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WHAT WOULD HAVE MADE MORE SENSE WHEN SMACKDOWN INVADED RAW, STEPH’S RETURN, JASON JORDAN’S FUTURE AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2017-11-06 10:00:00

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It has been said many times in the past that the WWE uses MSG and its crowd as the barometer for reactions to storylines, angles, wrestlers, etc. With them no longer running at MSG on a regular, what arena or town does WWE use as the hot crowd to gauge his product?

At this point, I would say it’s more a TV thing and the reactions that they hear week to week.  They have already given up on “the babyface has to be cheered” aspect, as has been made clear with John Cena and Roman Reigns.  At this point, the gauge is the boss, Vince McMahon.

I see that despite the big angle Smackdown invasion angle that closed last week's Raw, ratings were down this week. I attribute it to the return of Stephanie. Immediately starting the show, she once again belittles and berates Angle to shows her dominance without any chance for repercussion from anyone. She talks down to him and cuts him off, and just like everyone else before him like Foley, and even Lesnar at one point, backs down or begs an apology. I have to bring up my Walking Dead theory again, in that fans don't want the villain to dominate over their heroes with no end in sight. Thus, they tune out and ratings plummet. Steph is no Mr. McMahon and I think fans know that. Thoughts?

Smackdown’s number was way down this week as well.  For Raw, I don’t know if people tuned out due to Stephanie because the pattern was similar to last week, with them losing a substantial amount of audience between hours one and three.  With that said, I feel the exact same way that you do about Steph.  I hate that she constantly talks down to the men and they never get even.  I get that her being female presents a new variable and all, but when you look at why her father’s character worked so well, he played the fool a lot.  She rarely does.  

Since being revealed as Kurt Angle's son, it's quite obvious that they really really want the fans to like Jason Jordan.  You might argue that they are trying too hard to force the fans to cheer him.  His situation reminds me of when the Rock first debuted as a smiling babyface, who the fans got sick of and turned on real quick.  Do you think that by pushing Jordan too much as the babyface son of the general manager, the fans will eventually turn on him like they did to the Rock?  And if so, for Jordan to take his career to the next level, do you see him eventually breaking out as a heel?

The Rock worked as a heel because he had so much charisma, more than probably anyone that ever wrestled.  Jordan does not have that.  Plus, he has such a “happy guy” face I don’t know that he could work as a heel.  I guess we will see down the road.

What was the story behind the switch from the original wrestler that portrayed Sin Cara to the current one?  Was the switch ever officially explained to the fans, or did they really make the switch hoping the casual fans would not notice, even though the two wrestlers have obvious physical differences and different movesets?

It’s the latter.  They decided to make the change and felt no need to explain it.  In this case, since he is a masked wrestler, I don’t blame them.

After watching RAW, I'm thinking the last two episodes must have been shown out of order.  The real order should have been that Daniel Bryan comes to RAW to talk about Survivor Series with Kurt Angle and then Kane attacks him in his crazy mindset.  The next week, the entire Smackdown roster defends their General Manager by invading RAW and making their presence known.  This sets off the RAW roster, who other than Kane, weren't involved directly.  This back and forth is the impetus to the Survivor Series match, and also elevates Kane to a top heel.  Meanwhile, the episodes happened backwards and Smackdown invaded for no reason...  Am I wrong?

I like your idea way better than what they did.  Yours stands up to logic.  I enjoy when storylines are logical.  It makes the product so much better.  In the case of what they did, Smackdown invaded because of what Kurt said to Shane earlier in the show.  How would Shane of known to have his guys there, especially when they do house shows on Monday?  And why would he have them there when he was just so nice to lend Raw AJ Styles.  Yes, I like your idea way better.

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