The latest episode of WWE SmackDown generated a significant talking point among fans.
The March 8th broadcast continued the build to WrestleMania 40 and was heavily centred around the main event segment, which saw Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins stand across the ring from The Rock and Roman Reigns. With Rhodes and Rollins accepting The Rock’s conditions for a tag team match at WrestleMania, the Hollywood star returned the favour from the WrestleMania press conference by bringing family into the equation as he questioned the age gap between Cody and his brother Dustin Rhodes. In a mirrored response from the press conference, Rhodes slapped Rock just before the show went off the air. Or so some were led to believe.
Some markets saw the show cut off directly after the slap and some didn’t even see the slap at all. Even though some of the biggest stars in WWE were all in attendance at the show, when the clock strikes 10 there is no overrun on FOX and the show has to air there and then. While fans could find out what happened next by finding camera footage from fans in the arena, it’s not the same as seeing what happened next on TV, especially as off-camera comments can be picked up by the ring mics. Having to end the show so abruptly, why did time run out?
The issue was partly due to the placement of the segment and a problem that has persisted for a number of weeks. With the 4 stars placed in the main event segment, there was no room for adapting the rest of the show to accommodate time, more on that later. Given their 20-ish minutes to execute their vision, some may have felt short-changed by the fact that more than half of those were entrances. Although The Rock is one of the top stars in the world and Roman Reigns is the top champion, 2 drawn out entrances from The Bloodline were really not necessary and the extended crowd entrances from Rhodes and Rollins only added to the issue.
Of course the simple fix is to move the segment to the start of the show, but this arguably causes an even bigger problem. With The Rock and Roman Reigns opening the March 1st show, once again there was the same issue. Drawn out entrances and extended pauses to get to the point. Running way over time, the rest of the show suffered as a result with matches cut for time and the rest of the roster paying the price. As much as it sounds like old man yells at cloud, this storyline will dominate both main events of WrestleMania and is taking over the Friday night show. The argument against this is a strong one though, Rock does not have to be there and who would ever tell him he can’t do what he wants or punish him for going over time? Fans are clearly invested in the story and Cody finishing it, but it was clear back in February that the goodwill The Rock has with the fans has been somewhat diminished in recent weeks.
While the use of time remains a sticking point, there is the other issue.
How Much Wrestling Should There Be On A WWE Show?
As many are aware, WWE stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. One observation from the aforementioned show that was cut for time was that less than a quarter of the time was dedicated to bell-to-bell action. With this in mind, how much of a show should be wrestling and how much should be entertainment? Again, it’s understandable that a show featuring the biggest star available should take priority, but with one women’s match on the show lasting less than 3 minutes, on International Women’s Day no less, you can’t blame fans for feeling short-changed at what they saw. With the Logan Paul sponsorship segment and the main event segment taking up a good chunk of time, there was definitely room for editing to allow the matches to go on for longer and make the wrestling show feel like, well, a wrestling show.
Some see no problem with this and feel that WWE is not about the wrestling, and to a degree, they do have a point. For the most part TV matches can be by the numbers and are more about the angles before and after, with the PLEs focusing on the matches themselves. However, the balance does need to be greater. If a band playing live only played 30 minutes of music in a 2-hour set people would not be happy, no matter how big the band is. Even though part-timers and big stars are a staple of WrestleMania season, you can certainly sympathise with those who will most likely not be on the card in April and are now seeing their ring time cut on TV.
There’s no mistake that The Rock is a megastar, a future Hall of Famer and will go down in history as one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling. Additionally, it does feel big when The People’s Champion is on the show and is a boost for ratings. However, with incomplete segments, and full-time wrestlers losing out on their time to shine as WrestleMania approaches, there comes a point where it feels like WWE needs to stick to the script more.
So, do you think that WWE has a scheduling and formatting problem? To paraphrase The Rock, it doesn’t really matter what the individual fan thinks. If the segment draws good numbers and the merch sells, the formula is a success. Then again, there is the argument that a few minor tweaks could appeal to the masses even more.
WrestleMania 40 will easily be the most successful WWE event of all time in so many metrics and the company are on a hot streak. However, when all is said and done in Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see if WWE can continue to ride the wave of momentum into the rest of 2024.
Featured image: WWE
