Why brand split isn't going to happen.... anytime soon

[Radical]

I'll get right the the point: Brand split will not happen anytime soon. By anytime soon I mean anytime in the next 5-10 years at least! I know anything can happen in WWE and perhaps I will be looking back in 3 or 4 years and somehow, someway WWE has done brand split and I'll be wrong but I will also be very shocked because there are many reasons why brand split doesn't seem likely at all anytime soon.

Reasons being:

- WWE has actively taken steps to make their brand WHOLE, not separate by merging the WWE and the World titles, the Tag Team titles, the Women's and Diva's titles.

Brand split makes sense if you have a top singles title and a mid-card title for each show as well as tag team titles and female's titles on both shows. I know the tag titles were defended for a while on both shows when there was a brand split but it didn't make sense. It actually made the tag teams look like they were more important than the top singles champions because they were defending against ALL tag teams in WWE not just the ones on their show. And I'm a big tag team supporter but I know they aren't supposed to look better than the top singles champions.

- Brand split isn't all that makes matches and feuds interesting it is CREATIVE that makes them interesting or not interesting.

There is the WHOLE entire roster technically for both WWE's main shows and STILL people complain we see too much of certain wrestlers too much. Well, with a brand split, yeah, you won't see Sheamus twice a week but you'll see him once a week and facing a lot of Ziggler, Barrett and Orton (if they were on the show) and you'd complain about that. Just because of brand split Sheamus isn't going to start an amazing feud with Heath Slater just for something different.

It's CREATIVE that makes new and interesting feuds NOT brand split.

- Until WWE has a competitive company and then buys them I don't see how brand split would make sense. If TNA or ROH or GFW become big enough someday to really challenge WWE in the market and they 'go to war' and WWE wins the war like with WCW then I could see brand split happening again and it would make lots of sense.

For now, I am open to an NXT invasion of Raw like the old Nexus angle but beyond that I don't see brand/roster split happening or really even being necessary.

Good writing and storytelling and logic is necessary.

Brand split could happen next Monday but if creative isn't ready for it then, guess what? Many of the same fans who fantasize about brand split making WWE better would be saying it sucks. They would probably say it sucks because it's not how THEY think it should be. And THAT is really the issue. Doesn't matter what WWE doesn't, if the fans don't think it is done the THEIR way then it's not the right way.

So brand split isn't the solution. Better creative team is.

Your thoughts?

Agree that brand split won't happen anytime soon?

Disagree?

 

[mkw1962]

Brand split is not the answer and you are 100% correct. i know a brand split might help in the fact that you could see all the wrestlers but even if they split that would not solve the problem which is creative. The writing is terrible that is the problem and as long as that stays the same a brand split would not help.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Problem with a brand split is that in the end, they still belong to the same company so the same rules apply. wwe isn't going to do a brand split and make Smackdown a more adult show or something radically different because it is still a wwe product so it reflects on the company as a whole. If you are not going to do that, then I don't see the point of doing a brand split just to have 2 teams. You could do an unofficial brand split - split your talent so x appear on Raw only for 3 months while Y are on Smackdown, and then switch it up. To me, that makes a lot of sense since it allows you to use your talent better instead of sticking to the same group all the time and wearing them out. We are always amazed during the annual firing because we see names we didn't even know were still there since we hadn't seen them on tv for so long. This would allow you to use them and use other guys less so they don't get stale with the audience. Doing it for a short term also allows you to move people back and forth for feuds a lot quicker which was sometimes the problem in the past. But I agree, it won't fix the creative issues since they have all the wrestlers at thier disposal right now and the storylines are horrible, spitting them onto different shows isn't going to fix that although you never know what character might catch on if you were able to see them on a regular basis and not just every once in a while.

I have issues with an NXT invasion type idea. Unless you are really going to push the NXT guys - i mean they win all the titles quickly, put top guys out of action for a long time, etc - it is a waste. For a lot of people, these are new talent so if they are invading, they damn sure better win. I can't see wwe pushing those guys that hard over guys like Cena and Orton. That is why Nexus failed - wwe pushed them but killed that push too soon, they didn't actually let them get to the point where they were a legit power within the roster. If you don't do that, then there is no point in bringing them in like that at this stage.

I think wiht a good creative team, a brand split isn't a bad idea if wwe wants to keep so many people under contract. But without that good creative team, there is no point.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Brand split is not the answer and you are 100% correct. i know a brand split might help in the fact that you could see all the wrestlers....

Of course, none of us know what WWE insiders are thinking but I would surmise that during the previous brand split, there simply weren't enough top-level stars to fill the bill on one brand......so it was totally impossible with two.

More than that, though, I don't think fans want to 'see all the wrestlers.' They want to see the stars and will express their dissatisfaction loudly if forced to witness too many mid-card battles between Fandango and one of the Luchadores when the top people are waiting in the wings. Sure, we might look at getting more people involved as a better-rounded approach for the company to take, but I would guess the top brass at WWE don't share that logic......nor do the fans.

Do you recall when Smackdown first debuted? I remember (foolishly) thinking we'd get a chance to watch performers we don't normally see much of. Instead, it was just more Triple H, Rock, Austin and Mick Foley doing the same stuff they did on Raw.

Brand split? Already tried it, already discarded it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The only way a brand split works, in my opinion, is if it's a genuine split in function rather than in name only.

For instance, let's just say for the same of argument that WWE decided to rebrand SmackDown as WCW SmackDown or WCW Thursday Nitro. If they allowed said brand to have its own championships, had a different creative team, someone else other than Vince was permitted to call the final creative shots, shifted a number of wrestlers exclusively to said brand, neither brand should have any, or very little, interaction with the others, etc. then it MIGHT be interesting and have some substance to it. In some ways, it'd be like NXT except operating on a bigger level.

However, I don't see Vince relinquishing that sort of control at this point in time; he just simply doesn't have it in him and also...let's be honest, if it was a brand split like the one they had during the 2000s, it won't be 3 months before there's at least one "end the brand split" thread popping up in these forums each week.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Having a brand split again is definitely not the right answer. The roster of today would not work under a Brand Split. In order for that to be a success you would need two full sets of title tiers and with the exception of the midcard, no title tier has enough competitors to split the divisions between two shows. When there were two World Championships the big gold belt kept feeling inferior to the WWE Championship like as if it was a glorified midcard title and nothing else. When there were two sets of Tag Team Championships you ended up with teams winning them that were nowhere near ready. Last but not least, do you REALLY want to see Brie Bella and Nikki Bella each holding a female title hostage? No thanks. With only one title available for divas then only one of The Bellas could ever hold a title hostage as opposed to both of them doing so.

So, let's pretend they did do another brand extension. Later down the line, yes it could work. Bring back some old belts for use on Smackdown. The Big Gold "World Heavyweight Championship" could return. As could the WWE Women's Championship for the divas, the World Tag Team Championships for the tag team division, and even the European Championship for the midcarders unless you'd want to give Smackdown the US Championship. Make 3 PPV's Raw exclusive and 3 Smackdown exclusive to give us 6 brand exclusive shows. Money In the Bank and Night of Champions would join The Big 4 to give us 6 dual branded shows. One PPV per month with half being dual branded and half being brand exclusive. I'd be up for that. They would first have to take a few years to revive Smackdown and generate interest first though. Right now it's just random tag matches, unnecessary rematches, and Raw recaps. If they start now, by 2020 we could have a working Brand Split again that works.

I truly believe the format they have right now is better though. Raw is the flagship brand where the most important promos/matches/announcements mostly take place and where the top guys compete. Smackdown picks up where Raw leaves off with even more exposure of top guys and also allows time for some others to make it onscreen, then we have the annoying constant Raw recaps for those who missed Raw. This format is better than having two incomplete brands just for the sake of having a brand split. Sure, it's not perfect, but if creative puts more effort into the roster and show structure of today without making us see the same matches a thousand times in a row, then that's a much better solution than putting together a brand split when that could potentially make things a lot worse. A brand split isn't the solution. Smarter booking decisions by the creative team is.

 

[kadroan]

Brand split is not the answer and you are 100% correct. i know a brand split might help in the fact that you could see all the wrestlers but even if they split that would not solve the problem which is creative. The writing is terrible that is the problem and as long as that stays the same a brand split would not help.

True. Then you'll have some wrestlers that becomes bigger than the brand split like Taker, Rock and Brock. Exclusivity would be thrown out of the window.