Playaz Eyez
Veteran
Smackdown was just a rehash of Raw that week, didn't really bring anything new. Raw was and is always is the main show.
That's the only part that's correct.
Smackdown was just a rehash of Raw that week, didn't really bring anything new. Raw was and is always is the main show.
Too much HHH, Rock became a part timer, Stone Cold started being injured a lot, they stopped giving tag teams n midcarders storylines.
That's when I stopped watching till 2011.The invasion flop in 2001
2002 when they were pushing Brock, Orton, and Cena
There was always going to be a decline. No industry maintains a boom period like the one wrestling had in the 90's.
As for what led to it, I think all the major contributors have been said. WCW's death led to a lot of fans just falling out of wrestling rather than switching over to WWF. Austin turning heel around the same time didn't help (though I'd argue the effects could have been mitigated if Rock didn't start his film career, basically leaving WWF with no one close on that level to fill the void). The Invasion being trash was a huge blow, since suddenly the roster was full of guys WWF had trained their audience to hate, and the storyline itself turned them into dorks thus justifying that hatred. The Invaison also signaled the decline in creative that would characterize much of the 00's, especially the backend of the decade.
There was also the fact that they didn't keep the product feeling fresh. The Ruthless Aggression era tried to recapture that Attitude era fukkery, but by that time, audiences weren't as interested in that kind of racy material. By the time the PG era rolled around and we were firmly in the era of Super Cena, much of the damage had already been done.
On the low, the McMahons always listening to those two B+ players is the biggest reason after lack of competition.Triple H and Undertaker