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Disclaimer: The views represented are that of the author and not Sportskeeda
As SmackDown completes 1000 episodes, we've taken a look at the greatest superstars and the most memorable moments. There's no denying that the blue brand through the years had provided us with some absolutely enthralling moments.
There have been moments that have made us laugh, cry, cheer, and boo. We've gone through a range of emotions seeing our favourite SmackDown stars in action. For many superstars, SmackDown provided an opportunity. It was a chance to get away from the crowded main event scene on Monday Night RAW and an opportunity to make a name for themselves.
With the blue brand going into brand split mode, several superstars benefitted, especially those who weren't getting as much as they deserved on RAW.
There have been many superstars such as Edge, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio and more who made SmackDown their homes and the place where their careers were changed forever.
However, this wasn't always the case. While many of the following superstars saw success, their contribution to the blue brand is often overemphasised. Let's take a look at superstars whose contribution to SmackDown are truthfully quite overrated.
#5 Batista
Before you take the pitchforks out, read this through. To say that Batista made no contribution to SmackDown would be ignorant. He was swapped with John Cena in 2005 to SmackDown and took the World Heavyweight title with him.
He had some incredibly memorable feuds and equally memorable matches. But the truth is, Batista was simply at his best on RAW. He had a few good years with the blue brand before being shifted over to RAW.
Perhaps if booked differently, things would have been different but when you put him up with the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle on SmackDown, his contributions really weren't as much as you think.
#4 Jeff Hardy
We're talking specifically about his singles run here. It's true that he did find success, winning three world titles on the blue brand. But the sad part is the period of time was incredibly brief and it was around this very timeframe where his personal issues caught up with him.
It's unfortunate for Hardy because he could have achieved so much more on the blue brand. Unfortunately, things caught up to him and he was forced to leave WWE. There's no denying, however, that his WWE title win in late 2008 was one of the best feel-good moments ever.
Even his departure and farewell speech was touching. He returned to SmackDown in 2018 with the United States title but unfortunately, it comes at a period where he is far past his prime. Physical injuries had caught up to him and he sadly wasn't the same performer that he once was.
He isn't to blame, however, as he's been in the game far longer than many would have expected.
#3 Bray Wyatt
The amount of wasted potential with Bray Wyatt is tragic. He had been built up incredibly well and set up for the perfect WWE Championship win. He was hot at the time and fans embraced Bray Wyatt as WWE Champion.
His storyline with Randy Orton went perfect up until the match itself. It turned out to be more than underwhelming and though fans wanted to see Wyatt win, Orton got a pointless victory only to lose the title to Jinder Mahal a month later.
Many say that Bray Wyatt could have been the next Undertaker. That's not true, because he could have been the first Bray Wyatt. He was primed and ready and it was the perfect moment to turn him babyface. He would have been an incredible babyface champion on the blue brand but WWE decided to end his run in forgettable fashion and draft him to RAW.
#2 Chris Benoit
It's unfortunate that we have to include a member of the SmackDown Six in the list but it needed to be done. Benoit undoubtedly had a successful run with SmackDown during the Ruthless Aggression Era, even winning the Royal Rumble and the United States Championship.
But if you look at it in retrospect, his run with SmackDown wasn't all that great. His later years saw him more or less in creative limbo and as much as people emphasize about his role in the blue brand, it really wasn't as much.
It's true that no matter what he did, his accomplishments will always be shadowed by what happened during the final day of his life. But even without that, Benoit's run on SmackDown has to go down as one of the most overrated ones.
Even during his world title run, he turned into a RAW superstar and that's where he had some of his finest work.
#1 Randy Orton
Where do we begin? Randy Orton is another superstar whose career will go down as one that could have been so much better. The amount of potential that he had and the amount that he delivered is quite disproportionate.
Orton had a few decent runs on SmackDown but perhaps the peak of his run with the blue brand was during his feud with The Undertaker in 2005. Apart from that, he's mostly been a RAW mainstay but even after the 2016 brand split, he's not really done anything of note that made him stand out.
It's true that he won the WWE Championship but the truth is that he shouldn't have and either way, nothing came of it. He's had extensive runs in SmackDown but he never really lived up to what was expected for him.
For that alone, he undoubtedly stands out as the most overrated superstar in SmackDown history.
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