5 Surprising things that could happen on a new "sports-centric" WWE SmackDown on Fox

"Now, you see how he tilts his foot upward into the kick there, Cole...?"

4. Stat-keeping may become a thing

My friends and I used to have a little joke that Fantasy Sports (like basketball or NFL football or... they have Fantasy FIFA and IPL leagues, right? Let me know in the comments - I'm curious) leagues were kind of like "Dungeons and Dragons for jocks." Usually when we were hiding in our basements to keep from getting beaten up by the jocks. But it's true to a degree - both activities rely heavily on the comparison of stats and random results (for fantasy sports, it's a game's outcome and player performance, while D&D relies on player choice and random dice rolls).

I'm not predicting any SmackDown Fantasy Leagues - actually, now that I've said that, I think I kind of am - but I think we can certainly expect the new Fox show to put an emphasis on wins, losses, averages, and more, while also having more of an in-depth analysis on how moves are "performed" (all in kayfabe, of course).

Think of it like this: before the main event of the show - say Seth Rollins vs, I dunno, Finn Balor - they'll probably have a "Tale of the Tape", with all the usual stats like height, weight, win/loss record on SmackDown, arm reach, things like that. They may even have an "expert" come in and provide an analysis on "who performs the better 'Sling Blade' clothesline", complete with start and stop/slow-motion video - "Now, you see how he turns his body into the clothesline here, Bob? That's the secret."

Obviously, something like this would have to be done very carefully to avoid breaking the illusion of reality during the match, but it's certainly a very "sports-like" element that WWE and Fox can incorporate to get viewers more invested in a match.