Should their be more of a divide between Shows?

[CubsFanFrank]

Should they finally split Smackdown and RAW into two completely different entities? I don't even mean different rosters, I mean different all together. KInd of like in the Attitude Era when you had the WAR Zone for the first hour which was less profane and then the 2nd hour was RAW is WAR which was more of an anything goes until the censors started cracking down.

Obviously, RAW is the flagship show. This is where the edgier or more risque story lines would be The Shield, Orton, CM Punk, Ziggler, Swagger, DelRio. Here they can get a way with more. A face doesn't necessarily have to be a knight in shining armor and can be edgier. Someone like AJ Lee can get power bombed through a table. Booze and the occasional profanity would be welcome.

On the other end, Smackdown could be more kid friendly. You could have guys like Sheamus and Ryback as classic can do no wrong good guy faces. Guys like Mark Henry and Big Show could play the role of the classic heel.

Then you spread the rest of the roster evenly by which type of role they'd be better suited for. Guys like Zach Ryder and Santino Marella may just be annoying in the eyes of the older crowd, but if they were strictly exposed to younger viewers, they could be quite successful and marketable.

Not sure where Cena would go. While he is blatantly the top dog on the WWE roster, and you'd expect him to be in the top show, if their was a show geared more toward a younger audience, you'd think that he'd be better suited there. He'd perhaps have to split his time.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Yeah, I don't really see any point to this whatsoever. People have been screaming for the brand extension to be brought to an end for years. This idea not only reinstates it, but makes it more developed than it ever was. The brand extension is all but dead, the only remnant that remains is the World Heavyweight Championship. The reason that the WHC is kept, primarily, so that SmackDown! house shows can have a World Championship defended on the card.

The Attitude Era is gone and it's not coming back. WWE is already catching major criticism for the Zeb Coulter character. They caught flack for CM Punk & Paul Heyman "mocking" Jerry Lawler's heart attack in a segment that got the stamp of approval from Jerry Lawler himself weeks earlier. Society is far too obsessed with being politically correct to tolerate a return of anything approaching Attitude Era content.

WWE already has a show geared towards a younger audience. It's called Saturday Morning Slam. Contrary to what you might hear or read from other net fans, the VAST majority of WWE's audience, somewhere around 80% last I read, is made up of adult men between the ages of 18 and 49. There's no need to water down SD! to appeal to younger audience members when nearly all WWE's programs are watched primarily by adults. That's where most of WWE's money comes from.

 

[EastCoastFan]

They actually did that in 2002 when they first had the brand extension. Raw was more entertainment-oriented, while Smackdown (run by Paul Heyman) was more wrestling-oriented.

The problem was Smackdown got better ratings, and Vince couldn't handle it. In his mind, Raw is the WWE flagship show and he couldn't have it playing second fiddle, so SD was retooled to "be more like Raw". Ratings began to stumble and SD has been "The B Show" ever since.

 

[Aquaman6686]

They actually did that in 2002 when they first had the brand extension. Raw was more entertainment-oriented, while Smackdown (run by Paul Heyman) was more wrestling-oriented.

The problem was Smackdown got better ratings, and Vince couldn't handle it. In his mind, Raw is the WWE flagship show and he couldn't have it playing second fiddle, so SD was retooled to "be more like Raw". Ratings began to stumble and SD has been "The B Show" ever since.

This pretty much sums it up perfectly. For the entire first two years of the Brand Extension, SmackDown was a vastly superior product to RAW, and Vince couldn't stand it. That's also why starting in 2005, Vince demanded that more talent be moved to RAW in each Draft, so that the SmackDown writers would have less to work with.

 

[TempestH]

I think they should unify the World titles, but instead of ending the brand split, or trying to pretend that the brands are equal, restructure the brands for different purposes.

RAW should be the flagship show where all the drama happens, featuring all the big stars (and a few select midcarders). The guys like Mark Henry, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Big Show, Wade Barrett, and Randy Orton who generally appear on RAW every week anyway should be drafted to RAW officially.

SmackDown should be the B-Show, where midcard wrestlers are given storylines, promo time, and a platform to shine, get over with the fans, and become draws in their own right. Maybe for the sake of drawing ratings and ticket sales, 1-3 main event stars could make advertised "guest appearances" on SmackDown each week in a rotation. Like one week would feature John Cena, the next week would feature Daniel Bryan, and the Rock may make an appearance when he's around, but the show would be focused on getting the midcard over.

 

[Allstar]

Totally agree with having a complete split between the two brands.

Having the split in the early 2000's definitely helped John Cena,Randy Orton,Batista and others get over with the crowd as the had more tv time and story lines in their respective brands.

This would also give more time to the mid card titles and mid card superstars that should be chasing them.

For RAW I'd have the WWE title and intercontinental title
and SmackDown I'd have the World Heavyweight title and U.S title.
All the divas can be on both shows as there is so few of them it wouldn't matter.

The tag champs would be tricky tho.. Would you have the champs be able to cross over onto the other show or go back to having tag champs for each show?

 

[GoColts]

I actually wish the strict brand extension would return. More talent gets exposure, more in depth storylines for midcarders, and overall better product through competition. I would rather see the main event guys and divas all compete in Raw and midcard, tag teams, and cruiserweights on Snackdown.

 

[niallf96]

Yes, because in 2008/2009, the SD show was great, with big names such as Edge, Jericho etc. Now, they show multiple recaps of Raw, without focusing as much on the storytelling they used to do

 

[One to Remember]

the original division partitioned sports entertainment into sports and entertainment, to SD and RAW respectively.. In the early 2000s athletics were popular with guys like Benoit, RVD, Batista, Lesnar, and Jericho leading charge.

I find it weird that VKM would be angry or bitter SD surpassed RAW when they are both the fruits of the WWF's loins. That was always the bizarre part of it. You could always argue the WHC's creation was a split in the lineage due to Lesnar jumping ship and that scenario has merits in the laws ofsports, in UFC or boxing the WHC might be an "interim heavyweight title" but they would still need to be unified. When SD and RAW run closer together that undermines the merits of having a split title because its not like both champions are too far away from each other. I'd say keep the brand extension because during its formative years it pleased to competing fan bases in pro wrestling but if WWE wants to combine "sports" and "entertainment" back into "sports entertainment" then SD will suffer if the structure is still divided. It wont be strong like it was in 2002 and it wont be electric like it was in 1999.

The best thing to do is reinstate the ECW brand or a WCW brand because atleast the ECW title was independent of the WWE title and ECW guys didnt necessarily ever have to interact with the other brands.. It was based on a former federation and its title was not derived of thin air.. It also had its own demographic and its own roll call of PPVs..

 

[#1SamoaJoe]

Brand extension at its core is dead. I don't have a problem with the World Heavyweight Championship as it continues on the legacy of WCW and in some cases the NWA. Having two championships has not downgraded the talent at all. I would say it helps it. It allows for a talent (Jack Swagger) who hasn't been used properly or for whatever reason not been given a push, the ability to have one. The "Real American" Jack Swagger and mouthpiece Zeb Coulter are really actually fresh. While they're even drawing real outside attention from political pundints (If you call Beck this....). It still allows for a guy who hasn't been used to be used. I don't understand how or what way Ziggler will cash in. But, I can see Del Rio barely winning and then getting stabbed in the back.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Although it might sound cliché as F*CK, I think a WCW revival wouldn't be a bad idea. Smackdown could either be rebranded as WCW or be replaced all together by WCW Nitro.

From a storyline standpoint, it's something we've seen before and us internet fans would probably find it a little redundant. But for ex-fans who followed the Attitude Era? Hearing that WCW is coming back would be very intriguing. If they hear that WCW is reviving as something separate from WWE, it will catch a lot of older fans' attention.

If they do this right, they could have someone like Ric Flair buy WCW "back" and open WCW on its own. WWE would have to really sell the fact that WCW will now be it's own entity once again. No brand split, no draft, no cross-over. They will have their own roster, their own PPVs and their own show (Kinda like UFC and Strikeforce, which are both owned by the same people).

Along with the sale, they can have some guys "jump ship" out of dissatisfaction with Vince's WWE. The World Heavyweight Champion at the time, say, Dolph Ziggler, would also jump ship, giving WCW it's World Championship back. The WCW premiere would be epic, and would have a bunch of stars from its hey-day like Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Booker T and Kevin Nash.

If the ratings are better, they can replace Smackdown with WCW Nitro and keep it as its separate entity. I think this would have value because if they can sell the fact that these shows are being run independently of the other, the "cross-overs" would have HUGE appeal.

A year of WCW and WWE having their own guys at the top of each other's shows and then facing off at WrestleMania? That would definitely be a big deal, IMO.

WWE would have to do it right, and avoid cross-overs for most of the year so the sporadic times they occur could feel IMPORTANT.

 

[Richard]

You know that WWE would never bring back WCW and turn it into something actually good right? Not sure if you were paying attention to WWE's ECW but man, that was horrible. Even when it first started up it just seemed like a waste of time and that they could have been improving their main shows.

There is part of me that would like to have RAW and SmackDown separate but I feel that in order to be able to sell quality PPVs now, I don't think each 'side' has enough going on to warrant a full card of RAW and SmackDown matches and make it worth purchasing for a premium price but then again you could look at it and say that it would force WWE to create more storylines.

So I think it would be better to just mix everything together and just keep RAW and SmackDown to just mean Mondays and Fridays.

 

[Marshyishere]

Although it might sound cliché as F*CK, I think a WCW revival wouldn't be a bad idea. Smackdown could either be rebranded as WCW or be replaced all together by WCW Nitro.

From a storyline standpoint, it's something we've seen before and us internet fans would probably find it a little redundant. But for ex-fans who followed the Attitude Era? Hearing that WCW is coming back would be very intriguing. If they hear that WCW is reviving as something separate from WWE, it will catch a lot of older fans' attention.

If they do this right, they could have someone like Ric Flair buy WCW "back" and open WCW on its own. WWE would have to really sell the fact that WCW will now be it's own entity once again. No brand split, no draft, no cross-over. They will have their own roster, their own PPVs and their own show (Kinda like UFC and Strikeforce, which are both owned by the same people).

Along with the sale, they can have some guys "jump ship" out of dissatisfaction with Vince's WWE. The World Heavyweight Champion at the time, say, Dolph Ziggler, would also jump ship, giving WCW it's World Championship back. The WCW premiere would be epic, and would have a bunch of stars from its hey-day like Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Booker T and Kevin Nash.

If the ratings are better, they can replace Smackdown with WCW Nitro and keep it as its separate entity. I think this would have value because if they can sell the fact that these shows are being run independently of the other, the "cross-overs" would have HUGE appeal.

A year of WCW and WWE having their own guys at the top of each other's shows and then facing off at WrestleMania? That would definitely be a big deal, IMO.

WWE would have to do it right, and avoid cross-overs for most of the year so the sporadic times they occur could feel IMPORTANT.

Best idea I've heard in a long time. Unfortunately I don't think Vince would let this happen.

I would be stoked if they went back to separate rosters. Have the WWE Championship, United States Championship & Divas Championship on Raw and the World Heavyweight Championship, Tag Team Championships & Intercontinental Championship on Smackdown.

This will allow more limelight for all belts involved and also make the feuds more realistic. Don't let stars cross-over shows at all except for WWE Main-Event & House Shows (WWE have already stated that they are getting rid of branded house-shows...this way any wrestlers can compete at any house shows).

Bring back a Smackdown vs Raw PPV, which puts all the belts on the line (This allows the belts to switch shows and keep things fresh) as well as a battle royale which can have some sort of prize each year. Bring back the WWE Draft so that the rosters and fueds can be shuffled around once a year.

PPVs such as Money in the bank, Royal Rumble and King of the Ring can be set up to have all wrestlers competing for a prize which can be competed in by any wrestler.

I really think this would allow Raw to maintain the #1 spot but at the same time boost the interest in Smackdown. This would finally also allow the Divas and Tag Team divisions to be rebuilt.