I feel compelled to quote my post from the "Jack Swagger whats next?" thread, concerning the ongoing discussion of the general weakness of Smackdown as a brand at the moment...
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"Ever since Swagger's reign concluded six months ago, barring Alberto Del Rio, Smackdown has had a much more heavy-duty, reinforced glass ceiling. Right now there are three babyface Smackdown main-eventers in Rey Mysterio, Big Show and Edge, and two Smackdown main event heels in Alberto Del Rio and Kane.
Undertaker getting injured in late October really threw just about all of Smackdown's plans for a loop. They decided to try to make the best of it with this Edge/Kane feud, which I'll admit was sort of well-timed since Edge had just gone to Smackdown a few weeks earlier but it's as dull as dishwater.
Smackdown needs some room cleared. Taker should face up to his physical disintegration and only show up for The Road to Wrestlemania anymore, because 90% of his meaningful material is all within that one span of time each year. Kane should drop the belt sometime soon and retire on such a positive note, the guy's pushing 44. They should follow through with Del Rio and make him the top heel of Smackdown for the foreseeable future. Promote Jack Swagger to the #2 heel position, which Del Rio currently occupies.
If Wrestlemania is in Toronto, based on Edge's proclaimed timeline, he's due to retire there in 2012. Big Show could be traded back to Raw to help fill the main event babyface gap there (it's fundamentally just a banged-up Orton and a "fired" Cena at the moment until Triple H returns) in the spring, making room for, say, Kofi Kingston, to be elevated alongside Mysterio and Edge. The #3 heel spot could go to McIntyre, Rhodes, Ziggler, a heel traded from Raw or whoever. But at least then you've got a generally good main event six-man circle following Wrestlemania, with Rey, Kofi and Edge going up against Del Rio, Swagger and ______. Taker of course would be a face but only a part-time one, and during his RTWM storylines he's usually seen on both shows anyway.
But there's no question that in 2010, Raw has had the definite advantage over Smackdown in terms of midcard-to-main event mobility. Miz became WWE Champion, Barrett became the top heel, Sheamus became an established main event star, Morrison finally found renewed momentum following the botching of his push on Smackdown back in mid-'09, Bryan has been booked terrifically, a group of rookies hold the show hostage on most episodes, etceteras. Smackdown experimented with Swagger, made Kane a main-eventer again and they seem committed with Del Rio but it's nowhere near what Raw has managed this year."
