Would the WWE be better off without ECW and SmackDown?

[Richard]

No, I didn't read all three pages, but I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks that ECW should stay on the WWE calender. ECW is a good place for the newer stars for the WWE to start out against some mid carders who don't have anything to do on the other brands like when Matt Hardy was ECW Champion, that was someone good for Jack Swagger to beat to win that strap. It's an integral part of the WWE, so why should it be taken off?

SmackDown being taken away? Are you for real? SmackDown is every part as important as RAW. People say it's the B show but sometimes I find it more interesting than RAW and to be honest, the only reason I watch RAW is for Jericho, so if Jericho was to move to SmackDown after RAW comes this year to Sydney, that would be fine for me.

As for the WWE to be better off, no way, the WWE runs a RAW and SmackDown!/ECW each week. That's two arenas full of little kids who want their parents to purchase them the latest Cena shirt, Jeff Hardy arm bands, Rey Mysterio mask or kids replica spinner belt, the WWE is not going to cut SmackDown!/ECW off their calender and lose half of their ticket and merchandise sales.

Also, there's the abundance of talent, if WWE was to say alright no more SmackDown!/ECW tapings every Tuesday, the WWE is going to have to put quite a few wrestlers out of work and that also means them losing popular names which could be snagged by TNA and then people would switch over to TNA to watch them.

So with the way the WWE is at the moment, there is nothing wrong with having RAW, SmackDown! or ECW because it means you get more opportunities for shows to come to your area, you are able to see all your faveourite wrestlers and you get more wrestling to watch each week.

 

[Spunky]

I'm not going to digenify "does Smackdown need to be dropped" with an answer.

ECW on the other hand I will, in my honest opinion, The only way I could enjoy ECW more is if it had more star power. ECW had gotten back to what wrestling should be, Wrestling, With a few story's thrown in. It is great for the younger star's, As they get good air time, And get to build their gimmick in front of a national crowd, They also get the benifit of being with the veterans of the business, Which will do them only good.

And for the veterans? It gives them a reason to be on the payroll for the most part, Buy it also gives people like Finlay, And Matt Hardy a place to help the younger guys, And build momentuim, For future title runs, And big feuds on the other shows.

Overall i'd say ECW is the best wrestling show of the week, So why get rid of it?

 

[d_henderson1810]

Would the WWE be better off with only Raw? If tomorrow, the WWE announced that they would drop ECW and SmackDown, would it help Raw and the WWE in general? Tell me what you think. I believe yes and no.

I think it would be better because there are fans who only watch SmackDown and fans who only watch ECW. If you have one show, fans would only be able to get their WWE fix once a week. This would lead to fans watching the only WWE broadcast during the week, thus improving the ratings for Raw. Also, more superstars would be on Raw. This would lead to more rivalries that we haven't seen and a more entertaining two hours and five minutes every Monday night But I think this would only help for a short period of time.

I think this wouldn't help because fans wouldn't be able to see everybody they wanted in a single two hour span. Bigger popular superstars would be shown more, and less popular superstars and newcomers would be left out. Eventually, the fans would get bored with the same superstars being at the top. It would still be entertaining, but it would get old quick. It would also make it harder to push new guys. With the veterans being on the show all the time, newcomers wouldn't have a place in the show.

So, tell me what you think. Would it work or not?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've never liked the brand extension, except when Bischoff and Stephanie were one-upping each other (the only time I felt it really worked), so I would agree to scrap Smackdown and ECW, and move everyone to Raw. But to fit more superstars on the show, I believe that they should make Raw THREE hours once a week. That way , they can cover all the storylines they need to make. Also, the WWE could pull it off very easily. The U.S.A Network ask WWE to have four three-hour epsiodes of Raw. How about VInce proposing that instead of four, they have fifty-two. USA Network would jump at this idea.

 

[d_henderson1810]

If WWE were to end the ECW and SmackDown brands, it would spell doom for most of the lower tier wrestlers. With only 2 hours a week to showcase a host of upper and mid-upper card wrestlers, anyone currently not in the Intercontinental/US Title picture would be wished well in future endeavors. Wrestlers such as Mr. Kennedy, MVP, Umaga, and other mid-carders would be doomed to be jobbers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah. Because MVP hasn't already been jobbing for months (they're playing a storyline where MVP NEVER wins! The commentators even mention this fact ad nauseum.So, my friend, this is MVP's fate now).

As for Kennedy, he is useless anyway. He may be great on the mike, but he is crap in the ring. Also, who cares about a guy who keeps reminding us that his new film "Beyond Enemy Lines: Columbia" is coming out on DVD. I mean, that's nothing to brag about:- your film is a straight-to-DVD job. When Kennedy stars in a mainstream release which comes out in cinemas, then he can brag. But to carry on about a DVD which will appear in a bargain-bin near you shortly is just stupid.

The fact is, there are too many useless wrestlers in WWE, and Vince needs to wield the axe, and only keep the talent who wrestle well and/or sell PPV's and T-shirts. Keeping wastes-of-talent like the Great Khali is just holding the company back.

The brand extension should have been "Raw" and "Sunday Night Heat". Then you could hide the unused talent until further notice.