WWE: Brand Extension Returns

[Kimi]

This makes the releases of Barrett, Sandow, and Cody Rhodes even sadder now

Hopefully H or someone is on Smackdown and he gets Breeze, so he can finally properly utilize him

It would have been awesome for Raw to draft Stardust and Smackdown to draft Cody.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

The brand split was a **** gimmick that went on too long and I am not glad they are brining it back. It is so artificial and boring. What's the next step, they are going to bring back the Bragging Rights PPV?

This. A second title is really dumb. Also, they had that stupid draft every year like that meant something. Wrestlers were just showing up on both shows regardless.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

It would be great if Paul Heyman gets to be in charge of SD.

FIFY.



Hopefully they keep everyone interesting (Enzo/Cass, KO, Styles, Not Bullet Club, Wyatt, New Day, etc) on one show so I don't have to watch both.


This has a repeat of the beginning of the RA era written all over it Reigns (HHH) buries everyone on Raw and SD is higher quality in both wrestling and storytelling.

 

[Cor]

Oh, didn't think of Heyman running SmackDown!

William Regal is another name. (A promotion of sorts?)

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

As for the belts I really don't want the WHC or 2nd tag belts back.

Put the IC on SD and the USA on RAW. WWE, Tag and Women's all crossover. Or put the tag on SD and Women's on Raw exclusively and just the WWE crosses over.

 

[GarbageGoal]

"Running" in kayfabe or reality?

Because I'm pretty sure Paul is done with trying to do creative with the McMahons.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

"Running" in kayfabe or reality?

Because I'm pretty sure Paul is done with trying to do creative with the McMahons.

Yeah Stephanie hates his guts supposedly.

 

[weastern bias]

Boooooooooooo

This isn't gonna get me to watch Smackdown, so now the story is just going to be that much more difficult to follow

I also don't like the idea of having two "top" belts; if they're both the biggest championship, then there is no biggest championship

 

[YoungSinatra]

Hope this means Nakamura is called up quicker now

 

[Cor]

"Running" in kayfabe or reality?

Because I'm pretty sure Paul is done with trying to do creative with the McMahons.

kayfabe.

 

[GarbageGoal]

I don't see it, this is clearly a Shane vs Steph thing.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I stopped watching when the first brand split happened. Guess I have a good reason to stop watching again!

 

[Fro]

how long does this one last....2 years? not even?

 

[Natey]

Ugh.. I really hope the Tag Titles aren't on both brands. Why even do a damn brand split then?

Everything should be separate except MAYBE the Rumble and one match, once a year at Survivor Series.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Ugh.. I really hope the Tag Titles aren't on both brands. Why even do a damn brand split then?

Everything should be separate except MAYBE the Rumble and one match, once a year at Survivor Series.

I agree with the second part of your post but I disagree with the first remark. I think it'd be a mess if they returned to having two belts. That being said, I know a long time ago someone pitched the idea of having a trio tag team belt which is something that could be worth looking at. You've got many stables on the roster where it would make some sense. They could name them the Freebird titles.

 

[GKJ]

The only McMahon that has creative control is Vince. Stephanie does not have creative control, Shane is but a talent.

 

[quoipourquoi]

The brand split was mostly awful because single-brand PPVs occasionally left us with bad shows not worth a full price (Great American Bash every year). In the Network era, this is great news.

 

[JackSlater]

Brand split is terrible. All it does is limit the options available any given week. Properly booking the whole roster fixes any problems that a brand split supposedly remedies.

There should be one main show, with another show focused more on wrestling and one off stories. Not surprising that this format existed when wrestling was in its attitude era heyday.

 

[Virtanen18]

What the heck? 5 hours of wrestling in 2 days. I dunno about that llol

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Brand split is terrible. All it does is limit the options available any given week. Properly booking the whole roster fixes any problems that a brand split supposedly remedies.

There should be one main show, with another show focused more on wrestling and one off stories. Not surprising that this format existed when wrestling was in its attitude era heyday.

I don't really agree with the line of thinking that the brand split is a terrible concept, there are many pros:

- More rest for the talent
- More opportunities for talent to succeed
- Cover more niches (introduction of cruiserweights) and target different audiences. SD could have a more NXT vibe (more focus on wrestling & great athletes) while RAW can be focused on promos and story telling.
- It makes Smackdown relevant again
- It can elevate a title
- Brand exclusive PPVs are a step in the right direction with the network being a thing. They can focus more on the midcard and give them proper feuds.

For those that argue that it will be the same matches over and over again, I disagree, with the proper booking it can be easily avoidable. With the cruiserweight tournament (which I think is pretty damn linked with today's news), you'll have an influx of new talent that comes in and will allow a ton of new matchups.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

What the heck? 5 hours of wrestling in 2 days. I dunno about that llol

Meh, I don't think it's that big a deal with the world that we live in today, everyone has DVRs nowadays so they can just catch up whenever they can throughout the week.

 

[WinterEmpire]

The brand split was mostly awful because single-brand PPVs occasionally left us with bad shows not worth a full price (Great American Bash every year). In the Network era, this is great news.

Yeah, if every PPV was a merged show I'm fine with this.

Hopefully Reigns and Cena stay on RAW and I can enjoy Mauro and a decent 2 hour program on Smackdown.

The Smackdown Six was the second best era of WWE in my lifetime, a brand split isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Serac]

I got back into wrestling during the brand split
So I'm not against it lol

I'm also in the corner of a second main belt for smackdown

However keeping 1 money in the bank case
Loved the mystery of who the person holding the case would cash in on

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Alvarez just said they're going to split the World titles, IC title on one brand, US title on one brand, the women will be exclusive to one brand, there will be a lot of call-ups from NXT.

He prefaced this by saying it will change a million times between now and July since this is WWE.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

The draft is scheduled for Raw on Monday, July 11th in Detroit apparently.

All of the talents have no idea what's going on, what brand they'll end up on.