[OFFICIAL] Should WWE merge brands? *KEEP IT ALL IN HERE*

[BourneToFly]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I couldn't find it in the forums.


Should the WWE merge brands? I definitely think they should. They have too many unused people on the roster and not enough time to create a storyline. I remember in the days of old when Triple H and The Rock would feud for 8 shows straight, Raw and Smackdown each week, and have appearances to create a storyline worth watching at the PPV. I agree it's a little strenuous on the body, but people did it before, why can't they do it now? I would love to see some roster cuts and some title merging, allowing the brands to come together. They could incorporate more time toward each feud, also, because with only one Heavyweight title, the mid card title would get the respect it deserves. There could actually be a tag team division again. Women might actually have to *gasp* have feuds again!

What are you guys opinions? Is a merger a good idea, and who should they cut to make room?

 

[Jeff]

I think it would be nice to merge the brands but I don't think it will happen anytime soon. One thing you have to factor in are house shows. WWE makes a ton of money on House Show tickets. Having two brands touring means double the profit. Secondly the WWE travel schedule is crazy enough as it is taking away the brand split will make it even crazier. Granted they did do it in the past but I think the WWE is trying protect the wrestlers a little more then they have in the past (or at least make it appear as if they are)

I do agree though that if they did merge it would make for better TV. More Tag Teams, better Women's action, maybe bring back the Cruiserweights.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

You forgot also that it would add some crediblity back to the titles. I mean you have two world titles that confuse people as to which one has more value. The IC and US titles are gaining cred but not by much and then there's tag titles. You already unified the things I guess. It would only make sense to do so and lets also face facts that the drafts don't do much.

 

[silverwraith720]

I both agree and disagree with the split. It does make it less strenuous on the performers, and yes it does make the company more money. BUT, they do enough brand crossing that it really doesn't make a difference. And for the love of, well...whatever you believe in, UN-UNIFY the effin' tag titles!!!! The novelty of having a cross branded tag title has lost its charm.

 

[pyrusane]

Since this seems to mesh so well with the thread that is right above it I will touch on some of the salient points I made in that thread...

The brand split is the best way right now for the company to showcase the largest number of stars. Ending the brand split would not revitalize the roster, it would decimate it. Everyone seems to think that by having everyone on one big roster it would create more contenders for less titles and enable new feuds to occur.

No, you would have the same pool of contenders, and less opportunity for them to shine. Every show would have to feature the same four or five top guys, leaving very little time for the undercard to shine, and there would be less titles for them to go after which means less opportunity to elevate their status. With only one World Title and one mid-card title, guys like Shaemus, Swagger, Kofi, McIntyre, Miz, etc. would never have gotten the chance to shine that they have recently seen. You have to have at least one top guy that can sell PPVs or else you run the risk of losing too much money. With two of each title, you can keep one on a proven draw while experimenting with an up-and-coming star with the other title.

While Shaemus had the WWE title, the WHC went from the Undertaker to Chris Jericho, both proven draws. As soon as Jericho lost the WHC to Swagger, John Cena won the WWE title and traded it back and forth with Batista. With just one title, you take too huge of a risk putting it on the shoulders of anyone who hasn't had a chance yet to prove themselves, so you see less advancement of rookie talent.

While merging the rosters might sound like a fun, novel way of creating a better product, in the long run it would do far more harm than good.

 

[RicSpade]

I don't think its a matter of merging brands but I think they should do a money in the bank match or some type of match where the winner can appear on whatever show they choose, I mean honestly I am happy that more wrestlers are getting prominently shown by both brands and stars like Truth, Kofi and Mcintyre can be main eventers on a brand while still letting the Cenas, Jerichos, and Edges get the spotlight they need, but wouldn't you feel better if a guy like Christian or Tatsu or Ryder or whoever was having multiple feuds and not limited to the 20 people on the brand

 

[CuddleBuns84]

Should the WWE merge the brands... The answer is no. The reason why is because the talent is already stacked, and having un-used talent across the board, will just make it more sloppy. The tag titles should be un-unified, sure each brand has it's own thing.

I would rather have two brands then a cluster of a show. I think after the NXT show is done, that should be a cross show of mid-carders and guys you want to promote. It would be a good show to have titles switch hands.

It would be better for a new Raw GM to emerge, and they can have feuds on this show and give new talent a big push. Like one week the US and IC title are on Raw, then Smackdown get's one of those titles back. You can call it the battle-zone. It would be nice way to promote both shows.

Sorry for getting off topic, but the brand split works, WWE is too big to condense the shows. In fact, They need a third show, and not another ECW.

 

[Tougie]

If anyone asks this as a serious question there is something wrong with them. The whole point of the brand switch was the be able to run more house shows and events world wide. One roster, you dont have as much as that by far.

Plus as said, the rosters are way too deep atm. There would have to be so many cuts which would cost WWE money just to cut people. Although the product isnt favorable their still making tons of cash and have most of the best wrestlers possible.

You merge the brands, you lose money and talent.

 

[bullsgo]

The WWE should keep the two separate brands and have one WWE champion.

The one champion should travel from show to show defending the title. Remember the old NWA champion days , where the champ went from territory to territory? The brand extension works primarily because if you look at the WWE roster many of the top stars have been around for quite a while, which has resulted in the same feuds taking place over and over again. The brand extension allows for new feuds and new stars to develop. Without any real competition the WWE has been forced to compete with itself. Having two separate brands is like having two distinct companies under one banner,

 

[Ferbian]

Absolutely not, there shouldn't be a brand unification, that would leave way too many people on the same roster that wouldn't be allowed to have the same decent amount of airtime they're getting now, not only to speak of those who aren't getting enough airtime would definitely not be getting much more if they unified the brands.

The brands are just fine right now, RAW has it's share of talents that are getting a decent amount of airtime, and they're getting decent amount of time to build their feuds, have some decent matches, and the same thing goes for Smackdown.

And you cry over the unused talent, merging the brands and you'll damn well see unused talents, because WWE would spend time on furthering the feuds that actually matters, and not show case the lesser talent like the unused guys : Chavo Guerrero and Evan Bourne for example.

 

[Takerfan93]

Completely agree! It should have been done a while ago. The reason for the brand split was because of the overload of talent left over fromWCW, but it's been 8 years now and most of that talent is gone now, therefore they don't need the brand extension anymore. Plus, it worked back then, now that they had all the WCW wrestlers, they had so much main event talent, they could treat each brand as if they were different companies. Now, a lot of those guys have retired or left WWE, so they don't have nearly as much main event talent on each show as they had back then.

If they combined the shows, the ratings would probably be higher for both. There would be so much better build up for pay per views if the talent appeared on both Raw and Smackdown, that would result in higher buyrates.

Combine the titles; WWE and World Heavyweight become the WWE World heavyweight championship, get rid of US title and keep Intercontinental title, Tag titles are already merged but make one set of title belts and combine the names to call them the WWE World Tag Team titles, get rid of Divas title and keep the Women's title, plus if they ever decide to pay attention to their Diva's divison and work on it, they could add WWE Women's Tag Team titles.

 

[Vega]

Unify the brands AND cut talent, otherwise it would not make sense. I don't see the point in having more than 50 wrestlers on the rosters when 20 have nothing to do at all. 36 or so would be enough, assuming that two to six at a time would be hurt or otherwise unable to compete. You don't really need guys like Regal, Kozlov, Goldust, Finlay, Chavo, Marella or Henry anymore. They won't make an impact in the future nevertheless.
But when they cut talent, I'd like to see a brand unification. With ONE World Title, ONE Diva's title, ONE Midcard Title, ONE Tag Team Title and one Cruiserweight and Talent's Title or so. That would make the championships important again and add more competition. It could not be the case that, like one week ago, the midcard titles aren't used for months. But that shows that titles aren't necessarily needed to build up good storylines. Right now, you can't exactly say who is on top of the company, the Champion, with two World Titles and two world champions.
WWE wouldn't have to drop the split concept at all, they could still concentrate the monday live show on the top faces or top titles, while the taped friday show could concentrate on younger guys, non-title feuds or midcard titles.

 

[THE VC]

II feel that the brands are already merged. if anything, the need a much harder split like they had when this idea started. My feeling is that because both shows do everything together anyway, is there even a need to have brands. If the brands were in fact split and t he writers and wrestlers got a real chance to show what they can do, the I would say, "no, there is not a need to have the brand merge into one", but since they are that way anyway for the most part, they might as well finish the job!

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

it would probably be good, but there was a reason for the brand extension...too many f'n wrestlers...they had to split it up into 2, also to give wrestlers more time off instead of working 2 shows in a week, work 1, give top wrestlers o one show time out, to give other top wrestlers time to shine..

 

[Yodude "The Rock" Barber]

Im going to go with No.
So many people would be lost, since every show would want to be about the main feuds, leaving out the midcarders.
People are already complaining that RAW is where midcarders get buried, with a merge it would be devastating.

And one tittle, both championship and U.S/Intercontinental, would be..either Not so great, or very bad.
No one would get there chance for the tittle, unless there happens to be no story lines for the midcard tittles, or the championship tittles, there would just be way too many people to showcase.

The brand split is the best bet right now.

 

[Derf]

Think of it this way. You watch Monday Night RAW right now. Do you complain, or do you enjoy the show? Everyones answer to that question will be different.

Now, imagine watching two episodes of RAW in a week. That would be the same as merging the brands. Right now, Smackdown has so few big names that if the rosters merged right now, it would basically be like watching RAW twice a week. More then half the roster would be fired, and it would take FOREVER for people to break through with so many Main Eventers. Case and Point, I want people to try to imagine something. With so many Main Eventers on RAW right now, how long will it be before we have a Main Event of a PPV NOT that features a guy that has NEVER won the World Title? It won't happen anytime soon because of so many established guys.

If you merged the brands, the VERY few established guys on Smackdown would be thrown into that mix, making it even harder for people to become huge stars. Fans of The Miz, Morrison, Kofi, MacIntyre, hell even Hardy, you'll all be waiting for a VERY long time for these guys to even get a glimpse of Main Event time.

I'm willing to bet you won't see a non former champion in a ME on RAW as long as the current main eventers around stay there. Untill some of those champs leave (HHH injured, Batista leaving, someone else takes a leave, and then some) no one even scratchs the glass ceiling.

At least on Smackdown, you can establish your Main Eventers. Without the blue brand, guys like Jack Swagger, CM Punk, and even to an extent, Edge, would have never gotten to where they are now. Edge would NEVER have been a 9 time World Champion with one brand, he'd be the Jobber to the Stars on PPV if not for Smackdown.

Merging the brands would literally KILL future Main Eventers. By the time most MEers left the WWE, they'd have to push someone not ready into the title pic, and you'd have people pissed. Kinda like right now, but worse.

Plus the House shows make money, and two brands occasionally makes for good TV. I just think, like someone else said, the brand split needs to be harder. NO crossovers at all, seperate PPVs, etc. Make it look like two DIFFERENT shows again. Make us need to watch both for our varriety. Replace the Smackdown Divas with the crusierweights so we need to watch Smackdown for high flyers, and RAW for boobies. They don't need to merge brands, they just need to fix em.

 

[wushady]

I don't think they should merge if they did to many people would get lost in the shuffle and many would get let go. The main point of the split was to give wrestlers more exposure and make more money. If they split now a lot of top guys would be dropped down the card. I for one don't want to see the same guys doing their angle twice a week.

 

[Saritafan]

Man all of you are stupid. All i hear is that mid-carders deserve to be pushed more and now you're asking for a brand merge, do you know how many wrestlers would not get any screen time because of that. You'd have Triple H and john Cena on TV 24/7 and then again people will start complaining. WWE's main marketing tool is the main event so WWE would focus on that more than anything else, leaving the mid-carders like Morrison, Kofi, Miz, Christian, and Rhodes backstage collecting dust

everyone says smackdown is the better brand becaue it's the mid-card show, well you can kiss that goodbye if their was a brand merge because instead of Swagger and christian, you would get Batista and John Cena

Thiers nothing wrong with the brand spilt, it works fine and people are just complaining just for the sake of complaining, STFU already

 

[Schizophrenic]

I don't think they need to merge the brands together but like others said before. Fix the brands. If I was ever given control of the creative aspect I would changea few things that would make the brands better and easier to follow.

1) Make them different. How many times do we see RAW & SmackDown guys on the other shows? That would be out of the window. You are a RAW guy? Guess what night you will be working? And it doesn't start with a T.

2) Seperate the PPV's. Remember when WWE would have 4 or 5 duel PPV's a year. Rumble, Mania, KOTR, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and the rest were all single branded. It would make the feuds and storylines be better and no rushed. You would have a deul branded show followed by a RAW only PPV then a SmackDown PPV giving RAW 8 weeks to build up a feud for the following PPV for them and same for SmackDown.

3) Change little things. What I am talking about is the way the shows are broadcasted. It's the same set, same ring, same set up and everything. I'm not saying change the set all the time but on RAW the wrestlers could enter from the right and SmackDown the left. I like the Red & Blue fan lighting as it makes it a bit different. Also I loved the banners from the ceiling. It would be great for RAW to have the old school logo banners fromt he lighting trust while SmackDown does not insted uses the video screens int he arenas for the logos like they do now. It's the littel things that would make the brands look that much different. There's no need to merge them just fix them.

 

[BourneToFly]

Should the WWE merge the brands... The answer is no. The reason why is because the talent is already stacked, and having un-used talent across the board, will just make it more sloppy. The tag titles should be un-unified, sure each brand has it's own thing.

I would rather have two brands then a cluster of a show. I think after the NXT show is done, that should be a cross show of mid-carders and guys you want to promote. It would be a good show to have titles switch hands.

It would be better for a new Raw GM to emerge, and they can have feuds on this show and give new talent a big push. Like one week the US and IC title are on Raw, then Smackdown get's one of those titles back. You can call it the battle-zone. It would be nice way to promote both shows.

Sorry for getting off topic, but the brand split works, WWE is too big to condense the shows. In fact, They need a third show, and not another ECW.

This is exactly why I started off the thread saying that WWE should cut people and condense. There is a lot of unused good talent, and a lot of overused bad talent.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Combining the rosters allows WWE to purge the company of worthless talent like the Colons and Evan Bourne. You can cut the roster back to under 50 talents and put on a good show. More is not always better, and that is apparent on WWE TV. There are too many titles. None of them mean anything anymore. There are too many performers, but not enough good ones to fill out two shows. There are too many stories for creative to keep alive that they can't dedicate enough time to making any of them good.

Let me address a few of the arguments.

1. You are saying that no one will ever get a chance to be elevated.

This is bullshit. If someone is over enough to be given a title shot, they will get it. This complaint is common amongst internet fans, and would still exist if there were eleven world titles. You act as if the title would just be ping ponged amongst five guys, but that's pure bullshit. The problem is that most of the people you want pushed just plain aren't good enough, and there aren't enough world titles in existence to make internet heroes like Shelton Benjamin a worthwhile champion.

2. Guys will get buried.

Apparently, just like they did in the 90's when no new stars were made. Are you fucking kidding me. All of you sit in your mother's basements and pine for Attitude to come back because "new stars were always made". Well, how many fucking brands existed then? How soon we forget that the one branded concept worked fine for the first fifty years. No one will get buried. The odds of Cena having two fifteen minute main event matches every week are slim. On one show, he will wrestle and on the other, he will do a promo. You can get just as many people involved in the show with one brand. Not everyone on the roster needs to be on both shows every week, and people like Bourne, Croft and Baretta, Zack Ryder don't need any TV time. You can purge Khali. It all sounds brilliant to me.

The fact is that in four hours of television, you can get 35-40 guys TV time. How many more do you need? Anything beyond that is wasting an opportunity to sell the PPV. No one cares about anyone past the top 25 guys anyway, so giving them more time and taking away the filler (Evan Bourne's worthless untalented ass) would do nothing but make MORE stars and take away more dead air-(Bourne).

 

[ThAwRe$tLiNgGaWd]

The way I look at it, everyone would be lost in the "proverbial" shuffle. Main-event matches and feuds would carry over into each show week in and week out, and the mid and low card performers are left in the dust. Everyone talks about so many wrestlers not getting the proper mic time and no chance to be on tv in any way... merging the brands would just increase this problem.

The problem to me is not two separate brands, it's more or less the creative writing that gets put into each of the shows. I could only imagine how incredibly difficult it would be to be a writer for the WWE, but sometimes it only looks like these guys are asleep behind the wheel.

I say keep the brands separate, just put something more into the product and just don't sit back and rest on their laurels only because there is no "competition" for them. That's been going on waaaaay too long.

 

[jason305]

Yes definately. The brand split as run it's course. When it started it was a nice new and exciting. It was fresh and "shaked things up" as Vince likes to say. I really enjoyed the brand split the most when the had the brand exclusive PPV's. And every now and then they had Raw vs Smackdown.

To those who say no then it would be over crowded ect. I don't think so.

This is how I would like to see it happen. At Night of Champions(if they still have it, if not bring it back for one night only) have all the champions face off.
IC Title Vs US Title, Diva's Vs Womens, World Vs WWE. Unify all the titles and go back to one title each.

Now you're not stuck with 6 Main eventers rotating through the year. At any time anyone can step up. Go back to high profile No.1 contenders matches. Imagine a triple threat for No.1 contender.

Let's take Raw. It's a 2 hour show right. Divide it in 4 quarters.
1st quarter you could build your No.1 contender match. 2nd quarter you can have your Diva's. 3rd quarter could focus on your Tag Team. 4th quarter your main event.

Smackdown. 1st quarter you could have a personal rivalry. 2nd quarter you could have your IC title fued. 3rd quarter could be a filler, give some rookies a chance and you finish with your main event.

Mix it up a bit and fill in your comedic relief ect.in between and every week you have something new. The guys who can't make Smackdown can be on Raw and vice versa with occasional appearances. Or if you are on Raw this week you on Smackdown next week. And someone like lets say Cena can always do a promo via sattelite or something if it's his "off" Raw.

The guys that get lost arent worth holding onto and if so they could always use them on Superstars with occasional appearances to build them and get them over.

People say it won't work but it worked fine in the past. And I most definately think it time the 'E' makes a drastic change to bring some new level of exitement to their product.

 

[kenvin100]

If anyone asks this as a serious question there is something wrong with them. The whole point of the brand switch was the be able to run more house shows and events world wide. One roster, you dont have as much as that by far.

Plus as said, the rosters are way too deep atm. There would have to be so many cuts which would cost WWE money just to cut people. Although the product isnt favorable their still making tons of cash and have most of the best wrestlers possible.

You merge the brands, you lose money and talent.

True say, but remember the main reason for the brand split was due to the addition of WCW/ECW superstars back in 2001.

Again dropping the brand split idea would do more harm than good. Keep in mind that the average superstar works only one live show a week, as opposed to two shows. Then again, WWE can save some money by throwing up the trash aka the superstars that are rarely used, but lose money on the house shows.

As an average every day fan, I'd like to see SD return to its original credibility as Raw. I won't lie. Before this split, I just seemed to like SD more than Raw. (just my opinion) But again, as an average fan, I'm a cheap ass who doesn't go to live shows, or watch PPVs...legally...*cough*...

 

[Foodapoodas]

This is a terrible idea.
First of all, from a business perspective: Having one brand isn't going to bring in that many new viewers. However, it will eliminate all viewes from the elminated brand
Secondly, a creative perspective: Having that much talent on one show, even if it was extended to three hours, is just not logical. There is no way they would have time to build feuds for each superstar, so many people would be lost in the shuffle.

This just wouldn't work.