Vince McMahon dealing with sickness or, why Smackdown is so much better than Raw

If you watch both Raw and Smackdown each week, you'll see two drastically different shows. Raw is supposed to be the flag bearer for WWE, synonymous with the company. Smackdown, on the other hand, is known to the wider audience as the "B" show.

Except that's not really the case anymore.

That's because the booking on Smackdown is far and away better than the booking on Raw. That seems odd considering how much emphasis is placed on the Monday night flagship show. So how is it that Smackdown always looks so clean and simple and Raw gets more and more convoluted with each passing week?

The Wrestling Observer gives us a potential answer:

From talking with people internally, there continues to be the notable talk of Vince McMahon still not being himself. It's described like he's got the flu and fatigues faster than in the past, although this flu has lingered now for a number of weeks. The description is Vince is usually pretty much himself on Mondays, where he takes apart Raw and the Raw show is nothing like the show the writers present to him because of all the late changes he makes. But when it comes to Tuesday, after the grueling Monday, he seems tired and just rubber stamps almost everything Ed Koskey (head Smackdown writer) puts in front of him. So Smackdown's final product is very similar to how it's written, with all the key matches and almost all segments in place. That's why Smackdown seems to make more sense week-to-week.

It's sad to hear that McMahon is starting to fade in his older age. That said, it's even sadder that his sickness has directly resulted in a better product on TV on Friday nights.

It seems odd, though, and strikes me as slightly worrisome that anyone would think he's got a flu that has lasted a few weeks. I can't imagine that's the case. Let's hope old Vinny Mac gets healthy soon and his years of abusing his body in various ways haven't quite caught up with him.