WWE needs to do a better job of making Smackdown seem like it matters.

For the longest time, I only watched Raw. Then since getting WWE Network, I’ve been enjoying Main Event & NXT, but for some reason I could still never find the motivation to watch Smackdown and I never felt like I was missing out for not watching it. This feeling stretches back to way before the titles ever got unified in case anyone was going to say that was the reason (I am in favor of the titles being unified, for the record, and I am in favor of a future IC/US unification as well).

Then Seth Rollins turned on The Shield.

The advertisements throughout “the WWE Universe” all week had touted that on tonight’s Smackdown, Seth Rollins would speak out for the first time since the heel turn that shook the world. And on top of that, they hyped “the return of Bray Wyatt,” aka his first appearance on WWE programming since the epic Last Man Standing match at Payback with John Cena.

I was officially lured in.

And I got officially worked.

Seth Rollins “speaking out” turned out to essentially be him saying that he had nothing to say. He doesn’t owe anyone an explanation for his actions, all of us fans can go to hell, yada yada yada, while Triple H sported his trademark shit-eating grin.

Bray Wyatt’s “return” turned out to be a pre-taped promo that basically translated as “Hey no biggie, I’m fine, I’m better than ever, see I’m still a cool evil badass!” The bigger takeaway was actually what he didn’t say–he didn’t mention John Cena once, which makes me think we are going to see a fresh storyline for Bray starting on Raw.

On Raw.

So to sum up, I got hooked into tuning into Smackdown for the first time in perhaps over a year, because of the tease of Seth Rollins & Bray Wyatt appearing, and what they might have to say. And they said nothing.

It’s not like Smackdown was a bad show—there was a handful of decent matches. Seth vs Ziggler was a lot of fun, Natalya vs Fox was solid (even though it should have gone longer), and the IC triple threat match was good too.

It’s just that…..NOTHING OF SIGNIFICANCE HAPPENED WHATSOEVER.

As a consumer, this tells me that I was correct in my pre-conceived notion that Smackdown has zero importance whatsoever.

To see the stuff that matters with the A-players, you have to watch Raw and the pay-per-views.

To see the development of the exciting up-and-coming superstars of the future and tons of great wrestling, watch NXT.

When it’s the middle of the week and you’re starved for wrestling and want to see some decent matches and the furthering of storylines involving the divas, the tag team division, and mid-carders and bottom-carders, watch Main Event.

WWE needs to address what Smackdown’s role is in the big picture, because right now it just feels like wheel-spinning.