I also agree that the brand extension is the worst decision ever made by WWE. I feel like every week we are seeing the same matches. I dont want to wait for wmania 25 to see undertaker v hbk. Why cant we be able to see it on monday night raw? The brand extension deprives the fans of matchups that we want to see.
The fact that you don't want to wait until mania to see Taker vs. Michaels is exactly the reason why they put that match on Wrestlemania and not free tv. If they have that match for free on Raw, then there is far less of a chance that people would pay to see it on ppv. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who would order the ppv just to see that match regardless of what other matches were on the card.
To address the original topic, I personally love the brand extension in concept but feel like WWE has dropped the ball in its execution.
Having Raw and Smackdown as their own entities fills the void left when WCW closed. Up until then there was always that sense of 'who's gonna jump ship'. Since I think the brand extension took place before TNA started up (although I don't remember the dates) having the 2 shows could still give the fans that sense that superstars could jump to the other show without helping out any new competition that was trying to rise up.
Even adding in ECW (such as it is) was fine. I personally think that they shouldn't have called it that, just give it a new brand name and showcase the newer/younger talent.
If you break down the shows into say fifteen minute blocks, before the extension if you had Cena vs Orton feuding over the title, you would have at least 1 block on each show devoted to that feud. After the extension, it would become 1 block on 1 show, leaving the 15 minutes on the other show free for something else. So basically, you get less depth in each storyline(maybe less filler time) but you are able to have more storylines, which allows more wrestlers to get over, which creates more interesting matches, which allows for more options to sell ppvs, merch, house show tickets, etc.
Having two world titles accomplishes a similar feat. There are more opportunities to win a world title, which beefs up the resumes and makes the wrestler more marketable.
The tag titles have obviously suffered, but that's more due to the fact that they aren't really even trying anymore. When they first introduced the SD belts, there were some amazing teams feuding over the belts (Angle/Benoit, Rey/Edge, Los G's) and I think that was the period when guys like Jericho, Christian, Storm and Regal had the Raw belts a lot. The downfall of the tag team is more about guys wanting to be singles wrestlers (more money) and the writing/booking teams just not being able to generate interest.
Now on to the negative side...
The annoying thing about the WWE and World Heavyweight titles is that now if a friend just asks, "Who's champion?" I have to explain that there are two, explain which title is on which show, who has each title and any background necessary. (like right now is kind of tough with both belts on Smackdown guys)
The fact that there is so much cross-over between the brands completely destroys the purpose of it. They need to have someone get in some kind of trouble for going to the other show.
I think even if they used ECW as a buffer zone that would be cool. Make it so ECW guys get used in the lower/mid card on both shows and raw/sd guys get used in the main event of ECW, but Raw and SD don't interact.
The problems with the women's division just became more apparent with the extension. Since they needed more girls to fill the shows, they hired more the type of girls that WWE likes. If they had bolstered the roster with women who can actually wrestle, things might be better.
I guess my thing is that if you are going to split the brands, then have them be split. The only times I want any sort of interaction would be these times; at the Draft, the Royal Rumble match, a match or two at Wrestlemania and maybe one traditional Survivor Series match at Survivor Series.
That way those specific events would have something more special about them as opposed to last year's Batista vs. Umaga match which had no heat because there was no reason to believe that either guy gave a crap about his brand.
Alright I've ranted long enough
~V~
SO THAT'S THE NEGATIVE. B) AS WELL AS THE TAG TEAM DIVISION IS NOT AS GOOD AS IN THE PAST, BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SEE TOO MANY WORLD TAG TITLE MATCHES ON PPV, AND BECAUSE MID CARD STARS CAN WRESTLE ON ECW OR OTHER BRAND FOR A MAJOR TITLE THEY DON'T FORM TEAMS ANYMORE WITH OTHER SUPERSTARS, I THINK IN THE PAST AS THE ONLY MAJOR TITLE AROUND WAS THE WWE CHAMPIONSHIP, NOT EVERY MAIN STAR HAD THE CHANCE TO WRESTLE FOR THE GOLD SO THEY FOUGHT FOR THE IC TITLE OR FORMED A STRONG TEAM TO COMPETE FOR THE TAG TITLES. EX. KANE AND UNDERTAKER WERE A TAG TEAM FROM LATE 2000 OR EARLY 2001 AND GAVE THE TAG TEAM SCENE A BRIGHT, WAS GREAT TO SEE SUCH MAIN STARS IN TAG DIVISION, NOW YOU DON'T SEE THAT BECAUSE THEY CAN WRESTLE FOR ANOTHER MAJOR TITLE AS WE NOW HAVE 3, KANE HAS BEEN ECW CHAMP, WHILE UNDERTAKER HAS HELD THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TWICE, SO THEY DON'T NEED TO CHALLENGE FOR THE WWE TITLE NECCESARILY.