#3 Allowing Smackdown to distant itself from Raw
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Ever since the brand split, Smackdown has felt like the fresher, more well-thought out show of the two. One thing Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon promised was an opportunity for new talent. This has been a little mixed considering the guys at the top are still John Cena and Randy Orton, but the Wyatt/Orton feud has allowed the show to go in a different direction to its Monday night rival.
If there’s one thing the fans are tired of its the ‘authority’ angle. Many are showing their immense displeasure that Stephanie McMahon is still playing the same role we saw her perform throughout 2013 – 2017. Smackdown has broken with that tradition after decided to install a babyface GM and Commissioner. The space this departure has opened has made way for new, alternative story lines to form.
Rather than have nearly every story line in someway affected by how management feels about the talent, we instead see a rivalry between two of the company’s main performers, which has nothing to do with either Bryan or Shane. It is even blurring the lines between face and heel altogether.
We are genuinely not sure whether Bray or Orton is playing the heel, and that feels more like good story telling as opposed to the usual inconsistency. Maybe this is a trend Smackdown will follow, allowing fans to make up their own minds and not have their intelligence insulted by constant and overt heel-authority power plays shoved in their faces.
