Both Mid-Card Titles on Smackdown

[Kermit]

Sheamus got drafted to Smackdown as the last pick in the supplement draft. So where do we go from here?

Do you put Barret or Sheamus in a match at Extreme Rules and have them lose the title to a Raw member?

I'm interested in seeing who they pick to do this, or if they will even do this.

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I just read the Supplemental Draft results myself and I was surprised to see Sheamus on SD!. On the surface, it does look like the most likely occurance will be for either Sheamus or Barrett to drop their title to someone on the Raw brand.

Another possiblity, though certainly less likely, could be that this is a sign that the WWE is going to unify the two mid-card titles so the champ can go back and forth between Raw & SD!.

 

[Souls On Fire]

There is the possibility of Del Rio winning at Extreme Rules which would put both world titles on Raw and both mid card titles on Smackdown. Interesting things can be happening soon.

 

[Kermit]

It would be sweet to see them unify them, but i don't think they would do it so soon. Which would suck for Raw. You would have to build heat between the two champions, and it's not easy with two heels who never have had any real beef with each other at all.

My vote would be either Sheamus dropping the title to a Raw member on Smackdown this week or at Extreme Rules. If this doesn't happen then i would say that they will build up for a unification at Summerslam.

 

[MCMG]

I can see them unifying the belts and have the the champ appearing on both brands but would a feud between Sheamus and Barret be that could ( I'm not sure) and if they were going to unify the two mid card belts surly they would do it at Wrestlemania not now.

One of them will drop the belt to someone on raw i.e Barret to Kofi and just go from there. Both men are main even superstars and should not be in the mid card.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Unify the WWE title and the WHC title on RAW and unify the IC and US title on SD?

Interesting idea and I would like it.
However, this would be an official acknowledgement that Smackdown is only the B show.

From a business perspective that would be a terrible move.

 

[A-Zone]

@berlinbrawler -

Because Smackdown being the B brand wasn't officially acknowledged before?? I mean Raw is ALWAYS called the "flagship" show by WWE. I think it was acknowledged a loooooong time ago that Smackdown is and will probably always be the B brand.

Secondly if they unify both titles that means that the world title could be defended on both brands and same goes for the mid-card title (a la WWE 2001-2002). They wouldn't be stupid enough to have the world title OR for that matter the mid-card title defended on only one brand just because the champion is signed to one brand. Or have you forgot how the unified tag team titles and divas title works and how it can be defended on both shows regardless of the brand of the champion.

In my view it would be good because it'd make both titles seemingly worth more and will lead to more competition for the titles meaning so many different matches could occur and no title match would be the same...I think it's brilliant for business!

 

[Reddog1146]

I am thinking that wade barrett will lose his title to kofi kingston somewhere in the new future and bring the intercontinental title to the raw brand. That would be cool, US on smackdown, IC on raw.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Just like I said in the main titles thread, one of this belts will be pushed down the card. It is just the booking schematics of the WWE.

I could prolly be talked into why the two world titles would be better off unified. Same with tag and women belts when it comes to the WWE. However, one thing they aren't lacking is a mid-card roster. When you look at the two belts booking, they are completely different:

On Raw, they are given to guys who need a little face but are not high enough on the totem pole to be a part of the one or two significant storylines of the show. It may not mean much, but to say "I'm a U.S. or I.C. Champ!" is a lot better than saying "Well, I wrestle sometimes."

Over on SD, they are given to guys who aren't feuding over the main belt, but that doesn't mean that they aren't important to the show. Everyone talks about the last of prestige (whatever the fuck that means on a fake tv show), SD has always presented its mid-card title as a stepping stone to bigger things. I think Barrett has made that IC belt look much more important because he carries himself so damn well. It seemed like for a while, the guys fighting over it were just stuck in mid-card hell.. Well, with Barrett, he believably looks like if he dropped that belt, he would move up while the other guy got a mini-rub of beating someone important.


I don't know if you can say that about Sheamus.. And I do like Sheamus. But he totally just feels like a guy that fits what I said about how Raw books that title.. As did DB and The Miz.

 

[berlinbrawler]

@berlinbrawler -

Because Smackdown being the B brand wasn't officially acknowledged before?? I mean Raw is ALWAYS called the "flagship" show by WWE. I think it was acknowledged a loooooong time ago that Smackdown is and will probably always be the B brand.

They acknowledge that RAW is the flagship, yes, but not necessarily the flipside, that SD is the inferior brand. The one instance I can remember that they actually did that was when Booker T was complaining about getting drafted to the B-show, but that was in an obvious attempt to push him as a heel character.
In that Bragging Rights (crappiest PPV of the year) show they do Smackdown has always won so far. Cena reacted to being (fake-)drafted to SD as if it were the most exciting news he could have hoped for. There are some efforts to create at least the illusion that SD is equal to RAW. And that's only smart. And don't tell me nobody falls for that. Just because you didn't, doesn't mean the casual fans didn't as well. It's mass-media, not me-media.

 

[Dagger Dias]

WWE obviously have a plan of what to do about this, the question is what are they going to do? Both midcard titles cannot be on the same show unless there is plans to do a unification match. I think what will happen is that either Barrett or Sheamus will end up losing in a match at Extreme Rules against someone from Raw. If Sheamus loses the belt to a Raw guy then it could be a way to promote him past the midcard. If Barrett does, then it simply solves the problem of the belts being on both shows. Taking it off Sheamus makes more sense because it accomplishes two things at once. I'm not sure who would take a belt to Raw or which one it would be though. My guess would be that Kofi challenges Barrett again and takes the IC title to Raw because they had already been feuding.