I’ve written about the potential of another brand split happening in WWE a number of times in the past, and the rumours about this have intensified with the return of Shane McMahon. The idea that SmackDown! and RAW will be becoming two separate brands once again is believed by many fans to be in the works. Kevin Owens added to the rumours by saying that he would want the brand split to happen as well. If this rumoured brand split where to happen, would it be the right time to do it?
The last time I wrote about this was for my blog the Armbar Express. Since I’ve written that post though, I came to a realisation. Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of old pay-per-views from 2005 and 2006. This was around the period where the brand split was starting to lose its edge. The cross-branded pay-per-views were fine but when I watched the brand-exclusive shows, I was left somewhat dissatisfied. These pay-per-views were not able to stand out in their own right for the sole reason that their roster was just too thin in order to develop a number of great rivalries. This saw a number of matches put on pay-per-view that seemed more suited for television. Nothing against the men that were in those matches but the talent pool just wasn’t too great in order to build a good under-card.
I thought about this and then I made a list of all the wrestlers that are currently active wrestlers for WWE. I didn’t count all the injured stars and the part-timers. I’m talking about full time wrestlers. I thought to myself that if you divided up all of these wrestlers into separate brands, you could have a pretty darn good under-card for each show. All of a sudden, wrestlers like Jack Swagger would have more of a purpose. Suddenly, Stardust would have more of a purpose. These guys that aren’t used on television can suddenly stand out in that under-card which can suddenly elevate them into the mid-card and main event positions. They stood out more than the stars of RAW in 2005 and 2006 like the Highlanders, Rob Conway and Tyson Tomko. These wrestlers are more developed stars, so there’s no reason to say that they can’t put on a better under-card for these separate brands.
If this brand split were to happen, it would sort of explain why WWE have devoted more attention to SmackDown! as of late. Think about it. They’ve featured Brock Lesnar on SmackDown! recently, they had the majority of the Chris Jericho/AJ Styles angles take place on SmackDown! and they’ve had title changes on SmackDown! recently too. This may simply be WWE trying to put on better shows as there’s a fear that SmackDown! could be dropped. However, what if WWE’s trying to push SmackDown! so it could be seen as equals to RAW? What if that’s WWE’s mindset?
After all, it may explain why Shane specifically stated in his return angle that he wanted control of RAW and not WWE. I always thought this was strange as why would Shane specifically want control of RAW? I initially thought that this was a slip up by Shane as people like Booker T tweeted out how Shane’s match with Undertaker was for control of WWE. However, what if this is WWE’s way of ushering in the brand split?
I think it’d be exactly how Jim Ross described it. A brand split would result in short-term hardships for the writers but would result in long term gains for the company at the end of the day. Suddenly, the WWE wouldn’t feel as limited in terms of who they could use. It’d make the writers realise that there is untapped potential for them to work with. Not to mention that there’s options in NXT as well.
I feel that now is as good of a time to bring the brand split back as ever. With a lot of mid-card talent floating around with not a lot to do, this is your chance to make those guys valuable commodities. Split up the writers and have each show stand out on its own merit. If you’re going to do it, do it right. Make the shows different. But above all else, try something.
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