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Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Smackdown, wrestling, wwe
Reigns vs. Cesaro to Headline "Go Back" WWE Smackdown Next Week
Once again proving how similar the worlds of Comic Books and Pro Wrestling are, WWE surprise-announced a "Go Back" episode of WWE Smackdown last night in an attempt to counter ever-dwindling ratings. Looking to nostalgia for a temporary ratings boost is a signature tactic of WWE, which continues to rely on fond memories for The Attitude Era and earlier to convince a largely bored fanbase to care about WWE's modern-day product.
"Next Friday, we're going back," said an announcer set over some 1980s WWE background music and imagery of an old school CRT television set and various other signifiers of old-schoolness. "Way Back. Friday night Smackdown, Throwback Edition, live next Friday, 7/7 Central, only on Fox." The show will be headlined by a match between Ceasro and Roman Reigns after Reigns forced Cesaro to watch him beat Daniel Bryan with a chair on Smackdown last night.
For fans of comic, this Smackdown tactic is not surprising in the least. Marvel Comics, after all, is set to launch a super-mega-crossover event next week borrowing a name and concept from the big 90s event Heroes Reborn. And, in fact, every time sales with the comic industry's aging fanbase sink a little low, the industry responds with a hit of nostalgia via super-mega-crossover event, a number one issue reboot (in WWE, that's known as a "draft"), or variant covers (in WWE, that's when you have Apollo Crews start talking with a Nigerian accent).
Will any of this work to help either industry? Past results indicate that episodes like a "Go Back" Smackdown often provide a temporary boost, only for things to return to normal, necessitating more and more of the gimmicks to try to get another boost, like junkies chasing the dragon. And the time between these throwback episodes of wrestling is, in fact, getting shorter. It was only January when WWE Raw hosted a "legends night" for similar reasons. That show was the highest-rated in ages, so if fans have anyone to blame for this reliance on the past, it's themselves for tuning in.
Check out the promo below:
Now the only question is: how are they going to fit the Smackdown fist into the Thunderdome?
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