What we learned from the WWE this week: 8th May, 2017

#4 Smackdown is good at being patient

Good things come to those who wait

Taking this week by itself, RAW probably outdid its Tuesday night rival in the overall enjoyment factor. While there was nothing actually wrong about Smackdown this week, the show felt a little formulaic and not a lot happened to move storylines along, apart from maybe Jinder Mahal pinning the WWE Champion 12 days before their showdown at Backlash.

What Smackdown is able to do, however, is play the long game. RAW is still the flagship show, there’s no denying it, but that comes with a certain amount of responsibility. They need to be putting out the most captivating product they can on a weekly basis in order to satisfy the television network.

This is often what leads to PPV worthy matches being given away for free, or feuds being over saturated by meaningless matches. Smackdown, on the other hand, operates at a much slower pace, without feeling the need to throw everything at an episode to gain the most ratings.

There are two perfect examples of this, firstly Shinsuke Nakamura’s main roster debut match, which is being held back until Backlash. If Nakamura was drafted to RAW, we probably would have seen him in action about five times already. Not having him wrestle at all so far has really increased fans’ desire to see him perform, and he is being made to feel like the big, important attraction that he is.

Another example is Rusev. The Bulgarian Brute’s condition isn’t very clear at present, but there is a large section of the WWE Universe that is eagerly anticipating his debut, and they are also being made to wait. Having him appear in small video segments keeps us guessing as to where he will end up when he does finally begin to wrestle again.

Chances are he will be going after the WWE Champion, whoever that may be. There might even be a mini feud brewing between him and Shane McMahon. If Shane’s performance at Wrestlemania is anything to go by, there’s no reason why we should have to wait another year to see him in action again.

The WWE have struggled in its recent history to hold things back from fans. We may say we would like this or that match to be on RAW or Smackdown right away, but when we are asked to practice patience, it all feels that much more special.