What If Smackdown Spoilers, World Title, and Brand Extention Came To An End?

[wrestlingfanatic98]

Someone made a comment that obvious many fans have said to death

first the WWE and world titles becoming one title
What if the company decided to have one title, when the WWF title was one title, it was the most prestigious championship in the business. Who ever was champion like in the attitude era and before, that guy was the man, he was the best in the business. Now what would be brilliant, if the champion of smackdown and the champion of RAW collided, that winner takes all at WM28. Who ever won would become the champion of the company, this is what comes to my second point

The IC title
It is time the IC title got what it was years ago, fans want new stars. But when those new stars perhaps need time on their side to develope their stamp on the company, and a world title is not ready for them for example Daniel Bryan, who could have been IC champion facing big show and he could have established himself. Look at what the IC title done for HBK HHH angle and the rock when they were not WWF champion material yet, and many stars of the past. This does not come with that much expectation, because the IC title gives that wrestler that taste of gold, without the pressure of expecting to be the top guy of the show.

Ending the brand extension, if it was not already ended
The brand extension is basically gone, without it being official. Now we add the fact that smackdown stars are wrestling on RAW, and some RAW stars are doing it visa versa, end the extension officially. Now the roster on both shows do not have the starpower to have a brand-extention. The ruthless aggression era had the roster to start a brand extension, this current roster does not

Hot storyline's that sometimes takerover from the WWE title
Now the kane/cena angle obvious has put aside the WWE champion, in certain situations that is a good idea. When it influences the biggest star in the company it will do that to the champion. If a hot storyline is that intense, keep it for RAW and give the WWE champion more time to develop their feud on smackdown. Which ends with perhaps the most important part of if that did happen

Ending the smackdown spoilers, and make it a live show like RAW
One thing that RAW still has got, the inknown factor on what will happen on their live shows, despite so much media and internet attention the company receives. WWE need to really get their asses into gear, stop using smackdown has a glorified house show, and use smackdown as a live RAW show. Start working on the smackdown roster's ability to perform on a live show, and if they are not ready, put them on house shows. Now if this happened, we would actually see storyline's develop and it would give the WWE and IC champions time to really develop a feud.

What do you guys think? if the company actually did that, but like the old saying easier said than done

 

[RavensEdge]

I think most people who were watching WWE back when it was WWF would love to see 1 world title again and the end to the "brands". Most of the guys are all over both Raw and Smackdown as it is which is actually making the fact that there are 2 world champions overkill. I think you're right, back when they split the roster it was due to entirely too much star power after the purchase of WCW and the transition between the stars of the Attitude Era and the Ruthless Aggression Era. The only "huge" names left are Cena, Orton, Big Show, Kane, and Undertaker(once a year). CM Punk is gaining ground to superstardom and there are a few others well on their way but it's nothing like when the roster consisted of The Rock, SCSA, Hogan, Nash, Angle, Foley, Booker T, HBK, Undertaker, Triple H, Flair, Edge, Cena, etc....

The roster is at a point now where everything can be combined together and a few titles eliminated.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

I have been saying this for years. I think you guys have pretty much said everything I could say on this but I didn't want to comment and say I agree but I didn't want to get a PM for this being Spam so hopefully now it won't.

 

[lazeric]

I'm kinda mixed on this topic. I do like the idea of ending the brand extension BS becuz like it was stated before all the main guys with running programs appear on both shows. I also like the idea of making one world title becuz it would make more of a compelling story with so many ppl gunning for the title but here's where my problem comes in. 1 world title kinda blocks the growth of the younger up and coming guys. There would be no room for the Wade Barretts, Dolph Zigglers, Daniel Bryans if there is only 1 title becuz with a healthy Cena, Big Show, Orton, Kane, and Jericho there would be no room in the title picture. Look at the year Mark Henry and CM Punk had recently none of that happens if its only 1 world title. You dnt get the pushes of Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler either. IMO there's a lot of positives and negatives reguarding the combining the world titles but I think they should stay split for a while. I knw I sound kinda confused but I like the ending of the brand split but nt the ending of the world title split. I also agree that IC title should be brought back up to a more promient role like in the past when it was a gateway title to the main event.

 

[RavensEdge]

I'm kinda mixed on this topic. I do like the idea of ending the brand extension BS becuz like it was stated before all the main guys with running programs appear on both shows. I also like the idea of making one world title becuz it would make more of a compelling story with so many ppl gunning for the title but here's where my problem comes in. 1 world title kinda blocks the growth of the younger up and coming guys. There would be no room for the Wade Barretts, Dolph Zigglers, Daniel Bryans if there is only 1 title becuz with a healthy Cena, Big Show, Orton, Kane, and Jericho there would be no room in the title picture. Look at the year Mark Henry and CM Punk had recently none of that happens if its only 1 world title. You dnt get the pushes of Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler either. IMO there's a lot of positives and negatives reguarding the combining the world titles but I think they should stay split for a while. I knw I sound kinda confused but I like the ending of the brand split but nt the ending of the world title split. I also agree that IC title should be brought back up to a more promient role like in the past when it was a gateway title to the main event.

Of course there's room for the Barretts, Zigglers, Bryans, Sheamus', Ryders, etc... WWE was very successful for decades with 1 world title and dozens of superstars got very popular without holding the WWF Championship. It's very possible to have a successful run without being the number 1 guy, just ask Mr. Perfect, MDM Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, Scott Hall, British Bulldog, Bam Bam Bigelow, I could go on and on.

The problem is that since the belt gets passed around so much nowadays that has become the measuring stick for stardom, not superstardom. You can push plenty of midcard guys AND get them popular AND have a good deep roster AND not give everyone a run with the belt.

WWE would be fine with the World Title, IC title, Tag Titles. BTW ending the brand extension and building careers through tag wrestling, like the way it used to be done, would keep a lot of guys out of the "limbo" im sure everyones afraid most guys would fall into. But the Tag situation is another topic completely.

 

[wrestlingfanatic98]

Of course there's room for the Barretts, Zigglers, Bryans, Sheamus', Ryders, etc... WWE was very successful for decades with 1 world title and dozens of superstars got very popular without holding the WWF Championship. It's very possible to have a successful run without being the number 1 guy, just ask Mr. Perfect, MDM Ted DiBiase, Roddy Piper, Scott Hall, British Bulldog, Bam Bam Bigelow, I could go on and on.

The problem is that since the belt gets passed around so much nowadays that has become the measuring stick for stardom, not superstardom. You can push plenty of midcard guys AND get them popular AND have a good deep roster AND not give everyone a run with the belt.

WWE would be fine with the World Title, IC title, Tag Titles. BTW ending the brand extension and building careers through tag wrestling, like the way it used to be done, would keep a lot of guys out of the "limbo" im sure everyones afraid most guys would fall into. But the Tag situation is another topic completely.

If all this did happen it would not even be TV14. Like you said of course you can push plenty of guys, this is where the IC title comes into play. Why was the attitude era so successful in building and establishing stars? Because they had one WWF title, the IC title, and the tag titles, heck they even had the European title. If you had these 4 titles what could happen, lets look at the roster on who should be title contenders if all this did happen

WWE champion currently CM punk
the contenders cena, orton, resurrected kane, Y2J, big show, henry,

IC champion Daniel Bryan
the contenders
sheamus, rhodes, barret, del rio, christian, jackson, clay, ziggler

The likes of ziggler bryan rhodes and barret needed and need an IC title run, to establish themselves like kurt angle done, and then in a years time they get moved up a level.

european champion say heath slayter
the contenders mcintyre, slatter, cara, tatsu, mysterio, booker T

Yes mysterio is in the european rank, but with his style with some of these high flyers it could work

But they need to rebuild the roster.

 

[lazeric]

1st off I get that having 1 champion makes things clearer but I still say just 1 world champion will stifle the growth of some. Ted Dibiase and Mr. Perfect were used as examples but neither of them were world champs which proves me point of how guys get left out of the title picture becuz of 1 title. Look at how long it took Mark Henry to reach this point in his career and he's basically where he is nw becuz of lack of credible heels on smackdown. When there was only 1 world title give me a champ who wasn't HBK, HHH, Taker, Rock, SCSA, Kurt Angle, Y2J, Kane, or Vince. I might have left out maybe 1 or 2 ppl but for the most part the world title was passed around this group with pretty much every1 else chasing the IC title. This is why they lost Hall and Nash to WCW becuz they had no room for growth.

 

[RD_21]

As far as I'm concerned I don't want only 1 title and I don't want the brand extension to end.

What I want is the opposite, I want them to enforce the brand extension. You send Cena to Smackdown and we don't see Smackdown star on Raw and Raw star on Smackdown. That way you have to watch BOTH shows to follow feud and Cena fanbase would flock to Smackdown to improve the ratings of the show.

Most of the time it's redundant because you will see the Smackdown feud on Raw and most of the time it will almost the same thing on Friday.

I do agree that they should go live but as I said if you enforce the split you will not have confusion about the world title anymore either.

 

[m1k3b14z3]

personally i agree it should end but if it doesnt they should go back to trading off ppv's like it was when they first split the rosters and then just have the big 4 for big blow off matches the way it used to be

 

[H33LTurn]

I think all those ideas sound great. My first thought was that less titles would make certain people or brands insignificant but I later realized less titles would mean more room for actual rivalries. Deserving champions would hold the titles instead of today where people get the title just to push them a little more.

 

[Captain Morgan Freeman]

first the WWE and world titles becoming one title
What if the company decided to have one title, when the WWF title was one title, it was the most prestigious championship in the business. Who ever was champion like in the attitude era and before, that guy was the man, he was the best in the business.

The WWE title still is the most prestigious title in the company. A title is only as important as the people wrestling for it and the top guys have always competed for the WWE title(with the exception of Cena who will be back to competing for it after Mania). If you were to combine the titles the same people would still be competing for the WWE title as the top guys are already competing on raw(except for Orton but that's because Smackdown needs star power). Having two world titles is fine and getting rid of one wouldn't change much.

The IC title
It is time the IC title got what it was years ago, fans want new stars. But when those new stars perhaps need time on their side to develope their stamp on the company, and a world title is not ready for them for example Daniel Bryan, who could have been IC champion facing big show and he could have established himself. Look at what the IC title done for HBK HHH angle and the rock when they were not WWF champion material yet, and many stars of the past. This does not come with that much expectation, because the IC title gives that wrestler that taste of gold, without the pressure of expecting to be the top guy of the show.

You see the thing is when HBK, HHH and Angle held the IC title they weren't the great wrestlers they were when they were winning world titles. They were in the same position Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes are in. Guys who have a lot of potential and have a great future in the main event if they keep up the good work they are doing. Ziggler in particular has already moved on to a main event feud with Punk at the rumble so it seems the midcard titles are doing the exact job they were intended for. Creating the new stars.

This does not come with that much expectation, because the IC title gives that wrestler that taste of gold, without the pressure of expecting to be the top guy of the show.

But that's what it's doing right now, how is changing things going to make any difference to the title. If it ain't broke don't fix it .

Ending the brand extension, if it was not already ended
The brand extension is basically gone, without it being official. Now we add the fact that smackdown stars are wrestling on RAW, and some RAW stars are doing it visa versa, end the extension officially. Now the roster on both shows do not have the starpower to have a brand-extention. The ruthless aggression era had the roster to start a brand extension, this current roster does not

The brand extension is pretty much gone with Raw now becoming the Raw supershow but that's not the case for smackdown because that's where young talent with potential like Rhodes, Barrett, Bryan and DiBiase are given time to get better and get over with the crowd without being pushed aside by the top guys on raw. Raw is the A show where all the big names appear, Smackdown is the show for nurturing young talent.

Ending the smackdown spoilers, and make it a live show like RAW
One thing that RAW still has got, the inknown factor on what will happen on their live shows, despite so much media and internet attention the company receives. WWE need to really get their asses into gear, stop using smackdown has a glorified house show, and use smackdown as a live RAW show. Start working on the smackdown roster's ability to perform on a live show, and if they are not ready, put them on house shows. Now if this happened, we would actually see storyline's develop and it would give the WWE and IC champions time to really develop a feud.

If it was that easy to put smackdown on live they would have done so by now. For starters it's too expensive to shoot two shows live, USA actually help pay for Raw to be live. There's also the fact that they need to make sure the show is edited so that it doesn't overun it's timeslot on syfy, Usa is more lenient on that. You also have to take travel costs into account if you wanted to shoot smackdown live on a Friday instead of the on a Tuesday when they normally shoot it.

Smackdown won't be going live anytime soon. They have a niche fanbase which tunes in every friday regardless of whether it's live or not. The ratings just wouldn't go up enough to justify the increased costs of filming live. Just like you said yourself it's easier said then done.