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SmackDown! has always been known as the “B” show in comparison to WWE’s flagship, Raw. But why? Is it because SD! debuted some six-and-a-half years later than Raw, which has established its place in television history as the longest running weekly program? Is SD! therefore seen as the lost younger sibling to the older, can-do-no-wrong Raw? What spin-off Joey was to Friends?

There are many ways this argument could go; many valid points to be raised in support of both shows. However, I have come up with one factor that may explain the failure of SmackDown! to really get off the ground and become the success that Raw has: the high turnover of General Managers in the years following the inaugural Brand Extension Draft.

While Eric Bischoff remained at the helm of Raw for over three years, during that time SmackDown! experienced a rotating roster of GMs that included the likes of now Raw GM Stephanie McMahon, Paul Heyman, Kurt Angle and Teddy Long. Other General Managers that served outside of the Bischoff timeline are Vince McMahon and current queen of the SD! brand, Vickie Guerrero.

One thing all these characters seem to have in common is their predisposition to “injuries”, which begs the question: is “injury” a prerequisite to becoming SmackDown! GM?

While, to the best of my knowledge, Vince McMahon didn’t suffer an injury during his time as GM, he has had plenty since: the most recent being kicked in the head by Randy Orton, following the Raw set collapsing on him and a limousine explosion, amongst many other occurrences.

The same applies to Paul Heyman, who served as GM for six months. But there was the soap-eating incident, in which John Cena fed soap to Heyman whilst Chris Benoit held him in the Sharpshooter. And the beating Heyman took at the hands of Stone Cold Steve Austin prior to WrestleMania XX, when the entire SmackDown! roster stepped aside to allow Austin to annihilate Heyman.

Stephanie McMahon’s reign as GM came to an end in spectacular fashion when Linda McMahon threw in the towel, extinguishing her daughter’s “I Quit” match with her father, and subsequently her on-camera career… at least for a few years. You’ve gotta hand it to Stephanie, though; I don’t know many women who would voluntarily endanger their physical appearance and wellbeing just days before their wedding!

Kurt Angle’s General Manager stint and ensuing injury that left him wheelchair bound mirrored his actual health problems. Onscreen though, it was Big Show’s attack that crippled Angle, when he was thrown from a ledge after coming to the aid of Torrie Wilson.

Angle isn’t the only GM to be confined to a wheelchair, with Vickie Guerrero being the most notable disabled General Manager. 2008 will be remembered by SmackDown! fans as the Year of Vickie, with “Excuse me! Excuse me!” as her catchphrase. We’ve come to know and (somewhat) love Vickie for her outrageous schemes and for entertaining us for the past twelve months, most of which she spent in her chair.

It was only via the “heart attack” suffered by Teddy Long that Vickie came to be GM, thereby reiterating the overwhelming evidence in favour of answering “yes” to my previous question; yes, it seems to be SmackDown! General Manager you do need to be injured.

Don’t get me wrong; Raw has had its ups and downs, too. Who can forget the Katie Vick incident? Or the plummet in ratings the show suffered after the Brand Extension, when most of the top players were on SmackDown! And of course the Monday Night War, when Raw lost out to WCW Nitro in the ratings for a crippling 84 weeks. While SD! has suffered the most obvious mash up of GMs, Raw has had a not-so-obvious rotation of rulers also. This occurred during a time when SmackDown! was settling down, with only two Gms to Raw’s six!

Perhaps there’s a GM cycle after all, with one show establishing a routine whilst the other exists in disarray and chaos. If so, is it Raw’s turn to relax is GM rotation to an Eric Bischoff-like state last seen in 2005, while a new GM takes Vickie Guerrero’s place?

This is just my opinion. SmackDown! has had many ups and downs, and I’m sure some of you feel that SD! is a better show than Raw. Please don’t hesitate to contact me in regards to this article. My email is scarly2@yahoo.com. Next week I will be discussing part two of “The Trouble with SmackDown!”, but that’s as far as I’ve got so far. If anyone has any ideas of other obstacles SmackDown! has had to overcome, please let me know and maybe I can include them in a future article. Thanks guys!