Smackdown officially the ‘B’ show
The farther along the WWE brand split moves forward, the more Smackdown Live feels like a secondary show compared to Raw.
Currently, WWE蘑菇视频 top three stars are Raw wrestlers and its most protected wrestler is also on the show.
Roman Reigns, John Cena and Brock Lesnar are all on Raw, as is possibly its next big star in the improving Braun Strowman.
Yes, Smackdown Live has talented performers like A.J. Styles, Kevin Owens, and Shinsuke Nakamura, but the Raw quartet mentioned in the last paragraph are all bigger stars in the eyes of the WWE Creative Team.
When the most recent split happened some 14 months ago, Raw was given more stars because it is a three-hour show compared to Smackdown Live蘑菇视频 two hours.
But now with Reigns, Cena and Lesnar on the show, arguably the top three established stars are there.
Granted, Lesnar and Cena are part-time at this point, but in the eyes of most fans, they are still 鈥渕ade men.鈥�
Strowman will continue to be built up and if he isn鈥檛 the holder of a major title by WrestleMania 35, I will be shocked.
No, he more than likely won鈥檛 beat Lesnar for the belt later this month at No Mercy, but he is on the path to stardom.
Smackdown Live has been missing something since the roster moves a few months ago, and while the show has been really solid, it lacks stars that carry name recognition.
Asuka to Raw
With that said about Smackdown Live being well behind Raw, its women蘑菇视频 division is ahead of Raw.
Or at least that is the reason given for Asuka being put on Raw instead of Smackdown.
It was announced Monday that Asuka would debut soon on Raw.
Rousey update
WWE decided to hold off on Ronda Rousey being involved during the Me Young Classic final on Tuesday, but she will be involved with WWE shortly.
WWE insider cashes in
Several times in this column, we have looked at how odds for WWE PPV matches changed the day of the shows, and how someone with inside information was leaking results.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, one was one insider who knew the finishes for all of the SummerSlam matches last month and after placing a bet, walked away with a nice chunk of change.
The person did a $3.36 parlay on ten matches, got them all correct, and ended up winning $45,600.
There has been talk for a while now that gambling sites were giving it serious consideration to drop WWE out of its betting lineup due to insiders capitalizing and making a lot of money as the companies don鈥檛 want to open themselves up for losses of that size.
Big Show has surgery
The Big Show had a minor procedure on his hip after his Sept. 4 steel cage match against Braun Strowman on Raw.
However, the match had nothing to do with the surgery as Show was scheduled for it for a while and the 鈥渋njury鈥� to Strowman was just part of a storyline.
Pro wrestling class coming to local college
We are a month away from Tom Leturgey蘑菇视频 pro wrestling class being taught at CCAC蘑菇视频 North Campus for two weeks in October.
Leturgey, a longtime friend and respected pro wrestling historian, will teach the class on October 18 and 25.
The classes will begin at 6:30 p.m. and last for three hours each.
A reporter in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years, Leturgey currently serves as ring announcer for the Keystone State Wrestling Alliance (KSWA) and is also an editor for several pro wrestling websites.
Most notably, Leturgey has contributed to www.1wrestling.com, World of Wrestling online, the Pittsburgh Sporting News, and The Patch among other sites.
For more information on the class or to register, visit www.ccac.edu/community-education/ or call (412) 788-7507.
Tom, a longtime friend of mine, can be reached at tom.leturgey@gmail.com for more information.
Flair book out Tuesday
Second Nature, a book about Ric and Charlotte Flair, will be released Tuesday.
On this date鈥�
Speaking of Flair, in 1981, he won his first world title when he defeated Dusty Rhodes in Kansas City to win the NWA World Heavyweight championship.
It would be the first of 18 world title reigns for Flair, although WWE only honors 16 of them.
This week蘑菇视频 question: Is The Undertaker coming back for Survivor Series? Ryan, Uniontown.
There was a report online this week that The Undertaker could possibly interfere in the John Cena and Roman Reigns match at No Mercy setting up Taker and Cena at Survivor Series.
While I learned long ago to never say never when it comes to WWE, I hope it doesn鈥檛 happen.
Taker had what was a terrific sendoff moment at Mania, and he is a shell of his former self.
Plus, a money match against Cena would have to be saved for a Mania and Cena pushed hard for it this year but McMahon went with Reigns instead.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III