[Starbuck]

Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana is offering a discount on tickets for the Tuesday, July 31 SmackDown taping due to sluggish ticket sales. The venue issued the following notice to regular customers: "For a limited time, purchase a ticket and get upgraded to the next price level at no extra cost. That means if you purchase a ticket for $35, you'll be upgraded to a $45 seat."

Since last fall, multiple SmackDown events have drawn poor ticket sales, particularly in the Midwestern United States. There have been several instances where almost all of the camera side of the host venue has been tarped off, along with a large part of the upper bowl. One show in Toledo, Ohio was among the worst attended WWE events in years, drawing approximately 3,200 fans with only 1,600 paying. Raw Superstars John Cena and Triple H were added to several shows this summer to alleviate the disappearance of top SmackDown talent Randy Orton following his sixty-day suspension for his second violation of WWE's Talent Wellness Program.

Both Cena and Triple H are advertised to make special appearances in Indianapolis, Indiana. It will also mark as the SmackDown return of Orton.

inb4ortonnodrawlulz

 

[ecabney]

Cena and HHH are always saving that orange pothead.

 

[Ray]

SHEAMUS DRAWS

 

[CaptainObvious]

While this shouldn't be blamed on Orton (the Smackdown roster is way too thin and Smackdown has been terrible since Edge retired), it should be another indicator that Orton is not an attendance draw (and marketing it to the crowd as the return of Orton highlights it further). People won't pay to see Orton. The overbooking of Orton in positions higher than is justified isn't doing anything but dragging down the brand. It also should be a wakeup call that Sheamus is not a leader of a brand. He'll never be a top face selling out arenas and this mega push is also tanking Smackdown.

 

[Kling Klang]

SHEAMUS DRAWS

Sheamus bores.

 

[PacoAwesome]

While this shouldn't be blamed on Orton (the Smackdown roster is way too thin and Smackdown has been terrible since Edge retired), it should be another indicator that Orton is not an attendance draw (and marketing it to the crowd as the return of Orton highlights it further). People won't pay to see Orton. The overbooking of Orton in positions higher than is justified isn't doing anything but dragging down the brand. It also should be a wakeup call that Sheamus is not a leader of a brand. He'll never be a top face selling out arenas and this mega push is also tanking Smackdown.

This. When you have a fill-in challenger at a PPV (Ziggler) being suddenly insanely over than you, there is a problem.

 

[Punkholic]

Save_Us.MarkHenry

 

[Chicago Warrior]

Meh, Smackdown is the B show so it is not surprising.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Save_Us.MarkHenry

I doubt Henry will do that much for attendance. In my opinion, the solution is Edge. I know he's said in interviews that he doesn't want to travel a lot, but he's relevant enough to still be a draw and he's still well tied to the Smackdown brand. He needs to be the GM of Smackdown (or whatever on camera role he wants) and that will start getting the live audience to care about Smackdown enough to go see him.

 

[Nostalgia]

Mark ''ratings'' Henry needs to return.

Seriously though, Smackdown's had awful attendance rates for a while. I don't know what can be done about it. There trying to use guys like Punk and Cena on Smackdown to help out lately, but I don't think it's working. It's sad because there was a time when Smackdown was a great show and was almost competitive to RAW. However these days it's the obvious B show. The lack of real storylines, starpower and the constant RAW recaps have hurt the show. Also Smackdown talent frequently appearing on RAW, I would guess has caused a problem to. Some fans maybe like: ''why should I pay to go to a Smackdown event to see guys like Sheamus, Bryan, Rhodes when most of the time I can see them on RAW anyway''. Smackdown's just lost it's place.

 

[Starbuck]

^^^^ I think the Raw Supershows are having an impact tbh. Just like you said. Why pay to go to SD and see no legitimate star along with a bunch of mid carders when you can go to Raw, see same mid carders and also see some legitimate stars for the same price?

 

[Punkholic]

I doubt Henry will do that much for attendance. In my opinion, the solution is Edge. I know he's said in interviews that he doesn't want to travel a lot, but he's relevant enough to still be a draw and he's still well tied to the Smackdown brand. He needs to be the GM of Smackdown (or whatever on camera role he wants) and that will start getting the live audience to care about Smackdown enough to go see him.

I would love to see a HEEL Edge as the GM of SmackDown.

 

[*Eternity*]

One show in Toledo, Ohio was among the worst attended WWE events in years, drawing approximately 3,200 fans with only 1,600 paying

DAMN Now thats sad. Thats house show attendance level right there.

Its going to take the combine might of Mark Henry, Batista, The Undertaker and The Rock( in a wrestling form) to take Smackdown's foot out of the grave.

 

[deadman18]

When I hear "uh aye step up ricky uh aye uh yes sirrrr, somebody gon get they ass kicked" on Smackdown again I will mark out. SmackDown is suffering from, the Supershow branding and a skinny roster. Tired of the RAW rebounds though, no point at all to do that. Plus, SD needs a feud that can draw. Sheamus vs ADR is not going to draw at all.

 

[Lastier]

It will also mark as the SmackDown return of Orton.

 

[Bob the Jobber]

SHEAMUS DRAWS

 

[TheSupremeForce]

While this shouldn't be blamed on Orton (the Smackdown roster is way too thin and Smackdown has been terrible since Edge retired), it should be another indicator that Orton is not an attendance draw (and marketing it to the crowd as the return of Orton highlights it further). People won't pay to see Orton. The overbooking of Orton in positions higher than is justified isn't doing anything but dragging down the brand. It also should be a wakeup call that Sheamus is not a leader of a brand. He'll never be a top face selling out arenas and this mega push is also tanking Smackdown.

Cena and HHH don't sell out Smackdown either. They could have announced the return of the Undertaker and it wouldn't have sold out. The problem isn't the talent. It's the perception of Smackdown being the B show, and being just about pointless in the era of the Raw Supershow. Most people are only going to go to one show or the other, so people go to Raw.

Maybe it's the fact that they had a Smackdown in Indy in December (which was mostly full, by the way) AND two other shows in Indiana in the last month or so. It's probably more a matter of having too many shows in areas that can't support them.

 

[Nostalgia]

^^^^ I think the Raw Supershows are having an impact tbh. Just like you said. Why pay to go to SD and see no legitimate star along with a bunch of mid carders when you can go to Raw, see same mid carders and also see some legitimate stars for the same price?

Agreed. It's ironic that they introduced the Supershow concept in the first place to improve the ratings on RAW, but now it's hurting Smackdown. It has to be main reason why Smackdown attendence is down. Smackdown already has less stars then RAW, but when you take those few stars and feature them on RAW regularly, why the hell would you want to go to a Smackdown event?

 

[Brodus Clay]

Sheamus reign is a disaster, just start building other faces to the main event status, the heels on the show are already good, problem they only care to feed them to Sheamus... if anything the feed me more chants fits Sheamus more than Ryback at this point -___-

 

[Carcass]

Pretty soon they'll be tarping off 80% of the seats like they did when Orton was running shit. With Sheamus as the face of the brand it's only a matter of time till attendace reaches TNA levels and they get less than 100 people showing up. Wouldn't be surprised if they start running shows out of high school gyms indy style.