What’s the story?
In a recent interview with NBC Sports, interviewer Greg Thomas opined that the current WWE product is very stale and asked SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan if he could suggest any adjustments that could improve their programming.
Bryan said that major tweaks are needed in the representation of their superstars. He further admitted that Smackdown LIVE dropped the ball with American Alpha and could have done better with them.
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In case you didn’t know...
American Alpha are former NXT Tag Team Champions and were promoted to Smackdown LIVE during the 2016 Brand Split. Before moving to the main roster, many believed that American Alpha were the hottest tag team in all of WWE.
Though American Alpha did win the Smackdown Tag Team titles, they hardly got over with the fans after making the switch. In fact, they hardly got any promo time on the weekly shows and featured in only one of the brand exclusive PPVs in the past year.
The heart of the matter
When asked what Bryan would like to change in the current product, the “Yes!” man said that one of the most important issues that need to be addressed is the way in which the superstars are presented.
“I think a change of presentation is absolutely necessary. I think the way that we present our superstars probably needs to change. Years ago, [WWE] went through with this idea of having as much live stuff as possible on the shows, but I think when you watch say UFC for example, some of the things that are the most endearing, that make you care the most about the fighters are these backstage vignettes that show their real personality.
“You’ll see great fights that people will cheer maybe because they’re great fights, but the fights that have the most impact are the ones with fighters who people actually care about.”
He further cited the example of American Alpha, “I think one of our failings on SmackDown Live was American Alpha. They’re great and on NXT they did all of these fun little interview segments with the two of them that got to show the people behind American Alpha. (They saw) who Chad Gable is, who Jason Jordan is. I’d like to do more of that kind of stuff.”
He also said that Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao was one of the worst boxing matches that he had ever seen but still many people watched it as they were intrigued by the personalities involved.
What’s next?
American Alpha’s Chad Gable made an appearance on the recent edition of Smackdown LIVE and challenged Kevin Owens for a match. This move might indicate that WWE has already started rebuilding the push of the former Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Author’s Take
I agree with Bryan’s opinion as I also view American Alpha as one of the Smackdown LIVE’s failing. I feel that if they were given more time on the mic they would have been in a better state as promos show performer’s personalities and bring more crowd reaction towards their matches.
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