Rate the Smackdown!: 3/1/2024

[The Rick Jericho]

Whoa, the ratings are everywhere.

This has got to be one of the most divisive show ratings in a LONG time.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Mar 1, 2024 22:55:09 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Whoa, the ratings are everywhere.

This has got to be one of the most divisive show ratings in a LONG time.

"...fine show..."

[The Rick Jericho]

Mar 1, 2024 23:09:26 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Mar 1, 2024 22:55:09 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Whoa, the ratings are everywhere.

This has got to be one of the most divisive show ratings in a LONG time.

"...fine show..."

Every grade got a vote.

That definitely says something. Good or bad?

No idea.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

The 10’s are ahead. We’re gonna win this.

[ben:friendship frog]

Mar 1, 2024 23:09:26 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Mar 1, 2024 22:55:09 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Whoa, the ratings are everywhere.

This has got to be one of the most divisive show ratings in a LONG time.

"...fine show..."

I wonder if all those condescending hair rubs contributed to his bald patch

[gl83]

Mar 1, 2024 22:25:53 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

Mar 1, 2024 22:22:31 GMT -5 clc said:

1 out of 10

The overly long Bloodline segment was bad. The fact that half of it was blacked out or muted, makes is a disaster. Really put a downer mood on the whole show.
Tiffany vs Naomi. I like Tiffany, but Naomi's big return isn't going well.
I love me some Kabuki Warriors. They are the reason this gets a 1 and not a zero. But to be honest, the match and segment was just ok. Then it got ruined when Jade showed up to remind us that IYO is a scrub in WWE's eyes.
Oh, the "We want Apples" chant was pretty rad. Rey returned.
Everything else was sort of meh.

On paper this episode really did push a lot forward and should have been good, but it was all so poorly executed.

Definitely feels like a heel turn is coming once she racks up more losses.

Post mania I feel. Maybe she could be Jade's first feud post Mania.

Michin cut a promo teasing a Heel turn; Tegan tried to backstab Natalya in the battle royal; Candice teased a Heel turn with her post-match rant on Monday's Raw; Liv Morgan seems to have a Heelish edge to her since her return.



Everyone seems to be turning heel.

[asuka007]

6/10:

The opening 40 minutes were agony to get through. And the Dakota turn could have been handled better imo.

The rest of the show was solid though.

[fw91]

I went with an 8. The opening segment going long doesn’t bother a fan like myself who is more drawn to the “sports entertainment “ style. The technical difficulties and Solo not signing the national anthem did put a damper on things.

[A Little Doo Doo]

The POLARIZING and CONTROVERSIAL 3/1/24 episode of Smackdown.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Mar 1, 2024 23:44:16 GMT -5 BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps said:

The 10’s are ahead. We’re gonna win this.

This you?

[asuka007]

It’s impressive how quickly Tiffany has gotten over with fans. It might be hard to keep her heel for too much longer at this rate.

[ben:friendship frog]

Mar 1, 2024 22:22:31 GMT -5 clc said:

1 out of 10

The overly long Bloodline segment was bad. The fact that half of it was blacked out or muted, makes is a disaster. Really put a downer mood on the whole show.
Tiffany vs Naomi. I like Tiffany, but Naomi's big return isn't going well.
I love me some Kabuki Warriors. They are the reason this gets a 1 and not a zero. But to be honest, the match and segment was just ok. Then it got ruined when Jade showed up to remind us that IYO is a scrub in WWE's eyes.
Oh, the "We want Apples" chant was pretty rad. Rey returned.
Everything else was sort of meh.

On paper this episode really did push a lot forward and should have been good, but it was all so poorly executed.

That part wasn't their fault though, it was a FOX thing. I watched in the UK on TNT and there was no censoring or black screens.

[jackswagz]

amazing show

heel rock is the best

tiff won

dakota turn and rey return were well executed

crowd were fantastic

["Trickster Dogg" James Jesse]

Mid-3. 40 minutes of the Bloodline drags this grade down. Without the Bloodline, maybe a mid-6.

Crowd was hot, which was fun to see, but I'm confused about why they were so hot for this show. The actual matches on TV are the same as they ever were, but people are losing their minds wanting to see WWE shows right now. I don't get it.

[HMARK Center]

Mar 2, 2024 4:29:58 GMT -5 "Trickster Dogg" James Jesse said:

Mid-3. 40 minutes of the Bloodline drags this grade down. Without the Bloodline, maybe a mid-6.

Crowd was hot, which was fun to see, but I'm confused about why they were so hot for this show. The actual matches on TV are the same as they ever were, but people are losing their minds wanting to see WWE shows right now. I don't get it.

This kind of got mentioned in passing on the Deadlock podcast this past week when the guys were discussing being at a Smackdown due to being invited to a prelaunch event for the 2K24 video game - they don't really watch WWE much since it's just not their preferred style of wrestling, but I think Johnny said something like "WWE is an entrance promotion": people go to the show and are invested in hearing their favorite wrestlers' themes, pop for their entrance, and later on pop for either a line/catchphrase in a promo, their finisher being hit, or seeing someone surprising run in and/or return. But when the bell rings, thousands of phones come out and a lot of folks don't really watch a lot of what's happening between the ropes, plus you get a lot more downtime between segments because it feels more like a TV taping than a live pro wrestling show.

To WWE's credit, in the past couple of years since Vince took a backseat/left they've done an infinitely better job of just getting out of the way of acts that get over and not filling fans with the dread of "if you like this person and we didn't plan on it, we're going to intentionally de-push them", and instead they're allowing them to get featured matches on bigger shows and just rolling with it more. I think people are reacting to that right now after years of the opposite, so I get the excitement. But the promotion kind of is what it is, and you either dig that style or you don't; in my case, it's not what I want out of pro wrestling, hence why I mostly don't watch.

[jackswagz]

Mar 2, 2024 6:02:13 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Mar 2, 2024 4:29:58 GMT -5 "Trickster Dogg" James Jesse said:

Mid-3. 40 minutes of the Bloodline drags this grade down. Without the Bloodline, maybe a mid-6.

Crowd was hot, which was fun to see, but I'm confused about why they were so hot for this show. The actual matches on TV are the same as they ever were, but people are losing their minds wanting to see WWE shows right now. I don't get it.

This kind of got mentioned in passing on the Deadlock podcast this past week when the guys were discussing being at a Smackdown due to being invited to a prelaunch event for the 2K24 video game - they don't really watch WWE much since it's just not their preferred style of wrestling, but I think Johnny said something like "WWE is an entrance promotion": people go to the show and are invested in hearing their favorite wrestlers' themes, pop for their entrance, and later on pop for either a line/catchphrase in a promo, their finisher being hit, or seeing someone surprising run in and/or return. But when the bell rings, thousands of phones come out and a lot of folks don't really watch a lot of what's happening between the ropes, plus you get a lot more downtime between segments because it feels more like a TV taping than a live pro wrestling show.

To WWE's credit, in the past couple of years since Vince took a backseat/left they've done an infinitely better job of just getting out of the way of acts that get over and not filling fans with the dread of "if you like this person and we didn't plan on it, we're going to intentionally de-push them", and instead they're allowing them to get featured matches on bigger shows and just rolling with it more. I think people are reacting to that right now after years of the opposite, so I get the excitement. But the promotion kind of is what it is, and you either dig that style or you don't; in my case, it's not what I want out of pro wrestling, hence why I mostly don't watch.

I think that's a really condescending way of looking at people who enjoy WWE.

The shows I've been to people are very invested in the matches, saying people just take out there phones and ignore the action is just blatantly untrue.

[chronocross]

5/10, I enjoyed whatever I was able to see of the opening segment.

They're planting the seeds for dissension with Rock and Roman but it will start after Mania when Rock probably costs Roman the match with Cody.

I also liked the Street Fight with Santos and Carlito with Rey's return.

Aside from that it was meh.

[J is Justice]

7.

Opening segment was awful, though I did like when Roman asked Rock to acknowledge him. Rest of the show was fine.

[polarbearpete]

Mar 2, 2024 6:11:24 GMT -5 jackswagz said:

Mar 2, 2024 6:02:13 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

This kind of got mentioned in passing on the Deadlock podcast this past week when the guys were discussing being at a Smackdown due to being invited to a prelaunch event for the 2K24 video game - they don't really watch WWE much since it's just not their preferred style of wrestling, but I think Johnny said something like "WWE is an entrance promotion": people go to the show and are invested in hearing their favorite wrestlers' themes, pop for their entrance, and later on pop for either a line/catchphrase in a promo, their finisher being hit, or seeing someone surprising run in and/or return. But when the bell rings, thousands of phones come out and a lot of folks don't really watch a lot of what's happening between the ropes, plus you get a lot more downtime between segments because it feels more like a TV taping than a live pro wrestling show.

To WWE's credit, in the past couple of years since Vince took a backseat/left they've done an infinitely better job of just getting out of the way of acts that get over and not filling fans with the dread of "if you like this person and we didn't plan on it, we're going to intentionally de-push them", and instead they're allowing them to get featured matches on bigger shows and just rolling with it more. I think people are reacting to that right now after years of the opposite, so I get the excitement. But the promotion kind of is what it is, and you either dig that style or you don't; in my case, it's not what I want out of pro wrestling, hence why I mostly don't watch.

I think that's a really condescending way of looking at people who enjoy WWE.

The shows I've been to people are very invested in the matches, saying people just take out there phones and ignore the action is just blatantly untrue.

Yeah most people actually enjoy the sports entertainment style, along with the matches that the promotion puts out.

[deezy]

Mar 2, 2024 6:11:24 GMT -5 jackswagz said:

Mar 2, 2024 6:02:13 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

This kind of got mentioned in passing on the Deadlock podcast this past week when the guys were discussing being at a Smackdown due to being invited to a prelaunch event for the 2K24 video game - they don't really watch WWE much since it's just not their preferred style of wrestling, but I think Johnny said something like "WWE is an entrance promotion": people go to the show and are invested in hearing their favorite wrestlers' themes, pop for their entrance, and later on pop for either a line/catchphrase in a promo, their finisher being hit, or seeing someone surprising run in and/or return. But when the bell rings, thousands of phones come out and a lot of folks don't really watch a lot of what's happening between the ropes, plus you get a lot more downtime between segments because it feels more like a TV taping than a live pro wrestling show.

To WWE's credit, in the past couple of years since Vince took a backseat/left they've done an infinitely better job of just getting out of the way of acts that get over and not filling fans with the dread of "if you like this person and we didn't plan on it, we're going to intentionally de-push them", and instead they're allowing them to get featured matches on bigger shows and just rolling with it more. I think people are reacting to that right now after years of the opposite, so I get the excitement. But the promotion kind of is what it is, and you either dig that style or you don't; in my case, it's not what I want out of pro wrestling, hence why I mostly don't watch.

I think that's a really condescending way of looking at people who enjoy WWE.

The shows I've been to people are very invested in the matches, saying people just take out there phones and ignore the action is just blatantly untrue.

I agree it's condescending and totally untrue, At least at the shows I have attended. I don't see alot of people on their phones at WWE or AEW shows during the matches. Most seem to be Invested in what's happening in the ring.