Ever since Friday Night Smackdown moved to FOX, the brand has not managed the ratings that some expected.
On The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast, Dave Meltzer discussed the possibility of FOX cancelling Smackdown. Here is what he said:
“The only real big one was the US Open in golf. FOX dumped them and took a big hit and basically gave it to NBC. That’s the only big one that happened but it’s a television business. There’s always a way out,” said Meltzer. “I can’t see with USA that happening because Raw is by far their most popular show. The FOX one, that’s network TV and it’s network primetime TV which is very valuable. Right now I don’t know if they’re at the state where FOX would be wanting to reevaluate that Friday night time slot just yet. But they’re not so far away where you wouldn’t think about it.”
He said that Smackdown manages to get 1.9 million viewers every week, which is satisfactory for Fox. However, if they fall to the 1.5-1.7 million range, FOX could change their minds.
“Granted their demos have been good but nowhere near what FOX was expecting when they bought them there. Right now the Friday night slot I don’t think is in any danger but it’s not far away. If we have a year-to-year decline next year at the rate of this year on SmackDown, at that point I could see FOX execs saying they need to reevaluate this stuff”
Rumors have suggested that there have been discussions of a possible second weekly show for AEW. Meltzer revealed that he is aware of those plans.
“The original idea I heard was a one-hour show that would be on primetime on another night. It’s not gonna be on Monday or Sunday, and it ain’t gonna be Tuesday or Thursday (because of football and basketball). So, we’re pretty much limited to Wednesday, Friday or Saturday,” said Meltzer.
“I think if they went head-to-head with Smackdown, I think their fanbase would very much mobilize and get behind it. But there’s always a risk and there’s a risk of going in there and actually getting killed which would also hurt the company. Eric Bischoff had the same thing with Nitro against Raw. Everyone thought he was gonna go in and get killed and from day one he was competitive. I mean literally day one, he was competitive. Then they had that run when they won and then they had that run when they got killed and in the long run, I guess that’s what happens. But the perception that you’re gonna go against WWE and get killed, that’s what everyone thought in ’95 and it didn’t happen.
“Now with TNA, they did the same thing and they did get killed. I don’t think TNA had the momentum – even though the total viewer number was much higher with TNA because TV is very different now and it’s harder to get good numbers – but the overall popularity of AEW is far above where TNA was. Even with TNA with Hogan and Flair and all of that with more star power, I don’t think they ever had the cool factor with the young audience that AEW has.”
