Brand Split II - Confirmed

[rockbus]

I've not been keeping up with NXT but is there a reason that the network special just after the split is called 'The End'? My first thought when seeing that is that perhaps it's being amalgamated with Smackdown? NXT title as secondary belt and NXT tag and women's titles moved across? Unlikely I know but it sprung to mind.

[DavidB6937]

People are speculating, but it's more than likely just referring to the end of the Joe/Balor feud.

[Guest]

It's about the steel cage being the end. Smack down going live makes it even less unlikely that they would use it as their development show

[boytoy]

 

It would be nice if we could have a number one babyface on at least one of the shows who isn't disliked by a large proportion of the audience. Would make that product feel a bit fresher.

Be nice if we could have a number one heel on at least one of the shows who isn't liked by a large proportion of the audience.

 

That's wrestling right now.

 

Too right. Cool heel's don't help matters at all! The last horrible thing I remember was Rollins threatening to break Edge's neck back when they hadn't cut his balls off by banning the curb stomp and even then he was still getting cheered a few weeks later.

[The Cutting Edge]

I dont think all heels play up to the crowd, I think some fans just prefer heels I always have even as a kid I was a fan of Million Dollar Man, Macho King, Heel Powers of Pain and Demolition.

 

I think tv shows play a part in the heel/face dynamic these days, shows like Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad to name a few of fuckloads more are based around the 'bad guy' as the main characters and they come across cool as fuck and have alot more depth to them than simply 'doing the right thing' cos thats what you're supposed to.

 

faces these days are'nt always aloud to act like a human should, Cena brushes everything off nothing fazes him, which has its advantages in some ways but wins/loses dont matter to him cos he keeps going forward with little care (as it seems).

 

Reigns got critised for punching Miz I think during Miz tv awhile back cos it was too heelish, but then other fans shit on him for being too facey and not snapping more...Its near impossible to be a top face these days

[FUM]

Aye people have always liked heels. Difference is when fans started cheering them, WWE turned them and they became big stars e.g. Austin, Rock and Cena. Now WWE have decided whether they want someone to be a face or heel and fans have to accept that they're staying that way.

 

My favourite growing up was always Triple H and he was an utter bastard. Heels are always cooler.

[tiger_rick]

Aye people have always liked heels. Difference is when fans started cheering them, WWE turned them and they became big stars e.g. Austin, Rock and Cena. Now WWE have decided whether they want someone to be a face or heel and fans have to accept that they're staying that way.

 

My favourite growing up was always Triple H and he was an utter bastard. Heels are always cooler.

Trips was massively over as a heel then though. Sure there were some heel fans who probably liked him but he was well over as a douchebag. Apart from some "cool heels" like Kevin Nash in WCW or The Rock in the WWF, heels were generally still heels back then so you knew that if they were getting huge cheers (like Austin in 1997) then it was prime time for a babyface turn. It's just not the same now. Boos and cheers less of an indicator than ever. So they just do what they want.

[Dirty Eddie]

It's going to be incredibly odd watching them do the Roman/Rollins feud with Roman as the face and Rollins as heel when most of the audience is likely to react the opposite way. If they had not been so bloody stubborn they could have turned Reigns already and fully embraced that monster, babyface pop that Rollins got on his return. The fact that they had him go out and heel on the crowd the next day was mind-boggling.

 

They could have positioned their top feud to have the desired face/heel dynamic, but they refuse to give up on Roman as a face - seemingly blind to the fact that turning him heel would not mean he has to remain a heel for the rest of time!

 

Why not embrace the natural crowd response for both men and make it a million times easier to tell the story?

[Mr.E]

There are many levels/reasons why people cheer these days.

 

I find the majority of people cheering for a heel, or at least the older men who know the deal, are cheering because something is happening that they want to happen, no necessarily because the person is heel/face, but because a certain scenario is happening that they favour.

 

Yeah, there are still knobs like "LOLS WE HATE REIGNS", but that's always going to happen 

[Guest]

Just a thought but I wonder how much Money in the Back influenced today's scenery. It's a gimmick that will almost always suit the opportunistic heel more, but crowds will lose their shit every time because They were the ones to get to see it happen

[tiger_rick]

It's going to be incredibly odd watching them do the Roman/Rollins feud with Roman as the face and Rollins as heel when most of the audience is likely to react the opposite way. If they had not been so bloody stubborn they could have turned Reigns already and fully embraced that monster, babyface pop that Rollins got on his return. The fact that they had him go out and heel on the crowd the next day was mind-boggling.

 

They could have positioned their top feud to have the desired face/heel dynamic, but they refuse to give up on Roman as a face - seemingly blind to the fact that turning him heel would not mean he has to remain a heel for the rest of time!

 

Why not embrace the natural crowd response for both men and make it a million times easier to tell the story?

I agree with you that it'd be easier short term and I'd personally like to see it because I think Roman would be great in the role and Rollins would be miles better as a flashy baby. So I'm just trying to think of their logic.

 

The only things I can think is that they want Roman to stay on the right side of the tracks, like they have with Cena all these years, so that they can always push him as the blue-eye who always did what he did for the fans and always had morals. Like the watered down Hulk Hogan that Cena has had to be at times.

 

That or Reigns' merch sells so well that they don't need to give a fuck about boos.

[xnollyrocksx]

 

 

I just more than anything want both shows to be different not look and feel the same.

Different stages/sets, graphics, ring announcers, back stage interviewers etc...

This. There needs to be as much of an effort to seperate them, just as much visually, as possible.

The main concern I have is that they are only a few high profile injuries or ratings drops away from ignoring their own rules and just mixing rosters between shows and making the brand split worthless again.

The fact that both shows have much more parity (network, live shows etc.) will incentivise WWE to do just that. USA will want much more in exchange for their investment in a live Smackdown than UPN/CW will have expected during the last brand split.

 

If (and it's a big if!) they pay attention to the details and minutiae, there's a huge opportunity for WWE here. They have such a diverse set of styles on the roster with which they can create two distinct television shows and make them both must-see wrestling.

 

To do that, though, not only do they have to give each show their own aesthetic (set, filming strategy, commentary teams, ring announcers etc.); they have to go the distance with both directions and not, for example, take a wrestler away from Smackdown when they get too over for Tuesday nights, or use only one of them as the primary progression route for the NXT guys.

[Dirty Eddie]

 

It's going to be incredibly odd watching them do the Roman/Rollins feud with Roman as the face and Rollins as heel when most of the audience is likely to react the opposite way. If they had not been so bloody stubborn they could have turned Reigns already and fully embraced that monster, babyface pop that Rollins got on his return. The fact that they had him go out and heel on the crowd the next day was mind-boggling.

 

They could have positioned their top feud to have the desired face/heel dynamic, but they refuse to give up on Roman as a face - seemingly blind to the fact that turning him heel would not mean he has to remain a heel for the rest of time!

 

Why not embrace the natural crowd response for both men and make it a million times easier to tell the story?

I agree with you that it'd be easier short term and I'd personally like to see it because I think Roman would be great in the role and Rollins would be miles better as a flashy baby. So I'm just trying to think of their logic.

 

The only things I can think is that they want Roman to stay on the right side of the tracks, like they have with Cena all these years, so that they can always push him as the blue-eye who always did what he did for the fans and always had morals. Like the watered down Hulk Hogan that Cena has had to be at times.

 

That or Reigns' merch sells so well that they don't need to give a fuck about boos.

 

It's such an odd thing to want though.

 

Do they not realise how wrestling fans mind's work? We are the most forgiving bastards in the world if we want to be. Hogan was trying to kill The Rock one week with a truck and getting standing ovations a few weeks later. I'll stop beating the long dead horse and try and get this back on track in a second, but just go with the flow, turn Reign heel, soaks up the hate for a year or so and then turn him into your Super Face.

 

Back to this brand split stuff - *fantasy booking alert*

 

I'd have Reigns retain against Rollins at MITB thanks to his new alignment with The Club - turning him proper heel, and then split Roman and Rollins into different brands in the draft - saving their meeting for some huge cross-promotional event in the distant future where beloved face Rollins has to earn some prize (a cross-brand MITB, The Royal Rumble or something) to get the chance to face his arch rival from the other show.

[Guest]

I have faith that Roman is not the perpetual blue-eyes that people fear

 

Cena would never reel in the boos calling himself "THE guy", he'll just go like "It seems some of y'all don't like me very much!" or "raucus crowd here in Philly!", he means way too much to all the people who tune in purely because of his squeaky clean inspirational persona to say something outright arrogant - Reigns is nowhere near that

[simonworden]

Something dawned on me this afternoon on some underlying things that will be beneficial of the brand split. To start the nxt writer responsible for most of the decent nxt stuff is up there. He now has control over the storylines a lot more if he doesnt just have to play "tie us over until Raw" most of the time. He can easily bring up the creme of nxt and carry on the format/ style on a bigger stage. I hope anyway.

 

I've read and agreed to some extent that while i've been enjoying it nxt has become more than developmental and actually made it harder to bring up potential talent to a spot where they can develop. Clear out the TV ready or close enough (and some not so) guys to smackdown and some to raw then you can start again. Even if they can the Takeovers for 12 months and do a full rebuild, it's not their livelihood anyway and people can get on board with some originals especially if you have a few people like Roode, Young etc there still. I'd leave Nakamura there for a while as the top face too but this all feels like a good way to have a forward shift and really change things on all 3 shows which excites me