12 Big Implications of Smackdown moving to Tuesdays – how will it affect WWE, TNA, other shows, titles, house shows, more?

Pro wrestling TV has undergone numerous changes over the past two years. For a while, it was a simple formula of WWE Raw on Mondays, ECW/NXT on Tuesdays, nothing on Wednesdays, TNA Impact on Thursdays, WWE Smackdown on Fridays, and PPVs on Sundays.

The landscape has completely shifted – other than Raw on Monday nights – with TNA on Tuesdays, Lucha Underground, NXT, and ROH TV on Wednesdays, Smackdown on Thursdays, and WWE Superstars and New Japan on Fridays.

Now, there is about to be another big change when Smackdown moves to Tuesday nights in July. So, what are the implications of this move?

– Added Expense. Going from a “live-to-tape” format Tuesday nights at Smackdown tapings to a live delivery will add costs to the production side. But, WWE is receiving so much revenue from their TV Rights deals that it will feel like a shot with some temporary numbness before the pain subsides and it’s not noticed after a while.

This is especially true because WWE is set to receive a $60 million bump in TV Rights Revenue from their U.S. and international TV deals over the next few years, according to financial executive George Barrios speaking at a media conference last week.

– Writing Team. One of the keys to WWE’s announcement is establishing a dedicated writing team for the live Smackdown era. So much of Smackdown feels like the writing team is exhausted from completing a three-hour Raw rushing against the deadline and Vince McMahon living on the edge of last-minute re-writes that Smackdown gets whatever left-over ideas are available.

Smackdown having its own writing crew and own talent roster again should lead to a fresher product. The key is differentiating Smackdown from Raw.

– PPVs. Will WWE go back in time to the old split-brand Raw and Smackdown PPVs, especially now that they have their own Network to distribute the events?

During the previous brand split era, the quality of Smackdown-only PPVs became very poor in the mid-2000s before WWE merged the rosters into singular PPV events. Smackdown should end up with a strong-enough roster to have its own PPV event, but will WWE try to enhance the value of PPVs – and the Network – as “the only place to see both rosters on the same show?”

– World Title. Will WWE go back to separate top titles on both the Raw and Smackdown brands? Or, will Roman Reigns and the next World champions float between rosters like the Undisputed champion of before?

One key could be re-establishing the value of one of the undercard titles. In 2015, it was the U.S. Title via John Cena’s Open Challenge. In 2016, it’s been the Intercontinental Title via The Miz’s resurgence and strong matches with Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and Sami Zayn.

Back in 2015, the goal for Daniel Bryan was to feature him and the IC Title as the calling cards of a new era for Smackdown. Bryan got injured, the title lost its value, and WWE did not re-visit the idea. Now might be the time to re-focus on an undercard title as the centerpiece of Smackdown, with a “traveling World champion” on Raw and Smackdown.

– House Shows. If a lot of this feels like WWE going back in time, it is. Will WWE re-split the rosters along Red and Blue lines for house show touring purposes, which was the case when there was a brand split?

The main roster house shows have suffered since the brand split ended, mainly due to injuries depleting the rosters and dependence on part-timers on TV, but also because of a lack of specialness to the shows. If Smackdown is rebuilt as a strong TV show, it could lead to people actually wanting to buy a ticket for a Smackdown-brand house show again to see the top Smackdown stars.

Now for the TV implications…

– TNA Impact. TNA has been on virtually every night of the week during its company history. Now, with two months notice on Smackdown coming to Tuesday nights, do TNA and Pop TV consider a move? Thursday nights are obviously available again, depending on whether WWE makes a second move shifting other programming to Smackdown’s current Thursday night timeslot.

Or, TNA could hold firm in their current timeslot and try to take advantage of increased attention to pro wrestling on Tuesday nights, hoping to piggyback off Smackdown’s move. The risk is Impact’s audience potentially leaving for a live Smackdown program, especially if WWE follows through with Smackdown feeling more like NXT and less like Raw.

WWE indirectly told TNA “we’re giving you two months to make a decision; your move.”

– The Rest of the Week: The benefit of having Smackdown on Thursday nights was having two “anchors” within the week to keep WWE’s audience engaged throughout the week. Now, JCPenney and Macy’s are right next to each other in one of the corner mall; what’s going to drive patrons to visit the other three corners of the mall?

If all holds to their current timeslots, Wednesday is NXT programming on WWE Network, Thursday will be vacant, and the left-over Superstars show is Fridays on WWE Network. There’s also the new Raw replay Friday nights on Syfy, which will be interesting to see if WWE promotes that or not. Concerning original programming, though, if it’s PPV Week, what bridges the gap from Smackdown on Tuesdays to PPVs on Sunday?

It seems like the solution is introducing a new main roster show or repurposing/moving an existing show. If the emphasis is on “engaging” the audience, it seems like there is too big a gap from Tuesday back to Raw on Monday or Tuesday to a PPV on Sunday without a strongly-promoted, main roster original program in-between.

– Avoiding the NFL. One of the reasons why TNA and Pop TV might be hesitant to jump to Thursday nights is the NFL monster coming this fall on Thursday nights.

There is even more emphasis on the Thursday night games this coming season, which is a contributor to WWE and USA Network jumping out ahead of the football season to move Smackdown in July. Does anyone else want to try to match up against the NFL?

– Smackdown on U.S. TV first. In the U.S., Smackdown currently airs after several international markets on Wednesdays, or Thursdays in earlier time zones. It’s strange to think that WWE’s top market is seeing Smackdown after other countries, but the delayed delivery makes Smackdown feel less special. Now, Smackdown will be live in the U.S. to create more of a first-run feel to the show.

– Total Divas/Bellas. E! shifted the “Total Divas” franchise from Sundays to Tuesdays in 2015, leading to a dramatic viewership decline over the past two seasons.

Now, Total Divas & the new Total Bellas shows are in an even tougher spot competing for WWE’s own fanbase against Smackdown. Will E! make a follow-up move shifting their reality WWE programming to a new night?

– ESPN SportsCenter: WWE and ESPNews have aired a weekly interview Tuesday nights on SportsCenter during the 9:00 p.m. EST hour.

This is interesting. WWE/ESPNews could keep the interview in the same timeslot, which would again compete for WWE’s own fanbase against Smackdown. Or, move the interview segment to a new night, such as Wednesday. Or, ESPNews changes the format of the weekly segment to perhaps have live cut-ins or other links to a live Smackdown episode.

– American Grit. Smackdown is moving to Tuesday nights on July 19. John Cena’s “American Grit” Fox TV show wraps up its competing Thursday night run June 9.

If Smackdown moved to Tuesday nights before June 9, then WWE would presumably promote the final few episodes of Cena’s series. But, alas, Smackdown will be relocating after Cena’s show finishes its run.