BRAND EXTENSION/DRAFT Thread: Keep It All Here

[Maddog Lionheart]

Well, this could possibly be one of the best things to happen right now, but it does bring up a lot of questions.

1. Will titles start to be unified or brought back?
2. Will this mean the end of the WWE Draft and the Pay Per View Bragging Rights?
3. Could I come up with some more questions?


The answer to one of these is no. But we can only wait and see.

(Matchup wise, I think this will lead to multiple stars rising up and new tag teams starting to form.)

 

[The Death Rattle]

Personally I am against the merging of the two shows. Let's be honest, the only real change will be we are going to see is more of the already established wrestlers. Which means more Cena, Punk, Orton, etc. as opposed to the variety we are getting now. I don't mind that each show has it's own big stars, but I fear the watered down effect from over saturation. I remember some of the earlier days after Smackdown started, which was overloaded with the same guys week after week. I don't want to see some of the main eventers in 4 or 5 segments per week. It burns out the characters to me very quickly.

There is already a severe shortage of credible storylines for most of the wrestlers right now. I don't think that will change by merging the rosters again. Here are a couple of examples. R Truth has been given ample screen time with his conspiracy storyline. What happened tonight? He was an afterthought given a GTS by Punk. Cody Rhodes has just won the Intercontinetal Title and seemingly split from Ted Dibiase, yet he was nowhere to be seen. If this happens more and more after the dissolution of the brand extension, I am quite leery of what becomes of some of the midcarders. Those two at least have storylines. What happens with those who are just wrestling matches on occasion?

Lastly, I personally enjoy the differences between Raw and Smackdown. Raw seems to be more of a storyline or angle driven show, where Smackdown lends itself to more wrestling. I always enjoyed the contrasting philosophies of the two. By merging, I'm certain Smackdown will become an extension of Raw. Or even worse, a dumping grounds for what they didn't want or have time to put on Raw.

I'll certainly watch both going forward, but my skepticism is high.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I am glad if the brand extension has truly ended.

I never liked the brand extension from day one. It was insulting the intelligence of the fans, by pretending that they were two seperate brands competing- like how would we know when one brand finally won. In the Monday Night Wars, WWE was the ultimate winner, because WCW ended. But if either the Raw brand or Smackdown brand was beaten by the other show, it's not like it would go out of business. It doesn't matter if Raw or Smackdown won the brand war, because it is all WWE anyway, so it wasn't a real "war" anyway.

I also didn't like that they were restricted to certain feuds, and couldn't do feuds because two superstars were on different brands. I like to think that "any" top-liner can challenge the champion for the title, not just some. It just makes sense that if everyone is together, there are more opponents to fight, thus fresher feuds. Instead of seeing two people fight for the 1,000, 000 th time, you can throw a lot more opponents at the champion.

Also, it is bad business by WWE to have a brand extension. If someone likes a particular superstar, they would just watch the show they were on. It would be better to have the same superstar on BOTH shows, so that the fan can watch their fave on Raw and SD, increasing the audience for both shows.

Some people say that it would hold back mid-carders. But I think that "Raw" and "Smackdown" should "earn" their spot on the show. I think that you have the superstars from both brands, who have a major feud going, on the shows, and have the rest be on "Superstars" for the time being. If a mid-carder or cruiserweight performs well enough, or they are in a major storyline, they can be "promoted" to the top shows. It will be something for them to strive for, and some mid-carders will have to lift their game, to earn a promotion to the "big leagues".

Also, with the WWE-World Title problem, I think that "Night Of Champions" is perfect to solve this. I would change the main event, from Cena-Del Rio, to Orton-Del Rio. Or, more specifically, WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio versus World Champion Randy Orton, in a title unification match. I think that they missed an opportunity last month, that instead of having two WWE Champions fighting in a unification bout, they should ahve announced the night after MITB, that Christian is the sole WWE World Champion. If Punk came back, have Punk vs Christian at "Summerslam" to unify the title. But they could unify them at "Night Of Champions" instead.

I would also have another match at "Night Of Champions" be the IC title vs the U.S. Title, or maybe have both belts, and use the U.S. Title like they did the European Title.

 

[JBK2008]

I'm hoping this is a permanent move. It needs to be done in order to rebuild the tag team division. The brands don't have to be completly back together, but some more crossovers would surely help and with a team like Air Boom as champions, this is already a nice start!

 

[d_henderson1810]

I was a little confused by the announcement. If what I'm gathering by what HHH said, then this could eventually lead to the end of the brand extension. If it is, then well, I'm not sure how to feel about that, a little indifferent maybe.

on one hand, will WWE merge the two titles? Not to mention it could mean a much more hectic work schedule for a lot of the superstars if they have pull in an extra match a week. A much more heavy work load could prove to be more damaging with the extra travel from going back and forth between the two shows. Then, you can only imagine how much more people would complain if they had to see guys like Cena twice a week? People will grow tired much fast of seeing certain superstars even more frequently, its just how people are.

On the upside however, it will create a lot more opportunity to give more time for storylines to expand on them leading up to a PPV and possibly add more depth and even create more compelling storylines for a lot of the under-card with more T.V time. You then also have even more options for a variety mixture of new feuds which could freshen things up.

I know some have been clamoring for the brand extension to end for sometime. I still think it serves its purpose by dividing up the roster and given each brand their own exclusive superstars and own storylines. Not to mention Smackdown has become a lot of in ring oriented over the last while. If the brand extension does end, will Smackdown just become another Raw? Dominated by in ring segments and more focused of the storylines and angles,while the in ring quality suffers too make more air time for these segments.

If they do it right then it could be a beautiful thing. Then again if I have to watch Cena open up and close both Raw and Smackdown every week then I would call that a huge blunder on WWE's part(not that I hate Cena). I also wouldn't really care if they chose not to go this route as the brand extension gives time for other superstars. Some who might be a little crowded on Raw and overshadowed by some of the bigger storylines have the option of eventually being moved over to Smackdown to flourish more. That's just my two cents on the whole situation. That's how I see it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the travel factor, it wouldn't affect them.Raw and Smackdown are often in the same city, and if SD moves to Tuesday nights, the WWE could book the same arena for two nights, saving travel time, as the talent can stay in town between shows.

Also, with Raw on Mondays, and SD on Tuesdays, the superstars can be given the rest of the week off to heal up and see family. They would also have to travel for a house show on a weekend, or a tour, or a PPV, but it would be eend up being less travel, and more down-time, which will lead to less fatigue and injury to wrestlers. That can only be a good thing.

 

[XXJJ]

They are not getting rid of the brands. They just said both rosters are allowed to go on each show. My guess is each episode you will see a couple of different guys from the other brand on. They will keep the seperate brands for house shows. Travel isn't a big deal either. Usually Raw and SD are only a couple of hours away from each other.

I'm glad they are doing this. A wrestler being exclusive to one brand was getting stale. They need to shake things up a little. I really enjoyed watching Raw tonight. It was nice seeing some different faces.

 

[rge2010]

I do believe that Triple H's words last night could be misinterprated. I don't believe (as things stand) the Brand Extension is over. I just believe Raw are borrowing Smackdown stars to boost their own ratings and plug the Smackdown show.

I don't for one minute believe we will see Randy Orton cutting a 15 minute promo about Mark Henry or Christian - that will be saved for Smackdown. But maybe WWE are 'testing the water' to see how it effects ratings.

I think one thing we can guarantee is if WWE decide to end the Brand Extension we will see roster cuts. It has to happen. WWE are currently about 15-20 superstars/divas more than they had in 2001 before the Invasion angle. This of course lead to the Brand Extension.

So if this is the case, who do you see getting the chop? I think the following will/could go:

Should go:

Curt Hawkins
JTG
Primo
Tyler Reks
Heath Slater
Johnny Curtis
Trent Barretta

1 or 2 'Internet darlings' here so I expect a backlash but I just don't see anything here worth keeping around. All are already ion the lower card and I can't see anyone of them making the leap to mid card anytime soon. Brand Extension or not, these have surely got to be on the chopping block?

Could go:

Drew McIntyre
Skip Sheffield
Yoshi Tatsu
Mistico
Brodus Clay

I really cant see Mcintyre surviving given he is bound to Superstars and jobbing to Zack Ryder. It's a shame because he is better than that but creative seem to have nothing for him. Mid card is already stacked and Orton/Sheamus/Mark Henry now eating into Raw TV time. Doesnt look good.

Sheffield has been out for ever. Apparently Vince is high on him so I could be wrong. Yoshi Tatsu has survived a few roster cuts, he has no relevance, but the fact he helps relations in the Asian market may keep him on board. Funaki survived years. Mistico has to go surely, he has already lost his character so what is left for him. Brodus Clay doesnt seem to be doing anything. He has a unique look which I like, but Husky Harris has the same look and is better.

Divas = don't care. Release them all apart from Nat, Beth, Karmha and the Bellas.

 

[Corpse_Machine]

Theres some major positives and negatives of the "Brand Extension".

Positives would be Smackdown ratings possibly going up due to the likes of Cena, Punk and the rest of the Raw superstars being on Smackdown, and that Mid Carders may have a lot more to do which would in turn "trim the fat" from the roster by showing you quite quickly who can go and who cant. But with that comes some quite big negatives.

Negatives being that the rosters will be huge and theres not enough room for extra superstars to stake a claim to already full and entertaining title scenes, having superstars exclusive to a certain brands allows a little bit more magic when say a big Raw superstar has a big match on Smackdowns card, you always have SD superstars appearing on Raw when its a special show or the run up to a PPV but it doesnt always work out the same for SD because Raw takes up all of the biggest rivalries on the live show.

My conclusion is that this will mostly benefit SD by having big guys on the show, it will benefit Raw too but not as much as it will SD. Ever since HHH has taken over he has been on SD almost every week along with Raw superstars such as R-Truth and Morrison so the extension was always there it just wasnt acknowledged until now.

 

[Guyzwitgunz]

Basically what Triple H announced is that Raw will now feature stars from both Raw and SmackDown. He didnt say anything about SmackDown featuring stars from Raw (other than tonights show) or doing away with 'the brands'. But I think he is half finished and WWE is very likely to finish off the brand split completely and also to move SmackDown to live on Tuesdays permantly.

I see their reasoning for wanting SD stars to appear on Raw - to get them exposure with the larger Monday night audience who will then trapse over to watch SmackDown (which is why they drafted Orton). But I really dont think that is going to help and the best bet is either to leave the brands totally split but move SmackDown to Tuesdays live, permanently where I assure you - ratings will go up. Or end the brand split totally and have SmackDown live on Tuesdays where ratings will surely go up for SD and likely for RAW as well. But of course there are some side effects of ending the split which people have mentioned above and I am sure are some of the reasons WWE has not ended the split for so long

 

[breka88]

Drew and Sheamus are not Brittish, Drew is Scottish and Sheamus is Irish. .

Um, last time I checked, Scotland and Ireland were part of Great Britain (I.E. the UK), as is England. Gotta love the epic education fail!

 

[The Future Rises]

Should go :
The Bellas
JTG
Rosa Mendes
The Great Khali
Conor O'Brian

Now some of them are obviously jobbers who have nothing to do. But about Khali he's a big guy who can't move in the ring. Plus his height is finally beginning to affect him at his age he just turned 39. And Conor O'Brian is just awful. I know he's not on the main roster but he's till very, very awful. His rat gimmick is disturbing. I would be so happy to see him go. The Bellas NEED to go because they have no passion for the business and they have no intention to try to impove.

Could go :
Former NXT rookies
Drew McIntyre
Husky Harris
Yoshi Tatsu
Primo
Tamina
Trent Baretta
The Bellas
Rosa Mendes
JTG

Pretty much all of them are either stuck at some point or are just jobbers.

I hope they don't get rid of Brodus Clay like you think they will. Brodus has impressed me since day one and I can't wait to see him debut on the main roster. I don't think Husky Harris is better than him at all. Despite his size Brodus is extremely talented and is actually good on the mic with a badass character and badass theme music. So I definitely think he should get a monster push on Smackdown.

The Bellas are AWFUL. I always say this but why should I respect them if they don't like wrestling(they said it themselves) and they don't intend to improve? They're a disgrace to every single person in that locker room who actually has passion and talent. I really hope the WWE release them after Kharma comes back and squashes them. And they can release Rosa Mendes with them too.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Guys who are of no use and take up roster space. So that means people like Curt Hawkins, Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater. These guys are dispensable and some have additional problems with them. Slater's got this court case looming over him for example, and Mistico isn't on WWE management's good side at the moment and I would think he's got a fairly large contract so he's likely to go. A guy like JTG on the other hand has a job as does Trent Baretta because they work as jobbers and have a role on the shows. The roster is very large at the moment, but WWE needs to strike a fine balance between lower, middle and upper card guys if they are ending the split on a permanent basis.

 

[Corpse_Machine]

My take on this...

Curt Hawkins - Has done absolutely nothing as of late.
JTG - He can go for all i care, hasnt been the same since Cryme Tyme split.
Primo - Great worker so should stay, and his little brother is in FCW so they could team.
Tyler Reks - Same as Hawkins, done nothing.
Heath Slater - I dont really like him, in my eyes he cant hang on his own in WWE.
Johnny Curtis - Hasnt had a chance to prove himself on major tv and should stay for now.
Trent Barretta - Excellent worker, great high flyer and WWE apparently wants Cruiserweights so he should stick around.

Drew McIntyre - Shouldnt really go, hes brilliant and just needs a decent wee chance and if he goes then VKM kinda looks the fool, after all he is the chosen one.
Skip Sheffield - VKM is apparently high on him, i also really like this guy hes a hard worker and in my opinion he should be where Otunga is right now, he would do a better job.
Yoshi Tatsu - Nice quick little guy, and like you said he helps them reach the asian market like Khali does with India.
Mistico - Now this is a damn shame, what WWE is doing with his character is terrible, he is simply amazing and really needs to get that mask back.
Brodus Clay - I dont really care for him, i can kinda see a space for him if someone like Kane was to retire and they needed another BIG guy.

My own picks.

Otunga - Do i really need to elaborate? Like i heard a fan say on Raw "You suck Otunga!"
Hornswoggle - Hes just a joke and isnt entertaining anymore.

 

[VABurghman]

I don't think the Brand extension is over but it should be. WWE made a big mistake when it split the roster to 2 shows. They should unify the WWE and World titles for 1 belt holder. I wouldn't get rid of any of the talent. They need to have the main event / middle card / jobber levels again. Spread out the matches in the regular shows so you aren't always seeing the same people in the ring week after week. Save the big matches for the big events. No more make shift tag teams, form a true tag division which it looks like they may be moving towards. Get rid of the WWE era and bring back the WWF / NWA / WCW / AWA era of wrestling.

BTW, NWO possibly coming back? Could be a good thing. Maybe......maybe......if just Trips would bring back the New Age Outlaws, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and reform DX. Big group vs Big Group. All out WAR on RAW!!

 

[nish2231995]

ive skipped through most of the comments but have read in short that people belive that the brand extension being no longer will actually mean midcarders, i can tell you this is wrong. What I hope wwe will do is keep main eventers of each respective show on their respective show and not go overboard with having cena and punk on SD every week and orton and henry on raw every week. I think i read someone saying that this has go to do with the cruiserweight and tag divisions being revived? I think this is so. If they separate main eventers of each show then people can get their choice of either cena/orton not both in one night. If they allow for more breathing space between midcard feuds, we probably will get more compelling stories raither than the 2 or 3 main stories. This also allows wwe to see whether its just th midcard talents' or whether its just the show that their on's fault as to why they are successful/not successful. I think its a good thing with some negatives. WWe will probably have orton thrown on raw and punk/cena every single damn week of wwe programming. wwe will avoid realising genuine talent through having their high midcarders or main eventers filling up a giant timeslot of both shows and midcarders getting less time on wwe television. we may get fueds lasting a couple of weeks less than normally because the amount of exposure through being on the both shows will call for less interest and compelling storytelling. This would however create better build and more compelling stories for the ppv's that separate 2 or 3 weeks (as we will see in HIAC and vengence after night of champions).
in short if wwe manage to have thrown orton on raw every week and cena on sd every week, this idea will go bust. I am all for it, but i like the idea of having brand extension's better with the midcard titles being unified or defended on both shows. With high midcarders, I suggest have maybe one trade between each show where high midcarders and the occasional main eventers get drafted off. This idea would probably defeat the purpose of having the draft after WM

 

[DeluX]

Um, last time I checked, Scotland and Ireland were part of Great Britain (I.E. the UK), as is England. Gotta love the epic education fail!

Oh for the love of... The irony here is incredible.

The Republic of Ireland is NOT part of the United Kindom. It is an independant country. Nothern Ireland is a part of the UK. Sheamus is from Dublin, the capital of the Republic, he is not British.

For the record, Scotland is part of the United Kingdom so Drew is indeed British.

Regarding the tag division, I do think it's time it got a shake up. A combination of bringing in teams from outside, creating and pushing teams from FCW on up and putting established stars that don't have anything to do together would help the tag team division immensely

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I don't think it's a permanent thing. It might be if it gets hugely over.

However, it really just sounds like a marketing tool. HHH said "for the foreseeable future" that's essentially "come get the double Bic Mac for a limited time only".

It wouldn't work in the long run. As you saw on Raw, things got kinda clustered.

If you have no brand split, you'll have to have some feuds on Raw, some on Smackdown anyways because there's just too much valuable talent there (yes I said that) so why not just give them designated spots?

The temporary end to the split is likely just a way to build up the champions and to get Night of Champions more buys. WWE operates for objective business reasons, not subjective artistic reasons. The split makes too much sense. You can have 2 house shows in 1 night in seperate cities. You COULD say "well why not just do this with the roster and split them". However, it's a lot easier to market house shows by saying "Smackdown live tour" because every fan immediately knows what they're going to see. House show revenue is a lot like McDonalds. You need high quantity and low costs. WWE gets most of its revenue from live events, most of their live events are house shows (although I don't know the total addentance splits and house shows obviously draw less). So having a strong house show plan is key to the companies financial success.

As silly as it might sound to the average fan on here, the brand split benefits house shows a lot, which means a lot of money for the WWE. Plus you can market wrestlers on the different shows. Instead of only having one top babyface guy and figuring out a different way to market another similar guy, fuck it, market them about the same. Not only that but they push the shows as equals and thus, you have more people percieved as main eventers.

Not only THAT but with 2 shows you get 2 titles. Of course, the WWE Title is the real top one. However, the World Heavyweight Championship matches are still a great way to market a match and make it more of a draw.

The business reasons why this is probably temporary far outweigh whatever supposed artistic values it would bring.

 

[Hunted-RKO]

This could be a good thing for the WWE.Espeiclly for the ones stuck in the Mid-Card with nothing to do,so now with the guys coming over to eachothers brands (I still think they should keep both) it will open new storylines,and maybe they could come over to eachothers brands to get more time with there fued.Thos could be a chance now to put guys together in a tag team,who have similarities and now just random people thrown together.One thing I DONT want to happen is to see the Mid-Carders hardly appear because all the Main Event guys Orton,Cena,Punk,Christian,Henry,Del Rio Etc....are getting loads of time which don''t allow the younger 'More Talented' guys to get air time.

 

[BK Styles]

Drew and Sheamus are not Brittish, Drew is Scottish and Sheamus is Irish. I thought those to made it painfully obvious with their gimmicks and their ring attire.

...you obviously don't realise that British refers to the countries that make up Great Britain/United kingdom, of which SCOTLAND is one of them. Scotland is British, dumbass. Shows what you know about geography. And Ireland may not be Britain, to your credit (though it sounds like you think Britain is England and England alone; poor Wales), but it's right by it, and a very, very similar country (I'm English and Irish, live in England, visit Ireland every few years). So I see what this guy was saying, and if Sheamus, McIntyre and Barrett hadn't been around for more than a few months, I would say this might be a good idea. But not now; they should focus on their own singles careers atm (hopefully drew's will get back on track soon).

But think of it like this. Barrett = English. Sheamus = Irish. McIntyre = Scottish. You want to put an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman together. I've heard some teams called jokes before, but that's taking it a step too far... (sorry, I had to).

I think that it will have no impact whatsoever, being that the title was dual-branded anyway. The only thing they can do now is have two people from different shows pair upit makes hardly any difference, if you ask me.

 

[BK Styles]

Oh for the love of... The irony here is incredible.

The Republic of Ireland is NOT part of the United Kindom. It is an independant country. Nothern Ireland is a part of the UK. Sheamus is from Dublin, the capital of the Republic, he is not British.

And this is true, and made me giggle, but Ireland is part of the British Isles, so while it isn't part of Great Britain, it is sort of British...in some way...ish...meh, either eway, I can see what the original poster was saying.

 

[Foggo]

I'd like to see Miz/Truth pick up the straps eventually and use the combined heat they have to really elevate the belts. Who wouldn't want to see those two knocked off the top of the heap? It would allow the fans to really invest in the tag team division to have champs like that. I don't think they will want to debut the KoW as tag champs because not enough of the WWE fan base know who they are... if they came in and went through the ranks and built up some recognition they would be perfect to take the belts from the "conspiracy busters" heh

 

[remyx]

Im kinda indifferent on the whole thing. Yes there would be less spots for people on the main shows, but isn't there quite a few people that need to get got?

Back before the invasion angle, Raw and SmackDOWN had a combined roster. The bigger stars would appear on both shows, and the more storyline heavy angles would be on RAW, and smackdown was there to let the newer and middle card wrestlers shine. Everybody who watched back then remembers this. Now why couldn't the WWE do this again? Have the Cena's, Orton's, Punk's and the like appear on both shows.. then let the midcard, tag division and so on flourish between themselves on both shows, superstars and NXT (renamed of course). Those lower on the card can have storylines and feuds run over from the shorter shows into the main shows, and the big guys can remain exclusively on the flagship programmes.

 

[RKOPUNK]

"After making a major announcement that moving forward the Superstars of both Raw and SmackDown will appear on Monday Night Raw"

I had a look at the Raw results on wwe.com to see if i could find a clearer answer, and this seems to be it. The brand extension isn't over, but Smackdown wrestlers will be on Raw every week. If anything, this is more the WWE trying to bring more attention to Smackdown, now that they are considering making it live every week, and get more of Raw's viewer to tune in to Smackdown.

 

[Chadmw]

every one can leave except for

johnny curtis
curt hawkins
drew mcintyire

So you want a roster of 3 people

So far today I have read 2 of your post, what are you like 8 years old

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

BTW, NWO possibly coming back? Could be a good thing. Maybe......maybe......if just Trips would bring back the New Age Outlaws, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and reform DX. Big group vs Big Group. All out WAR on RAW!!

You do realise Shawn Michaels is retired, the New Age Outlaws are old and faaaaaar past their primes (plus they no longer get on with HHH), X-Pac has had drug issues and is now working in developmental.

Also, who would be in the nWo besides Nash, who I am glad is back but is 50 and can barely work any more? Scott Hall??? Not with his severe health issues? Hogan??? No, he's in TNA and is likely to be for a while? Which former nWo member else is there who is still relevant and young enough to make an impact? NONE

I would have loved to have seen a D-X vs nWo feud, it would have been a classic. However, this is something that could have happened back in 2002 when the nWo came back then. We are nearly 10 years later.

It's too late, sadly.

I wouldn't be against the nWo coming back though, with Nash as the leader and forming a NEW squad- I could see Wade Barrett in the Scott Hall number 2 role, but a feud with DX is NEVER EEEEEEEEVER going to happen, get real.