Brand Extension Revamping?

[Mr.Fortuna]

This isn't a typical "End The Brand Extension" thread in fact its quite the opposite.

The wrestling business in general evolves and evolves and never ceases to. So my idea would be the revamp the entire structure of the brands. As we speak to the next level. Slightly borrowing past instances for the present future.

I feel a strong uppermid card is the key to elevating new stars for the future.
Cody Rhodes IMO is the perfect person to ressurect The IC Championship to lengths it once experienced. Constant emphasis on the mid card is key.

Basically unifying the two world titles and making the ic title and us title their respective brands main championships. Having one undisputed champion to go from brand to brand. Also really evening out the two brands and making Smack Down an actual competitor like it used to be back in 03. In those days I felt it was superiror to RAW.

However for this to work then talent would be mandatory to stay on their respective shows with no crossover fueding, only special occasions would be appropriate and would seem like something really special.

Your thoughts!?

 

[keehlnate]

The IC title and the US title can be prestigious even without unifying the two world titles. Remember on how Smackdown hold a tournament for the US title that includes superstars such as the late Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit? With the proper promotion, I believe they can do it again. As of now the IC belt and the US belt is a "just-to-have-title" and is probably worth second to nothing.

 

[Mr.Fortuna]

They dont need to be worth second to nothing though. With these titles being the main title for their respective brand would elevate them highly. One company. One world title. Thats how I feel about that.

 

[Jeff]

I have mentioned this numerous of times in random posts that talk about the titles or what the WWE needs to change etc. They NEED to merge the world titles and have the IC and US title be the top titles on each brand.

As for the comment about how the titles could be prestigious even with two world champions. I have to disagree. That was a different time. There were plenty of people who were uppercards who could go for either a Main Event or Midcard Title (Like Benoit and Guerrero) and they also had plenty of main event superstars to go around. However the current state of WWE is not the same as it was. They only have a hand full of main event stars who are really worthy of holding the WHC or WWE Title, and a bunch of midcard talent who really should be working their way up the ladder. They are putting "main event" titles on people who shouldn't be holding up. Swagger got the title way to early. Although it was for one night, Ziggler is officially in the books as a former WHC (which pisses me off personally). I would even argue that Del Rio and Sheamus shouldn't have gotten titles so fast. What it comes down to is you can't have prestigious US and IC titles when the WHC and WWE Title is losing prestigious by having guys who are not ready for the titles hold them.

 

[RicoLen]

There are many ways to go about doing it. Longer feuds and fewer changing of hands with the titles would to it quite nicely. If you're worried about PPV buyrates, there's no reason a couple of lower end belts couldn't be (re)introduced, like cruiserweight, internet title, light-heavy-middleweight I don't care.

A couple more used to separate jobronis from mid-card might be nice, and who cares if those titles get traded more frequently, but the mid-carders at one point in time were the real meat and potatoes of the old WWF, and giving them a title that really means something would certainly be nice IMO.

It appears they're trying to do something about the matter, but they need to keep on it. After last week's Raw & Smackdown I'm a little disappointed at the dip they took. I know things can't always move upwards, so I'm hopeful this next week things continue on the up and up like they have been.

 

[Gman35]

I guess the issue with unifying the world titles is, well it's really simple. If they did this, as soon as Cena won the title, we would start to see the I hate cena threadsm he sucks, blah, blah, blah. I know they are working on getting cruiserweights, they are looking to turn around the tag division, lets not get to far ahead of ourselves.

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

Yeah, I agree completely. Two world titles has always felt so weird to me, especially because it's painfully obvious that the WWE Title is considered a "higher" championship than the WHC. The World Title holder is supposed to be at the top of the company, and yet the WHC matches NEVER go on last; the WHC match actually jerked the curtain at WM.

Let's unify them, definitely. One Undisputed WWE Champion, on both WWE Brands. Makes perfect sense to me. And let's make the IC and US titles have some prestige behind them; it CAN be done. Chris Jericho won it as recently as 2009; Ric freakin' Flair won it in 2005 and held it for over 150 days!

Also, I think the IC title should be on RAW, being that it's a traditional WWE title and RAW is, and always will be, the flagship brand. But that's more just personal preference, I guess.

 

[Mr.Fortuna]

There aren`t enough main eventers in the wwe at this point anyways. Combinening the two world titles would make it prestigious again. Also guys like Swagger and Ziggler wouldnever be able to come near it untill they are actually ready for the main event spotlight. That mistake can never be done again.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I think this idea could really work out great. The Intercontinental and United States Titles could main event Raw and Smackdown while the Unified Undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Champion could exclusively defend the Title only on PPVs. This could bring credibility and prestigious back to all the Championships, and in essence, move them all up one level. Interesting idea here, but I doubt the WWE will do it. I’d like to see John Cena or Randy Orton walking around with both the Spinner and the Big Gold. I can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste the hate already.

One thing I would do, is to keep both Belts active similar to Chris Jericho’s Undisputed reign. Imagine what Alberto Del Rio would look like right now with two WWE Championships Title Belts.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

How do you have one main title and 2 brands? Does the champion have a Raw feud for 3 months, then a SD feud for 2 months? Every week you don't have the championship feud on a brand, it will kill it.

Right now there are 2 titles but nobody legitimately puts the World title above the WWE title. WWE promotes them as equals and promotes Raw and SD as equals, but Raw is the money-maker, the WWE title is their flagship, and John Cena, their top draw, is always in the title picture.

I don't see a problem with the way things work right now from a story or business perspective. You may want to diversify the 2 brands more, although they already feel like 2 different shows. I've always thought a trios title would be cool but it'd likely never work.

 

[Mr.Fortuna]

Basically its kind of an illusion of seperetness even though wrestlers are free to go from show to show. Back in 02 they had a plethora of main event stars which made a 2 world title system necessary but today there are only 5 full fledged main eventers, that being Cena, Orton, Christian, CM Punk and Del Rio.

With the ic title and us title becoming the main titles for each brand there can be a larger focus on building from the mid card. The upper mid card consists of Sheamus, Henry, D Bryan, The Miz, and R-Truth and Ziggler and Cody Rhodes. The future needs to be build and fast.

 

[nWo2]

WWE
WWE title is the only strap with any credibility. Don't take the strap off Del Rio because he'd lose steam. He looks good with gold on and with Punk & Cena to feud with theres about 4 PPV matches waiting to be made.

Smackdown
The WHC is clearly a better looking more vintage belt. I think the prestige of that belt should be held in higher regard. My solution?
Elimination Chamber 2012: Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus, Wade Barrett & Booker T!!! It can even be Undertaker or The Rock, but someone who has held multiple championships needs to inject some life into the belt. Since Booker T is already on Smackdown have Christian goad him into one more match. He wins and Teddy Long approaches him about a shot at the belt as a surprise entrant into Elimination Chamber. It may be risque so close to Mania, but if he had won Rumble instead of.......................... (still thinking)............ well if he had won we would all KNOW who won the last Royal Rumble!

IC/US
- Cody Rhodes needs to hold that belt until Mania vs Sin Cara in a "Loser loses Mask/Belt" then rematch the following PPV.
- Raw: Jack Swagger needs a face turn and a serious run and here's how you make him relevant. Get a foreign born superstar heel to win the US title and denounce it or rename it. He doesn't need to be totally unpatriotic in promos, but not acknowledging the "US" will get a huge reaction for him as well as a returning Jack Swagger.

TAG
Keep Otunga & Mcgillicuty together
Miz & Truth feud with Kofi & Bourne
Ryder/Hawkins occasionally tag when not being used
Jinder & Khali need to be taken serious as a duo a few tag matches will help
Kings Of Wrestling (nuff said)
World's Greatest Tag Team: Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin