Should the WWE Have a Reboot?

[The Scarred One]

With AJ Lee and Booker T becoming the general managers for RAW and SmackDown respectively, should the WWE consider a reboot in regards to re-enforcing the brand extension?

What I mean by a reboot is do what the WWE did 10 years ago when they began the brand extension and have a draft lottery. The two GMs would choose draft picks and organize their new rosters. Champions would still be drafted and exclusive to their respective brands, while the Diva's and Tag Team Champions would be defended on both brands due to the current state of their divisions.

Personally, I was a fan of the brand extension because it limited exposure to stars with too much of it and allowed exposure for stars that desperately needed it. Now, it's not unusual to see the same groups of superstars appear on both shows in a week, which isn't good for certain superstars looking to catch a break.

But should the WWE at some point consider having a reboot and re-enforce the brand extension or is the company better off as it currently is?

 

[nbieclkl91]

I think that's a great idea but before doing that, I would get rid of AJ as RAW GM and Replace her with William Regal. The only reason being that I think AJ would be better wrestling then in her current position of "power". To get back to the draft idea, I would have them draft superstars one by one like the very first draft with Vince and Flair.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I think the WWE DESPERATELY needs to do this...but they're not going to. There's just no way it's going to happen. WWE only cares about getting as much exposure as possible out of their top stars. While a re-enforced Brand Extension would once again allow more roster members to get over (as would the return of brand-exclusive PPVs), WWE refuses to even consider the idea.

 

[justin71]

The cross show matches need to be done in the most limited way it's not even special anymore when they do cross brand matches. It's 10 years since the brand split they should do Vince vs Ric again only without wrestling again this time around make it about who hos the better show...

 

[MCMG]

I really don't like the brand extension where every superstar is open to compete on both shows. It should be half Raw and half Smackdown. Each show should have a World title and a mid-card belt. Than allow the tag titles and divas title for both.

A draft would be exciting way to end this extension and would be very entertaining.

 

[Marv95]

Yes. I've been saying they needed a reboot for the last 2 years now, only the brand split should be over. But if they must have one, enforce it and bring some guys up to the roster who are ready and hire some CWs for the SD brand. Replace AJ as GM with a name.

 

[Headman]

I can't stand brand extension. I'd rather one strong roster than two lackluster ones. As for reboot, you're using the term wrong. "Reboot" is what WCW tried while on it's death bed. Throwing your history out the window and starting over is a reboot. I would never want to see something like this happen again, but I know that's not what you're advocating. Back to the point, I want brand extension completely done away with and both world championships unified.

 

[HamSwissman]

While I think the best idea is to end the roster split altogether, I believe the position they are in currently is much worse. I'd be in favor of a more strict split at this juncture. If done properly, I think a legit separation of the brands could work (even though one could argue that it never really has).

 

[brighamosity]

You guys are talking about the brand extension like it's still around. It's not. Tell me, what brand is Daniel Bryan a part of? How about Alberto Del Rio? The brand extension has ended. That's why it's August and we haven't had a draft. Even the house shows are mixed together; they only do two tours because I guess they make more money that way.

But no, I don't think it should be rebooted. The brand extension was a great concept ten years ago. But at this current state, I just don't feel like WWE has enough depth on their roster to fill both shows anymore. For the past two months or so, I've noticed that literally the only part of Smackdown I even watch is the weekly Daniel Bryan promo, and the rest I have fast forwarded through. One segment on the entire show! I can't even complain about it because I don't even care enough to watch it! Even Raw only has a few characters I care about right now so I'm even tempted to take a hiatus from all of WWE as well. (I'm not bashing it. I'm just saying I don't find the current product particularly interesting.) So with that said, WWE needs to fix Raw their flagship show before they even think about cutting the roster in half.

 

[Wald]

There's not enough talent left to justify two brands so I think they should leave it as is

I don't want Cena, Punk etc. taking up air time on Smackdown, as it is very useful in getting a guy like Wade Barrett to hone his craft and honestly a reboot would just highlight how far the talent pool has dropped in the past 10 years.

To show this, here's the guys who were the top ten for the shows in 2002:

The Rock, Undertaker, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, X-Pac, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Kane, Hulk Hogan, RVD, Billy & Chuck, Booker T, Edge, Big Show, Rikishi, the Dudley Boyz, Brock Lesnar, Mark Henry, Maven, William Regal and Lita.

They had people like Christian, Jericho, the Hardyz, Trish, Raven, DDP and Tazz come after that even.

Today the top 20 picks would be who? I'd guess at

Punk, Cena, Bryan, Kane, Big Show, Orton, Miz, Christian, Ziggler, Del Rio, Sheamus, Cody, R Truth, Kofi, Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio, Wade Barrett, Damien Sandow, Santino & Mark Henry.

Which doesn't look bad on paper, but when you realise there aren't that many wrestlers to follow up on the supplement draft you see how few wrestlers the WWE have gotten over in the past 5 years. I don't see the part time big names like Undertaker, the Rock or Triple H being used as part of the draft either. Undertaker at a push, but only if they wanted to add a star name to the listings

 

[Mr. HD]

I would be open to the brand extension rebooting, but RAW is now a 3 hour show. I don't think they have enough depth to fill a 3 hour show with just a few superstars.

WWE doesn't have a shitload of superstars for two brands like they did back in 2002-2006. Like somebody else said, I'd rather have ONE strong roster and ONE main Champion than two lackluster ones. The brand extension should be thrown out the window. Every superstar other than John Cena and CM Punk appear on both shows anyway.

 

[Mr-excitement]

The issue here is the company has been doing Wrestlers vs. General manager for at least 10 years. I suspect it is time to move on.

 

[WJDwjdWJDwjd]

I'd like to see a reboot. However, instead of a draft, have the GM's compete to "sign" talent based on salary, contract lengths, incentives, and percentages on merchandise. Much like real GM's in the sporting world do. Of course, all the numbers, placements, and such would be kayfabe, but it would be different than just switching superstars on brands at random, and could lead to interesting story lines when superstars are close to or have their "contracts" with that respective brand "expire". This could also lead to a heated rivalry between GM's, and even managers within brands against the GM of that brand. Talent will be held to their contracts with brands, and managers. Talent will be exclusive except on borrowing deals, holding championships, and talent can be exchanged via trade as well. Run WWE like regular sports franchises, and they could possibly garner a much more mainstream audience. You could have the WWE Universe become fans of the separate Brands, much like sporting teams, still have their favorite superstar, create new roles for non-competing talents (such as GM's having to report to a boss on the brand like a President of the Smackdown brand or Owner of the Raw brand, etc etc). I have an entire idea for a new/hybrid concept PPV based on this new way of running WWE, but that's a topic for a different thread.

 

[a member of wwe universe]

No you cannot do a brand extension because ppl wont take it seriously. Theres practically no tag team team, no US-IC division and a third division. Especially with the low desnity of star power. The shows of raw and sd are not gonna sell much especially on PPV. Smackdown and raw cant even fill out the show without implementing the raw guys in. and vice versa.

check out the status right now (mainevent to upper midcard). Look at the ratio differences between 2003 and 2012
Theres not enough top talents to carry the show.

raw 2003:
austin (sheriff)
goldberg
hhh
flair
rvd
mask kane
hbk
jericho
orton

raw 2012:
cena
punk
daniel bryan

(hhh, jericho, lesnar, rock are part timers. They're not the building block of the show)

Smackdown 2003
lesnar
angle
big show (2002 - 2003 he was a dominant heel)
taker
cena
benoit
guerrero
edge
mysterio

sd 2012:
orton
sheamus
mysterio
del rio.. no body cares

 

[trashboy]

I can't stand brand extension. I'd rather one strong roster than two lackluster ones. As for reboot, you're using the term wrong. "Reboot" is what WCW tried while on it's death bed. Throwing your history out the window and starting over is a reboot. I would never want to see something like this happen again, but I know that's not what you're advocating. Back to the point, I want brand extension completely done away with and both world championships unified.

This is exactly what I want too. Don't know why everyone likes the brand extension. I've never really cared for it. I definitely never liked having two World Champs in one company. It never made sense to have them saying they're the best, blah blah blah, but yet, there's two champs. Maybe the Heavyweight Title would mean something again if there was only one champ.

 

[Kong]

I dont know, but the WWE needs to do something different. Agreed on the wrestler v. the GM being played out. Need better feuds that last longer than 3 ppvs.

I thought it was comical when I was reading the description for Smackdown on Direct TV this week. "The return of the CONTROVERSIAL Highlight Reel"haha theres nothing remotely controversial in the WWE today. They got some Controversey with AW and were actually going somewhere but then they went ahead and fired him for no reason.

Unless they are actually kidding themselves tthat there getting heat from the media? Newsflash YOUR NOT!

Mind you Daniel Tosh did an entire 15 minutes on his shoe including a bit and a web redemption on RAPE. And this aired after Daniel tosh told his audience to rape a female who had heckled him?

The WWE is just pretending there getting heat. Just look at the twitter thing. They make in uncool to tweet in my eyes.

 

[Syborgg]

I'm actually surprised that they even made Booker the GM of Smackdown. I kinda expected to see AJ just run both shows. I personally think the GM thing has run it's course, but that's just me. It's time to first retire the U.S. championship which would open up the mid-card for more potential I.C. title contenders. Then, perhaps culminating at WM 30, unify the WWE and WHC titles. I think it's too late in the year to plan something like that for WM 29 and having it at the 30th anniversary of the big show would lend significance to that card. Point being, the brand split era has passed and it's time to pretty much put the nail in that particular coffin. Perhaps it's also time to go back to old school with only 1 world champ, 1 mid-card singles champ and 1 Tag-team champ. Then build meaningful emotionally charged fueds around ALL of those titles, NOT JUST the WWE Championship.

 

[Radical]

Maybe the reason people liked the Attitude Era and the Post Attitude Era with REAL, SOLID brand extension more than this era is because at least things made more sense!!!

In the Attitude Era there was ONE, just ONE World Champion in the company - The WWF Champion. Then there was a few other titles but each had their place... the Hardcore title! The tag team title ... it actually had meaning and prestige! There Intercontinental Title had its place and its feuds. The European title and the Light Heavyweight title were the only ones I felt were out of place.

Then in the immediate post-Attitude Era there was real brand extension and Smackdown stars were exclusive to Smackdown and Raw stars were exlusive to Raw and it came after the merge with WCW so it made sense both brands had their top titles and mid-card titles, even their own tag titles.

But now everything seems messed up! WWE seems to only care about building up the WWE championship picture and a few personal feuds. Obviously some effort goes into the World Heavyweight Title picture but there seems to be little to no effort to make the IC title, the US title, the Tag Titles or the Divas title seem important at all!

The WWE HAS talent if they would let them be seen! But they keep re-using the same guys over and over and over again to the point where anyone below them are rarely seen or buried. Mid-carders can hardly even catch a break because they have already established guys like Christian, The Miz, Santino and Cody Rhodes as IC and US champions instead of giving a chance to guys like Hunico, Trent Baretta, Tyson Kidd, Heath Slater, etc. They bury or ignore these guys so much... no wonder they don't get over.

If WWE simplified things a bit more it would help a lot.

Maybe a year from now (after Ziggler cashes in his MITB briefcase) they can start an angle to merge the WHC with the WWE title and just have ONE top title in the company but for the sake of 'Raw World Tours' and 'SmackDown World Tours' they can build up the IC title so it has actual prestige and that champion can travel with the Smackdown show and put on main events.

Then they can build more feuds and relevance to the Tag Team division and I'd really like to see the re-introduction of the Hardcore title and division.

So no, I don't think they should do a reboot to do a draft and make each brand separate again. But they do have to fix the mess they have right now with their titles and Superstars.

 

[autiero_fabian]

I think the WWE doesn't necessarily need a 'reboot' as such, they just need to bring more new stars through, I am personally getting bored of getting the same predictable Main Events, guys like Ziggler, Barrett (when he returns), Daniel Bryan, The Miz - just to name a few, all need to be given more of a push, granted that Ziggler is actually getting a push, but as for Daniel Bryan, he should've won the WWE Title in one of the several matches with Punk. I am beginning to get bored of Big Show, John Cena, CM Punk, Kane, and Rey Mysterio being the marquee guys of the company, I think these superstars - with the exclusion of Punk and maybe Orton for another couple of years - should be used more as guys to put over the next bunch of guys who are going to carry the company, the like of Barrett, Ziggler, Miz, Daniel Bryan and even Damien Sandow and Ryback.

 

[whoopin' ass]

for a second, i thought you meant a total reboot

unless they have learned some lessons from the past, it would be waste no matter how good of an idea it is. RAW is the WWE - it is that simple. look at what happened in the past when Smackdown was viewed as better than RAW. look at RAW now - how many Smackdown stars appear on there yet rarely do you see a RAW guys on Smackdown and never the bigger talent. unless they were going to treat it as 2 separate companies, and let the chips fall where they may, it is a waste of time since RAW is always the important show. personally, i would love to see it. I would love to see Booker T and Teddy Long say they are sick of how the wwe has treated the legacy of wcw and that they are splitting away but unless Vince actually treats Smackdown as he treats RAW, it will just be a repeat of what already happened.

 

[byrnside]

Technically there still is a brand extension. When you watch RAW or Smackdown, specifically RAW, when a guy is coming down the ramp, the nameplate either has Smackdown or RAW colors/logos to differentiate. Ie- Daniel Bryan or Del Rio have Smackdown nameplates. That's about the only thing that keeps the extension going. Otherwise, there is no brand extension. There's just not enough talent on the roster to be able to pull it off. Frankly, the extension was pointless anyway. It's even more pointless now that there are three hours to fill on RAW with such a "limited" roster.

So to answer the OP, I think a reboot would be pointless. The only way I could see any thing like that working is if the GM's came together and said that all the titles would be declared vacant and they had tournaments to declare new champions, and (fingers crossed) came out with a new design for the WWE title. But as I said, there's just no point in doing that.

 

[TempestH]

I DO think they should re-enforce the brand extension, but I don't think they should have a big draft, but they should just quietly reshuffle the rosters and move guys to the show that they appear on more often.

Daniel Bryan appears on RAW more often than SmackDown, so just move him to RAW officially. Zack Ryder appears on SmackDown more often than RAW, so move him to SmackDown officially. Dolph Ziggler will probably be moved to SmackDown as soon as he cashes in the briefcase anyway, so get it out of the way now.

I actually like the show in its current form but they need to re-think how Superstars are used. There's nothing wrong with Superstars showing up randomly on the other shows, but they should be treated as special attractions or "guest stars". No RAW Superstar should ever be cutting 15 minute promos on SmackDown. And no SmackDown Superstar should ever have a match longer than 5 minutes on RAW. Also if they are to have SmackDown guys coming to RAW, the World Heavyweight Champion should be the one guy who NEVER comes over, unless it's a special episode or something

There is enough talent to sustain the brand split, they just aren't using them properly. They were pushing Tyson Kidd and Heath Slater, and all of a sudden they're off TV again. Guys like Johnny Curtis, Derrick Bateman, and Percy Watson have been doing nothing ever since NXT ended and was turned into developmental. Then guys like Alex Riley and Zack Ryder are left off of TV for long stretches of time and only brought out to job.

Santino Marella, the current U.S. Champion is treated like a joke, even though he's over enough to sustain the midcard. Just have him do random matches and take on all comers. Push him as a fighting champion, rather than having him job to whichever main event heel needs heat.

 

[Diet Soda]

Not at all. At the moment we are seeing a weekly repetition and recycling of matches that would only get worse if the roster was divided in 2. I for one am incredibly bored of Sheamus and Del Rio's feud - imagine if that was to close a PPV?

No, the brand extension does not need a reboot, but the scheduling of shows does need a bit of rejigging. Raw should be used to promote the main storylines, which can be given a bit of filling on Smackdown, but overall Smackdown should be the show that focuses more on the wrestling side of things and the showcasing of newer stars. Of course, I'm an advocate of 'one company, one world title', so the WWE Championship would have to appear on both shows, but 12 years ago this wasn't an issue and the roster was even bigger then.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

What WWE needs to do most to reboot its brand are as follows - Set up another developmental territory. Encourage wrestlers to travel abroad and find work in other markets- such as Japan too. Get those wrestlers to come back to WWE and get them pushed on tv. I'd also create a Tag Team division that was strong. I'd build it up and have a TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP tournament that finishes at Royal Rumble 2013.

WWE does have some excellent talent in its locker room - but they give up on pushes.

What the hell happened to Zack Ryder's push? What about that monster Kane in January this year?

They push strongly people Like Mark Henry and Big Show but if they did that with people like The Miz and Dolph Z - then we would have some excellent main eventers around.

 

[theBec2101]

I would prefer if they ended the brand split but on every show they would just create their own matches and maybe of one GM is heel and one is face have one but the heels over on one show and the faces over on the other, stack the deck in favors of the one so to speak. Then around Survivor Series or the rip off of Survivor Series, Bragging Rights and they pick from the entire roster. Or the GM’s are neutral and that too would make for great matches like these so it is not just heels vs faces a mixture.