Brand of the Year: 2005

[D-Will316]

Let's break down each brand shall we?

Raw

No Champion Began in 2005

Batista becomes one of the biggest stars at this time feuding with Triple H and Ric Flair and winning his first World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 21.

Chris Jericho comes up with the Money In The Bank ladder match concept.

Hulk Hogan returns to team up and feud with Shawn Michaels.

Muhammad Hassan becomes one of the most hated heels on the roster.

WWE Champion John Cena and Kurt Angle get drafted to Raw.

Kane/Edge/Lita/Matt Hardy storyline/real life drama comes out to play.

John Cena feuds with Kurt Angle, Christian, and Chris Jericho

Taboo Tuesday a fan interactive PPV debuts

John Cena leaves 2005 WWE Champion, title changed hands once.


Smackdown

JBL enters 2005 as WWE Champion

John Cena becomes one of the most popular WWE Superstars, feuds with JBL and wins his first WWE Championship at Wresltemania 21.

Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio feud over custody of Dominic.

World Heavyweight Champion Batista and Randy Orton get drafted to Smackdown

Randy Orton feuds with The Undertaker leading to Hell In A Cell.

Eddie Guerrero passes away..

Batista feuds with Kane, Big Show, and Eddie Guerrero

Team Smackdown defeated team Raw at Survivor Series.

Bobby Lashley debuts.

Batista leaves 2005 World Heavyweight Champion, title changed hands once.

my thoughts​

This is a real tough one for me but ultimately for myself I'd give Smackdown The Undertaker vs. Orton the ultimately swerved me.

What say you?

What was the brand of the year?​

 

[km85]

I'm gonna go with smackdown. 2005 was a good year to be watching smackdown. Smackdown helped elevate John Cena to be one of the most popular superstars in the wwe today, Love him or hate him.

 

[thegreekhero]

This really got me thinking but Im going with RAW. Smackdown was GREAT to watch back then, but I loved every bit of RAW that year. The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton fued was amazing, but John Cena vs. Chris Jericho features two of my all time favorites. Taboo Tuesday is genius. Money in the Bank is genius. Even though I sided with Edge on this fued, Edge/Matt Hardy rivalry was good, although it did bother me a little that it was real. RAW is my pick this year.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Can I go for a tie this year? Besides Eddie tragic death I actually thought 2005 was a great year for both shows.

On RAW's end the disbanding of Evolution actually opened a lot of opportunities and rivalries. Carlito was red hot, Cena/Angle/Christian/Jericho all had their moments on RAW, Trish Stratus was at her best, Triple H and Flair had their rivalry, HBK superkicks Hogan.

On Smackdown! we had Eddie and Mysterio in a red hot feud, JBL actually became acceptable, Orton and Batista freshen things up, Benoit returns to make a mockery out of Orland Jordan.

It's a coin toss to be sure but I'll have to go with Smackdown! by a small margin.

 

[Dimice121976]

If Hassan didnt have to get killed off I would of said Smackdown, because he was gonna face Batista at SummerSlam and probably would have won. SD did amazing in the draft that year as well. Christian, Benoit, and a white hot Hassan all went over to SD. Plus they got Matt Hardy in October and the birth of Mr Kennedy and Bobby Lashley. However due to Hassan being killed off, Raw gets the smallest of nods. Cena/Jericho, Cena/Angle, HBK/Hogan, Flair/HHH. An amazing year for both shows but Raw gets a narrow edge.

 

[darbare]

I would have to go with RAW because more things were happening on RAW. Undertaker had a brief and meaningless feud with Heidenreich on SD which didnt go anywhere. JBL's awesome reign was coming to an end. At Mania Cena vs JBL was not as good as Batista vs Triple H at all. Rey vs Eddie was an awesome feud, but did seem to drag on a bit too long at times. I mean it lasted from Mania all the way to Summerslam and then included Rey's son which was kind of weird because we all knew his son looked JUST LIKE Rey. Even with the mask his son looked just like him. Undertaker vs Orton was a great feud. They made Randy look like a crybaby though and that he couldnt beat Taker without his daddy. This was the year the current WWE title was introduced from Cena so we can all thank him for that. The debut of MNM was awesome for the tag division. Booker T vs Kurt was a good feud. 2005 was also the end of a potential main eventer in Muhammad Hassan. Batista was quite possibly the best part about SD that year because he was the face. Eddie died which left so many people sad, including myself to the point where I wouldnt even wanna watch SD. Other than that there were so many more things on RAW. Batista won the Rumble and faced Triple H at Mania. WM 21 saw Edge finally getting his title shot in MITB. Kurt vs Shawn was epic. Batista and Triple H had an amazing HITC. Hogan vs HBK was an amazing main event at SummerSlam with awesome build during the summer. Cena vs Jericho was awesome. Kane and Edge had an awesome feud. Edge and Matt had one of the best feuds of the year. Cena and Angle had great matches. Chris Masters was actually worth watching as well as Carlito. Ric Flair and Triple H had an amazing feud where Triple H won in a last man standing after like 3 pedigrees. RAW had the Homecoming show which was pretty memorable. John Cena became the face of RAW. SD was good but RAW was considerably better.

 

[pepentorresHHH]

Btw....on raw the title changed twice..... We had a new WHC at new years revolution when Triple H won it, then batista won it at mania ....
As for my answer....I'm going with raw, more things happened and my favorite superstars were on raw, we had hhh/batista, hhh/flair, batista rise, kurt angle/shawn michaels, hogan/michaels/ christian had his first title match on ppv I think in like ever, cena/angle,and bishoff's run as GM ended..... While on sd muhammad hassan got realeased and eddie died but we got great stuff like batista's run, rey/eddie,taker/orton

 

[JWGunslinger]

I want to say Raw, Batista was so dominant that year he really pulles it close to Raw in my opinion. Smackdown does come close though with John Cena rising in the ranks and the terrific feud between Undertaker and Randy Orton. One thing that really means alot to me was the death of Eddie Geurrero, not only was it tragic to the fans but from his passing we got to see many great superstars raw emotions and expressing what a great man Eddie was and how much he meant to all of them. His death helped people look past brand for a short time, for that time they were not seperated but they came together as wrestlers, as friends and as members of the WWE Universe and for that reason I say tie.