Blessed by the brand split

[Tastycles]

In the 7 year immediately following the brand split there have been a total of 23 different World Champions on Raw and Smackdown. In the 7 years before the brandsplit, there were 14 different champions, 15 if you include Booker T being the WCW champion of WWF programming. Because of the dubious stature of the ECW title, I shall not be including its history here.

So clearly, this would point to the fact that the brand split has given us more main eventers than we would have had in the past. Who of the current or recent roster, in your opinion, has been blessed by the brand split, and who, given the old state of affairs, would have remained in the midcard or lower?

I'm going to start with Jeff Hardy.

Hardy was over in his first run with the company, and was pushed as a singles star at a comparable rate to Edge in the earliest part of this decade, winning the IC title, for example. Upon his return, Jeff started inching his way towards the top of the card and 2008 was his year to acheive that.

However, Jeff does not really have the look of a champion, and his short reign this time would suggest that they were testing the waters with regards to his behaviour and responsibility during his reign. In my opinion, if they only had one top champion in the company, then Jeff would not have been given his chance.

John "Bradshaw" Layfield

Following Faarooq's retirement, JBL changed his gimmick and quickly found his way into the main event. While I don't doubt that the potential of this gimmick would have been spotted, I just can't really see that they would have had him as champion for as long as they did, if they did at all. He certainly would not have returned to the main event following his commentry hiatus.

Rey Mysterio

I think if the company only had one champion, then they would have never given it to somone like Rey, best friend dying or not. Rey just doesn't look like what a North American audience expects in a champion, and it is unlikely that the company would have taken the risk.

There's many more to choose from, and not necessarily champions, so who do you think has been blessed by the brand split?

 

[f_roEDGE]

The brand split is a tricky thing. Here are a few questions to think about.

If the brand split never occurred, would Kurt Angle, Christian and Booker T still be WWE Superstars??

If the brand split never occurred, would Benoit or Eddie still be alive??

If the brand split never occurred, would the mid to lower card superstars still be employed??

If the brand split never occurred, would Steve Austin have retired so early??

Would The Rock have stayed a little longer because Austin stayed longer??

We cannot fully determine the ramifications of the brand split. Friends couldn't travel with friends and lifestyles were altered as a result. Technically, if the brand split never occurred, our Intercontinental Champion would probably be John Cena (assuming the WWE would've employed him in the first place). Gimmicks would probably be different as well. Edge could still be a face. Kane could still have his mask. Would Rey have his mask?? Would Rey even be hired?? JBL would have retired. Austin could have won the title 3 more times and retired at Wrestlemania 21 instead of 19.

WWE Undisputed, Intercontinental, European, Hardcore, Tag Team, and Women's......the only titles that were there before the brand split (I think, I may be wrong). The WWE Championship would consist of only Triple H, Undertaker, Jericho, Big Show and HBK, with Edge probably just coming up in the ranks. Booker and Kurt could still be employed with the company rounding out the main event. The Intercontinental picture would see RVD (yes....RVD), Cena, Jeff, Shelton and Orton. What about the European? Goldust (still), Charlie Haas, Carlito, and up and comers Mr. Kennedy and CM Punk. Hardcore would've been defunct.

The Women's Title picture would be totally different. Questions now arise about Trish, Lita and Victoria's retirements, how many Divas WWE would need.....

All I can say is that EVERYBODY, in some way or another, was blessed by the brand split. I can't say much more than that.

 

[NSL]

Easily, the person who has benefitted most from the split, is Umaga.

He's a great heel, and has had some good matches, but there's only so much he can do on each show for so long. With the brand split, he's been able to go to either show, and feud with a variety of people.

I'd also go with Matt Hardy. He was good on Smackdown, having the feud with Edge, and then the feud with MVP to get the US Championship, but had he stayed there, or moved to RAW, he'd never hold more than the US belt. I know the ECW championship is a glorified mid-card title, but at least he can say he was "the man" on that show.

 

[Mr. TM]

I question John Cena's place in the WWE. Back when John Cena made his rise through the WWE, he made it on Smackdown. If you really take a look back at the old Smackdown, it was a show that was headlined by JBL, and his cabinet, made up of a couple of fools that were twins, a chump US Champion in Orlando Jordan, and a woman with a giant ass pimple on her face. Not really what I would call main event material, but that was the best they had. John Cena wet out to get his title back from Jordan and so forth, until the Cabinet prevailed. Then John Cena turned his attention to JBL.

This put a guy in the main event who probably should not have been in the main event. He was able to beat JBL, win the title, and go on and become a very successful star. But if it wasn't for the brand split, he could not have been there. If he had to work the same brand with Triple H, back then, Cena would have been crushed.

 

[Mr. TM]

I question John Cena's place in the WWE. Back when John Cena made his rise through the WWE, he made it on Smackdown. If you really take a look back at the old Smackdown, it was a show that was headlined by JBL, and his cabinet, made up of a couple of fools that were twins, a chump US Champion in Orlando Jordan, and a woman with a giant ass pimple on her face. Not really what I would call main event material, but that was the best they had. John Cena wet out to get his title back from Jordan and so forth, until the Cabinet prevailed. Then John Cena turned his attention to JBL.

This put a guy in the main event who probably should not have been in the main event. He was able to beat JBL, win the title, and go on and become a very successful star. But if it wasn't for the brand split, he could not have been there. If he had to work the same brand with Triple H, back then, Cena would have been crushed.

 

[Savage1]

A little off topic and I'm gonna keep it extremly quick. Remember the 80's and 90's when a title meant soooo much? When title reigns were long...like 8 months or a year or more...when there was a huge fued with a huge build up and you got so excited for the culmination of that fued. Titles meant so much more back then and long title reigns and fueds made guys seem so much more important and got them over so much bigger. I'm gonna use Bret Hart as an example. Bret was in a long standing fued with Mr. Perfect and Perfect was the IC champ for like a year and they had this big build up to thier match at SS and Bret won the belt. I was a fan of his going into that fued but I became a bigger fan during it and even bigger fan after he won the belt cuz it meant something! I love wrestling today for a lot of the changes it has made but there are some things that should have stayed the same and the long fueds and title runs are one of them. Please bring back the long title reigns and build ups for old times sake!

 

[avi01]

A lot...I mean quite some superstars. Brand extension ruined a lot of good things about WWE. The likes of Cena, JBL, Hardys or Kennedy would have had much trouble to be where they are now without brand extension.

If the brand split never occurred, would Benoit or Eddie still be alive??

Eddie would be probably dead. Benoit it`s tricky...maybe not but he would still have had mental probs..so.

If the brand split never occurred, would Steve Austin have retired so early??

I think most definitely yes, Austin would have stayed longer. He had problems with creative back in 02. He didn`t like to feud with NWO or Eddie...didn`t like brand extension. Creatively speaking, he would have been much more at ease with no brand extension.

If the brand split never occurred, would Kurt Angle, Christian and Booker T still be WWE Superstars??

I think it`s quite irrelevant. Maybe not in the case of Christian but Angle and Booker are different stories.. not really related to brand extension. Well Actually Booker benefited from the extension.

Would The Rock have stayed a little longer because Austin stayed longer??

I don`t think so.

Please bring back the long title reigns and build ups for old times sake!

I think they are missing the character to make the reigns that important. Cena doesn`t make it..you just don`t make the title become some spin cd...ridiculous. Take Austin for example...his long reign in 2001 is the perfect example of what they are lacking right now. He was psycho, maniac, obsessed and that brought big time depth to his reign.

Anyway, I miss the pre extension days. WWE has never been the same again since then.