Brand Extension in the Past

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

As always, if the mods feel this should be moved/merged, feel free to do so.

Topic at hand: If the Brand Extension had always been in place, allowing many more wrestlers to become bigger stars than they would be if the competition was higher, who would have benefited and in what ways? For instance, would Billy Gunn had become a main event star or at least an upper midcard guy along the lines of Finlay?


My thoughts:

1. Mr. Perfect would've been a main event star.
2. Razor Ramon would've been a main event star on the B-show.
3. Goldust would've become an upper midcard guy or possibly a main event star on the B or C show. (Hell, if JBL could do it...hahaha)
4. Vader would have become a world champion in the WWE.
5. Undertaker would have TONS more world title reigns.
6. Mick Foley would've had tons more world title reigns.
7. Ken Shamrock may have become a main event star.
8. Kane would've been a world champion star, rather than a world champion reject lol.
9. Owen Hart would've been a world champ.
10. Jeff Jarrett may have become a main event star very early on.


Some of your thoughts?

 

[Tastycles]

I agree with your points, I also think that Faarooq would have been a world champion during his time leading the Nation, and Ahmed Johnson's push would have happened faster and he would have actually made it to the main event.

As well as the main event guys, I think some of the people who were just forgotten or on the fringes like Dr. Death would have ended up on the midcard.

However, because WCW was running strong at the time, and the old ECW was still around, the lower card would have been pretty much attrocious.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

I agree with your points, I also think that Faarooq would have been a world champion during his time leading the Nation, and Ahmed Johnson's push would have happened faster and he would have actually made it to the main event.

As well as the main event guys, I think some of the people who were just forgotten or on the fringes like Dr. Death would have ended up on the midcard.

However, because WCW was running strong at the time, and the old ECW was still around, the lower card would have been pretty much attrocious.

Yeah the midcard definitely would have suffered greatly. However, maybe if they had the second brand in Smackdown, they'd have been able to secure a lot of the WCW talent before letting them switch over. If that was the case, we probably wouldn't have seen the nWo, Austin/Bret at WrestleMania, etc. Makes you think...

 

[Tastycles]

Yeah the midcard definitely would have suffered greatly. However, maybe if they had the second brand in Smackdown, they'd have been able to secure a lot of the WCW talent before letting them switch over. If that was the case, we probably wouldn't have seen the nWo, Austin/Bret at WrestleMania, etc. Makes you think...

I was thinking that myself, if the Brand extension really does bring in more money, then the WWF would have been able to keep a lot of the people who went across, also, the second show might have stopped the more tempramental people from getting frustrated. So, the nWo probably woudn't have happened.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

The wrestlers you mentioned No Fate benefited more from being upper mid carders on a single brand show. Than they would have been main eventers on one part of WWE TV. The best thing that never happened to some wrestlers is never winning WWE world title gold. Mr. Perfect & Owen Hart are held in higher esteem because of it.

 

[Gifted Music]

Forget the nWo...If the Brand Extension happened earlier, we may've never seen DX, The Nation, The Corporation, DX's invasion of WCW, Austin and Rock may have never been as big as they were because they'd only be regulated to one brand, and there probly wouldn't have been a WCW/ECW InVasion...Vince woulda still bought WCW don't get me wrong, but there may've never been an actual invasion of two different brands...So alotta guys like Booker T woulda been lost..

Another big consequence...If there were already two brands, there'd be no need for an Undisputed Champion...Therefore we'd still be talking about WWE never giving Chris Jericho a run as World Champion. So yeah, the brand extension woulda delivered alot of positives like pushing stars that didn't get pushed, it also would've prevented us from some of the key moments in WWF history.. Austin/Bret, HBK/Bret WM Iron Man, The Ministry, among others may have never happened.

 

[takerfan120]

If the brand extension had happened in the past it would have let more people come up and created more stars, but I also think that it would have prohibited some of the classic moments such as the austin rock feuds, austin taker, or basically any of the top stars feuding because they would have been on different brands. That is my 2 cents. I think it would have both helped and hurt the company.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Yeah that's the problem with going back in time....the paradox angle of everything. With every plus, there's a negative.

However, rather than focus on the negative, what positives do you guys think would happen? Everyone seems to just keep saying about all the stuff that wouldn't have happened (like DX and Austin), which are obviously incredibly valid points, but what positives would you guys consider likely?