cause it's live and I don't work Mondays....but I usually work Thursday...hence I could not mark out with you all when Real American was played....cause I was working in HELL...

[Guest Grenouille]

After attending both shows this past week and looking back on the past couple weeks, I'd vote for RAW. RAW seems to be the show that has the better WRESTLING, as opposed SmackDown!, and it doesn't feature Triple H which is a plus with him in his current state.

[Guest Creepy Crawl]

Raw is definately better to me . On monday nights I actually sit through those last few horrible minutes of Star Trek just so I make sure I dont miss the start of the show , but on thursdays I have to watch the time or I'll forget Smackdown is even on . Smackdown to me has some alright stars it just dont seem to have that same anticipation leading up to it , its starting to turn into Thunder and we all know how great that was.

[Guest Smeghead]

With the current rosters, Smackdown should be the better show. But like Big McLargeHuge said, they have no idea what to do with them. I don't think the show being taped makes that much of a difference. I think a big problem is that the midcarders who aren't in a tag team or under 225 lbs. have no title to go for.

 

Next week, Rock comes back. And possibly Rey Jr. will debut. So hopefully things will start improving.

[Guest papacita]

After the split. I was one of the few people on the board who thought Smackdown was better than Raw...but since Austin walked, I think I'll have to go with Raw, because it seems very fresh lately. Smackdown usually has this aura with it that tends to get me more excited about it than I would get with Raw, but in terms of storylines, Raw is much more consistent, and is a lot better. So basically, until Jericho gets another ME push, I'm gonna say Raw is better.

[Guest Brian]

I think RAW, though fun and better right now, is slowing falling into dependency mode where there's not as much direction and they're depending on the same acts. SmackDown seems to be slowly building things.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

Even though most of my favorites are on SD, there is just something about RAW. Maybe habit of watching Monday Night Wrestling for 10+ years now, I don't know? It's just the "feel" and Aura of the show that gets me. Maybe we should stop reading SD Spoilers and we would get that feel for Smackdown?

 

For anyone is who is interested, Joe Rivett of 411Wrestling did a Column on this the other day. Check it out, it's a pretty good read.

 

http://www.411wrestling.com/columns/articl...columns_id=1139

[Guest Vitamin X]

I think if Smackdown! was a better show, I'd be more entertained by the split, but the way it seems right now is that Smackdown needs RAW people and that RAW people need Smackdown, but it leans a lot mroe towards Smackdown people needing RAW exposure. Three simple thigns could change this and make it a better show for everyone.

 

1. Fuck house shows. The WWF is wasting their money on them, noone ever goes to them anymore, because they know all the truly important things happen on pay-per-views and TV shows. What they need to do is make Smackdown! go live, and do away with the hectic house shows schedule, there has to be some other kind of way to book a house show and a Smackdown or RAW together for the crews.

2. Let every single champion go between both shows. World, IC, Euro, Women's, Tag Team, hell even Hardcore! By doign this, this gives a little more prestige to the title, and by having the Hardcore title there, it brigns up an itneresting possibility to shoot guys between shows. For example, Wrestler A has problem with Wrestler B that's on the other show. (Good example here might be Bubba Ray and D-Von from a month ago). Wrestler A to get back at him wins Hardcore Title to go to other show and whip Wrestler B's ass. Former Hardcore Champion gets pissed at Wrestler A for stealing his hardcore title to go after someone else, and goes after Wrestler A. Booyah.

3. Make the midcarders mean something on Smackdown! The reason why RAW is so entertaining is because there's not necessarily any real main eventers there, but the midcarders have been showing up and kicking some ass. The Smackdown! Roster isn't as interesting because there's a huge gap between the main eventers and the jobbers, as everyone in between is dead weight.

 

And another little suggestion...

4. Velocity and Heat need to have storylines and feuds of their own. To make the split truly work, how about instead of giving us 3 matches and an assload of recaps of the two "big shows", giving us lower-midcard and midcard storylines progressing on these shows, while letting the big guys do their thing on RAW and Smackdown. This would help solve Smackdown's dilemma of underdeveloped midcarders and midcard storylines, and would help RAW establish some new stars or get some more storylines going.. The one thing RAW seems to lack is main eventers, but that's quickly being changed, like I said by guys like Booker T, Goldust, RVD, and Brock ascending to the top to the point where they're interesting and fan favorites. No Austin? No problem.

[Guest JMTapes]

Smackdown blows.

[Guest Celtic Jobber]

I like RAW much better, because it's live, it has RVD, Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero; and I've been watching it since it first started. Not to mention the fact that Smackdown doesn't even air until Sunday's at midnight where I live, because there's no UPN affiliate.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

I like Smackdown better simply because there are more guys who are able to have good matches. No matter how bad the show, the WWE can just throw out two guys and get a *** match out of them.

 

With RAW even well-booked matches suck more often than not because we are stuck with Big Show vs. Bradshaw.

 

RAW is the better written show, but I watch wrestling for the wrestling.

 

I could care less whether it is live or not. I don't read the spoilers most of the time anyways.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

smackdown seems to have more main event guys, but they are hhh and hogan. They also have more midcarders who ain't over. raw has BOOKERDUST~! and the CAN-MEX CONNECTION~!

[Guest claydude14]

i've always been a RAW mark since the split, and when vince went on byte this and everyone was saying how smackdowns better and people were asking him why smackdown was always better than raw, i thought they were joking. even though i was at the first smackdown after the split, i've always been more of a raw fan. i can't believe they hotshotted the whole vince gets 100% not only because austin walked, but because the company seriously believes smackdowns on a completley higher level than raw.

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Well-Raw-is-okay,but-I-like-Smackdown

becuase-it-provides-you-with-much

younger-talent.

John-Cena,Bastista,Cruiserweights,etc...

[Guest Choken One]

Smackdown has no excitment aura. I've skipped 4 of the last 6 SD and It seems I've missed nothing. I think it might have something to do with the Taped factor,Although I tend to skip SMACKDOWN cause it seems it's the same main event every week Hogan/HHH/Taker V Angle/Jericho in some sort of Tag match.

 

Raw has that "What's gonna happen tonight feeling"...Smackfdown does not.

[Guest RetroRob215]

Raw has been the better show since 1999 when SD! started. More people watch Raw, so that is where all of the really important stuff happens.