The Smackers Thread

[d-d-d-dAz]

49 minutes ago, Duke said:

I thought we knew that Raw was also going to be 3 hours?

Personally, it's marked the end of me trying to watch the shows. I don't have 3 hours spare twice a week.

Absolutely never watch the full thing. If I give either Raw or Smackdown more than an hour of my time, they've had an absolutely phenomenal week.

[DavidB6937]

Skipping stuff is absolutely essential. Doesn't mean you need to miss the whole shows as there's plenty of good but yeah no way I could ever sit through 3 hour weekly shows especially multiple times.

[RedTwoster]

51 minutes ago, Duke said:

I thought we knew that Raw was also going to be 3 hours?

Personally, it's marked the end of me trying to watch the shows. I don't have 3 hours spare twice a week.

They’ve not said either way (unless I’ve missed it) - Meltzer has said it will be, but given that he has a track record of reporting speculation as fact, I don’t think it’s a given. 

Monday’s show likely will be 3-hours, after that, we’ll see, I suppose. 

Whatever the case, now that Smackdown is 3-hours, it needs an influx of new talent. Looking at the roster as it currently stands, the prospect of a three hour show featuring the wrestlers on that brand is grim.

[TheScarlettChad]

In theory couldn't raw be four hours? Netflix doesn't have restrictions. Though no way do WWE do that 

[FLips]

I think the 3 hours format actually makes a lot more sense now it's on Netflix because we're now in an era of doom scrolling and short attention spans. Yeah you'll still get the diehards slogging through the full lot live, but a lot of people now will watch it on demand and so what you have is a 3 hour block meant to be skipped through. WWE don't care what parts we watch, they get paid full whack and put out something for everyone and there's no ratings any more.

What do they care if people watch the first hour, skip the middle and watch the end? Maybe you just skip to the main event, or the wrestlers you like to watch. It's not going to be measured like TV so they can do 3 hours, pack it with sponsors, get paid huge money and we now only watch the bits we want and there's no downside to that.

[air_raid]

If you’d told me 4/5 years ago on the afternoon of 4th January I’d be more interested in a SmackDown women’s cash in than the Wrestle Kingdom results, I’d have died of shock. But here we are.

[TheScarlettChad]

11 minutes ago, air_raid said:

If you’d told me 4/5 years ago on the afternoon of 4th January I’d be more interested in a SmackDown women’s cash in than the Wrestle Kingdom results, I’d have died of shock. But here we are.

If you had told me five years ago that WWE would have so many posts and they're all positive, id have said you're lying. Amazing stuff. 

[mim731]

6 hours ago, TheScarlettChad said:

In theory couldn't raw be four hours? Netflix doesn't have restrictions. Though no way do WWE do that 

Not until all the international TV deals expire as I understand it. Until then they have to be within traditional timeslots. After that, who knows?

[Supremo]

Result! Our Joe is going to be appalled by the actions of Undisputed WWE Champion Kevin Owens.

[DavidB6937]

Excellent. Really professional guy and just comes across as genuinely enthusiastic about the product. Glad he's sticking around.

[METAL ON METAL]

Very happy about that. He’s taken to it incredibly quickly, his passion and excitement is very refreshing.

Really hope they keep him with Wade and not that twat Corey Graves.

[RedTwoster]

3 minutes ago, METAL ON METAL said:

Very happy about that. He’s taken to it incredibly quickly, his passion and excitement is very refreshing.

Really hope they keep him with Wade and not that twat Corey Graves.

I hope Wade isn’t dumped from commentary or relegated to NXT, with McAfee making a return. He’s the best colour commentator they have, but he still seems most likely to be negatively affected by any shake-up.

Edited January 5, 2025 by RedTwoster

[METAL ON METAL]

4 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I hope Wade isn’t dumped from commentary or relegated to NXT, with McAfee making a return. He’s the best colour commentator they have, but he still seems most likely to be negatively affected by any shake-up.

Sadly, I agree. Soon to be too many cooks in the kitchen and, wrongly, he’ll probably be seen as the least name value.

If he isn’t on Raw or Smackdown, I certainly wouldn’t grumble too much if he was reunited with Vic Joseph on NXT - one of my favourite commentary duos in recent memory.

…plus it’d mean Booked T finally fucks off.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I said Joe sounded a bit too Diet Coke Michael Cole when he debuted, but very quickly he’s probably the only Commentator I really like, though I think his bants with Wade are good, I’m not a big fan of him. Glad he’s not relegated to just the post show.

[Devon Malcolm]

Yeah, I've warmed to Joe now that his personality is coming through a bit more.

Didn't watch Smacksown this week because of preparing to go back to work but the cash-in was really well done. Not a fan of them on the whole but this played with the months of teases superbly. Now they really do have to find a way to turn Stratton babyface.