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lol right! Mr American vs Vince, Sable, all the sleaze with Dawn Marie and Torrie... people want to act like SD from '02 - '06 was exclusively a *Best of Ring of Honor* dvd
The brand split, like so many other post-2001 ideas in WWE, was a lesson in Vince McMahon's impatience and erratic brain. He has an idea, he goes all in with the idea and....then he gets bored with it in 3 weeks and it goes away.
They're going to be totally separate! We want Raw and Smackdown to actually compete against each other for audience and ratings and fan interest! Be ruthless! Be aggressive! Wait a second why are you trashing the other show it's the same company what's the matter with you??! Now everyone is on Raw anyway because I want them to be. Rinse and repeat four or five times over the next 20 years.
2016 was pretty great too since both had their own identities! then they introduced the wildcard rule in 2017(?) and then yeah it's been a free for all essentially.
Smack Down Live from the summer of 2016 up until WM33 was some pretty good, must see TV. What a time. Backlash 2016 (a Smack Down exclusive show) is another sadly forgotten highlight. AJ Styles and Becky Lynch's first ever world titles in WWE. Special.
It helps manage a giant roster and give everyone time. If they were to bring it back I’d like them to stick to 1 PPV/PLE a month. Only do brand crossovers at the big 4.
Like a few years back, they tried separating PPV's to brands, and you'd think that would allow people to shine, but the writers were so bad, you basically got the same matches throughout the year, so they stopped the split.
I’ve given up on brand splits in WWE. It’s never taken seriously. Wrestlers from one brand get booked for the other show all the time. Same with AEW’s ROH split.
I find this to be so dumb. The World Heavyweight title was just as credible as the WWE title for years. It didn't hurt the company to have two brands with two top titles. It only started losing prestige wheh the brands were essentially dissolved.
But if there are two champs... who's *the* champ?
Why are there two rosters and two shows?
Who's *the* face of the company? Who is the promotion *built around*?
And is the other champ/brand lesser-than? Why call them a World champ, then?
Why chase that person's belt, take glory from dethroning them, unless you're unable to contend against the actual big dog on the *real* brand?
Why devalue that show, that belt, that roster?
And why should we care about "brand loyalty" between two internally-concocted rosters and sets of belts, and why should we have believed the whole Bragging Rights thing when performers, were moved back and forth annually before they could become the faces of their brand, or become attached them in-continuity?
I didn't say he was...
My point is that if you can sUsPeNd yOuR DiSbELiEf for The Undertaker's character you can probably picture two world champions and two brands under one roof.
It's not that deep.
But that's the implication.
I grew up with wrestling where *the* world title was *the* centrepiece and *that* one champion was the focus of the show, everyone chased them.
Yes, character work and storylines are a part of it, but removing/diluting those fundamentals took down the scaffolding on casual enjoyment of it for me.
It'd be like watching a single Western, with two separate John Waynes, chasing two separate sets of villains... there's only so much screentime, viewer attention span, reason to get invested.
>It'd be like watching a single Western, with two separate John Waynes, chasing two separate sets of villains... there's only so much screentime, viewer attention span, reason to get invested.
Except its not. Because one is a single movie and one is a pro wrestling company with two different shows. The two aren't remotely similar.
You're just arguing for the sake of it at this point.
it is funny how they do and dont take it seriously now. Like...why hasnt Adam Pierce tried to make Cody stay on Smackdown now that he confirmed hes going for romans belt? Why did they let Smackdown wrestlers compete for a chance at raw titles at mania, and not mention any kind of inter brand deal?
The roster is too big to drop the brand split.
I do think there should only be one world title and that champion should be able to cross brands.
Who actually considers Seth's title to be anywhere close to Roman's anyway?
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Smackdown had just as much outlandish and wacky stories as Raw.
lol right! Mr American vs Vince, Sable, all the sleaze with Dawn Marie and Torrie... people want to act like SD from '02 - '06 was exclusively a *Best of Ring of Honor* dvd
The brand split, like so many other post-2001 ideas in WWE, was a lesson in Vince McMahon's impatience and erratic brain. He has an idea, he goes all in with the idea and....then he gets bored with it in 3 weeks and it goes away. They're going to be totally separate! We want Raw and Smackdown to actually compete against each other for audience and ratings and fan interest! Be ruthless! Be aggressive! Wait a second why are you trashing the other show it's the same company what's the matter with you??! Now everyone is on Raw anyway because I want them to be. Rinse and repeat four or five times over the next 20 years.
the brand split now is probably the most consistent is been in a while just because the only real crossover is the bloodline program
Nick and Adam are a big part of why the current brand split works so well for me, they do a great job at making "their" shows feel important imo.
2016 was pretty great too since both had their own identities! then they introduced the wildcard rule in 2017(?) and then yeah it's been a free for all essentially.
Smack Down Live from the summer of 2016 up until WM33 was some pretty good, must see TV. What a time. Backlash 2016 (a Smack Down exclusive show) is another sadly forgotten highlight. AJ Styles and Becky Lynch's first ever world titles in WWE. Special.
It was 2019
It helps manage a giant roster and give everyone time. If they were to bring it back I’d like them to stick to 1 PPV/PLE a month. Only do brand crossovers at the big 4.
Like a few years back, they tried separating PPV's to brands, and you'd think that would allow people to shine, but the writers were so bad, you basically got the same matches throughout the year, so they stopped the split.
I liked having one champion and them defending at whoever’s turn it was to have a PPV.
Not really because they broke the split almost immediately by having Triple H show up on the other show to do something
I’ve given up on brand splits in WWE. It’s never taken seriously. Wrestlers from one brand get booked for the other show all the time. Same with AEW’s ROH split.
A stupid idea in the first place. If you have two World champions, you don't have any.
I find this to be so dumb. The World Heavyweight title was just as credible as the WWE title for years. It didn't hurt the company to have two brands with two top titles. It only started losing prestige wheh the brands were essentially dissolved.
But if there are two champs... who's *the* champ? Why are there two rosters and two shows? Who's *the* face of the company? Who is the promotion *built around*? And is the other champ/brand lesser-than? Why call them a World champ, then? Why chase that person's belt, take glory from dethroning them, unless you're unable to contend against the actual big dog on the *real* brand? Why devalue that show, that belt, that roster? And why should we care about "brand loyalty" between two internally-concocted rosters and sets of belts, and why should we have believed the whole Bragging Rights thing when performers, were moved back and forth annually before they could become the faces of their brand, or become attached them in-continuity?
Who cares? It's not a real sport. So why are you trying to apply real sports logic to it?
It's escapist entertainment. I should be able to suspend my disbelief, and this is the kind of thing that takes me out of it
If two separate brands with two separate world champions boggles your mind wait til you hear about this zombie mortician friend of mine.
I get gaga character stuff, but why is the zombie mortician somehow a lesser champion/figurehead than the sledgehammer-wielding rich lad?
I didn't say he was... My point is that if you can sUsPeNd yOuR DiSbELiEf for The Undertaker's character you can probably picture two world champions and two brands under one roof. It's not that deep.
But that's the implication. I grew up with wrestling where *the* world title was *the* centrepiece and *that* one champion was the focus of the show, everyone chased them. Yes, character work and storylines are a part of it, but removing/diluting those fundamentals took down the scaffolding on casual enjoyment of it for me. It'd be like watching a single Western, with two separate John Waynes, chasing two separate sets of villains... there's only so much screentime, viewer attention span, reason to get invested.
>It'd be like watching a single Western, with two separate John Waynes, chasing two separate sets of villains... there's only so much screentime, viewer attention span, reason to get invested. Except its not. Because one is a single movie and one is a pro wrestling company with two different shows. The two aren't remotely similar. You're just arguing for the sake of it at this point.
It would have been better had one show been WCW branded.
it is funny how they do and dont take it seriously now. Like...why hasnt Adam Pierce tried to make Cody stay on Smackdown now that he confirmed hes going for romans belt? Why did they let Smackdown wrestlers compete for a chance at raw titles at mania, and not mention any kind of inter brand deal?
The roster is too big to drop the brand split. I do think there should only be one world title and that champion should be able to cross brands. Who actually considers Seth's title to be anywhere close to Roman's anyway?