What I want from WWE Part 2: Brand Split

[PeterSellersSTL]

• The fruit roll up Universal title and Brock's subsequent disappearance.
• An IC Championship match on the Wrestlemania Pre-Show.
• No IC Championship match at Summer Slam.
• The Cruiserweight title in it's first year on the Wrestlemania Pre-Show.
• The Cruiserweight title in it's first year on the Summer Slam Pre-Show.
• 5 minutes for Smackdown's Women's Championship at Wrestlemania.
• Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion.
• Expecting 205Live to be a success when it's the 6th hour of television in 48 hours.
• Three tag teams on RAW.
• The Usos and New Day saying the rest of SD's tag division sucks.
• Fatal 5 ways after Fatal 5 ways for the Women.
• Tag Team divisions with no depth.
• Having to bring in AJ to fill in for TLC.
• No IC, Tag Team, or Universal title match at TLC.
• Nia Jax walking. Aries, and Neville quitting.

These are all things that can be attributed to too many titles and the wrong brand split.

So what is the right brand split? One that strengthens divisions, one that gives underutilized talent room to grow, one that creates distinctly different shows between RAW and SD.

RAW - WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship

SD - Women's World Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, World Tag Team Championship

Smackdown becomes a show patterned after NXT and would rely on a heavy use of stables, factions, duos, and loners.

Depending on the matchup any Championship defense could main event a PPV. The Cruiserweights are the best athletes in wrestling, tag teams have had numerous MOTY candidates this year, and the show can afford room to more than just one multi-women match. A distinctly different show from RAW. Also, all things Vince has demonstrated he doesn't care about.

RAW becomes the singles show, loaded with depth, but initially no stables. Instead managers feature strongly. A show where everyone is out for themselves and no one trusts anyone. The US Champ wants to be IC Champ and the IC Champ wants to be World Champ. A show where guys have to work their way up through the ranks. In a way a super division. A distinctly different feel from SDLive.

I'm trying to not get too granular, because I'd be here all day with details of creative booking, but yes talent would be able to switch shows but the purpose of which would be clear in mind. In this brand split the two shows would function like territories. If Jason Jordan pops up on SD it's probably to reunite with Gable and chase the tag titles. AJ Styles could drop weight in his chase to hold as many titles as possible. If Ryder turns on Mojo he's probably headed to RAW. These are fresher scenarios than just simply switching shows.

Also SD's MITB briefcase would rotate year-to-year between its divisions. RAW's MITB briefcase would remain a shot at the WWEWHC. MITB would be a Big 5 show as pointed out in Part 1.

 

[AegonTargaryen]

I love the idea.

Previously when I considered how I would want to have the brand split, I'd think of how one brand should have the Women's and Cruiserweight titles exclusive to them, another, the Tag Team titles. This is something quite a few people here agree on.

I had also held that it'd be better to not have a "World" championship on SDL but feature either the US or IC titles, along with Women's and Cruiserweight, in order to give the brand a very distinct, NXT-like feeling.

Raw would be the big leagues with the Tag team, IC and WWE Championships.

Nevertheless, I like your idea better, especially the notion of "territories" since it makes things so much more interesting in that there won't really be any dearth of superstars or challengers on either brand, and in fact, from time to time, randomly, someone from either brand could jump or show up to the other brand to contend for a said championship or engage in a said feud.

This makes things so much interesting on the TV-level and also gives us much better PPVs, utilizes talents far better.

The only downside to this is how they will book two separate Live events (since the element of surprise means AJ Styles can suddenly perform on SDL for a few months, then return to Raw, and so on) with all the possible disruption in continuity.

The bookers are lazy and it's far easier to book predictable Live shows and slot superstars into the same match-ups, such as Roman vs Strowman happening on Live events for nearly 8 months. It's far more manageable to book Raw and SDL live events based on different tag team and women's titles because both have nearly the same number of tag teams and women.

The only difference right now is that on Raw, Strowman and Roman are the mainevent on most events with the absence of a defending Universal Champion.

Also, sadly, since your idea is phenomenal and makes for an absolutely good and unpredictable TV for both shows, as well as PPVs, and even result in better ratings, it will never happen.

They'll continue in the same two-brand format for a couple of years where you see two individuals slotted in a feud go at it for 3-4 months at a stretch, followed by just shuffling different individuals into different feuds for another 3-4 months.

Until they do what they did back in 2013 and unify the titles and end the brand split again.

 

[Spencesc11]

My 5 step plan to Brand-Split Success

1) Only 1 PPV per month all dual-branded - (Brand Only PPV's have to many filler matches)
2) Move most of the big heavyweights to Raw (This way you can avoid constant rematches with Reigns, Stroman, Joe, Lesnar, etc..) Adding say Mahal & Corbin to the mix on Raw gives much more variety options.
3) Leave 205 Live stars off of Raw & Smackdown and just have a Title match at every PPV. Sometimes less is more.
4) Form more heel factions!!! Nothing tells a story better than when the hero takes the 3 or 4 on 1 beatdown only to rise against the odds.
5) Do a 6 or 7 Superstar Shakeup the Night after Wrestlemania every year. Post Mania always has a little bit of a lull. This way you re-energize new storylines after what should be a completion at your Super Bowl event!

My Shakeup after this year's Mania would be as follows

To Raw - Mahal, Corbin, Rowan & Harper, New Day, Charlotte, McIntyre, & E. Moon
To Smackdown - Miz, Balor, Gallows & Anderson, Undisputed Era, The Hardy's, Bailey, & S. Banks

Superstar moving and how to rebook....
Raw
1) Mahal - solid heel push maybe an I-C Title Reign on Raw???
2) Corbin - same as Mahal
3) Rowan & Harper - reform Wyatt Family with Bray & Bo Dallas
4) New Day - Uso's & New Day are played out one needs to switch
5) Charlotte - Charlotte vs. Asuka is the feud the ladies division needs
6) Drew McIntyre - would love to see McIntyre & Neville tag up
7) Ember Moon - more depth to the Women's Division

Smackdown
1) Miz - should become top heel on Smackdown after his amazing year with a WWE Title Reign as well
2) Finn Balor - can finally push to the top of the card on the non-Roman show
3) Gallows & Anderson - reform Balor club and face turn these 2 for a fresh start
4) Undisputed Era - add Miz to this group and make them the dominant heel faction
5) The Hardy's - take the place of New Day as top face team and can both add depth to singles as well.
6) Bailey - character needs a reset for sure, other brand should help
7) S. Banks - needs to become a heel again and be the dominant woman on Smackdown

 

[adam]

What I've always wanted was only one singles champion for both shows.

Make the WWE champion available to appear on both shows. No need for a Universal Champion and put the WWE belt on a guy capable of carrying the belt
and maintaining the interest for both brands. Its nuts for Lesnar and Mahal to be the singles brand champions.

 

[Hawkseye95]

I like your ideas but I feel like there's a need for two world titles with the depth of the roster, and jinder just doesn't cut it! I am struggling to understand how the smackdown brand has been so down graded but here's my ideas to make it better.
I would have AJ beat Jinder at Survivor series, maybe with the help of the club who reunite, then go on to defend against zayn and Owens at the next ppvs then drop the title to shinsuke at mania, with zayn and Owens in a grudge match possible inside hell in a cell?
Then for the raw brand I would have lesnar destroy Ambrose/Rollins/Balor at the rumble then get attacked by a "mystery camera man", that camera man would turn out to be the returning Bray wyatt, he gets slightly repackaged to turn into a follower rather than a leader, This angle would then go on to set up lesnar vs Strowman 2 with strowman going over this time, and you can also have a wyatt/ Killian dain/ lars sullivan (all of Strowmans followers) vs the shield in there long awaited reunion, this can also set up strowman vs wyatt in a 3-4 month long feud for the title!
Then for the women's main even (which would go on second from last) would be Asuka vs Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Alexa bliss. Charlotte would get drafted to raw after Asuka goes on an unbeaten run and a massive heel turn, I would have Sasha win here with Charlotte helping to form a super faction which would then involve getting the women's tag titles in action!

 

[adam]

I do think having one singles champion would be better (assuming they put the belt on a guy capable of carrying the belt).

With two montly PPV's, one PPV would have the WWE champion and the other PPV's main event would be to determine the challenge for the WWE champion. Every other month each brand's PPV would have a WWE title match. THe WWE champion would appear on both shows but mostly be on one brand for let's say the WWE was AJ. He would wrestle on SD Live but cut promos on Raw or appear via satellite to address challenges. No more Mahal's or absent champions for its understood only capable guys would be WWE champion.

To me, rather than another draft, have each brand's GM appear on the other program to make trades.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

I like your ideas but I feel like there's a need for two world titles with the depth of the roster, and jinder just doesn't cut it! I am struggling to understand how the smackdown brand has been so down graded but here's my ideas to make it better.
I would have AJ beat Jinder at Survivor series, maybe with the help of the club who reunite, then go on to defend against zayn and Owens at the next ppvs then drop the title to shinsuke at mania, with zayn and Owens in a grudge match possible inside hell in a cell?
Then for the raw brand I would have lesnar destroy Ambrose/Rollins/Balor at the rumble then get attacked by a "mystery camera man", that camera man would turn out to be the returning Bray wyatt, he gets slightly repackaged to turn into a follower rather than a leader, This angle would then go on to set up lesnar vs Strowman 2 with strowman going over this time, and you can also have a wyatt/ Killian dain/ lars sullivan (all of Strowmans followers) vs the shield in there long awaited reunion, this can also set up strowman vs wyatt in a 3-4 month long feud for the title!
Then for the women's main even (which would go on second from last) would be Asuka vs Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Alexa bliss. Charlotte would get drafted to raw after Asuka goes on an unbeaten run and a massive heel turn, I would have Sasha win here with Charlotte helping to form a super faction which would then involve getting the women's tag titles in action!

...We've just seen how having two world titles has played out, there is no depth with the current iteration of the brand split. The title defenses have been largely forgettable, taking the title off Jinder and putting it on AJ doesn't just solve that.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

I do think having one singles champion would be better (assuming they put the belt on a guy capable of carrying the belt).

With two montly PPV's, one PPV would have the WWE champion and the other PPV's main event would be to determine the challenge for the WWE champion. Every other month each brand's PPV would have a WWE title match. THe WWE champion would appear on both shows but mostly be on one brand for let's say the WWE was AJ. He would wrestle on SD Live but cut promos on Raw or appear via satellite to address challenges. No more Mahal's or absent champions for its understood only capable guys would be WWE champion.

To me, rather than another draft, have each brand's GM appear on the other program to make trades.

That's too complicated for creative to handle, the whole thing would come apart quickly, not to mention the overexposure.
How would you handle rematch clauses for example?

They tried a floating champion once before in the early 2000's. It didn't last, IIRC Triple H was the champ.

WWE and Fans alike have to trust the Women, Cruiserweights and Tag Teams to carry a brand on their own.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Instead of patterning Smackdown after NXT, I would just give it to NXT. Do an NXT invasion where they actually win, and Vince ends up giving them SmackDown. Our brand wars can actually be about different companies so to speak.

Each brand would have its own developmental branch working out of the performance center, with WWE's rookies working Main Event, and NXT's rookies working a replacement for 205 Live called NXT WorldWide. NXT WorldWide would essentially take the place of the UK show, and it would include a rebranded Cruiserweight title as the NXT Underground Championship. The UK and US titles would merge during the faction war, to create the NXT Intercontinental Championship.

Raw:

• WWE World Championship
• WWE Intercontinental Championship
• WWE Network Championship (defended on undercard and Main Event)
• WWE World Tag Team Championship
• WWE Women's Championship

SmackDown:

• NXT World Championship
• NXT Intercontinental Championship (merge the UK and US titles)
• NXT Underground Championship (formerly CW title, defended on NXT WorldWide)
• NXT Six-Man-Tag Team Championship (spice it up, give it a distinct feel from the tag team titles)
• NXT Women's Championship

I'd put most of the main roster on Raw, and send the cruisers, NXT talent, and some main roster workhorses like Cesaro, Sami, Nak and others to NXT SmackDown. NXT should be billed as an equal to WWE, and we should start seeing the accomplishment of winning the NXT title to be equal to the WWE title.

The Universal title, SD Tag Titles, and SD Women's titles would have to go, but we can just merge them into the NXT titles to give them more legitimacy, or into the Raw titles and keep them in WWE. WWE likes to retire old lineages, so I can see them replacing the Raw titles altogether. That might piss a lot of people off, but I personally wouldn't care that much.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Instead of patterning Smackdown after NXT, I would just give it to NXT. Do an NXT invasion where they actually win, and Vince ends up giving them SmackDown. Our brand wars can actually be about different companies so to speak.

Each brand would have its own developmental branch working out of the performance center, with WWE's rookies working Main Event, and NXT's rookies working a replacement for 205 Live called NXT WorldWide. NXT WorldWide would essentially take the place of the UK show, and it would include a rebranded Cruiserweight title as the NXT Underground Championship. The UK and US titles would merge during the faction war, to create the NXT Intercontinental Championship.

Raw:

• WWE World Championship
• WWE Intercontinental Championship
• WWE Network Championship (defended on undercard and Main Event)
• WWE World Tag Team Championship
• WWE Women's Championship

SmackDown:

• NXT World Championship
• NXT Intercontinental Championship (merge the UK and US titles)
• NXT Underground Championship (formerly CW title, defended on NXT WorldWide)
• NXT Six-Man-Tag Team Championship (spice it up, give it a distinct feel from the tag team titles)
• NXT Women's Championship

I'd put most of the main roster on Raw, and send the cruisers, NXT talent, and some main roster workhorses like Cesaro, Sami, Nak and others to NXT SmackDown. NXT should be billed as an equal to WWE, and we should start seeing the accomplishment of winning the NXT title to be equal to the WWE title.

The Universal title, SD Tag Titles, and SD Women's titles would have to go, but we can just merge them into the NXT titles to give them more legitimacy, or into the Raw titles and keep them in WWE. WWE likes to retire old lineages, so I can see them replacing the Raw titles altogether. That might piss a lot of people off, but I personally wouldn't care that much.

Your NXT Smackdown mirrors RAW more than it does NXT. Aside from three man tag titles you've just slapped an NXT label on it. The potential dynamics of the show doesn't look any different than RAW.

The tag talent is still split, hurting divisions on both shows. The women are still split, hurting divisions on both shows. There's still two world titles hurting the depth on both shows. You've also added a 10th title.

I think the idea of brand wars, much like heel authority figures, is stale and tired. Unless they're both airing same nights, unless one brand is threatened by possibly going out of business it can't come close to WWE vs WCW.

Different territories under one company is possible, NWA has shown us that, rival promotions under one company hasn't worked, especially with how Vince raids Smackdown talent to prop up RAW.

Thanks for sharing, but I just don't feel it solves the problems I have with WWE.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Why was Bray traded to RAW after Wrestlemania? He never got his rematch for the WWEWHC, after 8 months of build beetween him and Orton. Orton burned his compound to the ground took his title and he's on RAW literally a week after Wrestlemania targeting Finn Balor. The House of Horrors match was scheduled after this fact, and that was only used to setup Orton vs Mahal. That's the kind of booking I want to avoid.

I want feuds to have a satisfying conclusion. I want motivation for a wrestler to switch territories before they happen. Roster movements for the sake of roster movements is what we have now, they make no sense and kill the momentum of not only talent but the shows themselves.

I'd rather have someone like Bray on Smackdown with no reason for being there other than to cause chaos. He isn't a cruiserweight, he isn't a woman, and he isn't tagging with anyone. Just there to be the eater of worlds, an anomaly, a glitch. The intrigue is suddenly there because he doesn't fit. If he showed up to a Smackdown in that context to target Finn Balor it would serve his character so much better. That's the kind of character that can float between shows, someone that lives in the narrow divides.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Your NXT Smackdown mirrors RAW more than it does NXT. Aside from three man tag titles you've just slapped an NXT label on it. The potential dynamics of the show doesn't look any different than RAW.

The tag talent is still split, hurting divisions on both shows. The women are still split, hurting divisions on both shows. There's still two world titles hurting the depth on both shows. You've also added a 10th title.

I think the idea of brand wars, much like heel authority figures, is stale and tired. Unless they're both airing same nights, unless one brand is threatened by possibly going out of business it can't come close to WWE vs WCW.

Different territories under one company is possible, NWA has shown us that, rival promotions under one company hasn't worked, especially with how Vince raids Smackdown talent to prop up RAW.

Thanks for sharing, but I just don't feel it solves the problems I have with WWE.

Do you think NXT is currently hurt because "talent is split" by going to Raw and SmackDown? I honestly don't. NXT currently has a main, midcard, tag and women's title just like Raw and SD. The difference is the booking and presentation, and I think they could kill it if they bring it to mainstream TV.

I don't think NXT's men or women's division are hurting at all, and even when WWE raids the roster in 2018, NXT will recover because it books the talent differently than the main roster. Giving them SmackDown would be a nice treat, and I'd love to see what NXT could do with the extra time and extra talent.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Do you think NXT is currently hurt because "talent is split" by going to Raw and SmackDown? I honestly don't. NXT currently has a main, midcard, tag and women's title just like Raw and SD. The difference is the booking and presentation, and I think they could kill it if they bring it to mainstream TV.

I don't think NXT's men or women's division are hurting at all, and even when WWE raids the roster in 2018, NXT will recover because it books the talent differently than the main roster. Giving them SmackDown would be a nice treat, and I'd love to see what NXT could do with the extra time and extra talent.

You're still not addressing my original issues with WWE in general and the brand split. "Just like RAW and SD" is the problem. Because SD and RAW are mirrors of one another, divisions are marginalized. There's 3 tag teams on RAW.

If the only way to get the main event of a PPV or to get tv time is to challenge the World Champ, what opportunity is there for women? Tag taams can't team up to challenge for a singles title. And while the Cruiserweights are single male competitors they aren't allowed out of their division, which is why Neville and Aries left. These are the marginalized divisions, that is my problem. They're stuck on the periphery, stuck on pre-shows.

Smackdown had yet another fatal five way women's match tonight. RAW only features 4 women at a time, they rotate the 4 women, but they only get 4 women at a time.

If I'm getting Asuka vs Charlotte I want them to have 3 segments per show to build their match. If I'm getting Usos vs Ambrose/Rollins I want them to open and close the show. If I'm getting Neville vs Kota Ibushi I want them to have 30 minutes and main event to tear the house down. But I can't have those things because Asuka, Charlotte, Usos and Ambrose/Rollins are all on different shows, and why would Kota come to WWE after seeing how they treated Neville?

Red ropes, blue ropes, blue titles, red titles. Getting different presentations is simple enough. What I want are different purposes. The purpose of NXT is developmental, to elevate talent to the main roster. It's expected to lose talent. RAW and SD however function the same as one another. That is what I want changed. I want SD to feature more than 3 tag teams, more than 4 women, and more than just a 6 man cruiserweight match.

Maybe you just don't have a problem with these things that concern me. Maybe you think those aforementioned matchups are bathroom breaks. Still, if that isn't your cup of tea, why wouldn't you want KO, Brock, AJ, Braun, Roman, Nakamura all on the same show?

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

It makes sense to have one of your brands reflect what wrestling is today and that's a lot more smaller, athletic guys and a growing interest in women's wrestling. Especially after the success of the CWC, the MYC, Shimmer, GLOW, Women's UFC etc.

Hideo Itami
Aleister Black
Finn Balor
Chad Gable
Xavier Woods
Johnny Gargano
Tomasso Ciampa
James Ellsworth
Samir Singh
Sunil Singh
Oney Lorcan
Danny Burch
Lio Rush
Bobby Fish
Kyle O'Reilly

These are all guys at 205 pounds and under and aren't in the Cruiserweight division.

AJ Styles
Seth Rollins
Sami Zayn
Tyler Breeze
Adam Cole
Kofi Kingston
Andrade Almas

These guys are all within 5 to 13 pounds of the 205 weight limit.

Ricochet, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay. These are the some of the biggest names outside of WWE today. All under 205.

Floyd and Connor was the biggest money making fight this year both well under 200 pounds.

Daniel Bryan was the biggest star WWE had in a long, long time for crying out loud and he was only 210.