Slapnuts Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I hope they don't go back to Raw and Smackdown having their own stand alone PPVs apart from the 'Big 4'. It watered them down with only half of the roster appearing on them. But then I wouldn't want the two rosters meeting every month either, spoiling dampening the wow factor of any "Invasion" that may happen down the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 It's been obvious this has been coming for a while, but that doesn't make it any better news. It's a terrible decision I think, although I would really like to be very wrong on that. They have plenty of talent surely, but not enough for two brands and they haven't a tenth of the star power that they had in 2002 on the roster, nor the ability (or inclination, whichever it may be) to get a lot of these guys and girls over successfully. One thing it will do will be to make Smackdown instantly more important, but how in the hell they will manage to fill - and manage to keep fresh - 3 hours of Raw every week, I'll never know. I hope they keep one World champion, 1 set of tag belts, the divas stay on Raw as it will be the longer show and need more to fill it, and keep the PPV's dual brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon-Carr_92 Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I've said this before and I'll say it again. The World Heavyweight Title was basically a glorified midcard belt toward the end of its run. And it does defeat the purpose of it and weakens its importance if it's being defended in the opening match. I just couldn't believe it when they did that at WM XXVII. Makes no sense having 2 anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 Seeing as it's now Network based their PPVs, the exclusive PPVs are probably more viable now. Partly because they can do a Raw and Smackdown closer together and it seems like a better deal for the subscriber; not every month but when it makes sense I guess. Of course the shows themselves (and the brand split) being any good is reliant on WWE being able to create stars and excitement with the current crop of stars coming up. It'll be intriguing to see how the split cannibalises NXT. Someone made the point the other week that if you take away Joe, Balor, Bailey and Nakamura (the four that should be on the main show) then you're struggling a bit for viable main eventers that are to the standard now expected on an NXT show. I suppose they can get Roode in, but interesting to see how that plays out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sexy Dad Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Hopefully this will eliminate a bit of the tradings of wins and losses with each roster only having one show a week. The likes of Miz and Cesaro could go a little while without taking a loss as they won't be needed for a random match against Roman or Dean etc if limited to one show a week. I'm happy that this will fill the void left by NXT, when I want to watch some mid week wrestling at the moment I find myself fast forwarding through NXT so this will be a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Hopefully this will eliminate a bit of the tradings of wins and losses with each roster only having one show a week. The likes of Miz and Cesaro could go a little while without taking a loss as they won't be needed for a random match against Roman or Dean etc if limited to one show a week. Without Roman or Dean, the likes of Miz and Cesaro will probably just end up trading wins with each other even more than they already do. It seems like an awful idea but I'm interested in the shake-up anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 Hopefully they bring back the Hardcore belt. Give the lower card jobbers something fun to do and add a bit of variety. Bo Dallas, Hardcore Champion sounds good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 It's an interesting time to be a fan. Lots of questions about the belts, the roster, NXT, acquisitions, divisions, PPVs, styles of the two shows, storyline reasons, etc. Normally a very quiet time between WM and SummerSlam but this has brought a lot of intrigue. Just thinking about how to fill Raw, looking at the roster, they already have these guys who weren't on Raw (I don't think) this week for various reasons: Cena, Rusev, Ryback, Big Show, Kane, Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, Brawn Strowman, Darren Young, Del Rio, Goldust, R-Truth, Fandango, Kalisto, Sin Cara, Mark Henry, The Ascension, Titus O'Neill, Tyler Breeze. I mean, that's not a second roster but it's a shitload of guys who they can use in some capacity. Triple H & Lesnar are in the background as part timers too. Not to mention a whole bunch of women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackpot Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 Will Byron Saxton still be commentating on both shows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Goldberg Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I'm really happy with this news tbh. I've always felt Raw and SD should be two different shows with different talent but both competing against each other. I like the idea of the shows trading talent from time to time but feel each wrestler should only ever work one show. They have a massive roster so a brand split isn't a problem. They can always hire more talent if needed but I've always felt having a brand split presents more opportunities for the talent because more TV time is available and it's wrestlers working Raw and SD each and every week that makes me tire of them with this we see them once. Raw titles could include a World Championship for both men and women, IC title and hardcore title. SD could have it's own World champion along with a US champion, a CW title and tag-team titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Clint Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 I can't see them bring back the World Heavyweight Championship. I would assume that they'll allow the Champion and Women's Champion to appear on both shows just like early 2002 after the original brand split. I'm expecting them to announce some bullshit that there's a clause in Lesnar's contract which allows him to appear on both shows just incase they run out of suitable opponents for him on Raw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 No fake crowd noise due to Smackdown going live will be a winner too. Good shout. I didn't mind the two champions until about 2010. I don't think the concept was bad, I think the fact they eventually sidelined Smackdown was the problem. When they had champions like Cena, Edge, Undertaker and Batista on SD and they were presented as equal to the other Champ, it worked well. That said, I'd be happy with one World Champ and them raising the profile of the US & IC titles on Raw & SD as per the original idea in 2002. That was exactly what I hated about the two-title era. I've ranted about it before, but I really don't like the notion that two guys are presented as the best in the world. It dilutes the value of having a World title, not to mention that when they did have two champions, they presented them both as "the best in the world", which is nonsense unless you have a champ vs. champ match, which they rarely did. Only case I can think of was that Main Event match between Punk and Sheamus, which is a long bloody wait to have such a match since both titles' inception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members GlennCullen Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 Assuming they've released this now to allow them to get plenty of mainstream headlines before Raw on Monday. Like the idea of an American sport style conference system, culminating in a big Super Bowl style match at Mania. I guess now the precedent has been set with the title being defended in the Rumble, they can keep that going aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members SpursRiot2012 Posted May 25, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted May 25, 2016 For what it's worth, Meltzer says they'll be going with two world champs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King Of Swing Posted May 25, 2016 Share Posted May 25, 2016 So they should. Two brands sharing one title has always been shit and defeats the purpose of separate brands imo. It's how they present the new title that matters most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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