All PPVs back to dual branded: Good or Bad?

[Vintage Punk]

I personally think this doesn't make much sense. I get creating a more stacked card with biggest names from both, but if they would just book matches and write storylines better then the single brand PPVs would be fine. This will definitely hurt the mid card guys/girls because there won't be enough to get them on the show or they will just throw them in some meaningless 3 on 3 tag match or fatal 3-4-5 way with hardly any build to get them on the show. Just make the shows better!!

Here's some building block WWE:

Step 1: Turn Money in the Bank PPV to King of the Ring PPV. That can actually be dual branded and winner would get title shot. Weeks before that PPV card you can have matches to determine who gets tournament spots from Raw and SD. MOB match goes back to Mania, that way you can have an exciting way to use some of your mid card guys in a match that can benefit them. As a matter of fact, they should change all gimmick styled PPVs like Extreme Rules, HIAC, TLC. Bring back Halloween Havoc, Great American Bash, Judgement Day, Starrcade, etc.

Step2: Build meaningful feuds and storylines on your branded PPVs that fans care about. That means you'll actually have to have the writers put out quality segments for Raw and SD

Step3: Make the PPVs unique like you used to with set design and pyro. Every PPV that's not Mania looks like a Raw or SD but with a changed screen graphic.

I'm sorry but adding another hour to a PPV is not the answer because it is just too long for most to care about. The PPVs should be no more than 3 hours. Dual Branded should feature the best wrestlers while your branded PPVs can highlight guys/girls not able to make it to dual branded PPVs

 

[Dagger Dias]

I do not think the PPV's should be dual-branded. The fact that only the Big 4 and Money In The Bank (as of this year's coming event) were dual-branded makes those dual-branded events that much more special and a bigger deal. It also allows more opportunities for wrestlers to get time on PPV that would never get a shot of any kind if all the shows were dual-branded. It would just be the same group of guys every month in different matches and that would get old. I would rather see a larger variety of match-ups on the smaller shows. Having months in between the Big 5 of only Raw or only Smackdown keeps things more interesting. Bringing back King Of The Ring and unique set designs would help, but I doubt that it would stop people from getting bored if there is little to no variety when it comes to the matches themselves. I think they should keep the PPV structure as it was, only eliminating useless shows like Battleground and bringing back Night Of Champions as the 6th dual-branded event. Keep the rest Raw exclusive or Smackdown exclusive. Just my two cents.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Lacks individuality, and I rather hate seeing this happen with the B PPVs. It's bad enough that we're not getting fun venues with fun graphics and fun entrance ramps anymore. Now we're back to seeing the decline of whatever identity Smackdown was building as it runs parallel with Raw. Not a fan of dual branded events, especially when there's no reason for them to co-exist unless it's like Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania.

We're already exhausted by the time the third hour rolls around. I don't see this is as anything other than a reason to plug more ads.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Sucks. You look at some of the best matches from the past year and it is easy to believe that they were given the opportunity, time, and attention because those cards were not so top heavy.

But as much as it sucks for me I can only imagine how bad it sucks for the mid card and lower card talents who will be getting the "Nothing for you at this time" message more often.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE's roster is so bloated that all this really does is eliminate opportunities for the lower and mid-card guys even more than before. Now following WrestleMania, most shows will almost exclusively be made up of title matches since there'll bet 2 main event title matches, 2 mid-card title matches, 2 women's title matches and 2 different tag title matches. Also, this will probably mean the Cruiserweight Championship will be almost exclusively relegated to the kickoff show and, every so often, so will some of the other title matches.

If they're going back to dual ppvs, then they should just scrap the brand split altogether and be done with it. If they want to, they can still keep wrestlers exclusive to one show and switch things up now and again via the Superstar Shakeup or whatever. They could keep the WWE Championship, Women's Championship and the United States Championship on Raw while moving the Intercontinental Championship, Cruiserweight Championship and Tag Team Championship to SmackDown. I'm sure some will say that it makes SmackDown look like the "inferior brand" without having access to the WWE Championship but let's not kid ourselves, company officials have made it abundantly clear that Raw is the top priority and always has been. It's not like they'd be changing anything that hasn't already long since been there.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I prefer having one dual branded pay per view each month, but keep the brands and rosters separate. If I go a step further, I’d like to see every pay per view using the Night Of Champions format. Each pay per view should have 9 Championship Title matches. This will drive ticket sales up, for the simple fact that every time you go to a pay per view, you know you’re going to see 9 Championship Title matches. So if you’re a Champion or a challenger, then you’re on the Sunday show. If not, then you’re not. They can solve personal feuds on Mondays and Tuesdays.

 

[OYDK]

Good thing for me. At least now we can go back to having stacked PPV cards instead of one or two intriguing matches and five that I couldn't give less of a shit about. Maybe this sucks for lower-card wrestlers, but I don't want to watch lower-card wrestlers on a PPV anyway.

They're also discussing extending the shows to 4 hours which could eliminate the problem of shorter match-times, left-out talent, etc. This doesn't necessarily bug me as I'm currently working nights and don't have to worry about getting up in the morning but I can see why it might be offsetting to some. Still, from a fans perspective, I'd rather watch one very good PPV a month than 2 lackluster ones.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

While I get why they are going back to dual brand ppv, I feel it's a bad idea if they want to keep the brand split alive. With brand specific ppv, you could get more wrestlers a chance to get exposure on ppv. Now, you will get the same guys wrestling on each ppv and nobody that's not part of the upper mid card will either be relicated to the kickoff you won't be feature on ppv at all. The cruiserweight will get buried since they won't have any place for them on the shows, same goes for the women's since if you're not part of the upper card of the division, they might not get the same opportunities they had last year.

Also the other problem you will have with having all dual brand ppv is that none of them will look special and interest will fade like they did before.

In the end, this will have a negative effect in every aspect of wwe and I don't see any positive in doing only dual brand ppv,

 

[AnthonyM4]

I had a feeling this was going to happen, but at least they are doing one ppv a month which is a good thing. Watch by wrestlemania 35 they end the brand split and the main event of that show will be wwe champion vs universal champion to unify the belts.

 

[Kamala316]

If they're doing this, I hope the next step is some major roster housecleaning, most likely after WrestleMania. Aiden English, Alicia Fox, Big Cass, Big Show ("wrestling" contract is up soon, I believe), Bo Dallas, Carmella, Curt Hawkins, Curtis Axel, Dana Brooke, Epico Colon, Goldust, Heath Slater, Konnor, Mark Henry (same as Big Show), Mike Kanellis, Rob Gronkowski's friend (no point in calling him Mojo Rawley), Primo Colon, Rhyno, Sin Cara, Tamina, Titus O' Neil, Tye Dillinger, Viktor, and Zack Ryder could (all) easily be replaced by someone from NXT. Otherwise, the only value these performers will have will be to perform at house shows, and to be in the "We need to fill the ring with bodies" battle royal at WrestleMania. I wonder if PPV's will be made longer, so everyone "feud" can play out. If not, maybe Raw/Smackdown will have more "value" to their matches. I'm cautiously optimistic, but knowing WWE (un)Creative, I won't hold my breath.

 

[stingray11214]

The problem with the PPVs is that they should reward the WWE fan and NOT the casual fan. WWE should do what NJPW does: 9-10 metches on the Main card. Video packages ONLY on the last two. Right now, you have a four hour show, six matches, and a lot of fluff. You have a two hour pre-show with 3 or 4 matches. WHY? The Olympics are dying on NBC because they are catering to the casual fan. Fans of the individual sports are waiting for the Worlds. Hockey, for example, the Worlds are held every April. 6-7 hour PPVs are only going to last so long, people will tune out. 4 hours total, 10 matches, and people go home happy.

 

[stingray11214]

If they're doing this, I hope the next step is some major roster housecleaning, most likely after WrestleMania. Aiden English, Alicia Fox, Big Cass, Big Show ("wrestling" contract is up soon, I believe), Bo Dallas, Carmella, Curt Hawkins, Curtis Axel, Dana Brooke, Epico Colon, Goldust, Heath Slater, Konnor, Mark Henry (same as Big Show), Mike Kanellis, Rob Gronkowski's friend (no point in calling him Mojo Rawley), Primo Colon, Rhyno, Sin Cara, Tamina, Titus O' Neil, Tye Dillinger, Viktor, and Zack Ryder could (all) easily be replaced by someone from NXT. Otherwise, the only value these performers will have will be to perform at house shows, and to be in the "We need to fill the ring with bodies" battle royal at WrestleMania. I wonder if PPV's will be made longer, so everyone "feud" can play out. If not, maybe Raw/Smackdown will have more "value" to their matches. I'm cautiously optimistic, but knowing WWE (un)Creative, I won't hold my breath.

You need good jobbers. Some of these guys are already winding down their careers. People like Titus, Ryder, Axel, Slater, Rawley and Big Cass are going nowhere. They serve a purpose in the greater scheme of things. Big Cass is still very well thought of by WWE brass. Titus' community service is what is keeping him there. Rawley is a means to an end. The rest I mentioned are reliably SAFE workers, who can get the most out of a match.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

WWE is quickly realising the brand split idea is never going to work... they had the chance with WCW and can never get that back. Fans just want the WWE, they don't want RAW and Smackdown. It's becoming less about what Vince wants to see onscreen and what is going to be good for a sale to Fox or Disney, which is now clearly Vince's endgame.

They have a bloated roster of talents who simply aren't getting over or who are overcomfortable in lower positions who are taking a massive drain on resources via their downsides. A cull is on the cards and it'll be swingeing, with some surprising casualties...

Once it's done, the roster will be more manageable, but probably not enough to sustain two rosters in the same way. Add to this the Brock/Universal experiment has seemingly failed. The fans are not engaged with the Universal title in the way hoped and even if they retained two brands, sooner rather than later we'll see one champion again.

It's all streamlining, making the business easier for potential suitors to "get" - imagine trying to sell to Disney and they don't "get" why you try to compete with yourself... especially when your biggest booms were not based on that premise.

This is just the start... expect these guys to go...

Ascension, R-Truth, Kane, Ryder, Most of the old Cruiser division, Tamina, Alicia, Dana, Sin Cara, Bray Wyatt, Bo Dallas, Axel, Kanellis, Itami, Breezango, RANDY ORTON (shocking but he has run his course for a while) and perhaps the biggest casualty, Brock Lesnar.

Someone like Mojo is gonna stay, purely cos they want Gronk... it's no different to Brutus and Hogan, if you want the guy who is gonna draw, his buddy stays pushed.

Some, like Orton may return after a year or so... even that list is gonna shave millions off the wage bill and not dramatically reduce star power but it would affect running two brands.

Some like Big Show will naturally retire as their contracts expire and move to other roles, but some like Wyatt and likely Lesnar can do better elsewhere now. If Cody can make a killing on the indy's then Wyatt definitely could - especially if Bo, Harper and Rowan all come along too.

 

[Ceen]

So, they’re going back to unify Championships? Two World champions on the same PPV was a bad idea...

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Bad because it's a sign that the WWE is giving up on the brand extension. I have always been fine with the brand extension if done right and it's through that we were able to see guys like Orton, Cena, Edge, and Batista become stars and Mysterio, Benoit, and Guerrero became main event guys.

I feel like this will mean in a year or two time the brand split will eventually be dead.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The problem with the PPVs is that they should reward the WWE fan and NOT the casual fan. WWE should do what NJPW does: 9-10 metches on the Main card. Video packages ONLY on the last two. Right now, you have a four hour show, six matches, and a lot of fluff. You have a two hour pre-show with 3 or 4 matches. WHY? The Olympics are dying on NBC because they are catering to the casual fan. Fans of the individual sports are waiting for the Worlds. Hockey, for example, the Worlds are held every April. 6-7 hour PPVs are only going to last so long, people will tune out. 4 hours total, 10 matches, and people go home happy.

The thing is, while this is all well and good, the WWE needs the Casual fans to become WWE fans, that'S why they go after them. Like it or not, they know that no matter what shit they throw at WWE fans, they will still continue to watch no matter what so why would you go and please those fans, really. They has a business want to expand their fan base so they will play up to them more to try and keep them interested in the product. WWE isn't like New Japan. New japan is a wrestling company, WWE is a Publicly traded company to produce a tv show with wrestling on it. They want to get a bigger fanbase if possible but they know that no matter what, they still go their core fan base.

In the end, it's like in every other mainstream sports, They want to attract casual fans as most as possibles so that when the tv deals are done they can ask for more money, that's normal practice in big time sports, so if they go and say, let not go after casual fans just keep with the WWE fans we have now, someday, they profits for the main show will probably look exactly like those of NXT which is that they will be losing money running the main shows and that will be on them for getting lazy and just trying to please the same fan base that are going to be loyal to them no matter what and no trying to get new fans interested.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

It has some ups and downs

Up:

- We dont have to see matches that dont deserve PPV attention get it. Last PPV that didnt get dual branded we got Bludgeon Brothers vs Breezango in a 2 minute match. I get that roster needs PPV money but not every athlete and match deserves PPV treatment.

- With one PPV maybe matches become more relevant and better. With 2 PPVs a month and 10 dollars for month it means we get 5 dollars per PPV experience. Now maybe with sole focus on 1 PPV we get better quality out of whole thing.

Cons:

- With less focus on individual brands some talents will struggle to get pieces of cake. Not everybody deserves that piece of cake but in order for someone to shine you need opportunity. Less opportunity means less people that would get it means less people would show what they got and get over.

- Takes away from brand extension because none PPV would be focused on them as a whole. Sure they have their show but having something big like PPV focused on it as a big deal for brand.

 

[Mr.Maikeru_Sawyer]

I say it is BAD,,,VERY Very BAD!
if individual PPVs are gone and all 12 will now be dual branded then most wrestlers will never see a PPV bonus of any kind. instead of having the 22 or however many PPV they had last year why can't they go back to a variation of the old old PPV schedule
January Rumble - Dual
February -Raw
March - Smackdown
April Wrestlemania - Dual
May - Raw
June - Smackdown
July - MiTB. - Dual
August - summer slam - Dual
September - Raw
October - Smackdown
November - Survivor Series - Dual
NO PPV in December(PPV off Month because of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years)

 

[Macho Mans Beard]

This could very well be an indication that we will no longer have branded shows anymore and that the show will be both. I see this as good.

I hate the fact that there is so many champions in WWE. There only needs to be: World Champion, Intercontinental, US, Tag, Cruiser and Womens. THATS IT!!

What I really havent liked at all is the back to back nights of WWE. When Smackdown moved to Tuesdays it was WAY too much. Yes it was taped on Thursday but I looked forward to it anyways. So why cant WWE make Smackdown live on Thursday?? And it sucks for me cause my wife is not a fan of wrestling so for me to hog the TV for 2 straight nights isnt getting me closer to her 'Promised Land'

Smackdown will always be looked at as the B show. But it never had to be. And moving it to a different day later in the week would boost numbers.

Yes there does need to be some major cuts by WWE. Cause there are tons of wrestlers who are going nowhere.

So I really dont mind the all brand PPV's or them being 4 hours. Just as long as they only do then 1 time a month. Not this 2 week garbage they have now.

 

[Radical]

Not a big fan of more dual-branded PPVs.

I understand that Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series should be dual-branded as the big 4 PPVs.

I do not think they need any more than that!


Why? Because, otherwise, what is the point of separate rosters and brands? It's already confusing enough for fans to have Raw "competing" with SmackDown as they are the same damn company. But to have the same rosters on more of the same shows just makes it more complicated.


If there is going to be brand-split then the big 4 PPVs is enough for dual-branded PPVs.

Then, have the WWE Brand Shake-Up every year (sometime after WrestleMania) to add some new faces to each roster and be able to create new, interesting storylines.


WWE has such a huge roster right now, they have to keep brand rosters and shows separate as much as possible so each show can find their top talents and run with them instead of getting shafted and demoted if they were all part of the same rosters and shows.


Remember Attitude Era when SmackDown was a show. Now, it was all new and it was at a time WWE was most popular ever and had ACTUAL, REAL competition outside of their company to deal with.

But, WWE also benefitted at that time by having probably their most charismatic "put butts in seats" talents in the company at that time: The Rock, Stone Cold, Undertaker, Kane, Evil Boss Mr. McMahon, Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, E & C, and so on.

So when WWE had one roster and two shows, often the same top guys would appear on both shows.

But these, days if that happened, fans would probably complain about seeing the same guys too often. Partially because it's a different pro wrestling world now and it's VERY hard for a handful of wrestling talents to be so charismatic and talented that fans never get tired of them.

Hey, let's also not forget the AE was like 4 years MAX. It was NOT all amazing but the top storylines were great and it was a 4-year bullet train.

Talents in WWE today, aside from a VERY few sometimes take 4-5 years just to get ACTUALLY over (if you include starting in NXT) and top of the card.


My point is, last time WWE didn't have brand split was Daniel Bryan era and I don't know that it was the best way to present WWE.



I think two brands is fine as long as there aren't too many dual-branded PPVs and unless for a few rare times wrestlers don't mix onto other shows (unless drafted/traded).


Two brands and then their own championships is okay, but let's make them both sound more reasonably prestigious.

SmackDown:
- WWE Champion
- United States Champion
- World Tag Team Champions (give the belts a gold update and throw in a blue swish or something if you must, but call it "World Tag Titles" instead of "SmackDown Tag Titles" which sounds pretty lame, like a low division title or something)
- Women's World Champion

Raw:
- Universal Champion (not a big fan of this name, but they have it and there is no realistic sign they are going to get rid of it or change it any time soon)
- Intercontinental Champion
- WWE Tag Team Champions (back to the old brand split ways, I think this was a better way of having 'two' tag team champions in the same company, but on different brands but still making them seem like world-class legit champions in their own right)
- Women's WWE Champion (add a red strip for this title or what have you but also, this is better than having "Raw Women's" and "SmackDown Women's" titles and makes both titles seem more prestigious)


I agree, bring back pyro and unique set designs for PPVs but I'm pretty sure WWE is not doing this because they are trying desperately to cut costs so they can still report each quarter they are "making profit" even though it's like a pretty cheap way to show "improvement".

 

[Ceen]

I was looking for the dates, and I just found that they are not montly PPV, sometimes we have more than 4 weeks between them (like Backlash and MITB are 6 weeks), so it means to much time waiting in the WWE Network for a PPV?

-Probably, it would have been better to keep PPV attach to each brand, but get some "Specials" between them, could just keep them with RAW hosting 4, SD hosting 4, the Co-Branded Big 4, and each can have 4 "Specials", co-hosted with NXT.

Keep talent relevant in the mid-low card, it's gonna

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Yeah I don't really get this. They have the biggest roster in years. And each one will be 4 hours long? Damn. Why not just cut the PPVs back to 2 hours each and leave it at that.

Aren't they losing money from tickets if they do this?

Or they could have at least kept some PPVs as dual branded and some as exclusive shows. Why go all in at the dual branded PPVs?