By next year, it will be the 10th birthday of the WWE's brand extension. First off, the topic I'm trying to present does not involve the idea of a brand unification. It's about how said extension is being handled. Lets look back in time a bit using one question:
How big was the feel whenever a Raw VS Smackdown match was announced in X year?
There's the question. Replace the "X" with a year. Say, umm... 2008. In 2008, we had Batista vs Shawn Michaels in a pretty personal feud. However, there wasn't much concern over the fact that they were jumping over brands. Funny enough, a month before that, at Wrestlemania, Batista was in a match for "brand supremacy". It wasn't that big a deal.
Now let's replace "X" with 2005. Raw VS Smackdown was a major angle in the Fall of the year, and it more or less gave Survivor Series that "Big 4" feel once again. Not only that, but had fan's picking brands instead of characters as their roles were completely ambiguous. Nor face or heel.
"X" will now stand for 2009. In this year, especially during it's beginning, talent was flipping brands for absolutely no reason. I distinctly remember Kofi Kingston on Smackdown for zero reason when he was a member of Raw. Not only that, but we had Bragging Rights, which you'd think would revive the epic feel of 2005 and 2002, but all it did was just make one month about suddenly deciding to stick up for your show. Not quite so fun when it's marked in your calendar months in advance. Not to mention the rather bizarre, senseless trades that took place post draft.
Now "X" equals 2011. So far, it's been three weeks in, 3 weeks with at least one Smackdown talent casually showing up on Raw. I laugh every time I hear Cole brag about how special it is that a Smackdown superstar is on Raw when it really isn't. Hell, Michael Cole himself works both shows now and Josh Matthews does so on occasion.
My point is this. There's no more "they are two separate brand's" feeling anymore. Nevermind the PPV's. In those, character's from separate brands don't really interact unless the idea is for a major interpromotional match. But on Raw, Dolph Ziggler is casually thrown on the card to wrestle Randy Orton. Yeah, they are both #1 Contender's. But Exhibit B, Alberto Del Rio, want's to know if there was a point to showing up on Raw 2 weeks in a row other than for exposure and to get kicked by Shawn Michaels. Yeah, 2002-204 wasn't WWE's best years. But 2005 was a pretty damn good one. While the shows weren't always that good, the competition between brands was always top notch and had epic feel to it. Now we got a MOTY candidate in Dolph vs Bryan and that so casual, a random rematch took place the next night. If WWE feels the need to have two separate pseudo-companies, at least separate them properly. Interbrand matches tend to have that big match feel most of the time, but when it happens every other week, it's just plain overkill.
How big was the feel whenever a Raw VS Smackdown match was announced in X year?
There's the question. Replace the "X" with a year. Say, umm... 2008. In 2008, we had Batista vs Shawn Michaels in a pretty personal feud. However, there wasn't much concern over the fact that they were jumping over brands. Funny enough, a month before that, at Wrestlemania, Batista was in a match for "brand supremacy". It wasn't that big a deal.
Now let's replace "X" with 2005. Raw VS Smackdown was a major angle in the Fall of the year, and it more or less gave Survivor Series that "Big 4" feel once again. Not only that, but had fan's picking brands instead of characters as their roles were completely ambiguous. Nor face or heel.
"X" will now stand for 2009. In this year, especially during it's beginning, talent was flipping brands for absolutely no reason. I distinctly remember Kofi Kingston on Smackdown for zero reason when he was a member of Raw. Not only that, but we had Bragging Rights, which you'd think would revive the epic feel of 2005 and 2002, but all it did was just make one month about suddenly deciding to stick up for your show. Not quite so fun when it's marked in your calendar months in advance. Not to mention the rather bizarre, senseless trades that took place post draft.
Now "X" equals 2011. So far, it's been three weeks in, 3 weeks with at least one Smackdown talent casually showing up on Raw. I laugh every time I hear Cole brag about how special it is that a Smackdown superstar is on Raw when it really isn't. Hell, Michael Cole himself works both shows now and Josh Matthews does so on occasion.
My point is this. There's no more "they are two separate brand's" feeling anymore. Nevermind the PPV's. In those, character's from separate brands don't really interact unless the idea is for a major interpromotional match. But on Raw, Dolph Ziggler is casually thrown on the card to wrestle Randy Orton. Yeah, they are both #1 Contender's. But Exhibit B, Alberto Del Rio, want's to know if there was a point to showing up on Raw 2 weeks in a row other than for exposure and to get kicked by Shawn Michaels. Yeah, 2002-204 wasn't WWE's best years. But 2005 was a pretty damn good one. While the shows weren't always that good, the competition between brands was always top notch and had epic feel to it. Now we got a MOTY candidate in Dolph vs Bryan and that so casual, a random rematch took place the next night. If WWE feels the need to have two separate pseudo-companies, at least separate them properly. Interbrand matches tend to have that big match feel most of the time, but when it happens every other week, it's just plain overkill.