IT’S JUST BUSINESS: Fox is guaranteed to bring big changes to Smackdown Live

The WWE has locked in two historic and business-changing decisions for the company. The Fox Friday Night Smackdown deal in itself puts WWE in a place they’ve never been before: weekly episodic television on one of the major brand-name broadcast television networks.

While one of the reported selling points from Fox was the “embarrassment” that NBCU reportedly felt over the WWE product, make no mistake that if the WWE is going to survive long term on a non-cable channel, they are going to have to make changes to the blue-headed stepchild that is Smackdown.

First, you can be assured that talent will have to be distributed far more evenly than it’s been in the past. Smackdown has always gotten the lesser of the talent pool from a ratings draw standpoint. While fan favorites like A.J. Styles and Kevin Owens have made their home on the blue brand, there’s always been the understanding that the guys who were bigger, could talk, and and who sell bigger matchups would live for Monday Night Raw.

Not anymore.

WWE will have to make sure that there are viewers on Friday night tuning in – and that means moving people like Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns in and out of the Smackdown lineup to pull in ratings that justify their existence. You can also expect WWE to do a lot of market testing with Fox to find out which characters resonate with the audience. While Fox reaches a wide audience across the country, they tend to have programming that caters to middle America. One can assume you’ll see more Styles than Finn Balor.

Story arcs are also likely to be held to a higher standard. Some of the common frustrations fans have felt over the years, with characters and arcs seemingly changing on a whim, will not work well in a world where getting viewers to turn in next week will have greater stakes. Expect continuity. Expect there to be some more thoughtful storytelling. WWE has long relied on shock value to get viewers to tune in, but you can’t do that 52 weeks a year. The truth is, there aren’t enough big pops to sustain that.

I think you’ll also see an even more aggressive push for the WWE Network. Thought you had grown tired of the $9.99 chants? Get ready. This is WWE’s crack at a totally mainstream audience. Friday night viewers tend to skew younger and are right in the demo that might be interested a membership. You might see more promos for shows like Camp WWE and The Edge & Christian show because those shows might appeal to a younger audience than “Table for 3,” but in either case there’s no question the WWE is going to go all in on pushing their loyal audience product.

WWE is gearing up for Fall 2019 and they have a lot of work ahead of them. It might be premature to call it now, but you’re gonna see a totally different Smackdown Live.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: IT’S JUST BUSINESS: WWE Should Be Wary of Fox Ownership as it could change just about everything that has made WWE successful