Would you bring back the brand extension?

[rge2010]

I know this has been asked a few times on here but if WWE are serious about Smackdown being treat equally to Raw (recent reports) I think they need to bring back the brand extension. I used to love the split back in the early-mid 00s when both shows had their own characters, storylines and own feel. When they came together at PPV's like Bragging Rights/Survivor Series it felt like 'War'. And not forgetting the WWE draft which was great!!! Folk will moan that the roster isn't deep enough, but surely talent will be allowed to develop if they are exculsive to one show and the limelight isnt hogged by the Main Eventers?

• I would still have the two brands come together on PPV, I don't think a PPV can sell itself with only half the roster the present.

• WWE Champion would be able to appear on both shows and he could alternate between the two brands in his fueds.

• Intercontinental Title would be Raw exclusive, US Title would be Smackdown exclusive.

• I would keep the Divas title exclusive to Raw and the Tag Titles exclusive to Smackdown.

I think having titles exclusive to a show gives it prestige, gives folk a reason to care and splitting the Divas and Tag Teams between two shows gives fans a reason to watch both if they enjoy that division.

Roster Split RAW

Faces
Daniel Bryan - arguably WWE's number two coupled with Orton to make up for the loss of Cena.
Randy Orton - arguably WWE's number three coupled with Bryan to make up for the loss of Cena.
Dolph Ziggler - popular superstar who can benefit from having main event focus on him.
Jack Swagger - I like this guy. Can be a solid face with the correct storylines.
Cesaro - great technician, just needs to work on his character but as a face this could happen.

Heels
Bray Wyatt - great character and can be pushed as Raws top heel
Seth Rollins - is doing well on Raw as a heel so he can be one of the top heels on this show.
Dean Ambrose - think his character is great, but would love to see him as a singles heel. I think he has 'it'.
Bad News Barrett - good heel, can talk and can go in the ring. Some good fueds on Raw for him.

Support
Christian
Chris Jericho
RVD

Roster Split SMACKDOWN

Faces
John Cena - if you want people to care about Smackdown then put the poster boy on there. This will also make Raw more pallatable for the fans who despise Cena.
Roman Reigns - Supporting Cena as the shows top babyface.
Ryback - I would place him on Raw as a mid/main eventing babyface as he is pretty popular.
Erick Rowan - I like this guy so I would place him as a top face with what he is currently doing.

Heels
Sheamus - turn him heel and lets see his character from 2009/2010 please.
Rusev - his character does most of the work so heel is a natural role for him and he can be a big player on Smackdown.
The Miz - easy to dislike. And with the correct booking he can prosper like he did in 2010.
Luke Harper - good character, can be a player on Smackdown.

Support
Triple H
Big Show
Mark Henry
Kane


When it is all said and done, look how well NXT is currently percieved? Characters are exclusive to that brand and I think Raw and Smackdown would do well borrowing from that model.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Personally I think even having one 2 hour show right for all of WWE would be enough with 100% concentration on that and improving it to a watchable standard, I can't say for everyone but for me I watch most of them in fast forward mode its gotten too stale right now for this much TV watered down and drawing things out, I think a brand extension would only work if it were a completely different style but during the last one it was still that WWE style that was difficult to tell them apart and became more of half the roster on one show and half on the other, Even have one show appealing to kids more and the other show appealing to a more adult audience.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Since there are no longer 8 or 9 championships floating around on the roster, having a brand extension would really serve no practical purpose. Sure, I suppose that WWE could always reinstate the other championships but, just as with the first brand extension, it won't be 6 months before there are internet fans coming from everywhere proclaiming how much they hate the extension and want it to end. Personally, I just don't really see a need for it. Restricting wrestlers to one particular show serves no real purpose, kind of like restricting wrestlers to weight classes.

A LOT of internet fans live to complain even when they get what they want. Like with the brand extension, a lot of them went on constantly how their should be a single World Championship in WWE again, this went on for years in fact. Now that there is a single World Championship once again, every so often, threads will pop up saying they want the titles separated once again.

The biggest problem with the brand split was that, for the most part, it was a brand split in name only. Frequently, you'd have stars from each brand appearing on the other brand's shows, defeating the purpose.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Scanning the lists above, it seems there aren't enough top-flight stars in the company to consider stretching to two brands......it sure is different from the Attitude days, huh?

I thought the original idea of a brand split was to thrust the second-tier performers to the forefront , the guys and gals who work so hard in their midcard positions to give the fans a great show. In practice, though, the 2-pronged concept became the top guy having to scrounge around for someone to fight.....As an example, for a time it was John Cena on Raw and Randy Orton leading Smackdown..... the field of contenders was cut in half, and one of the biggest problems was that Orton couldn't face Cena, except for the occasional PPV.

If this were the old days, with stars galore to populate two separate brands, it would be one thing......but that ain't the case.

 

[Navi]

Unless they decide to all of a sudden have a mass exodus and move everyone from NXT to the main roster, I really don't think there is enough superstars to make a brand split work. There certainly isn't enough titles, and no we don't need anymore. We just need the ones we have to show up.

As it is now, we are seeing the same matches over and over again. Maybe it's because they're are a few out with injuries, but it's still no excuse to have let's say for example, Ambrose/Wyatt on RAW, and then have them going at it on SD one night later. Mix it up a bit.

I would use SD as a launching pad for the guys from NXT. There is nothing wrong with moving some of them up Neville, Zayn, The Ascension. Put them on SD for a few weeks, let them get used to the guys on the main roster, before moving them over to RAW.

 

[FightOwensFight]

I always like the idea of splitting the rosters between the brands. It led to not being saturated with the same people all the time. Issue was they did away with the true separation and let champions show up on both shows and eventually there was no difference between the two.

I always thought that they had the makings for a yearly PPV based off the brand split. Call it "Civil War" or something and that would be the one time of the year you had people from the various brands interact with each other.

As others have noted, there just doesn't seem to be the correct division of "status" through the roster. There is a quite healthy mid-card grouping, so the IC/US/Tag belts would be fine, but there is certainly a lack of top tier talent to split and be limited to one show...

 

[Navi]

Oh I forgot to mention. If this were to happen, I don't see Cena going to the Smackdown. There is no way the WWE will put their top guy on the B show. If you watch it every week, you'll see he very rarely puts an appearance in there, and it's always a big deal when he does.

Orton I could see on SD, but Cena would stay on the flagship show for sure. I would also keep Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins together as well. Ever since the Shield broke up, Reigns and Ambrose still have a bone to pick with Rollins, and separating them onto different shows, would take away the possibility of that feud.

I'm still waiting and hoping for a three way battle for the title at possibly Summerslam between the three of them.

 

[rbv13]

Not that I am opposed to the idea of a roster split but if the purpose would be to bolster programming and opportunities for talent they could easily achieve the same success under the current structure. They need to focus more on continuity and depth. Currently there is seven plus hours of programming a week yet they focus on a very small portion of the roster and only a handful of story lines. With a thin roster its not a stretch to find something for everyone. In addition stop rehashing the ninety "meaningful" minutes of RAW all week long. Use each platform as a tool to grow the product.

 

[Navi]

Not that I am opposed to the idea of a roster split but if the purpose would be to bolster programming and opportunities for talent they could easily achieve the same success under the current structure. They need to focus more on continuity and depth. Currently there is seven plus hours of programming a week yet they focus on a very small portion of the roster and only a handful of story lines. With a thin roster its not a stretch to find something for everyone. In addition stop rehashing the ninety "meaningful" minutes of RAW all week long. Use each platform as a tool to grow the product.

And to add to that, with the injuries taking out some of the big names, Reigns, Bryan, BNB and Sheamus, maybe having so many 6-8 man tag teams matches should be avoided. When you put all the big names in one match, it takes away from the rest of the show.

We see more tag team matches now, especially with wrestlers that actually aren't even on a tag teams. Put these guys in one on one matches and let them show us what they've got.

 

[MR K]

I think the issue with a brand split is that everyone except Cena is affectively an upper-midcarder. Only Cena has broken away from the pack and is established as a true main eventer. You could argue that Orton is a main eventer but hes to up and down and not consistant enough. When he has been champ its always been a bit meh, The main issue is that the WWE don't put anyone on the same level as Cena. We as fans have, for almost a decade had Cena as the only true main eventer, with the occasional part-timer coming in to feud with him.

 

[Sheik-mon]

I feel strongly they should bring back the brand split... There are too many hours of wrestling on TV for us to get the same people again and again, why would i ever pay for wrestling when i can see the same people on TV multiple times a week.
I think they should leave more guys off TV, rotate them off TV, and yes, split them so I only see them 1 time a week at most... They already do a A and a B house shows (which makes no sense without a true split anyway), so they clearly have the talent. Or would be forced to bring up more talent if they had a hard split.

 

[ColeMc]

I have felt Smackdown is the Raw review show for a while now. Barely a decent match and usually just recaps the week from Raw and Main Event. The promos are nothing but reinforcement for promos they've done earlier in the week and the only time it has any relevance is when it's the last thing we see before a PPV.

 

[TempestH]

Scanning the lists above, it seems there aren't enough top-flight stars in the company to consider stretching to two brands......it sure is different from the Attitude days, huh?

I thought the original idea of a brand split was to thrust the second-tier performers to the forefront , the guys and gals who work so hard in their midcard positions to give the fans a great show. In practice, though, the 2-pronged concept became the top guy having to scrounge around for someone to fight.....As an example, for a time it was John Cena on Raw and Randy Orton leading Smackdown..... the field of contenders was cut in half, and one of the biggest problems was that Orton couldn't face Cena, except for the occasional PPV.

If this were the old days, with stars galore to populate two separate brands, it would be one thing......but that ain't the case.

The original idea of the brand split was to allow the main event wrestlers from WWE and the ones coming in from WCW to all be able to have a run at the top. Without the brand split, wrestlers who had already been established as "top tier" would have gotten lost in the shuffle. They would have become the mid card and guys like Cena and Orton would've been stuck at the very bottom. It was only when those established talents started slowly clearing out that the likes of Cena and Orton truly got to shine.

 

[rbv13]

I'm not going to pretend like I know the exact financial situation for the company but it seems a great start towards making SmackDown relevant would be a move to live television. Of course going live wouldn't mean shit unless the show gets treated with some respect. The current move to Thursdays should help. One would think more viewers will be available during this slot.

To be fair there are some major positives to the current SmackDown. Rarely do you see Cena and Cole.

 

[ColeMc]

Smackdown can't go live for what I would have thought would be obvious reasons.

 

[rbv13]

I guess I am missing the obvious reason. Current contract? Schedule? Cost? All are obstacles that can be overcome.

 

[L@RISANO]

Meh, as mentioned Sally in her post, the lack of True Top Talent sticks out like a sore thumb and seperating those guys would make both shows quite thin at the top.

The reason it worked initially was due to having a packed roster in every sense of the word over a decade ago. Today, not so much. With Reigns, Bryan and Orton out...look at how thin the Main Event scene looks due to just 3 guys not being there. I'd say to that effect, that having Brock as Champion means that at least he has a built reason to show up at some point, which helps bring some much needed Top Talent to the show.


It is telling about the thin state of the Main Event that the Rock had to make an unannounced appearance in a random segment to basically save an entire RAW show just over a month ago.


I'd say to have the Shield trio and possibly Bray Wyatt get to the top and try to get a full time roster containing around 12-15 guys worthy of being in the Main Event scene before even considering a Brand Split again. Right now, the WWE is in need of producing Top tier talent, not splitting it up to have 2 sub par 'live' shows...

 

[The Warlord]

You need to have superstars for a brand split to work. When Vince bought WCW and had that whole group of talent coming over...it was smart to split up the roster to allow these guys to get tv time. That was then..

Now? Thats the worst thing they could do. They are starving for good talent as it is...to split up the roster now into 2 shows would make RAW almost unwatchable. They did a good thing by uniting the rosters, as well as uniting the titles as well.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Not a fan of having the brand extension return, at least not for today's WWE. Maybe some day in the future. There should not be another brand split until we get to a point where NXT could be an equal entity to Raw. If the WWE can't treat ANY of its current titles with the respect they deserve, then what makes you think that they would properly book the Intercontinental Champion as the top guy of Raw or the US Champion as the top guy of Smackdown when they don't even make the World Heavyweight Champion defend his belt and appear on television? Both top belts would be treated poorly if the past semester is any indication of how this format would go. I'd hate to see that happen and it wouldn't be fair to the wrestlers involved. I also dislike the threadstarter's idea of having the Divas Championship be on one show while the Tag Team Championship is on the other. Those titles need to be on both shows.

If we're going to do another brand split, it should be done right. Bring back the big gold belt as Smackdown's World Championship. Bring back the Women's Championship as Smackdown's title for divas. Make the US Championship Smackdown exclusive. Make the Intercontinental Championship Raw Exclusive. Do the same for the WWE Championship and Divas Championship. The Tag Team Championship can remain dual-branded, as there is no way the federation could pull off two tag team divisions without bringing up the entire NXT tag team division for use on Smackdown for its tag team division. Promote some guys from NXT for use on Smackdown or Raw as needed for the rest of the title tiers and actually put forth effort into making every title count. Speaking of promoting NXT talent....

NXT could be the second brand in a brand split instead of having it be Raw and Smackdown. Have it be WWE and NXT. This will not be possible for quite some time, but it's the path I'd rather see them take. Until then.... no brand extension and no changes other than making the World Heavyweight Champion defend his belt monthly again. I would rather see the title structure remain the way it is with no type of brand split until NXT has grown enough as its own brand, it can one day become a true second brand. Move the US Championship over to NXT while keeping all of the current NXT belts on that brand. When that time comes is when this question could be asked again. I'd be fine with a couple of PPV's being Raw exclusive and a couple of others being NXT exclusive at that point, with bigger ones like The Big 4, Night Of Champions, and Money In The Bank being dual-branded.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

I would like to see another draft lottery someday in the future and get that brand extension, but the talent pool just isn't there right now. We anticipate a revitalization of the Main Event with guys like the former Shield members and Wyatt, but they're not on levels already reached by Cena, Lesnar, and Orton just yet. Eventually yes, but if WWE were to separate stars now, they would be thinning what they do have. We would witness a lot more filler.

 

[ColeMc]

I guess I am missing the obvious reason. Current contract? Schedule? Cost? All are obstacles that can be overcome.

They film Sunday(PPV), Monday(Raw), Tuesday(Main Event & Smackdown), then they pack up the whole show and move locations. The logistics of which are astounding, so filming live on a Thursday(or even worse, Friday) would give them roughly 2-3 days to pack everything up, hit the road and set everything up on the other end.

 

[Make it Reign]

They film Sunday(PPV), Monday(Raw), Tuesday(Main Event & Smackdown), then they pack up the whole show and move locations. The logistics of which are astounding, so filming live on a Thursday(or even worse, Friday) would give them roughly 2-3 days to pack everything up, hit the road and set everything up on the other end.

I think they could overcome that obstical by cutting raw back to 2 hours then filming main event after raw on mondays. Then do smackdown live on thursdays followed by the taping of superstars to air on the network fridays. Smackdown will always be the B show until it is live and they start putting effort into the product. (Which will never happen unfortunately. )

 

[DirtyD79]

Hell no! I hated it back in the day and I'd hate it now. Even though I hated it back then at least it made sense when you had all the wrestlers coming over from WCW and ECW. But now we get filler for a third of RAW and yet guys like David Otunga and Zack Ryder can't even buy TV time. Hell until recently I thought Justin Gabriel got beamed up by Martians or somethin'. Unfortunately these days It's not an issue of too many wrestlers and nowhere to put them, it's an issue of creative not having any idea how to use the talent and build new stars. With 75 wrestlers on the main roster there's no reason we should be watching the same card every single week. We also sure as hell shouldn't be seeing a 30 minute promo opening every damn show.

 

[ColeMc]

I think they could overcome that obstical by cutting raw back to 2 hours then filming main event after raw on mondays. Then do smackdown live on thursdays followed by the taping of superstars to air on the network fridays. Smackdown will always be the B show until it is live and they start putting effort into the product. (Which will never happen unfortunately. )

You're still packing on a Thursday night instead of a Tuesday night. Doesn't really change anything. (And they film Main Event before Smackdown as a live pre-show, you sure as hell don't film it after Raw(and after our 6 man elimination tag match we bring you a main event of Heath Slater vs R-Truth...no, no you don't.)

 

[ans1928]

I feel that they should bring back the brand extensions, for all the reasons that are listed in the topic post. However, more importantly, they should seriously consider (if possible) moving Smackdown back to Thursday night. I see posts and replies saying that no one cares about Smackdown. The reason being imo, is that it's on Friday night. I know I don't like to sit around and watch TV on a Friday night, but at the same time, if Smackdown aired on Thursday, I would more than likely be watching it.