Is it time to end the brandsplit?

[62jakethesnake]

i think ending the brand split is unneccesary simply at vengeance sorry i mean night of champions have a title unification match between whc and wwe title and let taker win it as the undisputed wwe championship have some legitamite fueds like they were gunna do when they had the brand split (one top title who competes against all commers from all brands to prove therew the best in the business but doing this would drop some talent that to me are unneeded (jim duggan,nunzio,HORNSWOGGLE,even Khali he sucks but hes big) and have good fueds about stuff that could happenlike the whole girl becomes manager has an affair grudge m,atch grudge fued, TURN PUNK HEEL have him fued with jericho and hardy over intercontenental, mvp go to a non title fued vs HBK anyone?, and have a solid top eight who are in the titlepicture who alternate after a 2-3 month fued also have M.Hardy fued w/ guys like morrison, burke, benjamin over US title and use the ECW title as a midcard title like they already do, BUILD KENNEDY he is money put him in a fued with HHH or top face that wont be in the title picture , that TOP EIGHT i talked about would be Taker, Cena they wont get rid of this guy ,orton,batista could be in here,HHH, HBK, and eventually MVP , Pink and Kennedy

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Meh, I dont see why, its all but over anyway. Eevryone goes on all the other shows.

Im a fan of ending it without really ending it so to speak. IE combine the belts, Make ONE world champ, and just keep the mid carders to pretty much the shows they are on, but let the ME guys show up both places. So people still get their time, and we get more prestige in the belts, and the shows will be of higher quality.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Why end the brand split? So HHH can appear on every episode of WWE programing. No thanks. The way it is now works great. You pretrty much know who'll be on each show. Give or take. So if you like a certain Smackdown superstar you can always tune in. The brand split is pretty much unofficially over anyway. If WWE wants to have a feud they have it anyway. They don't even make them Smackdown vs. Raw for the most part. The KOTR was a prime example. Most were inter-brand matches. But it was the tournament that was special, not the matches.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

If the brand split ended, one of 2 things would happen IMO. You'd either have the current main eventers like HHH, Hbk, Cena, Orton, Edge, Taker, Batista on EVERY show and highest drawing mid carders like Y2J, Jeff Hardy, MVP, Umaga, Kennedy, Punk rotated so that they are each on every other week (because there's more talk for the big fueds than wrestling for the mid card) meaning the less popular mid carders and jobbers like Carlito, Santino, Morrison, Kofi, Benjamin, Jesse and Festus, London, Kendrick would all be released.
A lot of people think that the brands unifying would actually improve the midcard when instead it would hurt it because wwe creative don't do anything with the mid card (which is what most of us have spent the majority of 2007 complaining about)
The other result would be everyone on every other show so that they were each on tv every week and had time to develop fueds for ppvs, which is what its like with brand split anyway.

 

[Danmen001]

The brand split ending should definately not happen. The three different brands, most importantly, provide different stagings for thee big stars in the WWE. If they only had one brand, all the big stars would remain at the top of the company. No one would go anywhere and the superstars would be too crowded. Also for money purposes, they make much more money with the slit, plus more air time fot shows and more rating, plus all the extra merchandise.

While there are positives for only having 1 brand. Such as more storylines and more options for titles and contenders. They would be too pushed together on one brand.

The brand split is definately a good thing.

 

[Why Always Me]

People say that if the brand split ended there would not be enough TV time for people, I thik that could and would be solved by using Heat and Velocity for a pure hour of wrestling, no re-cap from Raw and Smackdown, that is what Afterburn is for.

The titles would have the prestige restored to them, the belts would be:

WWE Title
Intercontinental Title
Tag Team Titles
U.S. Title/T.V. Title *
Hardcore/ECW Title **
Womens

* Not sure whether it would be best to keep the U.S. Title and have it act as the European Title used to, or simply unify it with the Intercontinental Title and then down the line bring in the T.V. Title.

** Either simply rebrand the ECW title as Extreme rules only, or bring back the hardcore title.

I have always said that if the split ended to add an extra half an hour to both Raw and Smackdown which would allow for more T.V. time.

The only problem I can see is for commentary, I would like J.R. and King on Raw, Michael Cole and King on SmackDown and all 3 at PPV's.

 

[JaJaBings]

Nope, the brand split shouldn't end. As some peeps have mentioned, we'll have to end up watching Triple H more than we would like to, esp. now that he's WWE Champion again. What I feel would be necessary is, as the above poster has mentioned, unify the titles to restore the prestige in them.

For a long time, I feel that the old WCW championship being renamed as World Heavyweight Championship just didn't work out well. Since it's a 'World' championship, I guess it should be more important than the WWE title? But in reality, it's not. When one seriously takes time to evaluate the title scene right now, it's truly mind-boggling and ironic.

To avoid the problem of huge ME players clogging up all the shows, the WWE can reinstate the Undisputed Championship clause some years back which made the champions appear on all shows. Then, have some credible #1 contender matches on each respective show, resulting in 2 winning dudes from RAW and Smackdown, and grant them 'show hopping' privileges too, and cumulate into an interbrand ultimate #1 contender match on one of the shows.

The winner gets a title shot and retains his 'show hopping' privileges to feud with the champion consistently on both shows, and the loser stripped of his 'show hopping' status and probably do illegal run-ins on the show he isn't supposed to be at and screw the person who beat him. That draws up instant roster-wide potential feuds and needn't sacrifice the time allocated to the midcard scene, since huge ME players but aren't title contenders at the moment such as HBK, Batista, Jericho are forced to stay on one show, if they adopt this approach.

Here's my suggestions in unifying the titles:

WWE Title & WHC unified --> WWE Heavyweight Championship

IC Title & US Title unified --> Intercontinental Championship (and revamping the title to give it a modern look would be great)

ECW Title revamped --> Rename into ECW Hardcore Championship and should be SERIOUSLY based on the hardcore gimmick with high spots and bloodbaths. Shouldn't be treated like a Heavyweight Championship anymore, but somewhere along the lines of TNA's X-Division championship, emphasizing on exciting, high risk wrestling with the occasional gimmick matches, hardcore rules.

WWE Tag Titles & World Tag Titles unified -> WWE Tag Team Championship

Bring back the Cruiserweight championship too.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Unify the titles? Allow certain guys to do both shows? Sounds like an end to the brandsplit to me. If these guys don't have a specific title to go after, then the show becomes pointless. The AWA guys weren't trying to be NWA or WCCW champ. They wanted to be AWA champ.

So now that we've determind you want to end the brandsplit, why would you leave the shows divided. Allwoing 60 guys freedom, leades to almost 3600 possible feuds, restriciting it to three seperate shows cuts it down to a quarter of that.

All I want is originality. Everyone's biggest complaint is that HHH will be on all three shows. Umm, so? Do you not want a talented performer on TV more? Would you prefer that that time go to yet another Palumbo/Noble feud?

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

All I want is originality. Everyone's biggest complaint is that HHH will be on all three shows. Umm, so? Do you not want a talented performer on TV more? Would you prefer that that time go to yet another Palumbo/Noble feud?

And you think you'll get that with HHH? LMFAO. I don't want the SAME talented performer doing the SAME things he's been doing since '99. Palumbo is a bad example bcoz he's JPT (Just Plain Terrible) but yes i would rather see Shelton Benjamin in ANY kind of fued, or watch a Kennedy promo than HHH bury talent.

 

[JaJaBings]

Unify the titles? Allow certain guys to do both shows? Sounds like an end to the brandsplit to me. If these guys don't have a specific title to go after, then the show becomes pointless. The AWA guys weren't trying to be NWA or WCCW champ. They wanted to be AWA champ.

So now that we've determind you want to end the brandsplit, why would you leave the shows divided. Allwoing 60 guys freedom, leades to almost 3600 possible feuds, restriciting it to three seperate shows cuts it down to a quarter of that.

All I want is originality. Everyone's biggest complaint is that HHH will be on all three shows. Umm, so? Do you not want a talented performer on TV more? Would you prefer that that time go to yet another Palumbo/Noble feud?

Well, u dun seriously buy into this brand split and treat them as two different companies like WWE and TNA, do u? They have been trying hard to establish RAW and Smackdown as separate entities as far as possible, which makes sense from a business point of view, but these 2 shows are still essentially WWE.

It worked fine during the unification right after Invasion, and I dun see why it won't work now. I dun get ur 2nd paragraph cos' it's a rather incoherent mess, but my stance is to keep the brand split. Perhaps u got the wrong vibe when I suggested that the champions should be granted show hopping privileges.

This move, however, would bring back the old prestige and honor of winning the title, and makes guys want to work harder than before. It also settles smarks' complaints of seeing the same few feuds over and over again, which will not be restricted with this clause. I dun see why u would still treat it as a brand split, since 99% of the roster still stays on their own brand, and probably performing harder to work their way up to ME lvl and get the spotlight for 3 times a week, instead of getting a midcard match once a week.

Triple H bores me. I would mark out solely for his spinebuster cos' I think it's one of the best executed in the business, but even his Pedigree looks sloppy nowadays. Other than that, he uses knee jabs, clothesline, right fists and sleeper holds for the rest of the match. Talented, yea, but as the above poster has mentioned, it's getting cliched and u can't just see the same thing twice and feel the same vibe as the first. His 'King of Kings' gimmick doesn't work for me. At least his stint in DX made me laugh a good few times, but smarks hated that, so I guess a heel turn would be in order for him to freshen up his gimmick.

 

[PsxMeUP]

No brand unification. When the brand was one I hated seeing the same story built up 6-7 times until PPV. It got redundant. Stone Cold and the Rock were entertaining but seeing them pushing a story back and forth on RAW, then on Smackdown, then on RAW, then on Smackdown, then RAW, then Smackdown, then Raw, then freakin' SMACKDOWN AGAIN! I was BEGGING FOR THE DAMN PPV TO END THE MISERY ALREADY!!! The stories got over-saturated. No merging of the brands.

 

[FromTheSouth]

JaJa, my second paragraph, that you call an incoherent mess, is nothing but math. I realize that that might not make sense to you, but just try. No brand split means more combinations for feuds.

As far as show hopping goes, that is the end to the brandsplit. Do you think it would be at all exciting to see a pointless run-in by Edge because he's the number one contender? You would know it was going to happen. And with show hopping privalages, you would still see HHH in the way you are railing against, so your argument is the incoherent mess. I don't want to see HHH unless it falls into my guidelines of only the champ and number one contender. Guess what....HHH will always be one of those two, so your argument holds less water than levee in New Orleans...(too soon?).

The brandsplit is stupid. They barely stay with it as it is. Can someone tell me what brand Finlay belongs to? Batista's last two PPV matches were against Raw guys. Big Show and Khali fought on both shows for weeks. All it is doing is keeping us from an epic Shelton, Y2J, Jeff Hardy 3-way match, or an Edge/HBK feud, or the ultimate Taker/HHH match. End it and give us something new, or at least something that hasn't been done 23 times in the past year. They run around talking about Takewr/Batista 7 like that's a good thing. the matches are new, but there are only so many ways Batista can end up getting tombstoned.

 

[TheDevilsReject]

Yeah I think it is time to end this. They have enough talent and with the three brands they can spread it out nicely. WWF was around for years and worked well without no brand split up until 2002 when they first did this. At the start it was a good idea but now like much WWE does these days has been so watered down it sad. Wrestlers show up on different shows anyway so why even bother? Like is Bigshow on Raw or Smackdown who the hell knows. They should merge, cut the dead weight and use ECW as a farm leauge for up and comers. If do not end it at least stick to the formula have a decent draft and shake things up a bit.

 

[JaJaBings]

I dun see how quoting a few random numbers equals to maths. PS: I'm trying my best.

I know Triple H will somehow buy his way into title scene almost all the time, I guess that's inevitable if we do a title unification. Triple H hate aside, the main argument is that the same few ME/upper midcard wrestlers will dominate showtime.

People like the Undertaker, Batista, HBK, John Cena, Jericho, Jeff Hardy, MVP will be overutilized because these are the proven dudes that people are entertained by. Other potential stars like Cryme Tyme, Kofi Kingston, Shelton Benjamin would be relegated to Heat or Velocity due to the vast amount of time allocated to these stars.

So, pls kindly assess the argument thoroughly before attacking it blindly.

I agree that the brand split is kinda weak nowadays since they take that aside to build hype for a wrestler more credibly, such as the Big Show when he was up against Mayweather. They need to return HBK and Batista back to their shows properly and everything should get back on track.

 

[FromTheSouth]

So, pls kindly assess the argument thoroughly before attacking it blindly.

I broke down time-wise how, in FIVE HOURS, of weekly television, several people beyond, what I call the big 14 will get TV time. So it was addressed thoroughly, so read the thread before posting blindly.

And a few random numbers equates to idea that the WWE, at any given time, gives credible face time to about 60 guys. Taking those 60, and multiplying by the remaining 59 (after you take one out for guy #1) gives you 3540 possible feuds. Whereas, keeping the brandsplit to 25 guys on raw, 25 guys on SD! and about 12 guys in ECW, gives you 1394 possible feuds for the company, or roughly, a third of the possibilites without the brandsplit. Not random numbers. Simple math.

Furthermore, I said ECW should be a nationally televised developmental. Keep Kofi on ECW. Keep Tommy Dreamer there to give guys the rub. Make Colin Delaney a sypathetic face, OR a smarmy heel. Let guys develop. Move them up in time. Taker, HBK, and HHH don't have too much longer. Cena, Orton, Kennedy, or Jeff Hardy will get hurt.

If some of the better guys are relegated to Heat, it will get back on TV. If the WWE can show 3 million people logging into internet Heat, USA will find TV time. Superstars was syndicated and did awfully well in the 80's. You can look up my ideas about improving the meaning of matches equaling an improvement in the quality of matches.

 

[JaJaBings]

Well, using ur example of a 60-man roster, simple math would actually be 60 choose 2, to equate to 1770. In ur calculation, MVP vs Matt Hardy, and Matt Hardy vs MVP are 2 separate feuds, and Matt Hardy would be fighting himself since he's in both the rosters of 60 & 59 in ur example. If u consider triple threat matches, the number would escalate astronomically, but that's not the main point anyhow...

On the surface, a brand unification would do wonders to the company. Fresh feuds, endless possibilities of potential feuds, main drawing power such as Cena,the Undertaker showing their faces 3 times a week = $$$. Ur point about Heat is also intriguing, since good wrestlers lacking the charisma to carry the ME scene would be jam-packed in Heat to cater to actual wrestling fans, and could possibly measure up to at least ECW's viewership depending on the true wrestling fanbase.

But herein lies the problem, man will never cease to have ambitions. They wouldn't want to be stuck in Heat, knowing that the championship is on the main shows, and wrestling for the minority of true fans and not being appreciated by the majority of marks. We would have more cases of wrestlers leaving WWE due to resentment ala Kurt Angle and Christian. Even with the brand split, WWE almost had Carlito slip off their fingers. What's more to say when the brands unify? It's rare to have company men like Val Venis that willing jobs to any shit wrestler in the world and still stays happy in the company.

In the end, WWE will end up as a wrestling organization that milks their proven stars to the very last drop till they retire like Flair, while the rest of the new stars shrug and pack up their bags.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Ok, as far as the math goes, you include Matt Hardy in the 60, then multiply by 59, which is everyone in the WWE except Matt Hardy, therefore, 60 times 59 equals 3540. But enough about that.

True, man will never cease to have ambition. The only problem is that time will never cease to be limitless. Three people desire the presidency, and the window of opportunity will close on two of them by Nov. 5. (Obama can run again, McCain is in his last shot, and Hilary has done herself irrepairable damage, but back to wrestling, this is just an analogy). Just the same as every guy desires that main event spot, they all have only a few years to push themselves into that spot. So they need to make the most out of every opportunity. Therefore, we get better matches. Who cares if you're handcuffed. Do a shooting star press. Piledrive someone. If you get over with the crowd, Vince will have to showcase you. He's not going to pay people to do nothing. Go for broke every time. I just think too many guys are complacent because the brand split guarantees TV time for SO many people. If they can't hack it, go to TNA and get paid like Kendrick to get showcased and abuse you body like Angle.

 

[PsxMeUP]

You guys are arguing over math and numbers, but this is about entertainment. Just because you can have more match possibilities doesn't make it more entertaining. So along that line, I think there is a way to keep the brands split, merge them and make it entertaining as hell in the process! Here's is how we can have our cake and eat it...

1) Keep the brands split up but scrap the roster lottery. Even though the lottery is fun to watch, it's BS, and it only lasts one or two nights. And it happens too infrequently, making things stales by the end of the cycle.

Instead, allow the General Managers to trade wrestlers at any time during the year. This will create suspense from time to time when you see Regal, for instance, talking to Teddy Long/Vicky Guerrero. When people see the two GMs in the same place at the same time they'll know a trade is in the air. This atmosphere can last a couple of shows until the actual trade. Even the prelude to trades can make interesting plot twists.

2) Have a trade deadline like in professional sports. The deadline could be before Wrestlemania, let's say No Way Out.

3) Make champions exempt from trades. You win a belt, any belt, your job is secure on that show, until you lose the title.

4) Have a set number of "free agent" spots on all shows. Free agents can wrestle anywhere: RAW, Smackdown and ECW. Now here's the kicker...

5) Once you got the spot you can put your free agent status on the line... Let's say Cena is a free agent. Batista challenges him to a free agent status match, and wins, now Batista can hop around!

Now the possibilities are ENDLESS! You can have the big draws on all brands, you have a distinct difference between RAW and Smackdown, things can't go stale AND it's cool as hell to watch!

P.S. If WWE picks this idea up, I WANT CREDIT!!! (And Michael Hayes' job)

 

[ABS]

Look theres no many details , but these details can be ignored and end the brandspil and wont effect much but the thing that is holding this back from happening is simply too many Talents. With 3 diffrent shows a week some people still complain about this guy not getting enough air-time. Imagine how it will be with one show.

 

[JaJaBings]

5) Once you got the spot you can put your free agent status on the line... Let's say Cena is a free agent. Batista challenges him to a free agent status match, and wins, now Batista can hop around!

That's an interesting thought, but I can instantly think of the pros and cons off the top of my head. Pros would be that these free agents can contest for any of the world titles. Imagine if they want a real MEGA push for some wrestlers and give them BOTH the freaking world titles. That'll be huge, and I think WWE should take certain risks like these to freshen up the product. I seldom see champions with dual belts anymore, or lose their secondary belt soon after they won it. Kinda safe marketing strategy to diversify the fans' interest by having distinctive individual champions. If they want to build a new star credibly, a dual belt win would do him wonders.

Cons would be that everyone would be gunning for these dudes. Imagine going for the 3 title belts, then incurring the wrath of 1-2 #1 contender of each belt, plus guys that want the free agent status too, they'll have up to 10 peeps hounding them down individually. This would be true for most of the times, because I can't see anybody wanting free agent status merely to have grudge matches, they'll definitely be gunning for the titles, so it's quite a sticky situation.

And also from a real-life perspective, it'd taxing on these free agents to wrestle so many times a week, and handle potential multiple feuds at a time. Great thinking there though, have to polish up the idea a little.

 

[PsxMeUP]

I was thinking of having the first free agent spots up for grabs in a tournament, so ya, the higher tier guys would eventually get them and go for gold. I was thinking of having 4 free agents on RAW and Smackdown respectively, and 2 for ECW. That's only 10 wrestlers having extra work. You had the entire WWE roster working 2 brands at one point and the guys handled it somehow. They could give the spots to the young popular guys like Cena. For some reason I don't see the Undertaker as a free agent.

JaJaBings, you're right though, there are problems with having too many guys gunning for you. But look at it this way, if you get too much heat on all three brands, cower on one brand. Regular wrestlers can't get to you from other brands unless you go to their show. And you could have a stipulation that says once you get a title, you're stuck on that brand until you lose it (though that would be wasted potential). In the end, it would be one of those "good" problems. Having too much potential for stories is something the writers wouldn't complain too much about. I think what would most likely happen is writers would have free agents feud with other free agents across the brands. It would maximize the potential in ratings.

 

[Souls On Fire]

I'm up in the air on this one. i think the brandsplit should be ended between raw and smackdown. however i believe the heavyweight champion should stay respected to each brand to not take T.V time away from others the same goes for the U.S. and Intercontinental titles. However the rest of the roster can jump between shows each week but there should be some type of clause where if you appear on raw one week you can't be on smackdown the same week. The Tag titles between the 2 shows should be unified it would make for a great tag division with deuce/domino, cryme tyme, highlanders, cade/murdoch, the edgeheads. it brings in the endless feud possibilities to help keep things from getting stale. also bring back the cruserweight championship which can be defended on all shows like the tag titles a division of london, kendrik, super crazy, moore, yang and noble to start would b great

ECW should stay as a separate entity though a place to build new faces such as it has done with c.m punk and kofi kingston. the TV title should be brought in to actually build a midcard. you can have guys like knox and dreamer fighting over it maybe a returning gregory helms along with kevin thorn, richards, stryker, burke could help out the ratings to adding meaning to the rest of the show besides kane and chavo. I'd like to see Jeff Hardy, Hardcore Holly, and maybe umaga come in for a brief period to feud with Kane due to his connections with estrada. i think umaga winning the title from kane would be better than seeing chavo get it again and then Umaga can feud with Hardy over it eventually dropping it and moving to smackdown. then you can have potential match ups of hardy/punk.hardy/benjamin which would probably be the greatest matches of the year the athletic ability of shelton and the fearless Hardy could possible bring Ecw some serious credit. also all matches should be extreme rules. that doesn't mean every match needs to be fought with weapons but no d/q if they get involved

i don't know just my thoughts let me know what you think

 

[buddy_z34]

You guys are arguing over math and numbers, but this is about entertainment. Just because you can have more match possibilities doesn't make it more entertaining. So along that line, I think there is a way to keep the brands split, merge them and make it entertaining as hell in the process! Here's is how we can have our cake and eat it...

1) Keep the brands split up but scrap the roster lottery. Even though the lottery is fun to watch, it's BS, and it only lasts one or two nights. And it happens too infrequently, making things stales by the end of the cycle.

Instead, allow the General Managers to trade wrestlers at any time during the year. This will create suspense from time to time when you see Regal, for instance, talking to Teddy Long/Vicky Guerrero. When people see the two GMs in the same place at the same time they'll know a trade is in the air. This atmosphere can last a couple of shows until the actual trade. Even the prelude to trades can make interesting plot twists.

2) Have a trade deadline like in professional sports. The deadline could be before Wrestlemania, let's say No Way Out.

3) Make champions exempt from trades. You win a belt, any belt, your job is secure on that show, until you lose the title.

4) Have a set number of "free agent" spots on all shows. Free agents can wrestle anywhere: RAW, Smackdown and ECW. Now here's the kicker...

5) Once you got the spot you can put your free agent status on the line... Let's say Cena is a free agent. Batista challenges him to a free agent status match, and wins, now Batista can hop around!

Now the possibilities are ENDLESS! You can have the big draws on all brands, you have a distinct difference between RAW and Smackdown, things can't go stale AND it's cool as hell to watch!

P.S. If WWE picks this idea up, I WANT CREDIT!!! (And Michael Hayes' job)

wow i really like this idea alot.

i've been wanting this tri-brand crap to end since like last year. even when it was first implemented i didnt like it at all. and that was a the time of the WWE's biggest ratings. it worked back then because Vince had wrestlers like the Rock and Austin who themselves along can create high ratings. then there were people like DX, NWO, Jericho, and the WCW guys along with ECW guys. now you have HHH, Cena, Edge, Orton and Batista. i'm sorry but those guys dont compare to Austin and the Rock.

for the WWE to remotely get back to where it was they need to put on 1 great show instead of 1 good show, 1 average show and 1 show in the gutter.

get rid of one show, more than likely ECW. keep RAW and SD. move SD to the Sci-Fi network that way it can be live and no spoliers to keep the ratings from being so low.

 

[Davi323]

One roster. Make RAW 3 hours, starting at 8 EST. Get rid of ECW. Turn the WWE Tag Titles into Intercontinental level titles, perhaps rebrand them the US Tag Team titles, ala the NWA/WCW, or even just the Intercontinental Tag titles. There are too many wrestlers on the roster to only have one Tag team title in circulation. Eliminate the US Heavyweight title or Intercontinental title. Eliminate the ECW title. Re-unify the WWE and World Heavyweight belts. Call it the WWE World Heavyweight title. Keep the big gold belt, get rid of the spinner belt. Bring back the either the Cruiserweight or Lt Heavyweight titles, a unified roster means more matchups possible between lighter wrestlers. So, we have the following titles, with 5 hours of original programming each week:

Singles:
WWE World Heavyweight Title
Intercontinental Title (or US title, keep one, but not both)
Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight Title
Womens Title

Tag Team:
World Heavyweight Tag Team Title
US/Intercontinental Tag Team Title

We would still have 8 wrestlers at a time wearing some kind of gold. I think not eliminating any would just be too many belts saturating the TV, so some would have to go away.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

I have thought for a while that the "E" is getting stale, and a draft wouldn't help.

Let's take a look:

You are right on the money about it being stale. But not for the reason that you think.

1. Storylines have to be rushed with only 2 hours of time for each show. During the height of popularity, Stone Cold and the Rock could feud on multiple shows and draw so many more people into their feuds. People are underutilized. Burchill has nothing to do, but with 5 hours a week for everyone, they could find five minutes to get his sister's fine ass on my TV.

Bad storylines are bad storylines, no matter how long they get on tv. and right now, there are too many bad storylines going around. Having people on both shows would shorten the need for a big roster rather than actually utilizing it. People like Burchill would be lost in the shuffle. I actually liked he brand split, because it lead to new characters getting the call up. Believe it or not, I got tired of seeing The Rock on every damned show each week. lol

2. With shows being split, we get stuck with Finlay on Elimination Chamber matches. That match would have been so much better if it was HHH, HBK, Jeff Hardy, Taker, Batista, and Y2J. The bran split will only serve to make new feuds stale after a few months. Taker and Batista feuded for a year. Let it go four months, then move on the Edge and Taker, and Batista would have someone to feud with. Umaga last month, HBK this month, and then what? MVP has Matt Hardy already.

Well actually Finlay is underrated. the guy can carry a damned good match. But I doubt Batista would have had the exposure that he has had if the brand split would have never occurred. It gave the WWE a chance to develop another big man rather than rehashing old ones as new opponents. I agree that Umaga has run his course on RAW, but who hasn't. The point of the brand split was to make it so that guys like Umaga would get a look. Not to fill every show with ever character every week.

3. The tag division would be outstanding with everyone together. Cantino vs. Moor/Wang, Miz/Nitro vs. Londrick (I hate them, but matches with shaman and the magnet could be entertaining) Jessie and Festus vs Cade and Murdoch might not even suck.

Um no, the tag division is shitty because they book it shitty, It has nothing to do with a lack of talent. It has more to do with the way that they book the talent they have. They don't even build up tag feuds anymore. They should steal a page from TNA's handbook on this one.

4. Title changes would be signifigant. If Jeff Hardy goes to SD! and beats Edge, cool, I'd be happy. With one belt, a Jeff hardy win would make me shit myself. I know we complain about no one being elevated, but that's because the title scene is stale with the same matches over and over. With a top tier of Taker, Orton, Cena, HHH, Batista, Edge, JBL, and Y2J the possibilities are great. Throw Hardy, MVP, and Kennedy in there and you have quite a top and uppermid card. Plus the IC and US belts at this point are props. Ending the brand shift would make that something. When Warrior beat Rick Rude for the IC title at Summer Slam 89, I nearly shit myself, and it propelled him almost immediately to the top.

Didn't we go through this during the whole Rock, Hogan, Trips era? Top tier guys hogged the spotlight. No need for that. Just write better with what you got. You gotta have good writing to have good stories. It's not all about the talent.

5. I understand that some guys would get lost in the shuffle. This is why I propose ECW sticking around, as the top developmental. Keep the "E" guys off of ECW, and keep ECW guys off of "E" programming, unless you plan to keep them there. Seeing the Bros. of Destruction was cool, one time, but I have no idea who Kane, Morrison, Miz, etc. work for now as they are on two shows. The top developmental could be televised for one hour a week. Imagine seeing the Batista/Lesnar matches from OVW on TV. That would get you excited for new guys. It's like watching college basketball and wondering what that guys could do for your team.

If you push down guys then favorites who just aren't quite there will occupy ECW while newer guys will get lost in the shuffle. Thusly, ECW will look like a minor league show and the guys who get elevated will look weaker when they do get elevated. It's a never ending cycle. People would also get confused and ECW would become and unwatchable clusterfuck.

6. Taking the best writers and putting them together gets rid of who's the midget's daddy and is he going to fuck his sister storylines. Maybe getting the best bookers and writers together gets us Invasion, Corporation, Ministry, Austin 3:16, and the Rock says again.

Nope. Too many cooks spoil the pot. Which is why you have specialized cooks to do specific things. There were separate writers before. Now you have single cells. And that is much less straining on the whole. History won't repeat itself.

7. Ratings will rise on both shows because you have to watch to follow your favorites. If you love Taker and hate Cena, then you might not watch Raw as much. If they were in the same "league" you would be forced to watch. Ratngs up, exposure up, both good.

No, ratings will sag. Competition is what kept the ratings up. If people have to watch the same people all over the place, then it gets boring. Which is why ratings never spike when guys do cross over angles. WWE needs to build up TNA or someone else to compete with. That way people have more of a choice. People are not fooled into thinking that Coke Zero really tries to compete with Coke Classic. So they aren't buying he brand split. Getting rid of it will only cause mass confussion. Ratings would drop. I'd put cash on it.

8. Everyone would have to step up to get TV time. This would lead to better wrestling, better acting, and less stupid shit like Shelton Benjamin saying, "I'm the man, so there ain't no...." and that being his only promo. Shelton, get better on the mic, and you get a push, keep sucking and you get sent down to ECW. Sounds like he would try harder.

Better wrestling is not totally the problem. Bad writing has alot to do with it. You also have locker politics, and bad attitudes. WWE might be in danger of becoming another WCW if they don't watch out. WWE is too scared that if they let certain guys go that they will be goldmines for the competition. hence why Shelton and Carlito are still around. They need ot make cuts and stop playing games if they want to get back into this. Plain and simple.


Well there's my two cents on your two cents. I hope it helps to broaden the look of this topic a bit.