# Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July - Brand Split Incoming



## Sweggeh (Feb 12, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Wait, the brand split is here?????????????


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## Rex Rasslin (Jan 6, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

:mark: :mark: :mark:

:yes

Now that is good news!


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## deanambroselover (Mar 16, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Smackdown being live every week isn't that gonna cost WWE shit loads as the reason they taped it was due to costs


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## Swissblade (May 18, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

That's great. Now atleast the wrestlers won't have to work both Raw and SmackDown and it keeps them fresh. I can definitely see Cena or Rollins being the top guy for a live SmackDown show.

:mark: if Brock is a SmackDown exclusive. :mark:


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## Fluffy|McDoodle|Kitten (Sep 2, 2014)

*SmackDown To Air Live Every Tuesday Beginning July 19th*

Sounds like the brand split is well underway.

I hope each brand gets their own set of distinct champions.

Hopefully guys who have been on the main roster but languishing in their position get a chance to shine and not just be fodder.


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## The Renegade (Jul 19, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

4 months ago, this idea would have been crazy. Now, with gluttony of talent appearing on the main roster, this makes more sense. Let's pull the trigger.



ShadowKiller said:


> That's awesome Now atleast the wrestlers won't have to work both Raw and SmackDown and keeps them fresh.


Didn't think about this at first, but its probably the biggest benefit. Less dates = less injuries. Everybody wins.


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## HundPRM (Nov 6, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

So WWE wants me to sit through back to back nights of their program? (Add a 3rd night on PPV weeks). No thanks.


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## skarvika (Jun 2, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Smackdown will stop having piped in crowds you say?








Brand split you say?


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## JM (Jun 29, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Hopefully it's Rollins and Cena on Raw and Reigns and Styles on Smackdown. I doubt it will be though :mj2


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## Becky's Otologist (Jul 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Good news about going on live, no more fake audience sounds.
Not sure if I am too happy with this brand split news.


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## Whoanma (Apr 5, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Brand split and great expectations. Are they going to compete for different belts as well? It seems to imply there will be two completely different brands.


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## The Game (Oct 7, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*


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## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

FUCK. Are you serious? Fuck the brand split. Not again. They can't even book RAW coherently and competently. All this is will be booking two separate entities as shit instead of one major one.

Smackdown going live looks to be the last ditch effort to save that damaged brand. If a live Smackdown can't draw interest, nothing will...which it probably won't. Especially with this product as SHIT.


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## marshal99 (Jan 6, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

FINALLY , the brand split is here.


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## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Oh please no.

I'm happy for Smackdown going live but if they think they can run a 3 hour Raw with half of this roster, they've fucking lost it.


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## Headliner (Jun 24, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

No buys. As long as we don't get two World titles again....


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## JM (Jun 29, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I also really hope they keep the tag championships, Woman's Championship and WHC's as cross brand championships. I think they will at this point but WWE can't be trusted in this regard. More championships mean more toys for the kids to want.


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## 5 Star Giulia ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Apr 21, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

*OH MY GOD THEY'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT!!!! :YES :woo :woo :woo!!!! PUT HEYMAN IN CHARGE OF SMACKDOWN AGAIN PLEASE!!!*


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## HEELWarro (Jan 6, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Excellent news. I haven't watched Smackdown for months due to nothing significant happening on the show that affects the storylines. 

I didn't watch much WWE during the previous brand split so I'm curious to see how it all plays out.


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## 2Pieced (Feb 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

The return f two World Championships then, Not sure about that there are positives and negatives to it.


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## Rex Rasslin (Jan 6, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Headliner said:


> I don't mind it as long as we don't get two World titles again.


This^1000

I just hope they will bring back a cruserweight title. Then have 2 singles titles for each show and the Tag Teams belts should be both on RAW & SD


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## Drago (Jul 29, 2014)

*Re: SmackDown To Air Live Every Tuesday Beginning July 19th*


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735447930547490816
Source



> USA is about to flip WWE fans’ expectations for one of the wrestling programs it airs every week.
> 
> “Smackdown,” which moved to the NBCUniversal-owned outlet from sister Syfy in January, will be broadcast live for two hours every week starting Tuesday, July 19, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., resulting in five hours of live WWE programming on the network each week.
> 
> ...


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## Becky's Otologist (Jul 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



ShadowKiller said:


> That's awesome. Now atleast the wrestlers won't have to work both Raw and SmackDown


They probably work an extra house show instead and you know what happens at house shows.... :dead3


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## The_It_Factor (Aug 14, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Awful idea. It's already hard enough to fill 3 hours worth of Raw with a full roster, I can't imagine how terrible Raw will be with a half roster.

Wasn't the last brand split around the time everyone quit watching? Taking a strong roster and cutting it in half isn't the answer.... Anyone willing to watch 5 hours of WWE per week (8 hours per week one a month) is insane.


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## ManiT (Feb 24, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Exclusive roster for SmackDown?

That means.....

One more World Title?

WOW


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## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I cant fucking stress how knee jerk this decision is. WWE knows that their ratings (especially for Smackdown) are horrendous and are finally pushing one of their "last ditch effort" panic buttons (Smackdown live and the brand split returning). Everybody will get hyped and excited for about two months but when it becomes obvious that it is still the same old shit, the honeymoon effect will drastically fade away and we'll be back here on square one asking why WWE sucks.

It's inevitable.


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## 2Pieced (Feb 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



JM said:


> I also really hope they keep the tag championships, Woman's Championship and WHC's as cross brand championships. I think they will at this point but WWE can't be trusted in this regard. More championships mean more toys for the kids to want.


I agree, they never treat both championships as of equal importance which was the biggest problem the last time.


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## swagger_ROCKS (Jun 5, 2010)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

It's all fun and games till you know who's truly being cheered, and which heel is actually getting heat. :mj2


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## zonetrooper5 (Oct 27, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Why would anyone want a brand split when the current creative direction is so shit, if they can't book the current roster what makes people think that raw and smackdown being split would be any different?


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## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

It will be two world championship.


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## JM (Jun 29, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I'm not sure why WWE needed to announce the brand split part already. Pretty much spoils how this Shane/Stephanie thing is going to go.

Just thought about the PPVs too. Plz no Raw/Smackdown explusive PPVs again plz :mj2


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## Deadman's Hand (Mar 16, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

*Why in the hell are people excited about this? WWE can't even book a 3 hour show right, much less 5. Maybe it's just me, but I don't miss the brand split one bit, because it doesn't matter if RAW & SmackDown! are split, if they can't book a decent show.*



WINNING DA BASED GAWD said:


> I cant fucking stress how knee jerk this decision is. WWE knows that their ratings (especially for Smackdown) are horrendous and are finally pushing one of their "last ditch effort" panic buttons (Smackdown live and the brand split returning). Everybody will get hyped and excited for about two months but when it becomes obvious that it is still the same old shit, the honeymoon effect will drastically fade away and we'll be back here on square one asking why WWE sucks.
> 
> It's inevitable.


*No to mention, this. It's very clearly WWE trying their damndest to save their ratings. And just like when they brought back Shane, it doesn't change the actual problem with WWE, that being their shitty creative team, & their out of touch 70 year old owner.*


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## Shenroe (Jul 18, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Mixed feelings on that brand split thing


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## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

The return of the diva championship?


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## Wwe_Rules32 (Jul 10, 2006)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Can't wait


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App


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## Whoanma (Apr 5, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

As I understand it, having exclusive rosters in both shows means they can't have cross titles. Am I mistaken?


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## TD_DDT (Jul 28, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I like this because I never watch Smackdown since nothing important happens.


You can literally watch ZERO episodes of Smackdown and not miss a beat. Title changes never happen (when is the last one?) since it is taped. This is good news.


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## Ronny (Apr 7, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

NO MORE CROWD MUTING???

BRAND SPLIT???


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## Drago (Jul 29, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Fuck brand split, they will botch it BADLY.


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## 2Pieced (Feb 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Deadman's Hand said:


> *Why in the hell are people excited about this? WWE can't even book a 3 hour show right, much less 5. Maybe it's just me, but I don't miss the brand split one bit, because it doesn't matter if RAW & SmackDown! are split, if they can't book a decent show.*


The imagination of what could happen gets people giddy (including me tbh), when reality sets in and we see the results :trips4


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## anirioc (Jul 29, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

But i thought people wanted the brand split.
i guess some will complain about everything, at least WWE is trying.


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## december_blue (Dec 3, 2007)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



2Pieced said:


> The imagination of what could happen gets people giddy (including me tbh), when reality sets in and we see the results :trips4


Yeah, you hit the nail on the head.


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## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

I bet wwe doing the brands split to try cut down the injury.


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## ZachS22 (Jun 5, 2013)

Rollins is gonna take one belt to SD and Reigns will keep the other on Raw.


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## Mr. WrestleMania (Oct 16, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Well, they're going all in, that's for sure.

They mentioned Rollins in the press release.

:drose


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## Hawkke (Apr 2, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Tuesday.  On PPV weeks that's 8 hours of WWE in 3 days.. I'm all for a brand split, it might.. And I mean might.. Force them to do better.. Oh who am I trying to kid. Knowing WWE they'll go to a PPV each month for each show.


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## DeeGirl (Aug 18, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I was against this not too long ago, but in the past few weeks with all the new talent coming in, a brand split might not be the worst idea to give the wrestlers a better chance to showcase their talents. I guess I'll have to start watching Smackdown again.

This also means the return of draft night :mark::mark::mark:


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## validreasoning (Jul 4, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Tuesday is the same night tna airs. Tuesday night wars anyone?



WINNING DA BASED GAWD said:


> I cant fucking stress how knee jerk this decision is. WWE knows that their ratings (especially for Smackdown) are horrendous.


SD is doing 2.3-2.5 million viewers weekly live, that's far from horrendous given its twice the prime time viewership of usa and about top 30 most watched shows on whole of cable each week. Most shows on USA which cost a ton more money than sd ie colony, Mr robot do a fraction of sd numbers


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## deanambroselover (Mar 16, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I hope they don't put all the best ones on Raw and jobbers on Smackdown


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## Chief of the Lynch Mob (Aug 22, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Well this will be interesting at least. It has the potential to make more stars, but they HAVE to treat the shows equally. Trim RAW down to 2 hours.

Interesting to see what will happen to the women's and tag titles too considering the general lack of depth.


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## Takes2Two Fandango (May 29, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I'm not against the brand spilt but three hours of raw is hard to sit through it'll be even worse with half the roster gone from the show, also last time if someone gets over on smackdown they'll be moved straight to raw within the year and finally what about the the women's and tag belts obviously both shows will get a world champion and a midcard title


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## Deadman's Hand (Mar 16, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



2Pieced said:


> The imagination of what could happen gets people giddy (including me tbh), when reality sets in and we see the results :trips4


*This is just like when Shane came back. People get excited, their fantasy booking runs wild, but then reality sets in, and nothing fucking changes.*



anirioc said:


> But i thought people wanted the brand split.
> i guess some will complain about everything, at least WWE is trying.


*People wanted better writers, people wanted someone at the helm that isn't senile, and until either of these change, a brand split doesn't matter.
*


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## sbzero546 (Aug 19, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Haha they cant even get Raw right and that is like 3 hours of crap. I am intrigued about this brand split tho (again). I think it worked well before and it will again.


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## TheGr8Pun (Apr 8, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

The two titles could work if they make the importance of the belts run parralel to each other.

With all of these releases I'm wondering if they needed to free up cap room for new contracts, stage upgrades, new writers, new titles..


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## BrokedownChevy (Feb 11, 2016)

Pretty clever way of admitting a ratings failure. They're willing to risk the cost of going live in hopes that advertising revenue will balance it out. Terrible plan. Just make a good fucking show and people will watch. I'm all for going live, but if you can't get it right taped then what's the point?


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## Oakesy (Apr 2, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

It's going to be cringeworthy watching a 3 hour Raw with half of the roster. They struggle to fill the 3 hours as it is...


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## FriedTofu (Sep 29, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

The brand split was one of the worst decision. There was a B-level feel for the talent on Smackdown and WWE attempt to counter it by incessantly having Smackdown talent win in battle of the brands type of match ups argh.


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## Shenroe (Jul 18, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



zonetrooper5 said:


> Why would anyone want a brand split when the current creative direction is so shit, if they can't book the current roster what makes people think that raw and smackdown being split would be any different?


It's so their obscure fav could get a "push" or "win" a "world" title. Like it did any good to Ziggler/Swagger/Christian/ADR/Big Show etc :maury I can already hear people saying both belts were on the same show and the whc curtain jerked most of ppvs. Yeah, but even during the peak of the brand split era, Booker T, Mysterio or Khali won the whc belt and mainevented their respective ppv. They didn't won the main belt, feuded with the main guys and are not regarded as true world champ either. 
If you're not beating the number 1 guy holding the main belt( be it Reigns/Rollins/Orton etc) it doesn't matter in the long haul.


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## Cliffy (Mar 31, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

cool

will probably start watching wwe again now that they have a weekly 2 hour show with it's own roster


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## Genking48 (Feb 3, 2009)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Thank god, hopefully we'll get more feuds that actually matter now that the roster will be thinner.


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## Alco (May 18, 2006)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

I can see this working only if they cut Raw back to two hours and they don't split the World title. Let the IC title be Smackdown's main title, with a Cruiserweight title being introduced for the undercard. 

I can't imagine a 3-hour Raw with half a roster being anything close to good.


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## AyrshireBlue (Dec 16, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

Raw needs to go back to 2 hours then. Bring back the WHC and go back to calling the current belt the 'WWE Championship', the WWE World Heavyweight Championship never made sense as the word 'world' was in the twice!!


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## DeeGirl (Aug 18, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

IMO this would work better if Raw was to be reduced to 2 hours. The fact Raw is still going to be longer than Smackdown gives me fear that Raw will be made to look superior to Smackdown.

We'll see what happens, I'm cautiously excited for this. Hopefully they can make Smackdown relevant again and divide the rosters evenly.


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## JY57 (Jul 31, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*


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## anirioc (Jul 29, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Deadman's Hand said:


> *This is just like when Shane came back. People get excited, their fantasy booking runs wild, but then reality sets in, and nothing fucking changes.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Are you sure? please search on this very forum "i want the brand split back" and see how many threads are created.


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## Headliner (Jun 24, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

People in here made good points. If some of these guys are on SD only, Raw is going to become unbearable quick with the amount of geeks and filler. We'll be subject to Roman coming out 3 times per show. Hopefully they smarten up.


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## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

By the way, people forget the reason the brand split ended was because SD was drawing poor house show numbers and the ratings didn't justify keeping it any longer and a separate entity and that was back in 2011/12.

Imagine it now in 2016 with THIS product.


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## Cliffy (Mar 31, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*

can't wait for TNA to get smashed in the ratings and run off to another night, AGAIN.


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## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

Look like raw and SMACKDOWN will have only ppv.


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## CurbStomp93 (Aug 5, 2015)

This could be good but they need to trim Raw down to 2 hours if they do it, with half on Raw and the other half on Smackdown a 3 hour Raw will be even more of a disaster than it currently is


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## Brock (Feb 26, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

NVM.


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## thelegendkiller (May 23, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Styles to be given the secondary belt and lead SD into a new era.

Either him or Ambrose.

I don't think Reigns, Rollins, Cena and Wyatt will be wasted on SD. Balor has to still debut and establish himself on the main roster.


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## Cliffy (Mar 31, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

hopefully they put cena on smackdown and keep reigns on Raw so i don't have to watch him.


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## GRAPHICAL GHOST (May 27, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

bring back the whc then.


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## Dr. Middy (Jan 21, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Yeah... this is a nice idea and all given the size and the overall talent of the current roster but let's be real. They struggle to book a good 3 hour show that keeps people captivated, asking for 2 more hours of fresh and new content a week doesn't sound like something that they can pull off, especially with the same writing team and Vince still at the helm.


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## Genking48 (Feb 3, 2009)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



Brock said:


> Edited the thread title as a confirmed brand split wasn't mentioned and is still only an opinion at this stage.


But a draft is mentioned in the article.



> http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/article/smackdown-live-usa-network-july-19
> 
> This bold move will have major ramifications for all of WWE and exemplify the New Era, as both Raw and SmackDown will each feature their own unique rosters and rivalries following an imminent Superstar draft.


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## The Tempest (Feb 27, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



Brock said:


> Edited the thread title as a confirmed brand split wasn't mentioned and is still only an opinion at this stage.


But the WWE app said "With a distinct roster" :draper2


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## TripleG (Dec 8, 2004)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

If you're going to have two long ass shows, might as well split the roster and feature different guys on each one. 

The problem though is that I don't know if their roster is big enough to fully support a brand split.


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## BrettSK (Dec 16, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Oh what grand news!!! The brand split is back!

I just know this was HHH's idea.. I wonder what it means for Raw being 3 hours.. 


Oh crap, that means the talent for the shows in Aus are gonna change.. Hopefully it all works out for the better.


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## Whoanma (Apr 5, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



The Tempest said:


> But the WWE app said "With a distinct roster" :draper2


Exactly. Each show will feature its own, distinct roster. That's the reason I said there couldn't be cross titles.


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## QWERTYOP (Jun 6, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Smackdown going live - brilliant. LONG overdue. Possible brand split - no interest whatsoever. People have such short memories. The brand exclusive PPV's were fucking terrible & people ended up switching shows like it was nothing.


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## Alco (May 18, 2006)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



TripleG said:


> If you're going to have two long ass shows, might as well split the roster and feature different guys on each one.
> 
> The problem though is that I don't know if their roster is big enough to fully support a brand split.


Maybe Vince wants to slow down Hunter's idea of a full-on touring NXT brand and this is sort of a compromise? I can see a number of NXT talent called up to Smackdown in this scenario.


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## Marcos 25063 (Sep 9, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



Brock said:


> Edited the thread title as a confirmed brand split wasn't mentioned and is still only an opinion at this stage.





> SmackDown going live on USA Network on a new night with distinct roster starting July 19
> 
> A SmackDown shakeup is about to completely reshape all of WWE. Beginning July 19, the second longest-running weekly episodic program in television history, SmackDown, will move from Thursday to Tuesday nights and air LIVE each and every week — for the first time ever — at 8/7 C on USA Network, the exclusive cable home to WWE’s marquee properties.
> 
> ...


 here


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## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Now is this a way for WWE to try a program with more of an edge? 

A brand split=reboot. Now whether that reboot just results in the same shite is another story. 

A distinct cast, unique storylines and dedicated scriptwriters is saying an attempt at a change. 

I COULD be that RAW stays with the same old shit and Smackdown goes more edgy. Or it could be that after that attempt the crap just continues. I will however give WWE a chance to fuck it up.


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## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

Sent Becky Lynch go to SMACKDOWN.


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## Godway (May 21, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

SD being live is like the best thing that could have ever happened to SD, good for them for finally taking the hint years later. This will be VERY interesting to see how viewership splits on the Roman Reigns show compared to the not Roman Reigns show. 

Just please don't call it an actual brand split, because that's stupid.


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## OwenSES (Jul 19, 2010)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

Great news for me. Some incentive to watch Smackdown. Hopefully Ambrose will be on a separate brand to Rollins and Reigns so he can finally get out of their shadow and develop on his own. I'm curious as to what brand Cena will end up on as well.


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## Brock (Feb 26, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*

​


Marcos 25063 said:


> here





Genking48 said:


> But a draft is mentioned in the article.





The Tempest said:


> But the WWE app said "With a distinct roster" :draper2


:doh Pays for browsing on my phone   Thx.


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## Believe That (Aug 19, 2014)

They need to make Raw 2 hours


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## AboveAverageBob (Oct 23, 2013)

Seems like for the most part I'm alone thinking this is a bad idea. I do like separate rosters, but I've never been a fan of having two world champions. With most things though I just enjoy the show for what it is, not what I want it to be. I just hope it works well and gets me watching Smackdown consistently again.


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## Mr. WrestleMania (Oct 16, 2012)

If they do this right, it could be so good. Please do it right, WWE. Too much talent to screw this up.


----------



## J-B (Oct 26, 2015)

I don't know how anyone could complain really. It's gonna be a huge shot in the arm imo. Can't wait to see something new, hopefully at least one of the shows have a good creative team. 

I reckon it'll be Reigns and Rollins on Raw as the top guys with Cena and AJ on Smackdown.


----------



## Mra22 (May 29, 2014)

I'm very happy I think Vince has finally realized how bad the product has been now we will finally get fresh matchups and Smackdown will feel more special I just hope they decide to it RAW to 2 hours also


----------



## BoJackson (Aug 30, 2012)

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the championships. They have a hard enough time trying to make the IC and US titles look important at the same time. Can't imagine what would happen if they had duel women's, tag team, and world titles.


----------



## BryanWyatt2015 (Jul 28, 2015)

I don't see them creating another title, probably Roman will be on both shows


----------



## chargebeam (Jul 12, 2011)

Please don't de-unify the titles. Please don't de-unify the titles.


----------



## kingfunkel (Aug 17, 2011)

I think Vince should genuinely give Shane and Steph a show and they can run it legit how they wish. Without any interference from Vince see who is genuinely best to run the wwe when he's gone


----------



## .MCH (Dec 1, 2008)

*RAW* - WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Women's Championship

*SD* - WWE World Middleweight Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, Tag Team Championships

It makes much more sense to divide the main championship by size (like they do in boxing) than to have two equal world titles, which only cheapens both titles. And the US title should be replaced with the cruiserweight championship.


----------



## Swimmy (Sep 20, 2013)

Only one set of titles. 

The Divas division isn't even deep enough for a split. Unless it will only be exclusive to one brand.


Basically..Whomever has a title can cross brands. Probably the best thing to do.


----------



## tducey (Apr 12, 2011)

This is absolutely awesome and just what the WWE needs right now. Have Shane run Smackdown, Stephanie run RAW, Vinnie Mac oversee both shows. A champ for both shows, undisputed champ for the WWE, brand only pay per views. So much potential with this, hope they don't ruin it.


----------



## Hyphen (Oct 26, 2014)

Maybe it'll be like the first brand split where Raw will be shit for three years during Roman's reign of doom while SD will get actually good matches with decent storylines. Instead of 2 bad shows, we'd get one bad and one good show. Could mean great things.

At the very least it will inspire some form of intrigue though. I was planning on maybe taking a break again but with this news I'll at least hang around untill we see what this brand split looks like, so a good 3 months or so.


----------



## chargebeam (Jul 12, 2011)

WWE's second big title should be the IC title. Don't create a new one. Don't split the WWEWHC.


----------



## Daniel Mina (Mar 31, 2016)

This is interesting! Hopefully they do it right! At least the wrestlers will be working less, reducing the risk of injury slightly.


----------



## Solf (Aug 24, 2014)

Excellent news. The brand split was much needed. There is too much valuable talent that isn't used accordingly. Plus, Smackdown being live can only make it better.


----------



## Brodus Clay (Jan 6, 2012)

Damn they gonna have Seth and Cena burying everyone?, I was hoping they keep them on RAW!


----------



## Daniel Mina (Mar 31, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



TD Stinger said:


> Oh please no.
> 
> I'm happy for Smackdown going live but if they think they can run a 3 hour Raw with half of this roster, they've fucking lost it.


They only use half the roster on RAW now. The rest get lost in the Superstar and Main Event shuffle. If anything this will allow more Superstars to showcase their talents.


----------



## Deagle (Nov 6, 2011)

I can't wait for this, best news I've heard from the WWE in a long time! I loved the early years of the brand split when the shows were presented as equals, 2 main champs, brand vs brand and important stuff actually happened on Smackdown. This will make things fresh again and with this announcement seems like they'll bring back the World Heavyweight Championship so SD can have it's main champ. Also with SD going live this is their biggest opportunity to have it on the level of raw.

I had to make a video about it sharing my thoughts.


----------



## Opinionated (Dec 16, 2015)

Maybe this is just wishful thinking but.....


Maybe WWE is recognising the discontent of more hardcore fans and wants to create a product more suited for them. Some may say NXT is that, but its not, NXT is developmental. 

Maybe this is a toned down attitude era about to begin, but in a way that means WWE never has to get rid of its lolipop era, make a wish, be a star pushing RAW. 

Maybe just wishful thinking.....


----------



## RyanPelley (Jun 5, 2011)

Hope they do a draft. Those are always fun. The draft episode of Raw in 2002 was badass.


----------



## ST1TCH (Aug 6, 2014)

The draft part is simple, split up the talent evenly while organizing talent in a way that promotes future storylines and intrigue.

The stuff I wonder about is how they're going to handle championships and PPVs. They already did away with the WHC, so it's not like they can just create a new WWE Championship. I'm assuming the champion will appear on both shows, same with the Women's Champion while midcard titles will be split up. 

Also, this will be a great chance to bring back two more midcard titles, obviously the Cruiserweight title following the tournament.


----------



## Jersey (Jun 24, 2014)

Get miz off of Raw. Heyman should be in charge of Smackdown to give us classics again.


----------



## The One Man Gang (Feb 18, 2014)

Great. 2 World Champions again. :tenay

and if you think feuds are dragging on now, just wait til the roster is cut in half.


----------



## elhijodelbodallas (Jan 30, 2014)

I'm not very optimistic about this. I don't see any pros to this change and there's a whole lot of cons.


----------



## Stinger Fan (Jun 21, 2006)

I think thats a good thing to do because it definitely cuts down on draining your audience out on Tuesday while filming 4 hours of Wrestling that one night. It also prevents piping in crowd noise, so all in all , its a great move by the WWE to go live on Thursdays. I really hope they don't brand split though , I think thats the worst thing they can do


----------



## Opinionated (Dec 16, 2015)

Restomaniac said:


> Now is this a way for WWE to try a program with more of an edge?
> 
> A brand split=reboot. Now whether that reboot just results in the same shite is another story.
> 
> ...


My thoughts exactly


----------



## Fluffy|McDoodle|Kitten (Sep 2, 2014)

I like the idea of the brand-split returning. I was hoping it would re-emerge as part of a storyline over the summer rather than just being put out there. Come to think of it, the whole idea just seem to come out of left field as if the WWE brass woke up on Tuesday and said "let's shift SmackDown live to Tuesdays" and made the announcement the very next day. I think it would have been more engaging if there was a reason for a brand split that could tie into WWE storylines (no, Shane vs. Trips doesn't count since it seems like they are abandoning that angle).

I can understand people's apprehension about the brand split. After all in it's waning years, it wasn't really as great. However I think with the influx of talent coming up from NXT and the main roster guys they have now (many of which are only working Network shows) WWE has the talent to pull it off but the matter of if it will be successful remains to be seen.

As far as the championships, I'm all for each brand having their own "World" championship however don't believe it needs to happen immediately. In fact all championships, with the exception of the IC and US titles, should be cross branded, at least for now. When it comes time for either Raw or SmackDown to get their own exclusive brand championships set it up as part of a storyline and give it meaning.

The Women's championship shouldn't be split ever as that would just devalue what they've been doing with the ladies for the past year and for everything that's good...DO NOT bring back the Cruiserweight Championship. It's not needed and wouldn't be used in the way that it should. I don't want to see a feud between Fandango and R-Truth over that Championship.

Shorten RAW to a 2 hours (with a 10 - 15 minute overrun) and push SmackDown on that program as a show you can't miss on Tuesday nights.

WWE should push the initial draft lottery like a sports draft (NFL, NBA, .etc) and run it as an exclusive on the WWE Network. I think it would be worth to try the experiment at least once and if it works out, perhaps do something similar each year.

WWE really needs to put their best foot forward and not half ass it if they want the brand split to be successful in the long term.


----------



## Oneiros (Feb 16, 2014)

Mixed feelings about this...

Positives:
- The Draft is probably back :mark:
- Superstars that don't have that much air time or direction will be able to showcase themselves more.
- The World Heavyweight Championship may return :mark:
- More people will be able to reach main event status, as there will be 2 different main event scenes.

Negatives:
- Raw being 3 hours as opposed to 2 hours like Smackdown. 
- Unknown state of the Women's divison

Damn, why did they send Sandow packing? fpalm


----------



## Walking Deadman (May 12, 2014)

Love this news. Hopefully they bring back the World Heavyweight Championship, and World Tag team championships, and more importantly, keep the brands as separate entities, like the original split between 2002-2005.


----------



## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Daniel Mina said:


> They only use half the roster on RAW now. The rest get lost in the Superstar and Main Event shuffle. If anything this will allow more Superstars to showcase their talents.


Oh yes, it gives a chance to see more guys they've done little to nothing with and now expect us to care.

If Raw goes back to 2 hours, this can be good. If not, this is a mistake IMO.


----------



## Tommy-V (Sep 4, 2006)

Smackdown going live is cool, but I don't like a brand split. I hoping that all champions can be on both shows. I don't want two World champs.


Wish Raw would go back to two hours along with this.


----------



## Born of Osiris (Oct 29, 2013)

Won't mean anything if the writing and booking is still terrible.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

Great news imo. The WWE WHC champion to merge the titles. Was a great idea. But I think its time to have two champions again. I mean at least you get another option whos not Reigns. I see Cena and Rollins top dog on SD, and Reigns on Raw. The Draft is always fun too. More pros then cons. IT creates two main event scenes.


----------



## nicklibertine (Mar 17, 2016)

This has perked my interest, if nothing else. Definitely don't want two world champions, as much as I do like the big World Heavyweight Championship. Keep the WWE title as the big one, have an intercontinental belt, but I'd love a belt with some stipulations attached, almost like the Pure title in ROH. Have it as an upper-midcard/midcard belt with, say, two referees to stop any cheating/interference, no closed-fist punches etc, and make it about pure technical wrestling. I'd rather that over a cruiserweight title.


----------



## DarkLady (Oct 5, 2014)

Meh.


----------



## TheResurrection (Dec 21, 2011)

This is a great move if they have a genuine roster split and near totally separate teams running each and competing with each other. If it's just moving the night it's broadcast on it's a total waste of time.


----------



## Shenroe (Jul 18, 2013)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July*



OwenSES said:


> Great news for me. Some incentive to watch Smackdown. *Hopefully Ambrose will be on a separate brand to Rollins and Reigns so he can finally get out of their shadow and develop on his own*. I'm curious as to what brand Cena will end up on as well.


The only saving grace so far.


----------



## JM (Jun 29, 2004)

chargebeam said:


> WWE's second big title should be the IC title. Don't create a new one. Don't split the WWEWHC.


IC and US Title can be equal, one on each brand, with the WWEWHC appearing on both shows. That would be perfect.


----------



## doctor doom (Jun 26, 2007)

AJ Styles vs Prince Devitt for the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam?


----------



## manstis1804 (Jan 31, 2010)

The first brand split ended up driving me away for about 5 years.

Yet somehow, I'm kind of excited for this?

Being a WWE fan is weird.


----------



## Daniel Mina (Mar 31, 2016)

.MCH said:


> *RAW* - WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, Women's Championship
> 
> *SD* - WWE World Middleweight Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, Tag Team Championships
> 
> It makes much more sense to divide the main championship by size (like they do in boxing) than to have two equal world titles, which only cheapens both titles. And the US title should be replaced with the cruiserweight championship.


I agree with more Championships, but I'm not sure if I agree with titles by weight class, except for the Cruiserweight Championship, that one def needs to come back. A middleweight title or light heavyweight limits the matchups you can have. Maybe bringing back the European Championship or...how about this one, having one Championship that can crossover through both brands, i.e. the "TV Championship" works flavor wise as they will be both live shows.


----------



## THE HAITCH (May 18, 2016)

The brand split is ok as long as there's just one world championship. The champion can appear on both shows-uhh. Just like The Haitch did in 2002 during his undisputed-uhh title run.


----------



## Daniel Mina (Mar 31, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



TD Stinger said:


> Oh yes, it gives a chance to see more guys they've done little to nothing with and now expect us to care.
> 
> If Raw goes back to 2 hours, this can be good. If not, this is a mistake IMO.


I agree that it should go back to 2 hours, but I'm sure there is some sort of TV contract that they are locked into that will keep it 3 hours for the foreseeable future.


----------



## Whoanma (Apr 5, 2016)

JM said:


> IC and US Title can be equal, one on each brand, with the WWEWHC appearing on both shows. That would be perfect.


There can't be cross titles if each show features a distinct roster.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

TBH this maybe the spike of interest WWE needed. Yes I agree only one champion. But split between both brands. Maybe SD could be the competition in the end. They have the talent. This well also give talent who don't get screentime more screentime. I also think a pron is freshness. Seeing different talent on different brands. I think the roster is now stacked enough to do this. With the Wyatts still to come, Cena, Lesnar, Orton e.t.c.


----------



## Aficionado (Jul 16, 2008)

Hopefully they are completely separate entities this time around. No flip flopping anyone into both shows, Champions or otherwise. All that does is dull down the intention. If both shows have distinctive flavors, let's make RAW Coke and Smackdown Gatorade.

I also hope the draft involves an actual verbal draft where Shane and Stephanie or whoever make the picks ala Vince And Flair from 2002. Involve trades and such to spice it up. Not a "randomizer" on the Titantron that suddenly stops on a guy.


----------



## Papadoc81 (Jun 3, 2015)

Good luck. We know how well the last brand split went. Has WWE creative made such an improvement since then where people can be confident that they can succeed this time around? If so, how 'bout another invasion angle? The Club has been such a resounding success so far. Gallows & Anderson are really tearing it up. :evans


----------



## PacoAwesome (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm all for it. I loved the brand split because if one show was sucking, the other was usually doing well so there was an alternative if you didn't like what one show was doing. I remember when RAW had Triple H in World Title reign of doom in 2004, and those who didn't like it just watched the badass Smackdown shows instead. I remember when RAW has those awful guest hosts in 2009, but Smackdown had the killer Punk/Hardy feud going on. As long as WWE gives Smackdown some good writers and good talent, we could have a nice alternative live show that doesn't involve Reigns being shoved down our throats by Vince.


----------



## Fluffy|McDoodle|Kitten (Sep 2, 2014)

3ku1 said:


> Great news imo. The WWE WHC champion to merge the titles. Was a great idea. But I think its time to have two champions again. I mean at least you get another option whos not Reigns. I see Cena and Rollins top dog on SD, and Reigns on Raw. The Draft is always fun too. More pros then cons. IT creates two main event scenes.


What do think about a situation where at MITB and Battleground there's no clear winner (draw) at the pay-per-views that forces a final rematch at SummerSlam. Then at SummerSlam both Rollins and Reigns pin each other with each having a claim they should be Champion? It creates a moment where the undisputed championship is disputed and could be split forcing a de-unification of the championship? Each take a portion of the disputed championship to their respective brands. It's kind of like back in the old days where championship would get disputed between territories.


----------



## ★Th0t Patr0L★ (Oct 22, 2013)

I honestly do not care because it's not going to fix anything. And my favorite talent who would probably benefit from a brand split is being released, so...:draper2

Also it'll be a nice way to devalue hardworking talent so they overly pushed motherfuckers can have all the spotlight. Ambrose, Cesaro, Zayn will be shoved on to Smackdown and give more than enough excuse to never have world title pursuits and basically just shaft them further.

I don't care about it, it fixes nothing, and means RAW will be that much more unbearable with literally the same match ups and same talents each and every week and will be more predictable than ever.


----------



## Asuklitz (Apr 22, 2016)

I wish they announced this mid show with a bit of a build up to it to be honest, so much is happening off show which has so much potential. (Hopefully theyll fix this in future episodes)

Just worried they will use Smackdown for just pointless matches for those not included in the main plots going on. Book this right please, dont mess up this chance.


----------



## AboveAverageBob (Oct 23, 2013)

ShowStopper said:


> If they do this right, it could be so good. Please do it right, WWE. Too much talent to screw this up.


My only complaint was how many titles come about. Two world titles, two tag, etc. I wish they'd do something different, maybe smackdown has a crusier title? Maybe the Euro title? I'd also like one world champ as a traveling champ. So, say the WHC is working RAW and it's a Smackdown PPV, I think it'd be cool to let the IC title main event if it was on SD.


----------



## Reotor (Jan 8, 2016)

Another false hope? great, this should be fun to watch (the forum, not the actual show)
opcorn


----------



## .MCH (Dec 1, 2008)

Daniel Mina said:


> I agree with more Championships, but I'm not sure if I agree with titles by weight class, except for the Cruiserweight Championship, that one def needs to come back. A middleweight title or light heavyweight limits the matchups you can have. Maybe bringing back the European Championship or...how about this one, having one Championship that can crossover through both brands, i.e. the "TV Championship" works flavor wise as they will be both live shows.


SD needs a main championship though and creating two equal titles cheapens both of them. Also, letting the WHC be defended on any show essentially creates the same situation we have now and makes the brand split pointless if there's only one top guy with the belt.

I don't really know what else you could do in a situation where you need two equal championships while not killing the prestige of either one. The one thing that hurt the brand split before was having equal titles. 

When it comes to a "tv championship", something about the sound of it has always come off as cheap and meaningless to me. 

Also is there any point to the US championship if you have an intercontinental championship? It's an oxymoron. :lol Though I guess the same could be said about having a world championship with the intercontinental championship around as well.


----------



## The Boy Wonder (Mar 29, 2008)

A brand split and Live Smackdowns? :trips8


----------



## Daemon_Rising (Jul 18, 2009)

This is brilliant. Absolutely the wrong time and roster to start doing this. Marks gonna mark, but this is gonna be funny as fuck.


----------



## CretinHop138 (Sep 9, 2015)

Not going to fix anything.


----------



## Fluffy|McDoodle|Kitten (Sep 2, 2014)

.MCH said:


> SD needs a main championship though and creating two equal titles cheapens both of them. Also, letting the WHC be defended on any show essentially creates the same situation we have now and makes the brand split pointless if there's only one top guy with the belt.
> 
> *I don't really know what else you could do in a situation where you need two equal championships while not killing the prestige of either one. The one thing that hurt the brand split before was having equal titles.
> *
> ...


In the case of the bolded, SmackDown would need to morph into an entirely different promotion. Perhaps, WCW SmackDown or whatever company WWE wanted to create. As long as SmackDown is a WWE product featuring WWE brands, dual World Championships will always feel watered down as there would be a redundancy. However WWE will not do that as they like to tout having the longest running episodic shows in history. However that's the only way I could see have two World Championships under the WWE umbrella without one being made to seem inferior to the other.


----------



## JM (Jun 29, 2004)

Whoanma said:


> There can't be cross titles if each show features a distinct roster.


WWE can do whatever they want...

When they did the draft in 2002 they started off by having one World Champ until Stephanie made brock exclusive to SD! and Triple H became WHC. They could easily just have the one world champion and stick with it.


----------



## Aficionado (Jul 16, 2008)

Gotta love the typical sad sacks who are deciding to shit on it before anything has even happened. Literally minutes after being announced it's already a failure. Why bother trying?


----------



## tommo010 (Jul 15, 2008)

Raw will need to drop to 2 hours for this to work and I still think they'll need a small influx of NxT talent to flesh out duel rosters the guys would be split up as they where in the past with Drafts post mania. They'd need 2 championships or it's pointless as the world champ would switch between brands and over shadow 2 rosters of booking. I'd just have 2 belts looking similar and have them branded World Championships. 

I can see them splitting the women by bringing back the Diva's Championship and it being exclusive to the Total Diva's cast.

Raw = Women's Championship - Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, Bayley, Asuka, Emma, Dana Brooke
Smackdown = Diva's Championship - Paige, Nikki(if she returns), Nattie, Summer, Naomi, Eva Marie, Foxy, Lana

Tag Team's I can see staying on one brand likely Raw. Mid card belts split likely US on Raw and IC on Smackdown


----------



## kendo_nagasaki (Sep 24, 2015)

For kayfabe reasons, surely RAW having an extra hour every week already gives the GM of that show an advantage/disadvantage depending on how you look at it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## CretinHop138 (Sep 9, 2015)

WWE aren't dropping the third hour. It makes them money, sure it sucks... but it makes them money.


----------



## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Daniel Mina said:


> I agree that it should go back to 2 hours, but I'm sure there is some sort of TV contract that they are locked into that will keep it 3 hours for the foreseeable future.


I'm sure that's more of a USA decision than it is WWE. But if that's the case, don't do a brand split when one show has more time than the other. That in itself is just illogical.


----------



## Drago (Jul 29, 2014)

Smackdown also being shown live in the UK.


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735453717357596672


----------



## KnowYourRole (Jul 1, 2007)

Said this on other forums already too... Not feeling this at all, those of us who suffered through the last 5 or 6 years of the brand split know this isn't a good idea unless the brands are equal like they were in 2002 and 2003.

Since RAW is 3 hours, that's virtually impossible.


----------



## Dibil13 (Apr 29, 2016)

I really hope they don't introduce another world title. It'll cheapen the current one even more. The IC Championship should be SD's top title, just like Bryan wanted last year.


----------



## Doc (Oct 4, 2010)

This has disaster written all over it.


----------



## NitroMark (Sep 16, 2013)

december_blue said:


> Viewers who tune in to these live “spectaculars” can’t zap the commercials that support the programs, and marketers seem willing to pay a premium to appear in such stuff.


LOL whatever, I'll still watch the next day via torrent.


----------



## CoolestDude (Dec 11, 2014)

Its a good idea because it would allow characters who dont get air time a chance to be involved in storylines. And storylines will be more in depth because each character will get more time to build themselves. This gives a chance to the likes of baron corbin and people to get stuck into proper feuds. 

I personally won't watch smackdown though. So I hope John Cena gets put on there and Reigns/Rollins are the top face/heel on RAW.


----------



## Balls Mahoney (Feb 20, 2015)

I just wish they'd make Raw 2 hours now.


----------



## HereComesTrouble (Jan 10, 2014)

I'm sure SD is going to be HHH's brand with Vince having very little or no say at all. Basically similar to when Heyman was in charge. Hopefully they completely revamp SD with a different stage, theme, and color ropes. It has to look different from RAW if they really want to make it feel different. With them having the cruiserweight tournament, I could see that being one of the titles for SD.


----------



## elhijodelbodallas (Jan 30, 2014)

The more I think about it the more scared I get. This has the potential to be the biggest blunder since the invasion angle.


----------



## Aficionado (Jul 16, 2008)

tommo010 said:


> Raw will need to drop to 2 hours for this to work and I still think they'll need a small influx of NxT talent to flesh out duel rosters the guys would be split up as they where in the past with Drafts post mania. They'd need 2 championships or it's pointless as the world champ would switch between brands and over shadow 2 rosters of booking.
> 
> I can see them splitting the women by bringing back the Diva's Championship and it being exclusive to the Total Diva's cast.
> 
> ...


Bring back the Diva's Title? No. I see it the exact opposite.

If both shows are going to have a different feel, give them exclusive divisions. Women on one show, the eventual Cruiserweights on another, etc. The only exception would be to introduce another Tag Title, in which case you would bring back the awesome 90's design, but I digress. And if both shows has their own World Champion, instead of the WHC being brought back, why not have the return of the Winged Eagle?


----------



## Flair Shot (May 28, 2006)

The roster is nowhere big enough for a proper brand split that it actually could work. Will be interesting to see what happens.


----------



## THANOS (Jun 20, 2006)

New World Title coming I'd imagine?


Call it:

The *Galactic Heavyweight Championship*



1st Title holder:


----------



## Daemon_Rising (Jul 18, 2009)

Don't know what everyone is so excited about. Look I know I'm "negative" all the time but let's just be honest and stop kidding ourselves. All this means is 5 hours of live bullshit every week instead of 3 hours of live bullshit and 2 hours of pre-recorded bullshit.

You're literally kidding yourselves if you think there is some sort of sea-change in booking on the horizon. There isn't. VKM & co. are the masters of illusion. All they are doing is trying to keep the wolves at bay. I think this brand split will backfire and expose this hideously weak roster and creative team for what they are; charlatans and shills.


----------



## deanambroselover (Mar 16, 2015)

How is the titles gonna work on brand split? one brand wont have titles to fight for


----------



## CoolestDude (Dec 11, 2014)

Will SD be legit run by Shane?


----------



## LIL' WINNING FOOT (Sep 21, 2004)

Hit said:


> Won't mean anything if the writing and booking is still terrible.


People are overlooking this obvious point. Put as much new paint as you want on that car with an old engine. If you don't fix the engine, it'll keep breaking down till it is no longer repairable.


----------



## manstis1804 (Jan 31, 2010)

For the World Title situation, if they're gonna keep it on Reigns, let's just go ahead and have 2 of them so we can have a Roman-free brand.


----------



## CoolestDude (Dec 11, 2014)

RKO361 said:


> The roster is nowhere big enough for a proper brand split that it actually could work. Will be interesting to see what happens.


Why not? The wwe misuse so much talent. This way that talent can just rise to the occasion. They might be forced to try and get more people over too


----------



## Ham and Egger (Dec 13, 2005)

With all the injuries and influx of talent coming in this was the logical step for WWE. I called this months ago!


----------



## Daemon_Rising (Jul 18, 2009)

CoolestDude said:


> Why not? The *wwe misuse so much talent*. This way that *talent can just rise to the occasion*. They might be forced to try and get more people over too


How, if they are being misused, would they go about doing this?


----------



## xagon (Nov 14, 2012)

So this means we'll have two "world titles" in one company again? I hope not.


----------



## marshal99 (Jan 6, 2016)




----------



## SHIVV-EAUX-EMME-GEEE (Sep 12, 2013)

I wanted this for quite a while, but they waited so long that I've lost interest.


----------



## Flair Shot (May 28, 2006)

CoolestDude said:


> Why not? The wwe misuse so much talent. This way that talent can just rise to the occasion. They might be forced to try and get more people over too


Look at the roster how thin it is now already. You really want to split up the tag/womens/IC divisions and see the same match over and over again just for the sake of having a pointless brand split?

They are having the same challengers for the titles contstantly, you really think that is gonna change because of some brand split? Hell no, you just get the same stuff even more than before because there is less talent to use cause the other half of the talent is stuck on the other brand.


----------



## Oneiros (Feb 16, 2014)

THANOS said:


> New World Title coming I'd imagine?
> 
> 
> Call it:
> ...


Yes! It will also dethrone the WWE Championship as the new main event title. 

Summerslam Main Event:










Vs.


----------



## Ham and Egger (Dec 13, 2005)

I think certain belts will be shared between the shows like the tag and women's division. I am surprised they were to keep this under wraps and actually surprise us!


----------



## MEMS (Jun 18, 2013)

I hate that it's Tuesday. Just too many consecutive nights of wrestling. Also wish they would treat it like an actual seperate promotion. Just calling it the "Smackdown brand" is awful.


----------



## #PushBrayOffACliff (Mar 22, 2016)

This is not going to end well, they're going to fuck this up WWE Style.


----------



## Legion (May 6, 2016)

FINALLY, took them long enough

Though this is the WWE creative department we're talking about, they have just as much of a chance at completely fucking this up as they do getting it right, we'll see how this goes....


----------



## 1littlg8 (Feb 24, 2016)

I'm pretty hyped for this. This could give other guys a chance to shine, and maybe even bring new titles if they really want it to be a different brand.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



TD Stinger said:


> I'm sure that's more of a USA decision than it is WWE. But if that's the case, don't do a brand split when one show has more time than the other. That in itself is just illogical.


How many times has it been stated on here that RAW being 3 hours is to long and causes them to 'fill' to much.
NXT is an hour but yet it has smashed RAW out of the park more than once on content. 

2 hours of watchable content can easily beat 3 hours of 'filling' if it's done right. IMHO.


----------



## CoolestDude (Dec 11, 2014)

RKO361 said:


> Look at the roster how thin it is now already. You really want to split up the tag/womens/IC divisions and see the same match over and over again just for the sake of having a pointless brand split?
> 
> They are having the same challengers for the titles contstantly, you really think that is gonna change because of some brand split? Hell no, you just get the same stuff even more than before because there is less talent to use cause the other half of the talent is stuck on the other brand.


You could have 100 of the best talent in the world and it would still be boring dude. Its nothing to do with who is on top. Who isnt on top. Who is wrestling who. It is to do with how the show is written and how formulaic it is. Watch the attitude era and its like literally "anything can happen". They didnt have 30 minute ziggler matches every week that the audience knew nothing interesting was going to happen during. It was literally exciting. And it didnt matter that the main feud of the show was austin vs mcmahon for 2 years. It really didnt matter that the roster was 1/4 the size of the current one.


----------



## witchblade000 (Apr 16, 2014)

Im not for this. I didn't like it the first time. And if there be 2 belts again, prepare to see Cena be 20x champion and Reigns as 17x. fpalm


----------



## The One Man Gang (Feb 18, 2014)

RKO361 said:


> Look at the roster how thin it is now already. You really want to split up the tag/womens/IC divisions and see the same match over and over again just for the sake of having a pointless brand split?
> 
> They are having the same challengers for the titles contstantly, you really think that is gonna change because of some brand split? Hell no, you just get the same stuff even more than before because there is less talent to use cause the other half of the talent is stuck on the other brand.


I don't see how people aren't realizing this. We get rematches enough as it is. Can you imagine cutting the roster in half? Now we'll just get the same rematches on separate shows instead of 2 shows.


----------



## dougfisher_05 (Mar 8, 2011)

With smackdown being just a two hour show, now being live it will easily become the better show. Less bullshit to sit thru!


----------



## deanambroselover (Mar 16, 2015)

The talent gonna be doing two live shows back to back thats alot of pressure


----------



## JJForReal (Sep 10, 2014)

It debuts live on my birthday WOO


----------



## Ham and Egger (Dec 13, 2005)

The greatest thing about this is that there will be space for guys like Balor, Joe, Aries, and pretty much any NXT talent to get a fair push on the main roster.


----------



## Piper's Pit (May 1, 2016)

Seems like everyone in favor of this has forgotten why the original brand split was created in the first place.

Back in 2001/2 WWE had absorbed essentially the entire WCW *and* ECW rosters into their own already stacked roster. They had so much talent and star power on their books that they didn't know what to do with it, creating two separate rosters was the only logical move at the time.

Move forward to 2016 and the situation is completely different IMO. The WWE has a roster with little to no star power, credibility or excitement through a combination of terrible creative, 50/50 booking and overexposure. A brand split is not needed, better booking is.


----------



## Cashmere (Apr 9, 2014)

Please bring back the good theme songs :jose


----------



## Anglefan4life (Mar 13, 2008)

Weird. My initial reaction was excitement. Then I also remembered the WORST parts of the brand split:

Which teams, for the sake of shock value, will get broken up. 

Remember when people never had a feud because they simply were on opposing shows? Hello Eddie vs Shawn. 

Will they bring the World Title back? They just fused the titles together only about 2 years ago. It'll demean the concept of unified titles. 

Then I rememebered all the good things:

More time for certain people to shine. Yearly draft lottery Raw episodes. Each roster getting their own PPVs every other month plus the big four PPVS being both. Titles like Cruiserweight or Hardcore may return to add to different feels on the shows. 

I hope both WWE, Womens, and Tag Champs appear on both. That way it feels more rewarding to be the champs, more exposure, etc. And the more money part makes sense because they will be working more taping and PPVS than the rest of the roster.


----------



## Daemon_Rising (Jul 18, 2009)

Ham and Egger said:


> The greatest thing about this is that there will be space for guys like Balor, Joe, Aries, and pretty much any NXT talent to get a fair push on the main roster.


So what you're saying is, this will be Smackdowns new theme:


----------



## The One Man Gang (Feb 18, 2014)

Anglefan4life said:


> Weird. My initial reaction was excitement. Then I also remembered the WORST parts of the brand split:
> 
> Which teams, for the sake of shock value, will get broken up.
> 
> ...


I'm absolutely against 2 separate titles, but having the champs appear on both shows doesn't make sense either. 

What if the champion is feuding with someone from Smackdown. Does that mean he won't show up on Raw too?


----------



## CM Buck (Sep 2, 2012)

If the rumors of Vince only caring for raw is true does that mean SD will be booked more like nxt with hunter or Shane at the helm?


----------



## Genesis. (Sep 10, 2015)

I CALLED IT, The roster is just to big for one company. Plus they dont want John Cena and Roman Reigns on the same roster.


----------



## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

If diva championship come back then Becky Lynch is likely win it at summer slam.


----------



## Therapy (Jul 28, 2011)

The only way this will work is if they don't do what made it fail the first time.

The rosters HAVE to stay off each show.. When the original brand split was still going talent was flip flopping between shows constantly without explanation and the lines between Smackdown and RAW were nearly gone.


----------



## The Caped Crusader (Dec 27, 2008)

lol at people thinking this is a good idea.

All of these superstars are still going to be booked like shit. The reason why the brand split worked in the past is because WWE had a stacked roster. Even after the likes of Austin, Rock, Lesnar were no longer there, they managed to create both Cena and Batista who were backed by the likes of HHH, HBK, Taker, and upcomers in Edge, Orton, Rey along with a whole bunch of veterans with credibility like Eddie, Booker T, Benoit, Kane etc. Then they had all the other lesser stars behind all of them.

Who the fuck does WWE have today?

This is their main event talent: Reigns, Rollins, Cena, Orton.

Four guys. Out of those four guys, two of them have been around for so long that one of them (Orton) barely matters any more. He fills the Benoit, Kane role of back in the day rather than the HHH, HBK, or Taker role like Cena does right now. The brand split isn't going to make stars. You need stars to make stars. Rock, Austin, Cena, Batista etc. all got over by facing big stars and putting on big feuds. That's how it's always done. That's how you get credibility.

You're just going to get the jobbers still treated like jobbers while they do a Shane vs. Steph angle before fans start bitching again. 50/50 booking, no real hierarchy, except for the same few guys on top while you have a midcard filled with a bunch of nobodies facing each other in meaningless angles. If they introduce another world title, it'd be fucking stupid because you'd just devalue the meaning of a world champion further. Kind of like how Dolph Ziggler, Del Rio, Sheamus, and fucking Jack Swagger were becoming World Champions when they had no business touching the belt.

It's like people are so dumb they need to see it happen before they'll believe it. None of your "darlings" are safe. Some of them are just en route to Jobberville on the B show. The problem right now is that WWE has shit booking and lost all concept of establishing a hierarchy and a proper midcard. That can be fixed with one roster, and it's why the Attitude Era was good. They had angles up the ass and everyone involved in doing things in the midcard and main event.

This is a one way ticket to a bunch of meaningless filler that will mean fuck all. They already mess up by putting on big matches on TV repeatedly. What's going to happen when they suddenly have more time to fill and don't bother doing any storylines? More matches which just ruins the aura of them before there's even a real storyline.


----------



## Piper's Pit (May 1, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



The_It_Factor said:


> Awful idea. It's already hard enough to fill 3 hours worth of Raw with a full roster, I can't imagine how terrible Raw will be with a half roster.
> 
> Wasn't the last brand split around the time everyone quit watching? Taking a strong roster and cutting it in half isn't the answer.... Anyone willing to watch 5 hours of WWE per week (8 hours per week one a month) is insane.


Excellent point. The feeling of burn out this is going to create will be immense. The product is already over saturated to the point of insanity this is just going to increase that. 

They already have trouble padding out a 3 hour RAW with a full roster, now they'll only have half a roster to do it. Eeek.


----------



## Kostic (May 5, 2015)

I honestly hope they bring back the brand split. Many people hated it, but I loved it. I loved actually feeling the need to watch both shows because you'd see different people. I loved that PPV main events weren't always around a single feud, but sometimes would either be WWE title or World title.

What I don't like is that it runs Tuesday. I much preferred Friday or Thursday.


----------



## Genesis. (Sep 10, 2015)

The Caped Crusader said:


> lol at people thinking this is a good idea.
> 
> All of these superstars are still going to be booked like shit. The reason why the brand split worked in the past is because WWE had a stacked roster. Even after the likes of Austin, Rock, Lesnar were no longer there, they managed to create both Cena and Batista who were backed by the likes of HHH, HBK, Taker, and upcomers in Edge, Orton, Rey along with a whole bunch of veterans with credibility like Eddie, Booker T, Benoit, Kane etc. Then they had all the other lesser stars behind all of them.
> 
> ...


It gives the Mid card a chance to become a main event star.


----------



## The Boy Wonder (Mar 29, 2008)

The only way we will see true change is if Shane controls RAW and Stephanie controls SD. Because if that's the case it's obvious Triple H will have more of a say on how SD is booked with Vince giving him a lot of control. If Stephanie is on RAW...


----------



## Bayley <3 (Jun 10, 2015)

Why is everyone so excited? The brand split for the most part sucked. There were a few good things about it but for the majority if was awful. 

Let's watch as enzo and Cass get split, a new day member is left behind etc. 

This is horseshit.


----------



## TyAbbotSucks (Dec 10, 2013)

This is about to expose a lot of people :sip


----------



## DeMar (Jan 29, 2008)

I can see them making the titles synonymous to one brand like they did with the titles during the first brand spilt (example: Raw had the Intercontineal Title and Smackdown has the US title). Then they will probably make the Tag Titles for one brand and the women's for another which brings more emphasis on both. The World title should be defended on both though.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

Some seem to be acting like this new Smackdown is going to replace a show that is doing very well, it is in fact replacing something that is shite and it's going to take half the unused talent of another shite show.
I fail to how this can make it worse when the current shows are shite anyway.
In 2002 the decision was one of necessity due to having to much talent and both RAW and SD where doing well. What is the driver for this in 2016? Companies don't spend more cash (a live show will cost more) for shits and giggles. There has to be a driver to this and my guess is the ratings and USA networks knickers being in a twist over it.


----------



## Genesis. (Sep 10, 2015)

Bayley <3 said:


> Why is everyone so excited? The brand split for the most part sucked. There were a few good things about it but for the majority if was awful.
> 
> Let's watch as enzo and Cass get split, a new day member is left behind etc.
> 
> This is horseshit.


That's what makes it so great! So much possibilities!


----------



## A-C-P (Jan 5, 2010)

WWE, literally, in "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" mode :reneelel


----------



## DoubtGin (Nov 24, 2013)

NO MORE HAIR DRYER CROWD


----------



## Darren Criss (Jul 23, 2015)

Weird things always happens in SmackDown's live events.

BETTER THEY DON'T PUT MIZ TO LOST THE TITLE

Laurinaitis will return


----------



## Krokro (Oct 19, 2015)

I'm both excited and terrified. Excited because woo change in the WWE, terrified because I know all the good wrestlers are going wherever Reigns does so they can continue to have 5* Meltzer Approved Matches!!!!!

In all seriousness, man. I hope they keep the teams together. Wyatts, EnC, New Day, don't fucking move them.


----------



## The Boy Wonder (Mar 29, 2008)

A-C-P said:


> WWE, literally, in "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" mode :reneelel


You know this brand split was planned for some time, right?


----------



## Shaun_27 (Apr 12, 2011)

What a strange way to implement the brand split. Could have been a major storyline but i log into WWE.com and it's just there :fpalm


----------



## the_quick_silver (Aug 16, 2007)

I always felt the concept and the structure they used in 2003 was best for a brand split. I am just recalling that here.

1. Both the brands, treated absolutely *equal* as possible.

2.* Putting the WWE Title on Smackdown and World Heavyweight Title on Raw.* This is one great way to counter balance both the brands. Raw brand itself has the superior feel, so it can pull off World Heavyweight Title as an equal to the WWE Title. And, the WWE Title on Smackdown is also similarly counter balancing as WWE title is well, WWE Title, the most prestigious title of the company. So, Smackdown won't be having that inferior feeling.

3. Having *competitive GMs for both the brands*, who are really competing against each brand, to put on a better show. Bischoff-Stephanie rivarly, back in the day, was very intriguing. They can pull off that again, by putting Stephanie in charge of Raw and Shane in charge of SD.

4. Let the Women's division be exclusive for Raw. Stephanie being in charge of Raw can give it a logical explanation as well as Stephanie used to claim she was behind the "Diva's Revolution".

5. Also, cut Raw back to two hours, obviously.

So, the title structure should be like this.

*RAW* : World Heavyweight Title, Intercontinental Title, World Tag Team Title, Women's Title

*SD* : WWE Title, United States Title, WWE Tag Team Title and Cruiserweight/Hardcore Title


----------



## The Caped Crusader (Dec 27, 2008)

Genesis. said:


> It gives the Mid card a chance to become a main event star.


Ahahaha.

No, it doesn't. You don't become a main eventer by facing other nobodies.

What happened to Ziggler? Swagger? Del Rio? Sheamus? All world champions in the brand split era, and all big fucking failures. They're midcarders today, and Ziggler and Swagger are basically jobbers.

Why? Because no one gives a shit when you're facing nobodies because you look like a nobody yourself. Who are the main eventers WWE has made in the past few years? Bryan, Rollins, and Reigns. 3 guys and they were all involved in big angles against big opponents. They have matches and victories against big opponents.


----------



## The_It_Factor (Aug 14, 2012)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Piper's Pit said:


> Excellent point. The feeling of burn out this is going to create will be immense. The product is already over saturated to the point of insanity this is just going to increase that.
> 
> They already have trouble padding out a 3 hour RAW with a full roster, now they'll only have half a roster to do it. Eeek.


Exactly. This past week, upon Rollins' return, I thought, "wow, the roster is finally starting to gain some depth with the new guys coming up and the others who should be returning from injury.. MAYBE now they'll be able to write a compelling 3-hour Raw."

Two days later, this happens. Raw has been downright unbearable at 3 hours, and just when we get to the point of having multi-ME guys like Cena, Rollins, Styles, Reigns, Lesnar still lurking around, etc., they go and decide to split the roster in half. Raw is going to be even worse than it was before all of the injuries and NXT additions.

Edit: it's also funny/ironic because I'm in the middle of watching some old Raw episodes from 2002 and have been thinking, "it's just not the same with a split roster. Why would I want to watch a show that only has half of the roster/half of the guys that I want to see?"

Whatever, we'll see how it goes, I guess. I'm still not going to start watching all of that wrestling each week, and Raw has always been "the" show. Getting Smackdown over 17 years after its debut just isn't going to happen.


----------



## A-C-P (Jan 5, 2010)

The Boy Wonder said:


> You know this brand split was planned for some time, right?


Yeh, and? its still just another "mask" to try and cover up their real problems and not fix anything. This will be another trainwreck, and fun to watch for all the wrong reasons.


----------



## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

I just want to make it clear that the only problem I have is Raw still being 3 hours. With everyone healthy and guys like Balor, Joe, Nakamura, etc. waiting in the wings in NXT, they have more than enough talent to have two brands and two hour shows for each show. But a 3 hour show for just half the roster? No. I'm sorry, I just don't think it will work.


----------



## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

Nxt star. Is be call up to the main roster.


----------



## Snake Plissken (Nov 9, 2012)

Brilliant news but they really need to take this opportunity to stop using those damn generic HD Stage sets and give RAW and Smackdown identities again, bring back the Old World Title or debut a new design.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

I think I'd do the brand split with Raw getting the established main events guys like Cena, Orton, Reigns and Rollins partnered with a young middle careers like Corbin, Crews, Zayn, Neville, Cesaro and Rusev while giving Smackdown the young main event guys like Styles, Wyatt, Ambrose and Owens with a veteran mid card of Jericho, Del Rio, Miz, Big Show, Ziggler & Sheamus. The young mid card guys can get a rub with a potential feud with a star while the young guys can get over with feuds with former champions. You give RAW the part time guys when they show up like Lesnar, HHH and Taker and the women's title since they have an extra hour that they should use to showcase then better. So Raw will have a heavyweight title, the UStitle, the women's title and their own tag team belts with Smackdown getting a heavyweight title the IC and their tag belts. Id keep the heavyweight titles simple by just calling them the RAW champion and the Smackdown champion instead of the whole WWE and World stuff. Also if you wanted you could even go with a super title of the World Champion to be defended on either brand. But if I would do that it would be a title with long reigns and defended only like 4-6 times a year. So it's the ideal belt for Lesnar or Cena when they need time off or to keep a guy fresh with a lighter schedule.


----------



## marshal99 (Jan 6, 2016)

Anglefan4life said:


> Weird. My initial reaction was excitement. Then I also remembered the WORST parts of the brand split:
> 
> Which teams, for the sake of shock value, will get broken up.
> 
> ...



" Remember when people never had a feud because they simply were on opposing shows? Hello Eddie vs Shawn. "

Errr , like when they were on the same show and they didn't do that. Sometimes not every matchup will ever happen. Eddie is face , Shawn is face , what reason would they have to have a feud ?? It's like cena & taker. Since cena turned face , he has never face the taker. 

There's a lot more upside to a brand split than without but the original brand split had a lot more talented wrestlers to play with but they did bring up a lot from OVW.


----------



## AEA (Dec 21, 2011)

So Smackdown will be cared about for a month or two then go back to being a live version of what it is now?


----------



## Korvin (May 27, 2011)

Smackdown going LIVE is long overdue. That show has been stale for ages obviously. So I love that part.

The brand split thing happening again, ugh. I just don't want to see 2 World Champions again while the Smackdown champion gets treated like he is #2 . I can already see it now. They will use Smackdown as a place for the internet darlings like Aries to go to and be treated as second fiddle to those on RAW.

If they want us to buy in to Smackdown being a legit opponent to RAW then prove it. Put Reigns or Cena on Smackdown for starters.

Plus what does this mean for the Womens Championship and Tag Team Championship? Will the be defended on both shows?

I wish that there was some way to even keep the WWE WHC as it is and have it defended on both shows. The RAW Champion challenge someone on Smackdown until they lose it and then The Smackdown champion will challenge someone on RAW. Just go back and forth. That would be more exciting to me than having 2 world champs.


----------



## DemBoy (Dec 3, 2013)

A-C-P said:


> Yeh, and? its still just another "mask" to try and cover up their real problems and not fix anything. This will be another trainwreck, and fun to watch for all the wrong reasons.


Yeah, this is just Vince's way of pretending that he listens to the fans by sending all these fuckers he doesn't like or sees as nothing more than midcarders to a place that he doesn't care about. He'll have all these fan favorites killing each other for a meaningless title, meanwhile he'll have his wet dream dominating the opposition like nothing and show us that he really doesn't give a shit about the fans or their opinion.


----------



## chargebeam (Jul 12, 2011)

I sincerely hope both WWE and Women's titles get defended on both shows. It would suck to split titles again.


----------



## TheGeneticFreak (Feb 27, 2016)

Hopefully AJ Styles will be on a different brand than Roman so I no longer have to see Roman.


----------



## A-C-P (Jan 5, 2010)

chargebeam said:


> I sincerely hope both WWE and *Women's titles* get defended on both shows. It would suck to split titles again.


Watch them bring back the Divas Title, 3 months after getting rid of it :lmao


----------



## The Boy Wonder (Mar 29, 2008)

A-C-P said:


> Yeh, and? its still just another "mask" to try and cover up their real problems and not fix anything. This will be another trainwreck, and fun to watch for all the wrong reasons.


What are the real problems? Storylines and lack of development of talent. With a brand split the writers will be able to focus on one brand which is better for storylines and talent will have time on a weekly basis to perform.


----------



## Leather Rebel (Dec 27, 2013)

Even if I'm kind of happy for the brand split I'm not completely sure. I mean, Raw is still a 3 hours show and Smackdown 2, and one World title is still enough. Guess I'll have to wait to answer my questions.


----------



## Lm2 (Feb 18, 2008)

lets hope they actually make both raw and smackdown have decent rosters.


----------



## NeverDrewADime (Apr 22, 2016)

Can't wait


----------



## Mr.Amazing5441 (Jun 20, 2015)

The only way this would work is if Raw was cut down to 2 hours and segments were longer.

Top guys of Raw:Roman, Seth, Brock, Bray, Randy, 
Top guys of Smackdown: Dean, Cena, Cesaro, Owens, Zayn, AJ


----------



## 2Pieced (Feb 23, 2015)

the_quick_silver said:


> I always felt the concept and the structure they used in 2003 was best for a brand split. I am just recalling that here.
> 
> 1. Both the brands, treated absolutely *equal* as possible.
> 
> ...


It doesn't matter which brand has which belt, the Raw championship was always seen as superior.

In the early 2000's HHH held the WHC and Smackdown had the WWE title and the WHC was always superior. When Cena brought over the WWE title in 2005 that became "the" championship.

The only way this has any chance is if both Belts are seen as equal amd that won't happen in this company.


----------



## Catsaregreat (Sep 15, 2012)

All theyre gonna do is put all the B players on Smackdown. build them up, then when the time comes feed them Reigns or Cena.


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

Roman on 1 show.

Everyone over with the crowd on the other.

Only reason they are doing this.

Just put SETH, OWENS, and CENA on RAW. Put Roman on Smackdown and I'm cool.


----------



## A-C-P (Jan 5, 2010)

The Boy Wonder said:


> What are the real problems? Storylines and lack of development of talent. With a brand split the writers will be able to focus on one brand which is better for storylines and talent will have time on a weekly basis to perform.


They could do that now without a brand split and don't, why is it going to be any different when an official brand split starts?

This "brand split" is just a "buzzword" and something they are doing, just like this "New Era" BS to make fans believe things are changing or going to be getting better, and it will be a cool thing for a month or 2 (if that long) and it will be back to business as usual.


----------



## DBRCO (May 19, 2016)

Waited so long for a brand split! I know people have their reservations regarding it but I for one think it's 100% needed. More opportunities for others and hopefully a new title, too.


----------



## Leon Knuckles (Sep 2, 2013)

:enzo


----------



## DoolieNoted (Dec 5, 2015)

What's the betting they have the WHC sitting outside the brands so Roman can go over both rosters....

Having SD live on Tuesday is a dumbass idea though. I know it's bound to be easier logistically, but putting a couple of days between them gives them some breathing room to build anticipation.


----------



## wiefisoichiro (Apr 4, 2016)

I wish they give REIGNS the wwe champion at raw and also worldheavyweight champion at smackdown. This would be cool


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

Smackdown gets a new commentator in Dec '15, Shane returns in Feb '16, The head NXT writer gets promoted to Smackdown in March '16. This is clearly a reboot that has been planned for a while and I'm willing to give them a chance on it. 

Shane hasn't been shy in his questioning of the current content according to the dirt sheets. Vince and Stephs egos are such that I can see them genuinely giving him free reign in the expection that his ideas fall flat.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

Gainn_Damage said:


> What's the betting they have the WHC sitting outside the brands so Roman can go over both rosters....
> 
> Having SD live on Tuesday is a dumbass idea though. I know it's bound to be easier logistically, but putting a couple of days between them gives them some breathing room to build anticipation.


Too many people torrent or watch it on Youtube now, and I think USA Network is picking up the live tab.


----------



## CesaroSection (Feb 15, 2014)

Fucking yesss!!

The reasons I don't watch Smackdown are 1, it isn't live so doesn't have the same feel of anything can happen and 2, the piped in crowd noise and I have said for ages, including on here, that WWE should split the brands, and I didn't even care if Raw had the likes of Reigns, Orton, Sheamus etc on it and Smackdown was Bryan, Rollins, Ambrose, Cesaro, Zayn, Owens.

I really do think that WWE is going to make Smackdown more of an NXT based product to cater for the hardcore fans that are rejecting Reigns, where they(we) will get people like Owens, Ambrose etc as World Champions. I also believe that Reigns will stay WWE WHC for a long time now and this is the way to pacify us hardcore fans.

More than happy with this, but I do think WWE has left money on the table in that Shane and Steph could have had a huge fight over Raw so Vince splits them up and gives one to each of them.

It has to be a proper brand split though, where talents are exclusive to that brand. You could do a yearly Raw vs Smackdown PPV, which would keep feuds fresh and would mean you could have guys like Ambrose and Rollins on different shows and then you get to see them wrestle once a year. Or even like Owens and Zayn on different shows. Not sure how it'll work in terms of PPV's though, will each show get 3/4 matches per PPV?

Raw looks like it is remaining three hours, which I don't understand because if the roster is half depleted I really won't wanna watch 3 hours of Raw and I am sure many others would feel the same.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



deanambroselover said:


> Smackdown being live every week isn't that gonna cost WWE shit loads as the reason they taped it was due to costs


Vince answered this years ago. SD was never live because it started as a broadcast show which meant they needed stricter editing at the time than cable. 

Then they moved to cable and SyFy suggested it be live but on Fridays andf Vince declared it wasn't practical travel wise with the trucks. 

They have everything they want on USA to make it live. They got a Tuesday night slot. USA allows for over run unlike SyFy as well. They don't have to keep the production trucks on the road that broadcast it via satellite so long that the cost outweighs the benfit/


----------



## Snake Plissken (Nov 9, 2012)

You just know that at least 1 team is getting split, I'm terrified for The Wyatt Family ,not for Bray since he's a Main Event talent and has shown that he doesn't need The Family but the other 2, Harper and Rowan got screwed over by WWE in the past, I'd hate to see that happen to them again, hope there will be big plans for Harper and Rowan when the time comes for them to leave Bray. Braun fortunately has NXT to go back to if things don't work out. 

The New Day being split would be great honestly, they've had a great run but Big E in my opinion has the most potential to be a Top Guy, he's got the most charisma, great on the mic, he's a great worker. Woods is also a likeable guy who could be a top mid card guy with the right character Post New Day. Kofi has proven that he's a great hand, he's always going to put on a good match and is overall a reliable worker. 

Enzo and Cass will be fine as will Guns and Gallows.


----------



## Bayley <3 (Jun 10, 2015)

Genesis. said:


> That's what makes it so great! So much possibilities!


Yeah except, the examples I used aren't great at all. It's the shit they will pull that nobody wants.


----------



## HereComesTrouble (Jan 10, 2014)

Restomaniac said:


> Smackdown gets a new commentator in Dec '15, Shane returns in Feb '16, The head NXT writer gets promoted to Smackdown in March '16. This is clearly a reboot that has been planned for a while and I'm willing to give them a chance on it.
> 
> Shane hasn't been shy in his questioning of the current content according to the dirt sheets. Vince and Stephs egos are such that I can see them genuinely giving him free reign in the expection that his ideas fall flat.


Shane hadn't been planning on returning until 3 weeks before he returned when Vince and Taker called him because they needed him for WM. Shane has nothing to do with company other than being an onscreen character. HHH is the guy that is going to end up running SD.


----------



## ★Th0t Patr0L★ (Oct 22, 2013)

morris3333 said:


> If diva championship come back then Becky Lynch is likely win it at summer slam.


Bring that butterfly garbage crap back again is a god awful idea. They're better off with a woman's tag title if anything.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

2Pieced said:


> the_quick_silver said:
> 
> 
> > I always felt the concept and the structure they used in 2003 was best for a brand split. I am just recalling that here.
> ...


That's why I have the idea of the Raw and Smackdown titles. Say RAW is Reigns then Smackdown is Rollins then have a World Title that'll be on both shows but defended only like 4-6 times a year. Put that title on Cena, Lesnar or HHH and treat it like its the holy grail. Everytime it's defended will be like a big event. We saw it work when Lesnar held the title or even when The Rock held it. The RAW and Smackdown will still be big enough to main event a lot of pay per views along with being the center of the shows the majority of the year.


----------



## spinningedge (Aug 11, 2015)

This is AWESOME!


----------



## What A Maneuver (Jun 16, 2013)

I'm really really conflicted about this. I kind of hate the idea of there being two world titles again, just because of how they treated the world title right before the roster fusion. It was practically a midcard belt that everyone and their mom won.

BUT, at the same time... I think back to the summer of Smackdown 2009, and that great, great CM Punk/Jeff Hardy feud, and how that never would have happened if not for the brand split. So if we could get quality feuds like that I would gladly accept a brand split.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

HereComesTrouble said:


> Shane hadn't been planning on returning until 3 weeks before he returned when Vince and Taker called him because they needed him for WM. Shane has nothing to do with company other than being an onscreen character. HHH is the guy that is going to end up running SD.


Fair enough but HHH and HIS writers haven't been doing a bad job of NXT. Like I said HHH's head writer from NXT went to Smackdown recently. 

My hope is that people give this new start a chance because nothing will get Vince's attention more than SD smashing RAW in the ratings if this reboot works out well.


----------



## Jonasolsson96 (Dec 31, 2014)

PLEASE Introduce weight divisions. 

Keep the heavyweights and women on raw while you put the middleweights and lightweights on smackdown.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

People understand the thing that they have done is actually split the roster thus meaning guys like AJ, Roman, The Usos, Jericho, and Ambrose aren't working back to back nights and sometime 3 nights in a row. They also stop the feuds from being over exposed like Dolph vs Breeze umpteen. They will also split the writers back up as they have had two head writers for each show but have had them sharing a 28 person staff whereas Gerwitz sand Hayes each had their own individual staffs 

Less work for the wrestlers
Less writers which means they can go back to concentrating on certain guys
Two live nights so no spoilers except when in the UK 
A title belt to pacify guys who would and should never touch the WWE belt
No Saxton for two nights announcing 

And for people bitching about SD on USA. SD since its move to USA has placed no lower than the third highest rated show of the night and second highest rated on the network. It is also the 7th most watched show on Hulu which NBCU owns a piece of with Raw being the fourth most watched program on Hulu. 

It simply makes sense


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

HereComesTrouble said:


> Restomaniac said:
> 
> 
> > Smackdown gets a new commentator in Dec '15, Shane returns in Feb '16, The head NXT writer gets promoted to Smackdown in March '16. This is clearly a reboot that has been planned for a while and I'm willing to give them a chance on it.
> ...


Storyline wise Shane/Stephanie will have to be the reason for the split as I can see it being the ultimate test to prove to Vince who will take over. The end gives Shane a way to leave and then you can just go on from there with like a storyline of Heyman taking it over or something like that. There's so many possibilities.


----------



## MM10 (Feb 22, 2011)

Wow...I hope Styles, Lynch, Rollins, Owens and Rusev go to Smackdown so i can stop watching 3 hours on Monday. To have the only ones i care about on a 2 hour Smackdown would be awesome. 

Also wondering if Triple H will have full creative control over Smackdown.


----------



## Jonasolsson96 (Dec 31, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



2Pieced said:


> The return f two World Championships then, Not sure about that there are positives and negatives to it.



I think they should scrap the secondary titles and have weight divisions instead. Having two world titles is dumb and having "lesser" championchips is even dumber. What is the point of a title if it doesnt mean you are the best? The roster is stacked. 


Heavyweights - Cena,Reigns,Bray,Owens,,Joe,
Middleweights - Rollins,Ambrose,Orton,Cesaro,Nakamura
Lightweights - Styles,Zayn,Balor,Ziggler,Jericho
Womens Bw - Sasha,Charlotte,Paige,Becky,Bayley


There is your top 5 contenders in each weight division. Every single one of those 
has main event potential. You put two divisions on raw and 2 on smackdown. Make each show 2 hours long and keep all those I mentioned booked strong as fuck. Never have them wrestle eachother on free tv. 


Instead you have Kevin Owens wrestle Sheamus or Harper. Zayn wrestle Neville or Kalisto. 
The top 5 contenders should be built up for ppv title matches.



So there should be five titles. Women's Bantamweight. Mens lightweight. Mens middleweight, mens heavyweight and wwe tag titles.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

Jonasolsson96 said:


> PLEASE Introduce weight divisions.
> 
> Keep the heavyweights and women on raw while you put the middleweights and lightweights on smackdown.


I've thought of something like that but it'll be complicated as say 225 and lower is a cruiser, 225-280 is heavyweight and 280 plus is super. It's just a big gap of 55 pounds in the one and I think of another one say 225-250 and then 250-280 is to many titles. Also it complicated stuff creative wise, you think you wouldn't have Styles/Reigns, Reigns/Rollins, Ownens/Zayn or even back in the day Bryan versus anybody really.


----------



## Chris JeriG.O.A.T (Jun 17, 2014)

I've been trying to read through this thread but there is so much parroting of talking points, like do you even critical think, bro? 

People keep saying how bad Raw would be with a half roster but we literally see the same people on Raw every week and it's way less than half the roster.

People also keep saying if they can't book a 3 hour Raw how will they book 5 hours but if both shows are already bad what exactly would be the difference? 

Smackdown already has a seperate creative team with Road Dogg and Ryan Ward so this won't affect Raw but with a renewed focus on Smackdown and seperate rosters it will become more than a repeat of Raw.

Can anybody really say this move has any downsides? At worst nothing changes, at best Smackdown improves dramatically, more talent gets used on both shows, injuries decrease and the midcard titles become more important.


----------



## the_quick_silver (Aug 16, 2007)

2Pieced said:


> It doesn't matter which brand has which belt, the Raw championship was always seen as superior.
> 
> In the early 2000's HHH held the WHC and Smackdown had the WWE title and the WHC was always superior. When Cena brought over the WWE title in 2005 that became "the" championship.
> 
> The only way this has any chance is if both Belts are seen as equal amd that won't happen in this company.


Can't really say that. There are numerous occasions during that period, where WWE title main evented PPVs over World Heavyweight Title.

Rumble '03 : Angle vs Benoit (WWE Championship) was the second main event (Rumble match being the mainevent)

Wrestlemania 19 : Angle vs Lesnar (WWE Championship) was the main event.

Judgment Day : Lesnar vs Big Show (WWE Championship) was the main event

Out of the 5 Joint Brand PPVs in 2003, which featured BOTH WWE and World Titles on the card (Rumble, Mania, Judgment Day, Summerslam and Survivor Series) 3 PPVs were main evented by WWE Title matches. 

I started watching WWE during that time and I legitimately felt both the titles were equal, because of this kind of presentation.

Now, after the brand split, they can do such a structuring of the card as well, to make both the titles feel equal.


----------



## Even Flow (Jun 10, 2005)

I think Smackdown going live on Tuesday's is great. It'll give me something to stay up for on Tuesday night.

The brand split however, i'm unsure about. I hope they don't create anymore titles for both brands, and that champions will appear on both shows. It'll certainly be good news to those who are currently not being used, and for NXT stars wanting to get the call up. Also I hope Cena goes to Smackdown, he's been on Raw long enough.


----------



## Jonasolsson96 (Dec 31, 2014)

Denny Crane said:


> That's why I have the idea of the Raw and Smackdown titles. Say RAW is Reigns then Smackdown is Rollins then have a World Title that'll be on both shows but defended only like 4-6 times a year. Put that title on Cena, Lesnar or HHH and treat it like its the holy grail. Everytime it's defended will be like a big event. We saw it work when Lesnar held the title or even when The Rock held it. The RAW and Smackdown will still be big enough to main event a lot of pay per views along with being the center of the shows the majority of the year.



This ^^^^ Or weight divisions. Having two world titles is STUPID. It just cheapens both. Secondary titles have also run there course. A title means you are the best. There shouldn't be titles for second best. Either do smackdown and raw titles while having the world champ on both brands. Or you have weight divisions like ufc. You dont need 10 weight divisions. Heavyweight middleweight and lightweight is enough. Then one for the women.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

So they had that wave of injuries absolutely devastate the WrestleMania card and the overall quality of the shows over the last few months, and now they're expecting their employees to make back-to-back live shows as well as house shows during the week?! Jesus Christ.

I know SmackDown! was taped on Tuesdays anyway but at least it was taped and the atmosphere was more relaxed. Now they have to be on totally on point the night after RAW.


----------



## MM10 (Feb 22, 2011)

American_Nightmare said:


> So they had that wave of injuries absolutely devastate the WrestleMania card and the overall quality of the shows over the last few months, and now they're expecting their employees to make back-to-back live shows as well as house shows during the week?! Jesus Christ.
> 
> I know SmackDown! was taped on Tuesdays anyway but at least it was taped and the atmosphere was more relaxed. Now they have to be on totally on point the night after RAW.


Brand...........Split.......


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

American_Nightmare said:


> So they had that wave of injuries absolutely devastate the WrestleMania card and the overall quality of the shows over the last few months, and now they're expecting their employees to make back-to-back live shows as well as house shows during the week?! Jesus Christ.
> 
> I know SmackDown! was taped on Tuesdays anyway but at least it was taped and the atmosphere was more relaxed. Now they have to be on totally on point the night after RAW.


Your reading comprehension is terrible.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

I think the biggest thing that hurt Smackdown in the past was its network. RAW/WWE/USA is just fused together for fans while Smackdown has hopped around from network to network so it being on USA levels it out a bit. My biggest problem of it all is Tuesday night as 5 hours of wrestling on back to back nights is a lot for a fan and then you count in pay per views then it's 8 hours in 3 days. I think Thursday night is so much better as you have days in between.


----------



## Alright_Mate (Jul 21, 2014)

Certainly advantages and disadvantages.

Certain things definitely need altering though, Raw needs to go back to two hours. I'd have two World Champions and the Tag Titles & Women's Title should be played out over both brands, not enough depth in the Tag and Women's divisions to have two belts.

Main thing for me though is injuries, they have to get lucky and hope injuries stay at a minimum, few main players get injured then the likes of Big Show & Kane may get elevated again.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

American_Nightmare said:


> So they had that wave of injuries absolutely devastate the WrestleMania card and the overall quality of the shows over the last few months, and now they're expecting their employees to make back-to-back live shows as well as house shows during the week?! Jesus Christ.
> 
> I know SmackDown! was taped on Tuesdays anyway but at least it was taped and the atmosphere was more relaxed. Now they have to be on totally on point the night after RAW.


You need to read better. 

The guys already work both Raw and SD, so does the whole writer team besides each shows head writer and lead agent.. 

WWE told Variety wach brand would have its own roster and set of writers, which means you won't see burnout as much. Roman and The Usos or AJ won't work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with the 20 something writers all traveling too. 

You'll have two distinct rosters with about 10 writers on each show under their head writer. It probably makes the writers job easy to like what Hayes and Gerwitz used to have as you don't have to make 20 peoples shit mash together and work. 

You also cut out guys like Roman and AJ going at it 8 times before the ppv and burning fans out for example. 

And no Raw won't likely go to 2 hours again because USA always wanted 3 and Vince and HHH have both said that at conference calls. What you may see is SD adopt MAin Event as its secondary show though since NBCU owns part of Hulu and have an exclusivity broadcast agreement for it which is why it airs two weeks behind on the network


----------



## McNugget (Aug 27, 2007)

This is only a positive. Overexposure of the stars hurts the business. A brand split sharply reduces that overexposure. This gives guys from NXT a chance to get called up, gives NXT guys a chance to move up in that world, and gives everyone a bit of a breather where televised appearances are concerned.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

I would have Cena, Reigns, Rollins, Rock, Undertaker, HHH, Lesnar, etc. on both shows, because really, they should be. And sometimes it could help if SmackDown needed a little bit more star power or Raw had someone out with an injury. They're also big enough stars to the point where they don't need to be exclusive to one show.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

They also could simply do 

Raw - WWE, Tag, US 
SD - IC, Cruiser, Divas Tag (Total divas here)

I mean one would think that they would either switch the timeslot since E! is also owned by NBCU and pays a pretty penny to them for it and Total Bellas. They may very well have 3 hours of programming with that on Tuesdays


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

American_Nightmare said:


> I would have Cena, Reigns, Rollins, Rock, Undertaker, HHH, Lesnar, etc. on both shows, because really, they should be. And sometimes it could help if SmackDown needed a little bit more star power or Raw had someone out with an injury. They're also big enough stars to the point where they don't need to be exclusive to one show.


Jesus Christ did you ignore Ambrose, AJ, Reigns, Jericho, Miz working both shows while Cena was hurt ever since they have been on USA. How can you prevent injuries or burn out and keep saying well book them both nights?


----------



## Sincere (May 7, 2015)

I feel like a brand split is the hail marry that WWE needs right now since they (read Vince) are so unwilling to stop clinging to chosen plans, regardless of what the fans and viewership is communicating.

If NXT is any indication of what someone else can can do without Vince shitting all over the place...

Will be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm a bit wary about how the rosters will be handled.


----------



## NapperX (Jan 2, 2014)

Hopefully, it works out well. I have been saying for some time, it's time to restructure the titles and I believe we will see some more title restructuring.


----------



## Bubba Chuck (Dec 17, 2012)

Oh NOW they want to make Smackdown live? A bit late for that WWE. As for the brand split, I never really was a huge fan of it to begin with but the writing and the booking was so good during the Ruthless Aggression era. In this "New Era" nothing has change. Maybe, just maybe the brand split can give the creative team a little bit more freedom. I'm not confident that will make things better though.

Also champions should be on both shows.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

Bubba Chuck said:


> Oh NOW they want to make Smackdown live? A bit late for that WWE. As for the brand split, I never really was a huge fan of it to begin with but the writing and the booking was so good during the Ruthless Aggression era. In this "New Era" nothing has change. Maybe, just maybe the brand split can give the creative team a little bit more freedom. I'm not confident that will make things better though.
> 
> Also champions should be on both shows.


Then stop watching and throw your support behind any of the 10 other companies out there.


----------



## Buffy The Vampire Slayer (May 31, 2011)

*This is going to be cringe-worhty as fuck but then again I do want my stars to get their shine so let the brand split begin. :drose*


----------



## 2Pieced (Feb 23, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Jonasolsson96 said:


> I think they should scrap the secondary titles and have weight divisions instead. Having two world titles is dumb and having "lesser" championchips is even dumber. What is the point of a title if it doesnt mean you are the best? The roster is stacked.
> 
> 
> Heavyweights - Cena,Reigns,Bray,Owens,,Joe,
> ...


Weight classes are only good in theory as the only way it should work is if they are treated equally but there is no way i see that ever happening so it just creates a glass ceiling.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

American_Nightmare said:


> So they had that wave of injuries absolutely devastate the WrestleMania card and the overall quality of the shows over the last few months, and now they're expecting their employees to make back-to-back live shows as well as house shows during the week?! Jesus Christ.
> 
> I know SmackDown! was taped on Tuesdays anyway but at least it was taped and the atmosphere was more relaxed. Now they have to be on totally on point the night after RAW.


How are they expecting their employees to make make back-to-back live shows when it's separate rosters?


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

wwetna1 said:


> Jesus Christ did you ignore Ambrose, AJ, Reigns, Jericho, Miz working both shows while Cena was hurt ever since they have been on USA. How can you prevent injuries or burn out and keep saying well book them both nights?


I wouldn't have guys work both shows all the time... Certain guys, it seems like they're too big to be signed to just one show, and I think it would also save us from listening to the IWC going all "WWE is limiting who can feud with this person", etc. I mean yeah, they'll still complain, but that's just one less thing they have to complain about. Lesnar being able to appear on both shows would be good because it wouldn't restrict who WWE could put him in a feud with, let's say Orton, Owens, etc. goes to SmackDown and Lesnar were to go to Raw. Neither of those feuds would be able to happen, and that would be disappointing. Same thing for Cena. He's good for really putting someone on the map, like he did with Kevin Owens. And if he were to become US champ again, he can have that open challenge and there wouldn't be any restrictions on who would be able to accept it. And of course, you can't really have the World, Women's and Tag Team titles be restricted to one show.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

Bubba Chuck said:


> Oh NOW they want to make Smackdown live? A bit late for that WWE. As for the brand split, I never really was a huge fan of it to begin with but the writing and the booking was so good during the Ruthless Aggression era. In this "New Era" nothing has change. Maybe, just maybe the brand split can give the creative team a little bit more freedom. I'm not confident that will make things better though.
> 
> Also champions should be on both shows.


Could it ever have been live when they were on Broadcast tv before and UPN/CW wanted them edited? Could it have been live on SyFy when they wanted them live on Fridays yet that meant a shit load of coverage cost on the WWE part and they also would get no over run as ECW wasn't allowed one either. 

I mean they got to USA which is a top cable network. They proved themselves. They haven't been lower than third highest rated show of the night since their arrival and they've only came in second or third to the NBA playoffs and beat out the regular season most weeks. They've been the second highest rated show on USA sicne the move. 

Logically the only chance SD ever had of going live was on USA or Spike TV if they ever went there and on Tuedays because Vince already said it made no sense to have the production trucks travel and broadcast on a Monday and then a Thurs/Fri


----------



## troubleman1218 (Jul 2, 2013)

-__-, The Brand Extension is one of the worst things to ever happen to this fucking company.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

Restomaniac said:


> How are they expecting their employees to make make back-to-back live shows when it's separate rosters?


Well, the first time they did the brand split, and even though techinically there were split rosters, it was common to have guys from SmackDown work a post show dark match on Raw and guys from Raw work a post show dark match on SmackDown. They're not appearing on the actual televised portion, but they're still technically working the show, and I think that whole thing is gonna start up again.


----------



## Kishido (Aug 12, 2014)

The show with Owens and without Reigns will be my main show


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

American_Nightmare said:


> Well, the first time they did the brand split, and even though techinically there were split rosters, it was common to have guys from SmackDown work a post show dark match on Raw and guys from Raw work a post show dark match on SmackDown. They're not appearing on the actual televised portion, but they're still technically working the show.


That isn't working live back-to-back shows and it won't be a consistent thing for everyone, every week.
In fact even if it is that's no different from today as they would still be only working 1 live show a week.


----------



## CretinHop138 (Sep 9, 2015)

People are excited for this? How old are you exactly?

The Brand Extension was fucking awful the first time, the only saving grace was Evolution Raw and the Smackdown six (Lesnar, Benoit, Guerrero, Rey, Jericho, Edge) none of the talent now are as good as those guys were or have an ounce of charisma.

Katie Vick
Al Wilson
Eddiesploitation
Kurt Angles festish for Sharmell and beastility sex.
Kane and Lita's marriage and abortion.
Vince is Dead?
Tim White's Lunchtime Suicide.

I'm amazed how people easily forget. And no things aren't different now.


----------



## BigRedMonster47 (Jul 19, 2013)

Sounds great, about time WWE picked things up a bit. Great news about Smackdown going live every week, will be interesting to see who gets drafted to what show.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

A thing I would have for both shows regarding NXT would be like TNA's Gut Check. Once a month have an NXT guy challenge a RAW or Smackdown guy for their roster spot. The authority figure would pick the opponent. It'll be a way to bring people up that seems fair plus it gives expiring contracts an easy exit and gives an easy exit for people to get repackaged in NXT. You could have guys like Darren Young, Breeze/Fandango team and The Shining Stars doing their new gimmick there instead of on the main roster plus it gives somebody like Apollo Crews, Braun Stowman and Ascension a quick way to get back to NXT or even a gauge to see how they are received. You could have saw Crews get a lukewarm debut then have him lose and go back to NXT and work on a different gimmick. I think if you keep it to 2 people a month then you won't run out of impressive candidates for awhile as you'll have to throw in a Mojo Rawley or Elias Sampson to lose every once in awhile.


----------



## BEL (Apr 19, 2016)

So... I have to watch Smackdown again? ... Yay...?
But seriously, why the fuck is this making a comeback??? I predict that in less then one year people will start asking for the normal format to come back. The first two years of the original brand split were decent, but after that everything went to shit. WWE is in the state it is today because of the brand split. A new brand split won't help with anything. Only up production costs and make a 3 Hour RAW even less watchable.


----------



## hou713 (Aug 22, 2008)

I'm still not sure an "official" brand split makes sense.

Live Smackdown makes sense and is an excellent idea that I've wanted for years.

Another brand split with even more unnecessary titles, not really a good idea.

So many people hated the idea of 2 world titles, and now suddenly so many people want 2 world titles again.

There's always going to be a top title, one of the world titles is just gonna be a midcard title again, just like the last time.

I think they should use the live Smackdown to continue to flesh out characters and feuds, and do more "shocking" and "can't miss" segments.

They don't really need another brand split.


----------



## downnice (Aug 21, 2013)

People seem to be split but I support a brand split. Hopefully it means Raw goes back to 2 hours and some younger guys will get the rub by being on a split roster. 

What they need to do is book Smackdown and Raw as two different products, have Raw be the more casual Roman Reigns/Cena driven show and have Smackdown appeal to the more hardcore wrestling fan. When it started back in 2002 the Raw/Smackdown brand split was excellent so IF they do this correctly I will be happy.

e


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

CretinHop138 said:


> People are excited for this? How old are you exactly?
> 
> The Brand Extension was fucking awful the first time, the only saving grace was Evolution Raw and the Smackdown six (Lesnar, Benoit, Guerrero, Rey, Jericho, Edge) none of the talent now are as good as those guys were or have an ounce of charisma.
> 
> ...



You look at the split The Rock, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, Angle, Lesnar, Punk, Bryan, Edge, Batista and Cena became stars as all of them made their WWE names on Snackdown. I think it always helped make stars more then it hurt the company. I think the only reason it ended in the first place was it getting stuck on weaker network and put all their eggs into RAW. If Smackdown stayed on CW/UPN then I think the brand split wouldn't have gone away.


----------



## CretinHop138 (Sep 9, 2015)

Denny Crane said:


> You look at the split The Rock, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, Angle, Lesnar, Punk, Bryan, Edge, Batista and Cena became stars as all of them made their WWE names on Snackdown. I think it always helped make stars more then it hurt the company. I think the only reason it ended in the first place was it getting stuck on weaker network and put all their eggs into RAW. If Smackdown stayed on CW/UPN then I think the brand split wouldn't have gone away.


Yeah one problem, they were moving to Raw. WWE booked and promoted Smackdown as the B show, which is why Paul Heyman left creative due to his heat with Stephanie.

If Shane is in charge of Smackdown, then it'll happen again.

(Shane is Lindas son, Stephanie is Vince's daughter is the old saying)


----------



## What_A_Maneuver! (Aug 4, 2011)

Cena on SD & Reigns on RAW is the only way to do this.

I admit, it's intriguing for the short-term and I'm a sucker for a superstar draft - but I worry how this is gonna effect the long term. The roster finally felt like it was getting stacked, and now that 3 hour show is gonna be split in half.


----------



## JC00 (Nov 20, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



deanambroselover said:


> Smackdown being live every week isn't that gonna cost WWE shit loads as the reason they taped it was due to costs


No. Any extra cost will be minimal at most. The difference is that feed that was getting sent back to WWE's production studios will also be going out to the USA network.

The problem with Smackdown going live was Thursday. It being live on Thursday would have meant more money spent on travel/accommodations because it meant the wrestlers would be on the road an extra two days or guys would fly home after Raw and fly in for Smackdown. Taping it Tuesday was just easier for everyone. 

But now that it is being moved to Tuesday the cost won't be any different than it is now.


----------



## Money In The Bank (Feb 28, 2016)

Seems that wrestling fans are split down the middle in regards to this. If it means they're going to make Smackdown important again, I'm okay with it for now. My opinion might change based on how they divide up the roster and how the title belts/PPV's are managed. Ultimately WWE have a job on their hands convincing people Smackdown is just as important as Raw if it's an hour shorter and is full of midcarders.


----------



## DoubtGin (Nov 24, 2013)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735527413354889218
FeelsBadMan


----------



## Stephen90 (Mar 31, 2015)

It really won't do anything. WWE needs to get rid of the terrible failed Hollywood writers.


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

CretinHop138 said:


> Denny Crane said:
> 
> 
> > You look at the split The Rock, Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, Angle, Lesnar, Punk, Bryan, Edge, Batista and Cena became stars as all of them made their WWE names on Snackdown. I think it always helped make stars more then it hurt the company. I think the only reason it ended in the first place was it getting stuck on weaker network and put all their eggs into RAW. If Smackdown stayed on CW/UPN then I think the brand split wouldn't have gone away.
> ...


It's no doubt because RAW was always on the stronger network. USA and WB might have been close but the fact is RAW is USA network franchise show and Smackdwn has never had that with s network. Now that Smackdown is also on USA they are kind of on equal footing. They'll probably always be seen as the 2# show and nothing will change that. Every fan knows RAW is on USA every Monday. I think whenever they changed to TNN it weakened RAW and those years was probably the most even the two have been. When RAW moved back to USA then Smackdown once again became the B showz


----------



## Rex Rasslin (Jan 6, 2014)

I think WWE is going in right direction with that. What I wonder about though is how will they make both shows equal if RAW has one more hour airtime than SD?


----------



## chargebeam (Jul 12, 2011)

A-C-P said:


> Watch them bring back the Divas Title, 3 months after getting rid of it :lmao


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



JC00 said:


> No. Any extra cost will be minimal at most. The difference is that feed that was getting sent back to WWE's production studios will also be going out to the USA network.
> 
> The problem with Smackdown going live was Thursday. It being live on Thursday would have meant more money spent on travel/accommodations because it meant the wrestlers would be on the road an extra two days or guys would fly home after Raw and fly in for Smackdown. Taping it Tuesday was just easier for everyone.
> 
> But now that it is being moved to Tuesday the cost won't be any different than it is now.


The only way cost would be extra is if WWE decided to do different stages for the shows. Last I heard, WWE spends around $820,000 on each TV taping, and I'm sure it's the same for PPV. I think costs is part of the reason they went away with unique stages for the shows and PPVs, and I think that it's going to stay that way. I wouldn't be surprised if Raw, SmackDown, and PPV production costs totaled up to something in the range of $1.75 - 2.25 million per show.


----------



## Pummy (Feb 26, 2015)

Just hope for another women title and bring more women from nxt.


----------



## Bret Hart (Mar 16, 2013)

I don't even seem to care. :cry


----------



## Honey Bucket (Jul 3, 2012)

Two brands? Eh...not a huge fan of it, but the roster is stacked at the moment and it's only going to get bigger.

Two World Champions? please just fuck off.


----------



## LegendKilla15 (Mar 24, 2015)

Whatever show reigns is on , is the one I'm NOT watching so


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

In Vino Veritas said:


> I think WWE is going in right direction with that. What I wonder about though is how will they make both shows equal if RAW has one more hour airtime than SD?


Well they still tape Main Event with SD and Hulu (owned by NBCU as well) has first run US exclusivity rights to it. I can easily see them using that as the minor SD show as well. 

You may also have to think about WWE or even NBCU since they own E! may be planning for Total Divas/Bellas to come on before or after SD airs too


----------



## From Death Valley (Jan 27, 2015)

They're not longer watching we'll make them watch damn it :vince2


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

I still favor the IC title as the main belt of the other show since Intercontinental basically means fucking world. Just bring the CW belt back and give the women or total divas tag belts since they already work so many fuckin tag matches pointlessly


----------



## Redzero (Jan 7, 2014)

What title will headline Smackdown?


----------



## Mifune Jackson (Feb 22, 2013)

This move feels like it's entirely motivated by TV networks and nothing creative, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

They haven't proven themselves capable of executing this idea right outside of Heyman's brief run at the beginning. It may even cause more problems.


----------



## AboveAverageBob (Oct 23, 2013)

RAW

IC Title
Euro Title
Womens Title
Tag Team Title

Smackdown
US Title
Cruiserweight Title
Tag Team Title

Have the WHC travel, if he'd feuding with a smackdown talent why not let the IC title or even the womens title on RAW main event the show and/or RAW PPV? Maybe have a system in place as to WHY the WHC is coming to smackdown to defend so its not just a random appearance?


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

The ones that are moaning about a brand split are likely the same ones that don't watch anything outside of WWE. It gets tiresome.


----------



## Tucks (Apr 12, 2016)

The World Champion, tag champs and women's champ should all appear on both shows, or at least a challenger for each title come from one brand at each PPV. The Intercontinental title becomes Raw exclusive and the US title Smackdown exclusive. 

Booking is going to be key to this, there are enough bodies on the roster to keep things fresh and for there not to be matches with the same combinations of competitors week in week out for months. It could work, it could fail miserably.


----------



## Darkest Lariat (Jun 12, 2013)

I hope they keep the belt situation as is. They don't win titles on RAW or SD anyway. That way it really gives meaning back to the titles. Like "OH SHIT NOW SD HAS THE BELT!" When they both have their own it just stagnates the desire. It would give some real incentive for kick ass matches.


----------



## Honey Bucket (Jul 3, 2012)

I guess I'll be watching Smackdown purely because it's two hours and doesn't have the Chernobyl Children on commentary stinking up the joint. 

Seriously though...if they're going to be serious about this, make ALL the champions free to appear on both shows. Not just the world title. If they have two world titles then we'll have multiple title reigns which mean absolutely fuck all because there's a potential better guy on the other show who can't even challenge for it.


----------



## coreysamson (Apr 26, 2014)

I'm so pumped. I fucking loved the brand split back in '02-'05.

Ideally I'd like to see something like AJ, Cena, Owens, Rollins on Raw, Ambrose, Reigns, Wyatt, Orton on Smackdown, something like that. Tag teams on SD and Women on Raw. IC on Raw, US on SD. One world champ making 2-3 appearances per month on either show. Taker on Raw, Brock on SD for the part timers.


----------



## TD_DDT (Jul 28, 2015)

Brand split does not do much for me but live SD! is much needed. A title change can happen on SD for the first time in ages.


----------



## Piper's Pit (May 1, 2016)

Now that this news has sunk in it's clear as day why this is happening.

They're panicking. Big time. Ratings going down. Attendance going down. Network not growing. Overall popularity at the lowest it's been arguably since 1995.

The new era nonsense and giving Shane a prominent role even though he lost at Mania were both misguided panic moves. This brand split insanity is an even bigger panic move and one that I suspect is going to hurt the company massively for numerous reasons that I won't list here.

Vince and the hierarchy know the product is bad it was even referenced in promos when Shane first returned. They're desperately trying to change and improve the product but they don't know how, they really don't. They're bringing back the brand split because creatively they're a dried up well, they've got nothing to give now so all they're doing is bringing back an old concept which was only good for the first two years and under vastly circumstances.

This is a huge mistake IMO.


----------



## squarebox (Nov 6, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



zonetrooper5 said:


> Why would anyone want a brand split when the current creative direction is so shit, if they can't book the current roster what makes people think that raw and smackdown being split would be any different?


Exactly right. Smackdown being live is cool and all but so long as it's the same idiotic writers in the back and the same senile old man running the show then it's not like the content on either show is going to improve.


----------



## Reaper (Sep 4, 2013)

Heh. It's kinda sad and funny that this announcement comes after so many stars have been culled. 

I guess this is what they were making financial room for. Fire a bunch of people and use that money to do something that those who were fired would not only cherish, but succeed in. 

It'll be even sadder (funnier sort of) if they now bring back the WHC belt. Some of the guys recently released were prime contenders for it.


----------



## CenaBoy4Life (Jul 31, 2013)

Live SD! with no Roman or JBL.

OMFG. I AM PUMPED.

---- AJ STYLES FOR FACE OF SD!

Maybe thats their big plans for him.


----------



## Crowl (Feb 22, 2010)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



JM said:


> I also really hope they keep the tag championships, Woman's Championship and WHC's as cross brand championships. I think they will at this point but WWE can't be trusted in this regard. More championships mean more toys for the kids to want.


That would be the perfect way to do this sort of thing, not have a total brand split, just have some people being exclusive to one brand or the other and for each show to have one of the midcard belts as that show's belt.


----------



## Daemon_Rising (Jul 18, 2009)

Smackdown is only going to get better when VKM & Creative put the smack down.


----------



## DoubtGin (Nov 24, 2013)

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735540853888913408

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/735542881772003330


----------



## AJ Leegion (Nov 21, 2012)

What I feel like after going through this thread.










Some of you sure know how to suck the joy out of things.


----------



## Kratosx23 (Nov 1, 2004)

Interesting. I'll keep an eye on this. They've finally got their chance to win me back. I have no plans for that right now, but provided Bray Wyatt ends up on SmackDown, away from Vince's eye, and there's a WHC again, there's a chance. Knowing them though, he'll probably get stuck on Raw with Reigns and Cena, so this is all for naught, but I'll keep an eye on it. This is literally the only shot I have of watching again.


----------



## kokepepsi (Mar 22, 2011)

I dunno how many have said this, but I don't think they have a deep enough roster for two different shows(plus NXT).
If Raw was 2 hours this would be easier but with 3 vs 2 its not looking good unless we get more wrestling LOL

At least SD is live and now I can watch it yay


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

Saxton won't call two shows either .. People ignoring that

I can see Booker getting the job on one show


----------



## D.M.N. (Apr 26, 2008)

Per Meltzer, source - various people on Reddit:

- two World Titles
- Shane and Stephanie to lead each show on TV (I assume Stephanie for Raw and Shane for SD!)
- raiding talent from elsewhere including TNA stars who's contract have expired (Hardys, Lashley and McIntyre likely targets)


----------



## Bayley <3 (Jun 10, 2015)

I'll never get why people are excited for this. WWE have no idea what they're doing anymore. People complain we get the same matches every week, but are happy to split the roster in to two? 

I mean, with a full roster to choose from, we have had multiple matches of:

Ziggler v Corbin 
Usos vs bullet club
Reigns and AJ thrown in the above
New day vs Vaudevillains, League of Nations
Same women's matches for months 

Who can forget the days of Cena and orton? 

:imout


----------



## Kratosx23 (Nov 1, 2004)

Bayley <3 said:


> I'll never get why people are excited for this. WWE have no idea what they're doing anymore. People complain we get the same matches every week, but are happy to split the roster in to two?
> 
> I mean, with a full roster to choose from, we have had multiple matches of:
> 
> ...


Right, you're already getting the same matches, so splitting the roster won't change that, making what you said a moot point. The roster is split, same matches. The roster is unified, same matches. What it will do is give us an alternative to Roman Reigns.

You're right, Vince has no idea what he's doing, but Vince doesn't pay attention to SmackDown. Never has, never will. They're different writing teams, and if he's not looking, you might just be able to produce a semi competent show again. WWE causing the unified brand split is what caused them to get so bad in the first place.


----------



## zkorejo (Jul 2, 2010)

Well.. I didn't want that but since it is happening. I just hope all my favorites end up in the same roster. I hope Super-heroes stay on Raw. AJ, KO, Zayn, Joe, Aries, Nakamura to Smackdown because I prefer Mauro Ranallo over the entire Raw announce team anyways. 

I guess they will hurry up with Stephanie vs Shane feud to build tension and end this happy sibling love. I am guessing Shane gets Smackdown.

EDIT: Another thing I forgot... this probably means TNA, LU and NXT will be pillaged.


----------



## ToddsAutographs (Aug 24, 2012)

Put all the crybaby iwc marks favorite midgets on Smackdown and let them sink or swim. Settle it once and for all.

Smackdown exceeds Raw- fuck they were right
Smackdown continues to fail- More pep in Vinnies step


----------



## Bayley <3 (Jun 10, 2015)

Tyrion Lannister said:


> Right, you're already getting the same matches, so splitting the roster won't change that, making what you said a moot point. The roster is split, same matches. The roster is unified, same matches. *What it will do is give us an alternative to Roman Reigns.[\b]
> 
> You're right, Vince has no idea what he's doing, but Vince doesn't pay attention to SmackDown. Never has, never will. They're different writing teams, and if he's not looking, you might just be able to produce a semi competent show again. WWE causing the unified brand split is what caused them to get so bad in the first place.*


*

:CENA

Great alternative.*


----------



## Oliver-94 (Jan 10, 2012)

No complaints about this. It's needed after the big roster they have. This actually feels like a new era tbh. New wrestlers and now the brand split has returned again. Would be nice if they made Sting the general manager but it's probably Shane/Stephanie.


----------



## Brollins (Aug 24, 2015)

Finally. Now bring back the World Heavyweight championship and we can actually have Seth Rollins as a champion.


----------



## genghis hank (Jun 27, 2014)

Live Smackdown is cool, brand split is not. We see enough rematches as is, a divided roster will only make it worse since there will be a smaller pool for each show to pull from.

The only plus is that at least you won't see the same match on both Raw and Smackdown, I guess.


----------



## misterxbrightside (Sep 16, 2015)

Live Smackdown is great, I can now watch without those piped in cheers and boos. 

Brand split I'm actually cool with. Smackdown has been seeming like such an insignificant show for the last few years. Hopefully this makes it seem more like an important show like in the early 2000's. 

And give us some new theme songs for each show! Good ones! Although I don't think anything can ever top RAW's "Across the Nation" and Smackdown's "The Beautiful People".


----------



## tboneangle (Jan 14, 2009)

I like this. Bring back WHC. Raw can be Cena,Reigns and Smackdown can be Rollins,Styles. Make Smackdown more workrate orientated like it was in 2002-2004. Cut RAW back to 2hr.


----------



## Flair Shot (May 28, 2006)

Oliver-94 said:


> No complaints about this. *It's needed after the big roster they have*. This actually feels like a new era tbh. New wrestlers and now the brand split has returned again. Would be nice if they made Sting the general manager but it's probably Shane/Stephanie.


But they don't have a big roster that needs a split.


----------



## morris3333 (Feb 13, 2006)

Alvarez: The WWE Draft is likely to take place on July 11th in Detroit

From : https://mobile.twitter.com/themib/tweets


----------



## TheGeneticFreak (Feb 27, 2016)

Shaska Whatley said:


> The ones that are moaning about a brand split are likely the same ones that don't watch anything outside of WWE. It gets tiresome.


No it's because they have no star power to fill 2 brands and they royally fucked it up last time except for when Heyman was in charge and I doubt much will even change.


----------



## House of Mystery (Apr 6, 2016)

I'm on-board for a Brand Split again. I wasn't super into it the first time but WWE need to do something to change things up as everything feels pretty pointless and stale right now. They need to really make Smackdown feel like a big deal though, or it will just be adding costs (live TV) for a show that people still won't care about. The draft shows at least will be fun to watch (ideally).

The roster is pretty thin though, especially since they have been doing some "spring cleaning" lately. So they need to bring in more NXT people or hire some more people. If they call-up a lot of the NXT folk, NXT is going to need more faces.

Hopefully they avoid the brand specific pay-per-view events this time around though, even with the WWE Network. Although if they did bring back a Clash of the Champions style thing for each brand, that could be fun.


----------



## DaShockmaster (Apr 1, 2016)

I like that it's going live. I don't mind that it's on a Tuesday...I don't do much on Tuesdays. Mostly on Tuesday's I'll come home from a long day of working at the bank and cook me up some hot dogs on an indoor grill and pour myself a lovely glass of coca-cola (half filled with cubed NOT CRUSHED ice). After they are nice and burnt I'll take them off of the grill and toast the buns until they get to be the color of Simba's (Lion King) mane. When my buns are nice and toasty, I'll lavishly apply Ted's sauce to those puppies and eat 'em all down. I usually will eat some Cape Cod low fat chips (40% less fat than the original Cape Cod) without ketchup. Have you ever seen these freaks who eat ketchup with their tater chips? It's absurd! But oh hell, look at this tangent I've fallen into. Yeah, I'll usually play some PS4 (either Broforce or MLB The Show) for 3-4 hours in my mancave which features not one but TWO tvs. And I occasionally put on Impact on the tv-watching-tv, which is different than the video-gaming-tv, but I don't really care for the product so I usually turn it off before it gets going. So yeah, I don't mind that it's on Tuesdays. Also, fuck the brand split.


----------



## The Regent Alien. (Jul 26, 2014)

[1]No pipped in crown noises.
[2]We can watch spoiler free!!!

But i think one week a month they should do what they should call
crossover week. Where different separate story lines kinda crossover and overlap.

Even though they are going to be split. There still needs to be some form of connective tissue.


----------



## zkorejo (Jul 2, 2010)

I hope they dont make PPVs brand exclusive again. Hated the idea of alternate brand exclusive ppvs. 

If there will be 2 world titles, what about the women's title and tag team titles? They cant have 2 womens/tt championships.


----------



## Saved_masses (Jan 26, 2014)

Only problem is Raw is still 3 hours, needs cut to 2 and I'll dig it. 

Turn Smackdown into what it was like 2002-05 then my interest is peaked.

Also the drat episode of Raw was always brilliant, excited for that.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

> Alvarez: The WWE Draft is likely to take place on July 11th in Detroit
> 
> https://mobile.twitter.com/themib/tweets


Oh how strong the irony is here.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

TheGeneticFreak said:


> No it's because they have no star power to fill 2 brands and they royally fucked it up last time except for when Heyman was in charge and I doubt much will even change.


No star power is subjective. The mid card should be much more competitive and then main event scene should be as well. 

To tell me Finn, Nakamura's, Styles or Owens can't carry a company is laughable.


----------



## 2K JAY (Jan 2, 2011)

Please god NO!!!... fpalm

We already see the same matches enough as it is. Now imagine the roster halved? Ugh.... I just hope they don't go with that "Two world titles" rubbish again. That was honestly the worst period ever for WWE. And now it looks like we're gonna get Cena running the show on Smackdown and Reigns running the show on Raw. Fantastic.

Why can't NXT just be the "alternative"? If they wanted to do a Shane vs HHH brand wars storyline, they could have had HHH have all his NXT guys attack Shane's WWE guys. It would make a hell of a lot more sense and there would be a real life effect to it too.


----------



## 2K JAY (Jan 2, 2011)

Shaska Whatley said:


> No star power is subjective. The mid card should be much more competitive and then main event scene should be as well.
> 
> To tell me Finn, Nakamura's, Styles or Owens can't carry a company is laughable.


They're just gonna give the shittier world title to those guys to appease the smarks. The likes of Reigns, Orton and Cena will be the real stars while us geeks watching it have to pretend the second world title actually matters.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

2K JAY said:


> They're just gonna give the shittier world title to those guys to appease the smarks. The likes of Reigns, Orton and Cena will be the real stars while us geeks watching it have to pretend the second world title actually matters.


.....you make no sense by saying that. If each show is live, and each show has its own championship....nevermind, IWC dorks will find something to complain about regardless.


----------



## D.M.N. (Apr 26, 2008)

A look into the future (concept)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVuHkWjTuSE

(side note - seeing that throw the Dudleys on separate rosters reminded me that we could see Bully Ray after all)


----------



## JC00 (Nov 20, 2011)

They can fuck off with this two world champions shit. If it's Cena and Reigns as the champs of each then I will lose any hope for this.


----------



## ka4life1 (Mar 2, 2014)

I bleed blue and white its the Smackdown team.

As long as the Rosters and Title's are exclusive i have no problem with this.


I always Prefred Smackdown back in the day, Hardcore Holly, Scotty Too Hotty, Rey Mysterio, Even The Bashams, So many good memories from that Era.

It didn't always have the STAR Power that Raw had but it had far better Storyline's and Matches.

The draft was always a great night as well.

Except for when the pulled stuff like the Triple H getting drafted to Smackdown stuff, Only to have him be traded back the following night for 3 Lesser known talents.


I used to genuinely get annoyed when home grown Smackdown stars used to get drafted to Raw.


Would like to see the I.C title be treated as Smackdown's number one title.


I always viewed Smackdown as the place Hasbean's revived themselves, newbies made a mark and Misfits fount themselves. Overall that mix provided a very good show indeed. 



Hope its not just my Nostalgia talking but i am really excited for this.

No more piped in crowd noises either.... :grin2:


This could be really good news for The Ambrose's and Wyatt's of the roster.


SO happy with this news. 
Sorry if i typed too much guys,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4ar1prBtRo


----------



## bonkertons (Aug 23, 2014)

This is fantastic news if done right. It can make everyone look better and every angle/storyline more interesting. 

Less superstars per each show should translate to MORE in depth storylines, with more guys/girls getting promo time and backstage segments. 

A brand split means less travel and grind for each superstar(aside from the big-3 Champions - hopefully), which keeps everyone fresher and lessens exposure.

Alternating PPVs(aside from the big events: WM, RR, SS, etc) gives you more time to BUILD feuds, essentially giving you 2 months between brand PPVs. Part of the reason why NXT is so beloved is because the Specials are much less frequent than the main rosters. PPVs will feel like a big deal, because the matches will have plenty of build time.

The prestige of the IC and US belts SHOULD improve. If they assign one to each show, they become a focal point of each brand.

Star power should not suffer IF they decide to go the route of having the WWEWHC, Women's Champion, and Tag Champs do double duty. All three of those belts should frequent both shows.

This is great news, assuming they don't add another Championship belt. Would love to see them bring in JR for the big PPVs as well. Let Cole/JBL do the RAW PPVs; Mauro/Graves do the SD! PPVS; JR and King(heel version) do the inter-brand PPVs.


----------



## CM Punch (Dec 31, 2015)

BRAND SPLIT!! FINALLY!


----------



## DJ2334 (Jan 18, 2011)

Makes Smackdown actually worth watching now. Who the hell wants to watch Smackdown when the same people can already be seen every week on Raw for 3 hours? Hope they bring back the world heavyweight title too to give Ambrose, Owens, and Zayn a world title to fight for since the WWE Championship is going to be around Roman's waist for fucking ever.


----------



## J-B (Oct 26, 2015)

I wonder whether more hardcore fans will turn up for Smackdown once the split has happened. It's usually only Raw and PPVs which draw the more vocal crowd but it would be nice if Smackdown had some sort of atmosphere instead of the usual dubbed in cheers and boos.


----------



## NastyYaffa (Jun 26, 2012)

:mj2


----------



## TD Stinger (May 9, 2012)

NastyYaffa said:


> :mj2


And to think, Bryan was talking about last year how he wanted to be Smackdown exclusive. And now look at this. Damn, this just made me really sad .


----------



## Rookie of the Year (Mar 26, 2015)

I enjoyed the brand split back in the day before they watered it down. It started shortly after they reunited the Hardys in like 2006. Despite Jeff being on Raw and Matt being on SD, they could team because "they were brothers!" so rules didn't apply. Ugh. Then they brought in the Raw Supershow, so Raw had access to everyone, and SD had half the roster, because they hadn't established enough that SD was Raw's bitch.

But 2002-2005 brand split, with drafts, trades. GMs and clearly drawn roster lines, hell yeah. They can easily re-create that now. No one should get lost in the shuffle.

I wonder if they'll stick with 3 hour Raws in this case. I hope not. Best case scenario, they re-tool the Raw pre-show to be the first hour of Raw in a sense. Some panel/talking stuff, but include real segments that promote matches on Raw, and a couple of lower card matches. A bit like Heat back in the day.

Live SD sounds great too. That means no safety net, they can't edit your fuck ups or reactions so you better bring your A game.


----------



## RetepAdam. (May 13, 2007)

If they're gonna do a brand split, they're going to need more women, so now would be a perfect time to #SignEvie.


----------



## NJ88 (Jan 27, 2009)

This is good news, there are far too many talented people taking a back seat with just one roster so it might be evened out to give people more television time.


----------



## genghis hank (Jun 27, 2014)

Shaska Whatley said:


> The ones that are moaning about a brand split are likely the same ones that don't watch anything outside of WWE. It gets tiresome.


Yep, that's totally the only reason that anyone could disagree with a brand split. What a ridiculous comment.


----------



## TD_DDT (Jul 28, 2015)

How can you not have two world titles? Everyone knows the IC is second rate, no one is gonna respect the main champ if that's the number one belt on SD


----------



## Steve Black Man (Nov 28, 2015)

Not sold on a brand split.

Back when Raw and Smackdown were on relatively even footing, it was fine. But now, with Smackdown so clearly being the "B show", it's going to seem like anyone who gets drafted to Smackdown is being relegated.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

genghis hank said:


> Yep, that's totally the only reason that anyone could disagree with a brand split. What a ridiculous comment.


if you think about out...you would understand that what I am saying is the ones who are moaning and complaining constantly are pretty much the same ones who refuse to give any other company a chance. My comment was to address those people who complain about anything the WWE tries to do. If you fall under that category, I'm not sorry if I offended you.


----------



## DeeGirl (Aug 18, 2014)

NastyYaffa said:


> :mj2


We all do Bryan :mj2

You just know Dbry would be begging to go on Smackdown, I seem to recall him wanting to be exclusive to Smackdown during his brief IC title run.


----------



## The True Believer (Oct 19, 2013)

ToddsAutographs said:


> Put all the crybaby iwc marks favorite midgets on Smackdown and let them sink or swim. Settle it once and for all.
> 
> Smackdown exceeds Raw- fuck they were right
> Smackdown continues to fail- More pep in Vinnies step


Except RAW has the stigma of being the flagship show, which guarantees more viewership. That's been a proven fact for most of both show's history. I'd think it'd be more telling if Cena was advertised as a SD mainstay but SD's viewership proves to do better than RAW most of the time.


----------



## Jonasolsson96 (Dec 31, 2014)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



2Pieced said:


> Weight classes are only good in theory as the only way it should work is if they are treated equally but there is no way i see that ever happening so it just creates a glass ceiling.


It would work if they rotated talent. For example let raw have 6 ppvs with the women and heavyweights. Then smackdown 6 ppvs with the middleweights and lightweights. 

Raw would be like nxt. The heavyweight belt would main event most of the time but at least the women's match would be the second biggest on the card and at rare times if its a super anticipated first time encounter like Sasha vs Asuka even mainevent. The smack down ppvs the mainevent would be. Lw or mw depending on which match is bigger. Rollins vs Nakamura would probably main event over Balor vs Neville while Styles vs Balor might main event over Ambrose vs Cesaro. This concept would be awesome and give wwe way more stars. 


Then you could so super fights for mania Maybe Mw champ vs Lw champ.


----------



## Deadman's Hand (Mar 16, 2013)

N7 Spectre said:


> What I feel like after going through this thread.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


*Excuse us for pointing out the numerous ways this whole thing could fail, just like every other way WWE has tried to "change the product" has failed. :draper2*


----------



## genghis hank (Jun 27, 2014)

Shaska Whatley said:


> genghis hank said:
> 
> 
> > Yep, that's totally the only reason that anyone could disagree with a brand split. What a ridiculous comment.
> ...


Not offended at all, but your comment was poorly worded.


----------



## EdgeheadStingerfan (Jan 6, 2012)

december_blue said:


> Yes!!!


They had these plans and let Sandow go?!?!!??!

Cody... too soon????!?

:crying:

Well, I hope this bodes well for Titus "World Champion" O'Neil.


----------



## Mr. WrestleMania (Oct 16, 2012)

I'm for the brand split. But there are some issues. The biggest issue is Raw staying at 3 hours and now with a much smaller roster for that show. Scary proposition since they can't fill 3 hours with the full roster. SmackDown, I'm not worried about since it's only 2 hours. But a 3 hour show with a much smaller roster than they've had these past few years is pretty scary. They better be up to the task.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

Deadman's Hand said:


> *Excuse us for pointing out the numerous ways this whole thing could fail, just like every other way WWE has tried to "change the product" has failed. :draper2*


I would imagine that everybody sees the possible pitfalls in this.
That doesn't mean that it has failed before it's even happened. That's the point. Like I said I'm willing to allow WWE to fuck it up before I will say they have.

It COULD work and therefore it COULD prove to Vince once and for all that his vision is wrong. On that basis alone I'm willing to give it a shot before slating it as a failure.


----------



## Deadman's Hand (Mar 16, 2013)

Restomaniac said:


> I would imagine that everybody sees the possible pitfalls in this.
> That doesn't mean that it has failed before it's even happened. That's the point. Like I said I'm willing to allow WWE to fuck it up before I will say they have.
> 
> It COULD work and therefore it COULD prove to Vince once and for all that his vision is wrong. On that basis alone I'm willing to give it a shot before slating it as a failure.


*Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. Just like there's nothing wrong with pointing out how it could fail. I'm not gonna call the brand split a failure already, but I have little reason to have faith, since it still doesn't change any of the problems WWE has.*


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

ShowStopper said:


> I'm for the brand split. But there are some issues. The biggest issue is Raw staying at 3 hours and now with a much smaller roster for that show. Scary proposition since they can't fill 3 hours with the full roster. SmackDown, I'm not worried about since it's only 2 hours. But a 3 hour show with a much smaller roster than they've had these past few years is pretty scary. They better be up to the task.


You know something. I don't give a fuck about RAW. If This new Smackdown works I won't give RAW a second thought. 

All I want it is 1 weekly WWE wresting show that doesn't insult my intelligence. If a 2 hour SD that is well written does that then fine. What would be very funny is if this new SD is a Vince free zone and it smashes RAW into oblivion.


----------



## Trifektah (Nov 21, 2011)

The fact that they had these plans in the works and still found it necessary to release Sandow and let Cody go without a fight promise of something more just pisses me off something fierce. 

As it stands, they need to make the shows different somehow. We need the divisions split between the shows. I hope the Cruiserweight Classic leads to a dedicated Cruiserweight Division that is given it's own time and storylines on Smackdown!. 

Raw: World Heavyweight, Tag Team & Women's Divisions
Smackdown!: Cruiserweight and United IC/US Title


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

Deadman's Hand said:


> *Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. Just like there's nothing wrong with pointing out how it could fail. I'm not gonna call the brand split a failure already, but I have little reason to have faith, since it still doesn't change any of the problems WWE has.*


But it's pointing out the bleeding obvious TBH. :grin2:

Pointing out that WWE fuck stuff up is like pointing out that water is wet.:wink2:


----------



## razzathereaver (Apr 2, 2012)

I'm happy with this plan, if only because the blue show is in dire, DIRE need of re-vitalisation, and has been for years. Make some top stars in the company work exclusively on Smackdown, and that gives people more incentive to watch it. It also probably means that Creative will start to focus on developing important feuds that will only feature on Smackdown too. So, yeah, this is fine by me.


----------



## Deadman's Hand (Mar 16, 2013)

Restomaniac said:


> But it's pointing out the bleeding obvious TBH. :grin2:
> 
> Pointing out that WWE fuck stuff up is like pointing out that water is wet.:wink2:


*Well, you got me there. :draper2*


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

So Roman on Smackdown? Please!

I only watch RAW and it better have Seth.


----------



## Mox Girl (Sep 29, 2014)

Oh well, there goes the idea of The Shield reuniting anytime soon, cos you know at least one of those three will end up on a separate show from the other two. 

They HAVE to be splitting the world title back to 2 titles, cos why would anybody want to be on a show that doesn't have a world title to fight for?

Also, does this mean if we do end up with 2 titles again, the MITB winner can pick who they want to cash in on? Of if there's only 1, they could change shows?


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

TheLooseCanon said:


> So Roman on Smackdown? Please!
> 
> I only watch RAW and it better have Seth.


Can I ask why you only watch RAW?


----------



## Not Lying (Sep 9, 2013)

Put Cena on SD and there's a real chance they'd beat RAW in ratings.


----------



## AmWolves10 (Feb 6, 2011)

They should move Jericho, Rollins, Ambrose, Styles, Zayn, Ziggler, Cesaro, and Owens to Smackdown and let RAW keep Cena, Reigns, Baron Corbin, Luke Harper, Braun Strowman.


----------



## rbhayek (Apr 13, 2011)

I really hope this works and reduces the stress on the rosters so there will be less injuries.


----------



## BRITLAND (Jun 17, 2012)

Ambrose Girl said:


> Oh well, there goes the idea of The Shield reuniting anytime soon, cos you know at least one of those three will end up on a separate show from the other two.
> 
> They HAVE to be splitting the world title back to 2 titles, cos why would anybody want to be on a show that doesn't have a world title to fight for?


In the early days of the original brand split there was only one world champion, who appeared on both shows. Though the current rumour is that there will be two world champions which I'm not a fan of tbh.

And I personally would keep the shield on the same show, as long as Cena is on the other.


----------



## Mister Abigail (May 22, 2014)

I'm wondering if this is a way to allow the talent to get some rest later in the week. If they can get a few days off, say, Wed, Thur, Fri with house shows Saturday, it may do a lot to lessen the injury level.

Unless you're Arn Anderson who is unSawft.


----------



## Arcade (Jun 9, 2010)

Good news. Hopefully this will have a chance to cut down on injuries, and make Smackdown important again. Reminds me of the days where Raw was garbage, and Smackdown shined, like in 2009.


----------



## VampDude (May 24, 2011)

This should be interesting... For at east one episode. But I couldn't help noticing Stephanie was initially indicating to Triple H, because the first brand split saw Triple H being handed the World Heavyweight Championship when Brock Lesnar (the WWE Champion at that time), was drafted to SmackDown! and there would be no championship for RAW to contend for.

If there's a true brand split, of the such in 2002...

There will be;

(1) More opportunities to highlight the entire roster.
(2) Potentially, like the original brand split. Titles will be brand specific.
(3) Following from (2), possibly re-introducing a second belt... The Re-re-re-re-re-Retired WCW belt (which lost it's WCW logo in 2001), will be introduced (although it's time the BGB was fully retired). Then maybe a second set of Tag Team belts, like there was before the penny belts.
(4) Setting a number of talent from each brand, would mean more opportunities to get over with the fans. Instead of seeing the same matches from RAW (seeing less of The Uso's is an added bonus).
(5) AJ Styles will definitely go to SmackDown! and become a champion there (because the main belt isn't in his grasp).
(6) General Manager for RAW and a General Manager for SmackDown!, which I'd say there's going to be a McMahon on each show.

Although I have no idea, these are just my thoughts.


----------



## WoWoWoKID (Apr 26, 2011)

As petty as it sounds, they need to bring back the red ropes for raw, blue for smackdown and black for PPV along with separate stages for me to be fully sold on this


----------



## Ace (Aug 25, 2013)

Looking forward to the future brand wars.

Team Smackdown (Cena, AJ, Orton, KO etc) v Team Raw (Rollins, Ambrose, Roman, Zayn etc.)


----------



## Papadoc81 (Jun 3, 2015)

DeeGuy said:


> We all do Bryan :mj2
> 
> You just know Dbry would be begging to go on Smackdown, I seem to recall him wanting to be exclusive to Smackdown during his brief IC title run.


If Smackdown ends up being a Vince-free zone I can imagine the entire frickin' roster(besides Roman & Cena) begging to be apart of Smackdown.


----------



## Starbuck (Apr 11, 2008)

If they do this right it could be just the thing they need to get back on track.

IF.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

I hope this is a test run for HHH to see what he can do with a live weekly 2 hour show. Reigns needs to stay on Raw. They're telling us he's the guy so they need to make him the guy. Reigns on Raw, Cena on SD, go from there.


----------



## chronoxiong (Apr 1, 2005)

Why do a brand split now? There's two recently released talent who could've benefited from this (Sandow and Rhodes). Also, a disgruntled Ryback could become a nice upper-carder if he stays put. But yeah, I'm torn on this decision. RAW is already a struggle to get through since it's 3 hours. Trying to imagine how they are going to keep the fans invested for a whole show doesn't sound encouraging. Viewerships are down, ratings are down as well weekly RAW discussion threads. This is no guarantee this is going to work. Can't trust the writing teams either. I'm not going to get excited for this.


----------



## SovereignVA (Jan 3, 2012)

A brand split with a 3 hour Raw isn't going to work.


----------



## flugrugger (Feb 5, 2014)

Couldn't keep Sandow around for it?


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

*WWE Draft Date Announced*



> According to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Radio, the WWE Draft is scheduled for the July 11th edition of Raw in Detroit. In what might make things even more interesting, Brock Lesnar is being advertised for the July 11th Raw.


I personally think that July 11th's Raw is gonna be interesting. There's the actual WWE Draft itself, Paul Heyman's gonna be in the UK that entire week so that's gonna leave Brock to do this show by himself, which will be the first time he will be on Raw alone since he first returned to WWE, and there's no doubt he'll be cutting a promo. I also am looking forward to see who goes where and hope that they don't make any bad decisions or send the wrong people to the wrong places. For example, keeping Kane and Chris Jericho on Raw in 2004, sending Edge to Raw in 2004, sending Rhyno to Raw in 2004. I disagreed with all of those things and hopefully I don't have to see WWE make a bad move Draft-wise.


----------



## Super Sexy Steele (Aug 16, 2002)

This will also be the first time that Smackdown is going fully live which during the original brand split expect for a few instances, it was taped. So that will be different. Let's see what happens. It might benefit the WWE or it might not but why not the risk.


----------



## Mister Sinister (Aug 7, 2013)

1. Smackdown should be retired and replaced with Nitro.
2. Leave the show on Thursday-- what the fuck is this Tuesday shit? Are they really nervous about TNA? Nobody can even watch that show-- it's not even on cable.
3. They need to bring back the WCW belts to make this work.
4. This will mean Aries, Joe, and Nakamura will be brought up for sure.


----------



## Jersey (Jun 24, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Lesnar #1 draft pick back to SD. That's my guess.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

My guess as I said in the Prediction thread, I highly doubt he's going to be assigned to a brand at all. Brock comes and goes as he pleases and feuds with whoever the company deems best. He'll appear on whatever show his next opponent is on and that'll be that.


----------



## The_Workout_Buddy (Jan 11, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



American_Nightmare said:


> I personally think that July 11th's Raw is gonna be interesting. There's the actual WWE Draft itself, Paul Heyman's gonna be in the UK that entire week so that's gonna leave Brock to do this show by himself, *which will be the first time he will be on Raw alone since he first returned to WWE*, and there's no doubt he'll be cutting a promo. I also am looking forward to see who goes where and hope that they don't make any bad decisions or send the wrong people to the wrong places. For example, keeping Kane and Chris Jericho on Raw in 2004, sending Edge to Raw in 2004, sending Rhyno to Raw in 2004. I disagreed with all of those things and hopefully I don't have to see WWE make a bad move Draft-wise.


My guess is that Brock is gonna be drafted to Smackdown, he will F-5 a few guys and WWE will promote him to be on the next Smackdown.


Brock will appear on Smackdown but only to destroy a few more guys, next week RAW Paul heyman will cut a promo on how his client is too big of an *ATTRACTION* to be exclusive to only one brand and that from now on Brock Lesnar will appear whenever and wherever he wants.


----------



## Sincere (May 7, 2015)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Draft eh? Who will be leading the two factions? Shane vs. Steph? HHH return? Vince?


----------



## Marv95 (Mar 9, 2011)

It NEEDS to be enforced with no guys jumping across shows. But this roster has no _depth_ and Raw is still 3 hours. And 2 live shows a week?

This could blow up in their faces.


----------



## Undertakerowns (Jan 3, 2012)

Having that much wrestling in such short time period doesn't sound good. Two back to back days with one day being 3 hours. I don't know. I can understand them cutting back Raw 2 hours and hope the advertising revenue for smackdown going live will make up for it. This does give talent more exposure and spreads out the main event scene. It also helps with injuries and easily identifying who are the draws. There a pros and cons but RAW would have to cut back if shows are going to be truly equal. Unless they Smackdown three hours as well.


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

It's probably gonna be Shane and Steph making the picks.


----------



## JTB33b (Jun 26, 2007)

Vince will put all the guys who are more over than Roman on Smackdown so he is the most over guy on Raw.


----------



## FITZ (May 8, 2007)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

It's exciting that they're doing a draft. I remember the first one and how cool that was to me when I was 11 or 12.


----------



## Poonoo (Oct 15, 2013)

The main advantage is that Reigns can reign on one brand while all the others who actually deserve a world title can avoid getting buried.


----------



## Sasquatch Sausages (Apr 22, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

^ same. this draft news is the first thing i've looked forward to in a while tbh. hope it's good!


----------



## SHIVV-EAUX-EMME-GEEE (Sep 12, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Draft is cool, but who cares which side gets Brock when he rarely appears?


----------



## SpeedStick (Feb 11, 2010)

Oh well this will keep online fans happy , Roman Reigns can now have his 555 day title run , and you can play hot potato with the smackdown world title


----------



## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

I don't know or really even care who ends up on what show. I just want to see a real brand split, with two shows that have a distinctly different look and feel from each other. And at least one of them needs to exist without requiring Vince's stamp of approval on every minute fucking detail. And they absolutely cannot be two different chapters of the McMahon family saga. If just one of them, preferably Slackdown, becomes more about wrestling (i.e., closer to NXT than the current RAW) and not just the same shit with different logos, I could be back in. But I'm not optimistic, seeing that the rumors are already positioning them as Shane and Stephanie each running one, which leads me to believe they'll both figure much more prominently on screen than they should -- even though I think we can be pretty sure their 'running' these shows is all kayfabe bullshit. We'll see.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

Yeah the advantage to this is the male talent can go to another brand. And I actually hope theirs two titles. So the other talent can go get the other title on the other brand. The con is I Think this destroys any momentum in the Womens Division. If the rumor is correct and the Women are all getting chucked onto SD. Well seeing they get 5 minute segments per week, and sometimes not a match. IF your name is not Sasha Banks or Charlotte. The rest of you well be doing nothing. Unless they split it two ways. But doesen't look like it. So I well say Reigns on Raw, And Cena or Seth on SD. Wyatt Family on SD. Does this mean two tag team titles? Well see. Can't see any real negatives about a brand split though. IT well refreshen the whole brand up. Seeing different talent on different shows. Also giving SD its identity back. Instead of just being some hybrid of Raw. OR a Recap show of Raw. And the Wyatts and Ambroses of the world can have a title on SD .


----------



## Ronzilla (Feb 25, 2016)

:affleckI miss Sasha


----------



## Ratedr4life (Dec 18, 2008)

Love the idea of Smackdown going live, but I'm not sure how I feel about the brand split. It can't be Team A on Raw and Team B on Smackdown, they have to put real effort into Smackdown, otherwise I'll just continue not watching. It might help the roster with injuries, but knowing WWE, they'll have the Raw roster doing houseshows on Tuesdays anyway.

I'm just personally against the idea of 2 World Champions, it just devalues the credibility of both. More than anything this takes away the potential matches with a deep roster, within 6 months we'll be complaining about how we're seeing the same matches over and over again. They do that now with the entire roster at their disposal, imagine how bad it will be when they cut the roster in two. Sitting through 3 hours of Raw with half the roster they have now is going to be dreadful.

I see no benefit to this other than a money grab by Vince and Co. like they did when they took Raw to 3 hours.

The NXT Roster is about to get raided in preparation for this. Balor, Joe, Nakamura, Bayley, American Alpha, Blake & Murphy and The Revival are probably all gonna be called up over the next few months.

I hope instead of bringing back the World Title, they pull out the Winged Eagle :tripsblessed


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



THE SHIV said:


> Draft is cool, but who cares which side gets Brock when he rarely appears?


He's most likely gonna be allowed to appear on both


----------



## Reggie Dunlop (Nov 2, 2015)

chronoxiong said:


> Why do a brand split now? There's two recently released talent who could've benefited from this (Sandow and Rhodes). Also, a disgruntled Ryback could become a nice upper-carder if he stays put. But yeah, I'm torn on this decision. RAW is already a struggle to get through since it's 3 hours. Trying to imagine how they are going to keep the fans invested for a whole show doesn't sound encouraging. Viewerships are down, ratings are down as well weekly RAW discussion threads. This is no guarantee this is going to work. Can't trust the writing teams either. I'm not going to get excited for this.


Well, the article also says that Vince is aggressively pursuing new talent to bring in, with the intent of not depleting NXT. So that tells me there could be even more poaching of the other promotions, but also that he's at least aware of the pitfalls of a brand split with insufficient talent to staff both. I'm willing to give it a shot, knowing full well how Vince never learns from past mistakes. In other words, I'm ready for it to be a great thing, or another epic clusterfuck.


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

Restomaniac said:


> Can I ask why you only watch RAW?


Better shit to do. I don't even watch all of the PPVs.


----------



## Scott Hall's Ghost (Apr 9, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

I'm excited for the hopeful calls that everyone shits over but actually turn out to be good. More than anything, I'm really anxious to see if they can make SD something truly special. I liked the Shane and Steph promo for selling SD as the new place to be, the show they both wanted. With the unique voice of their announcer, and possibility of AJ or Rollins or someone similar as the new face of SD... could be awesome. For the record, though, I feel like Seth stays with Roman for a feud and will be feel for quite a while. I think next Mania season might see Ambrose turn heel, Seth as a tweener, and Roman as the face champ for the title in a three-way finally.


----------



## SHIVV-EAUX-EMME-GEEE (Sep 12, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



American_Nightmare said:


> He's most likely gonna be allowed to appear on both


Then it is destined to fail. The brands need to be truly separate.


----------



## Rookie of the Year (Mar 26, 2015)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



American_Nightmare said:


> I personally think that July 11th's Raw is gonna be interesting. There's the actual WWE Draft itself, Paul Heyman's gonna be in the UK that entire week so that's gonna leave Brock to do this show by himself, which will be the first time he will be on Raw alone since he first returned to WWE


Brock was by himself for his first month back in WWE in 2012. They were having him cut promos in the build up to Extreme Rules and realised he was terrible at talking in a live setting, so they brought Heyman back ASAP.

Good timing to have the draft in July I think. July's historically been a bit of a buffer month in WWE, just basically killing time until it's time to hype Summerslam- exception being the Invasion PPV in 2001. Now, having the draft in July annually will allow for a big shake up before the build to WWE's number 2 PPV, and give July some importance in its own right.


----------



## DarkShadowz59! (Apr 21, 2016)

Can part-timers get drafted?


----------



## glenwo2 (May 9, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



The_Workout_Buddy said:


> My guess is that Brock is gonna be drafted to Smackdown, he will F-5 a few guys and WWE will promote him to be on the next Smackdown.
> 
> 
> Brock will appear on Smackdown but only to destroy a few more guys, next week RAW Paul heyman will cut a promo on how his client is too big of an *infarction* to be exclusive to only one brand and that from now on Brock Lesnar will appear whenever and wherever he wants.




SAY WHAT NOW???? :lmao


----------



## glenwo2 (May 9, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Does it truly matter when Brock appears, though, SHIV?

Yes it does but also it won't matter in regards to the Draft because Brock is just too big to be on just one show exclusively(though I prefer RAW to the FAKE-CROWD-NOISE-BULLSHIT Smackdown).


----------



## SDWarrior (Oct 13, 2012)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

I'm hoping Owens and Rollins are both on Raw. I really don't want to have to watch both shows.


----------



## Flare of Ra (Sep 4, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



glenwo2 said:


> Does it truly matter when Brock appears, though, SHIV?
> 
> Yes it does but also it won't matter in regards to the Draft because Brock is just too big to be on just one show exclusively(though I prefer RAW to the* FAKE-CROWD-NOISE-BULLSHIT Smackdown)*.


Live now brah


----------



## Richard Di Natale (Oct 11, 2015)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



ShadowKiller said:


> Now atleast the wrestlers won't have to work both Raw and SmackDown and it keeps them fresh.


lol. They'll be working an extra house show to make up for it, don't you worry!


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Can't wait to see Roman drafted by Smackdown to start the show, then drafted by RAW to end the show. :cena4


----------



## SAMCRO (Jul 10, 2006)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

The most exciting thing about this is finally someone else has a chance a holding a world title that isn't Roman Reigns. It'll be refreshing to have a top guy on another show. AJ Styles needs to be drafted to smackdwon and win its world title without a doubt, let him be the man on smackdown.

I just pray to GOD Cena doesn't get drafted to SD and he becomes the top guy there while Roman stays the top guy on Raw, that'd be my worst fucking nightmare. Please keep Cena and Roman on the same fucking show! Just give us one fucking show where the top guy isn't fucking hated and trash.


----------



## mizfit101 (May 26, 2016)

Makes total senses to make a brand split with only two main eventers


----------



## AustinRockHulk (Dec 22, 2013)

I'm fine with the brand split just as long there is only 1 World Heavyweight Champion, 1 World Tag Team Champions and 1 Women's Champion. And they could wrestle against wrestlers on both Raw and Smackdown.


----------



## glenwo2 (May 9, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



Flare of Ra said:


> Live now brah


Is it? 

Must've missed the news that Smackdown is now gone LIVE permanently.


----------



## Therapy (Jul 28, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Zach Ryder will finally be THE [email protected][email protected]#.. Oh glorious days are here.. ZACH F'IN RYDER! The one.. The only. WHC Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaampion of Smackdown. Zach, Ryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyderrrrrrrr..

:bow:elliot:fuckyeah:YES:cenaooh:shockedpunk


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Ryder? Nah Wyatt baby .


----------



## Mad Max (Jan 26, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

The draft is cool and all, but no one is asking the right questions. How is this going to make Roman look strong?

:vince5


----------



## Buffy The Vampire Slayer (May 31, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

_*So Brock Lesnar might be going to Smackdown. :hmm*_


----------



## Marcos 25063 (Sep 9, 2012)

Probably posted, but I not gonna look


----------



## Funaki7 (Jan 15, 2011)

I remember you guys talked about this like 2 years ago on here. I was like "You kidding? Brand split ending was the best thing ever".

With the wealth of talent now though, this is HUGE. 

I hope that Smackdown is used for the people who can develop their characters. People like AJ, Titus, Swagger, Vaudevillains etc. who could use a little bit of character development in WWE. AJ would be their world champ kind of guy, but at the same time he'd get a little bit of time to develop. He wanted to mix things up in TNA at times with the terrible Flair gimmick and the the long wolf kind of thing and as a lot have said, they didn't even think AJ had the Bullet Club in him when he ran it. So Smackdown could give him a chance to be a spotlight attraction but also to find where he wants his WWE career to go. Apollo, Ziggler and Balor also come to mind.

Raw would be used for their established gimmicks and top draw attractions. The likes of Reigns, Ambrose, Owens etc.


----------



## Spike (Jun 21, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

I just hope they're gonna use this to make Smackdown watchable again. I hated the brand split last time around after the first couple of years. I hope at least something good comes of this.


----------



## utvolzac (Jul 25, 2013)

Raw should be reserved for Vince's PG kid friendly Sports Entertainment with the Reigns & Cenas of the world.

Smackdown should be booked like NXT with a more serious in ring focus. 

That should please everyone


----------



## Flair Flop (May 21, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

I'm expecting a swerve here that will save Seth from a burial. MITB match ends in fuckery with no clear cut winner and then the draft separates them before a rematch. I can hope, right? 

Heyman will pull out some kayfabe clause in Brock's contract that will allow him to wrestle for both. Reigns will be the first pick.


----------



## Just Justin (Jan 24, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Anyone who says Lesnar is going to SmackDown is crazy. For the amount they spend on him, you can rest assured they'll use him on RAW only, unless SD ends up getting more viewers some day.


----------



## southrnbygrace (Jun 14, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

If they do two world titles again, then no one should be on both shows. If they stay with one world title, then the only person on both shows should be the champ. No one else should be permitted to appear on both shows.

ETA: I just hope Roman and Cesaro are on the same show. Cause they're really the only two must see people for me.


----------



## Mox Girl (Sep 29, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Ooh cool, the draft is 2 days before my birthday :lol I'll be able to watch it on my birthday cos of when it airs in NZ, though.

I'm looking forward to the draft though, cos those episodes are always fun. I assume they'll do it similar to the original draft when the first brand split occured in 2002? Raw and Smackdown will get alternating picks?


----------



## dougfisher_05 (Mar 8, 2011)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



THE SHIV said:


> Then it is destined to fail. The brands need to be truly separate.


Ain't gonna happen. 

I ( and maybe you as well) have already lived this once in 2002 and ultimately RAW and Smackdown shared superstars throughout. Expect a lot of "cross promotion" during Mania, the Rumble and SummerSlam. 

In theory it sounds like a GREAT idea. But they've already PROVEN once they aren't capable of pulling this off because they want a uniform vision for BOTH shows. This is going to end badly and honestly I don't know what anyone is truly excited about, other than SD going live on Tuesday's.


----------



## Shaska Whatley (Jul 20, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Well, I guess I will be going to the July 11th Raw after all.


----------



## PepeSilvia (Sep 11, 2013)

Wow this is exciting. I might watch wwe tv (non ppvs) again


----------



## DeeGirl (Aug 18, 2014)

Is Triple H basically saying NXT is disbanding? Suppose it isn't what it used to be, perhaps WWE needs to do so in order to fill 2 separate rosters. Oh well, looking forward to seeing a few of those guys on Raw or Smackdown.



DarkShadowz59! said:


> Can part-timers get drafted?


Lesnar is scheduled for the July 11 Raw which seems to be the chosen date for the draft, so I'm guessing he'll be drafted (most likely to Raw) and make his return.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

NXT over? Well I guess with this disbanding of two brands. Makes sense. ALot fo NXT talent may go to SD.


----------



## SKT T1 Blank (Mar 10, 2008)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Oh wow, am I finally gonna have a reason to tune into a WWE show for the first time in ages?


----------



## DeeGirl (Aug 18, 2014)

WoWoWoKID said:


> As petty as it sounds, they need to bring back the red ropes for raw, blue for smackdown and black for PPV along with separate stages for me to be fully sold on this


Couldn't agree more. 


Would the return of the Smackdown fist be a little too much to ask? :side:


----------



## gabrielcev (Aug 23, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

This is the best decision they made in years. I'm really excited to see the brand split and they should bring back Smackdown vs RAW.


----------



## King-of-the-World (Sep 4, 2006)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

I hope they use the draft as a storyline for a long time afterwards. It was always a lot of fun last time seeing where "free agents" went, and who new "secret" acquisitions were.


----------



## asssvvvvxc (Jul 13, 2010)

I think SmackDown going live is a good thing, not many watch the show cause they just read the spoilers


----------



## tomjh (Jan 19, 2011)

*Re: Smackdown To Air Live Starting This July + Draft/Brand Split Is Returning!*



Oakesy said:


> It's going to be cringeworthy watching a 3 hour Raw with half of the roster. They struggle to fill the 3 hours as it is...


People complain that there is not enough time for up and coming stars to establish themselves with promo time, more matches for other stars... meanwhile guys like Cody Rhodes leave because there is no room for him on TV.

Doing a brand split allows the WWE to do exactly this and give more time for building the stars of the future... if they do it right that is.

That said, 8 hours of live WWE programming in the space of about 50 hours is just way too much though... It usually takes me 2-3 days just to watch a PPV or RAW. Guess it won't really bother me too much as I never watch anything live these days anyway. I'm not on social media and I avoid this forum before I watch shows so as not to see spoilers. For people who watch live though... that's a monthly marathon of wrestling binge tv!!


----------



## Afrolatino (Jan 5, 2015)

The only way this could work IMO is with the women's title headliningRaw or Smackdown, then YES!










Two world titles for men is unnecesary.


----------



## Dibil13 (Apr 29, 2016)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



dougfisher_05 said:


> Ain't gonna happen.
> 
> I ( and maybe you as well) have already lived this once in 2002 and ultimately RAW and Smackdown shared superstars throughout. Expect a lot of "cross promotion" during Mania, the Rumble and SummerSlam.
> 
> In theory it sounds like a GREAT idea. But they've already PROVEN once they aren't capable of pulling this off because they want a uniform vision for BOTH shows. This is going to end badly and honestly I don't know what anyone is truly excited about, other than SD going live on Tuesday's.


I agree. The brand split was basically disregarded long before it officially ended in 2011. By the end of 2006 they were already having many interbrand matches. People were already calling for it to end by then. This will bomb within a few years. Vince loves repeating stupid ideas and not learning a thing.


----------



## JimCornette (Dec 18, 2013)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Obviously the last pick of the draft will be one big "shocker", probably to Cena to Smackdown. With the amount they're paying Brock, I can't see him not being on Raw.


----------



## LSF45 (May 2, 2014)

A brand split cannot work. There isn't enough long-term direction in the company to build momentum and grasp audiences with the current members of each roster. It doesn't make sense.

But, then again, when has WWE ever made sense?


----------



## ONEWAY (Jan 27, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

Hopefully they don't pull some petty shit and put Ambrose and Rene Young on separate shows. 

No matter what they do, they are still going to consider Raw their A show. But it will be nice to see the brands competing again.


----------



## ST1TCH (Aug 6, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

With the network I wouldn't be mad if they did hours of pre draft coverage like the NFL draft.


----------



## Revann (May 7, 2011)

I really dont get this. They struggle to fill one show. This could be reallyyyy bad.


----------



## Sincere (May 7, 2015)

Revann said:


> I really dont get this. They struggle to fill one show. This could be reallyyyy bad.


There's a lot of unused talent floundering in the back at every single Raw and SD.


----------



## MM10 (Feb 22, 2011)

Im just hoping Styles, Lynch and Rollins are heading to Smackdown. Im so tired of 3 hour Raw, and i want to see something different. I also never want to hear the abomination that is the Raw commentary team again.


----------



## ChiTownExtreme (Jun 2, 2015)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*

this brand split could be really good if it truly and exclusively is presented as 2 different brands....like WCW to WWF level of different brands. no one (aside from vince, and that is all) should be allowed to show on both shows.  and if that is the case, inevitable it will get to the point where the 2 brands are competing for putting on a better show than the other and trying to fetch the higher ratings and such, and some real passion will start brewing.


----------



## Eva MaRIHyse (Jun 20, 2014)

If there is a brand split hopefully Miz, Maryse, Rysev, Lana, Nikki and KO wind up on the same show, so I only have to watch one WWE show going forward. And preferably have Rollins, Reigns, Cena, Styles on the other show so my guys have a chance of going up the card.


----------



## Revann (May 7, 2011)

Sincere said:


> There's a lot of unused talent floundering in the back at every single Raw and SD.


Yes but they have shown they cant make good storylines for any of the talent other than the main event. Most other storylines are crap and rushed. All this means is that they will have two shows of mediocrity. I think a stronger RAW show is needed before any of this is possible.

However, if they are going the route where RAW is booked by a completely different team than SD!, then maybe this can work. If this is a business experiment to see which booking methods work better than this can be interesting. 

But Im probably giving WWE too much credit. Whats probably going to happen is smackdown will a big deal for a couple months, then it will be back to crap afterwards.


----------



## Chrome (Jan 11, 2012)

This kinda seems like a panic move tbh. I mean why announce this after cutting so many people? That said, aside from Shane's return, this is the most interesting thing WWE's done all year, so count me in with the cautiously optimistic group. As I said in another thread, I'd prefer having split world titles as well as split tag and women's titles. I don't like the whole "champions can appear on both brands" stuff because if they're feuding with someone on 1 show, what do they do on the other show? Cut a promo mocking their opponent because they're not there? Stupid, they're better off having split titles for everything imo. Either way, I can't get too mad at this, because either it works and the shows become watchable again, or it fails miserably and they drive themselves even deeper into a hole and drive even more fans away. Win-win situation.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

awful. I mean....awful. We DID THIS ALREADY!!! IT DIDNT WORK AT ALL!!!!! When creative was actually TRYING and they inherited a shit load of actual talent that everyone knew...and it STILLLL DIDNT WORK... why would it work now? with a god awful writing...no where near the talent level of the 00s...and raw being 3 hours still.

AND WE HAVE NXT TOO!!! 

AWFULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

lmao this isnt even the wwe trying something new


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

This is how I would split up the roster for what it's worth..

RAW

Main Event

Brock Lesnar
John Cena
Randy Orton
Roman Reigns
Sheamus
Triple H
Undertaker

Mid-Card

Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
Braun Stowman
Curtis Axel
Cesaro
Fandango
Goldust
Heath Slater
Kane
Neville
Sami Zayn

Womens 

Becky Lynch
Charlotte
Dana Brooke
Emma
Naomi
Natalya
Nikki Bella
Sasha Banks
Tamina
Paige

Tag Teams

Ascension
Harper/Rowan
Lucha Dragons
New Day
Usos

Smackdown

Main Event

AJ Styles
Alberto Del Rio
Bray Wyatt
Dean Ambrose
Kevin Owens
Seth Rollins

Mid Cards

Big Show
Bo Dallas
Chris Jericho
Darren Young
Dolph Ziggler
Jack Swagger
Mark Henry
Miz
R-Truth
Rusev
Titus O'Neil
Tyler Breeze
Zack Ryder

Tag Team

Bullet Club
Dudleys
Enzo/Big Cass
Shining Stars
Vaudevillians

Others

Maryse 
Lana
Alicia Fox
Summer Raw
Bob Backlund
Rosa Mendes


----------



## Nuski (Apr 5, 2010)

Regardless, sink or swim, i'm intrigued.


----------



## ChristiansPeep13 (Mar 29, 2014)

Denny Crane said:


> This is how I would split up the roster for what it's worth..
> 
> RAW
> 
> ...


Raw just seems a bit top-heavy there, imo. They're gonna want to bring a legitimacy to SmackDown again and I think the best way to achieve that is to take a true draw, may it be Cena, Lesnar, or someone like that and throw them in as a SmackDown exclusive just to get the people watching it. I'll be watching both, at least for a while. 

Side note, does this mean we'll be getting each show having separate PPVs again? That's one way to force creative to flesh out storylines.


----------



## Doc (Oct 4, 2010)

A brand split just makes no sense anymore. The roster isn't big enough for a start.

Just have more of the top tier talent frequent Smackdown more often instead. 

The last time this happened it made Smackdown seem even more of a 'B' show. Why can't they just go back to the Smackdown model when it first launched? Give me the original music, set design and the star power that it had.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

Doc said:


> *A brand split just makes no sense anymore. The roster isn't big enough for a start.*
> 
> Just have more of the top tier talent frequent Smackdown more often instead.
> 
> The last time this happened it made Smackdown seem even more of a 'B' show. Why can't they just go back to the Smackdown model when it first launched? Give me the original music, set design and the star power that it had.


LAst conference call, even with cuts considered they had already said they had their biggest main roster ever and had a plan to debut 13 guys in the first quarter anyhow on the main roster


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

TheLooseCanon said:


> Better shit to do. I don't even watch all of the PPVs.


I don't watch SD currently myself. However I'm going to give this reboot a chance. If it ends up being better than RAW then it will be RAW that will be binned. 
Maybe an idea?


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

A brand split also means guys like Henry, Show, and KAne could be thrown into the tag division and give guys like Apollo, Neville, pairings and teach them the ropes while getting them over like they have done others before.

KAne got stuff like Hurricane, Pac, RVD, and Bryan over as big/small acts so he could do it for Neville 

Big Show or Henry could teach Apollo how to act big with all those muscles of his so he cuts the flippy shit down which he really doesn't need to do to appear imposing.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

Talents like Sandow or Cody could be world champs on SD. The Pro with Two World Champs. Is talent who won't get a shot at being WWE WHC Champ. Well get a chance. I See Bray being Top Dog at SD With Ambrose e.t.c. Cena and Reigns I guess on Raw. Well they eventually have Night of Champions again Champion v Champion? Probably. To me its creating an even more of a distinction. OF Raw being the A show, and SD the B SHow. Seeing I well say Reigns and Cena well prob be on Raw.


----------



## Restomaniac (Oct 31, 2014)

*Re: WWE Draft Date Announced*



SDWarrior said:


> I'm hoping Owens and Rollins are both on Raw. I really don't want to have to watch both shows.


If SD is good and RAW stays shite just bin off RAW then?


----------



## Randy Lahey (Apr 14, 2014)

In an era of declining ratings, Vince decides to double down and make Smackdown live - thus making it even more expensive to produce a sub 2.0 rating. To me it's insane and it reeks of desperation.

Vince knows these ratings are in the toilet right now, so this is his last hail mary at raising them (making the show live) in order to help secure the next TV deal.

It wont work.


----------



## HHHbkDX (Apr 29, 2009)

Regarding the brand split, knowing WWE, they'll fuck it up and have Raw guys appear on Smackdown and vice-versa anyways after some time. They'll hype it up as a big deal, with certain wrestlers being "exclusive" to Raw or Smackdown, and then after a while, the shows will eventually get back to where they are currently. 

First and foremost, they need GOOD FUCKING WRITERS. That's the biggest problem. A brand split doesn't mean jack shit if creative doesn't pull their heads out of their asses and write compelling and meaningful storylines. WWE creative has clearly proven that they cannot do that on a consistent basis. 

And a "Live" Smackdown does nothing for me. It's fucking Smackdown. They can sugar coat it all they want, but it's still Smackdown, a shitty, b-level show that cannot be saved.


----------



## Oxidamus (Jan 30, 2012)

Doc said:


> A brand split just makes no sense anymore. The roster isn't big enough for a start.


Yes it is. It has been since 2014.


The problem has never been that there isn't enough wrestlers; it's that they always fill Raw up with more than they need for the show. They fit in so many people that the mid-card get such little time on screen bar the monthly big match.

With the brand split you'll have guys like Rusev getting more than 5 minutes a night on TV. He might be getting 10 or 15, for example. And more time for more character development of new debuts like Corbin, etc.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

Doc said:


> A brand split just makes no sense anymore. The roster isn't big enough for a start.
> 
> Just have more of the top tier talent frequent Smackdown more often instead.
> 
> The last time this happened it made Smackdown seem even more of a 'B' show. Why can't they just go back to the Smackdown model when it first launched? Give me the original music, set design and the star power that it had.


Rightttt. Now that smackdown is live, which I'm all for, how about they just do something like...oh...i dont know...have a BELT SWITCH hands on smackdown? Have a major heel turn on smackdown? A major announcement on smackdown? Etc. Now that people realize that anything can happen on smackdown, they'll watch, and now that they're watching you now have FIVE GOD DAMN HOURS TO PUSH AND PROMOTE YOUR ENTIRE ROSTER!!!! If you can't utilize your roster to its fullest in 5 hours, then give up.


----------



## Dibil13 (Apr 29, 2016)

I can't shake the feeling that this is just going to be used for yet another McMahon family feud angle throughout Summer and Survivor Series and will be either discontinued within a year or they'll stop trying entirely.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

wwetna1 said:


> LAst conference call, even with cuts considered they had already said they had their biggest main roster ever and had a plan to debut 13 guys in the first quarter anyhow on the main roster


Not enough star power. A roster full of midcarders is what the WWE currently has....a roster with only two over superstars at the moment (AJ Stylez and New Day)....and AJ Stylez is debatable as all hell, but ill give him the benefit of the doubt.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

Randy Lahey said:


> In an era of declining ratings, Vince decides to double down and make Smackdown live - thus making it even more expensive to produce a sub 2.0 rating. To me it's insane and it reeks of desperation.
> 
> Vince knows these ratings are in the toilet right now, so this is his last hail mary at raising them (making the show live) in order to help secure the next TV deal.
> 
> It wont work.


it will definitely improve smackdown ratings...to me...that's not a question. At least in the short run, it will, but to me, you want to see Raw ratings dip to an outrageous low....

come see me in 4 months.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

KILL V. Oxi said:


> Yes it is. It has been since 2014.
> 
> 
> The problem has never been that there isn't enough wrestlers; it's that they always fill Raw up with more than they need for the show. They fit in so many people that the mid-card get such little time on screen bar the monthly big match.
> ...


You know there was a time when this stuff wasn't an issue and Raw was only 2 hours and smackdown didn't exist. How did they manage back then?


----------



## Natecore (Sep 16, 2013)

Raw will still draw better ratings, sell more merch and have more social media/YouTube traffic.

There was a reason this was previously abandoned and it wasn't because it was a successful and profitable idea.

I guess others might but I'll never watch both shows. 5+ hours of WWE programming a week will never exist in my life. Unless it's because of a PPV where I'm guaranteed a show of nothing but WRESTLING.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

Roster is definately big enough, it hasen't been this stacked in years. IT just depends on how to utilize the roster. Know one knows who is going to what brand. Well Cena and Reigns be on both or seperate. Cena and Reigns could both go to Smackdown. People are going take a dump on WWE no matter what they do or attempt to do haha. But I like this idea. They are trying something different, I give props to them for that. I am willing to give it a chance.


----------



## Oxidamus (Jan 30, 2012)

domotime2 said:


> You know there was a time when this stuff wasn't an issue and Raw was only 2 hours and smackdown didn't exist. How did they manage back then?


They didn't have an influx of talent from WCW or the remnants of a roster split?


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

domotime2 said:


> You know there was a time when this stuff wasn't an issue and Raw was only 2 hours and smackdown didn't exist. How did they manage back then?


They wrestled for 90sec to 3mins match to match, did run ins, cursed, women stripped, and so on. The fact is they wrestle now more so than they ever did on Raw in the attitude era


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

KILL V. Oxi said:


> They didn't have an influx of talent from WCW or the remnants of a roster split?


I'm not sure what you're asking or saying. .


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

Restomaniac said:


> I don't watch SD currently myself. However I'm going to give this reboot a chance. If it ends up being better than RAW then it will be RAW that will be binned.
> Maybe an idea?


I'm with ya. I used to favor Smackdown when they had a brand split.

I hate brand splits, but haven't watched Smackdown (or a full episode) ever since Punk was drafted back to RAW in 2010. It's just a useless show.

Now if they force Rollins on Smackdown (I doubt it, since I believe a feud with HHH/Steph is in his future), then I'll have to watch.

I'm just assuming (in my head) that Reigns will be the Smackdown star (along with young guys like Dean who can turn heel there, Owens, Styles, etc.), and Rollins/Cena/HHH/Wyatt holds down RAW.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

wwetna1 said:


> They wrestled for 90sec to 3mins match to match, did run ins, cursed, women stripped, and so on. The fact is they wrestle now more so than they ever did on Raw in the attitude era


It was a great time. Ratings were at an all-time high, the product was on fire, dozens of stars/legends were produced at the same time..and yet they only had 2 hours work with.


----------



## Oxidamus (Jan 30, 2012)

domotime2 said:


> It was a great time. Ratings were at an all-time high, the product was on fire, dozens of stars/legends were produced at the same time..and yet they only had 2 hours work with.


So you just want to argue about ratings then vs. ratings now?


No.


----------



## Melrose92 (Apr 16, 2013)

I can barely watch RAW. Its probably been months since i watched the show fully. A 2 hour Smackdown! is more appealing. Il give that a go regardless of the draft.


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

wwetna1 said:


> They wrestled for 90sec to 3mins match to match, did run ins, cursed, women stripped, and so on. The fact is they wrestle now more so than they ever did on Raw in the attitude era


I know I might get hate for this, but I think they should only do short matches on TV (with that 'epic' long 1 on 1 main event every now and then).

The more you showcase these guys (especially when they have to go against their PPV feud every week) gets the audience into a bored state when it finally comes to the PPV payoff.

Ventura has said, and I agree, guys in feuds should not be in the ring together until they are ready to have the match.

Promos should be backstage (unless your CM Punk who can connect with a live audience), fights should be backstage, short matches against jobbers to showcase your 2 guys, then have the long match at a PPV.


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

KILL V. Oxi said:


> So you just want to argue about ratings then vs. ratings now?
> 
> 
> No.


No that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that instead of being lazy with a brand split, why not allocate your time better? The WWE has more time than ever in the history of the company and yet, people are complaining that there isn't enough time for certain superstars to get featured. i find that ridiculous considering (insert my argument about the past)


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

TheLooseCanon said:


> I know I might get hate for this, but I think they should only do short matches on TV (with that 'epic' long 1 on 1 main event every now and then).
> 
> The more you showcase these guys (especially when they have to go against their PPV feud every week) gets the audience into a bored state when it finally comes to the PPV payoff.
> 
> ...


why would you get hate for this? Duh! to everything you said haha


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

I am reading on social media. And their seems to be an overall positivity to the brand split concept. Saying best thing to happen in 2016. As now the women can have multiple feuds. And someone said Bray Wyatt can rule Smackdown like Taker did


----------



## Oxidamus (Jan 30, 2012)

domotime2 said:


> No that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that instead of being lazy with a brand split, why not allocate your time better? The WWE has more time than ever in the history of the company and yet, people are complaining that there isn't enough time for certain superstars to get featured. i find that ridiculous considering (insert my argument about the past)


But they had less wrestlers before the brand split... Now they have about as many as they did after, but with no brand split.

No one is going to watch 5 hours of the same show every week. If they make it 3 hours of one show and 2 hours of another like they did in the brand split then people might watch 5 hours then. Because it's not the same narrative with the same people.


----------



## Karma101 (Sep 7, 2012)

The only way this is gonna work out well is if they make RAW 2 hours again now.


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

domotime2 said:


> why would you get hate for this? Duh! to everything you said haha


Some people expect 5 star matches every week around here.  

I'd say they should have keep the highly entertaining Sandow to be a heat seeking jobber that can make your stars look good.

But instead, we get our PPV matches every week. :vince$


----------



## domotime2 (Apr 28, 2014)

KILL V. Oxi said:


> But they had less wrestlers before the brand split... Now they have about as many as they did after, but with no brand split.
> 
> No one is going to watch 5 hours of the same show every week. If they make it 3 hours of one show and 2 hours of another like they did in the brand split then people might watch 5 hours then. Because it's not the same narrative with the same people.


You're right, no one is going to watch 5 hours of the same show every week, because currently no one even watches even THREE hours of the same show every week currently. Shouldn't we maybe try and fix that first? Now exactly sure how the brand split fixes that first issue. 

I'm just not exactly sure what people think the brand split fixes?


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

This brand split will just spread the talent pool thin.

The difference between the 1st split and this potential one, is that back then they had built credible stars and young legit contenders. They split a loaded roster back then.

Today, they have pushed a hated Roman and everyone else have lost to him. Rollins is still safe (which is why he will most likely be the #1 pick on the opposite show of Reigns).

Outside of Roman, Rollins, and Cena, who can you say are stars?


----------



## TheLooseCanon (Jun 18, 2013)

I'm starting to think MitB ends with both pinning each other.

Next night they announce both are champions and that is where the brand split has begun.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

TheLooseCanon said:


> I know I might get hate for this, but I think they should only do short matches on TV (with that 'epic' long 1 on 1 main event every now and then).
> 
> The more you showcase these guys (especially when they have to go against their PPV feud every week) gets the audience into a bored state when it finally comes to the PPV payoff.
> 
> ...


Honestly if you put the characters on Raw it could still be that way. Guys like Miz, Jericho, Cena, Orton, and even Wyatt don't have to work long matches. Neither does The New Day or Charlotte. They all can talk their way through three hours of tv easily with minimal physical interactions until the payoff. KO is the same way which is why he does a lot of commentary and walking away. 

It is really on guys like AJ, Dolph, Del Rio, Zayn, Cesaro, the Usos, who can't really talk that you have to give them working 10-15mins a night away free on cable before hey ever touch the ppv.

The thing about placing the characters on one show and the workers on the other is that it doesn't balance the star power. They have to try and blend them to make SD more promo heavy as well to hook the casual fan to watch the next week


----------



## Oxidamus (Jan 30, 2012)

domotime2 said:


> You're right, no one is going to watch 5 hours of the same show every week, because currently no one even watches even THREE hours of the same show every week currently. Shouldn't we maybe try and fix that first? Now exactly sure how the brand split fixes that first issue.
> 
> I'm just not exactly sure what people think the brand split fixes?


Not sure why you're asserting I think everything else is okay...?


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

TheLooseCanon said:


> This brand split will just spread the talent pool thin.
> 
> The difference between the 1st split and this potential one, is that back then they had built credible stars and young legit contenders. They split a loaded roster back then.
> 
> ...


The returning Orton who was the first undisputed champ. There is also Lesnar who will be part of the draft. You have The New Day and Charlotte as well. They also will likely call up Balor which is why Takeover is tagged as the End of Joe/Balor for good; you can say well he's a nxt guy but truth is he is the nxt guy who they put on the posters, the tours, the takeovers and who has sold out everything he touched down there.


----------



## 3ku1 (May 23, 2015)

Well Reigns and Seth aren't stars. I Can't even say Cena is a star. But compared to the rest of the roster? Yes they prob are stars. Can we not shit all over this though? We don't know how it well turn out. Give it a chance huh. I like the concept. At least it well be different from the usual shit been seeing the past 3 years. I like it well give talent who are doing nothing more screen time. Especially the Womens Division. Like with Paige and Becky.


----------



## sesshomaru (Dec 11, 2006)

If they actually have top talents that are exclusive to SD (make Super Shows rare), then it should be good. 2 top titles means 2 main event programs.


----------



## biscotti (Dec 12, 2004)

Talkers / Vince projects on Raw, workers and a sprinkle of Stardust on Smackdown - usual formula, I reckon.

I'll be watching SD!


----------



## Revann (May 7, 2011)

HHHbkDX said:


> Regarding the brand split, knowing WWE, they'll fuck it up and have Raw guys appear on Smackdown and vice-versa anyways after some time. They'll hype it up as a big deal, with certain wrestlers being "exclusive" to Raw or Smackdown, and then after a while, the shows will eventually get back to where they are currently.
> 
> First and foremost, they need GOOD FUCKING WRITERS. That's the biggest problem. A brand split doesn't mean jack shit if creative doesn't pull their heads out of their asses and write compelling and meaningful storylines. WWE creative has clearly proven that they cannot do that on a consistent basis.
> 
> And a "Live" Smackdown does nothing for me. It's fucking Smackdown. They can sugar coat it all they want, but it's still Smackdown, a shitty, b-level show that cannot be saved.


Yes THIS!.


Another point, what is the obsession with having guys like bray and cody holding a world title if it means they are obviously holding the one that no one cares about? Having two world titiles is like giving a participation ribbon. I think the fact that they cant book the IC and US title properly shows that a second world title is just for fanboys to say their favourite is a world champion. lol


----------



## Denny Crane (May 7, 2009)

ChristiansPeep13 said:


> Denny Crane said:
> 
> 
> > This is how I would split up the roster for what it's worth..
> ...


I think I'd balance it off with having special appearances on Smackdown. You can bring back The Rock, Daniel Bryan and Edge there periodically since they are all kind of made their names on the show. It also gives a possible storyline for Angle to return to the WWE on Smackdown. Use their names to just put over the younger guys. You could use Flair, Sting, Foley, Austin or even Hulk in special spots on Smackdown to draw in fans


----------



## Draykorinee (Aug 4, 2015)

Mildly excited by this, there are of coure many ways for it to become a mess.


----------



## Chrome (Jan 11, 2012)

If they do a draft, they should allow teams to be drafted together. No need to split up a bunch of teams for no real reason.


----------



## Blackbeard (Apr 23, 2014)

Good riddance to those infuriatingly annoying fake cheers & jeers.


----------



## Doc (Oct 4, 2010)

domotime2 said:


> Rightttt. Now that smackdown is live, which I'm all for, how about they just do something like...oh...i dont know...have a BELT SWITCH hands on smackdown? Have a major heel turn on smackdown? A major announcement on smackdown? Etc. Now that people realize that anything can happen on smackdown, they'll watch, and now that they're watching you now have FIVE GOD DAMN HOURS TO PUSH AND PROMOTE YOUR ENTIRE ROSTER!!!! If you can't utilize your roster to its fullest in 5 hours, then give up.


It'll be the same group of guys we currently see. It'll just be more backstage segments and promos. Match lengths won't change.

I mean they are dropping like flies at the moment due to the house show schedule.


----------



## bmp487 (Dec 7, 2007)

I was never a fan of the original brand split, but I think this is a potentially good thing now. A lot of people bitch about certain talents not getting a shot, well here it is. Let's hope they make the best of it.


----------



## DOPA (Jul 13, 2012)

Will be interesting to see how they handle the talent and titles. Personally I'd like the IC title to become the main title on SD like Bryan envisioned it and to push it as a main event title so it has more prestige like it did before the Attitude Era. The IC title scene is one of the few things post WM that WWE have been doing a good job with since Miz became champion. The programs have felt like they mean something and the matches have gotten time (and delivered). Time to take it to the next level by making it the main title of SD instead of having two world titles again (which sucked tbh).

Mildly optimistic that at least a little good can come from this.


----------



## Omega_VIK (Jul 3, 2008)

Eh, I don't want to see this come back.


----------



## PraXitude (Feb 27, 2014)

Brand split AND a live Smackdown! The TWO things that I felt the WWE has needed for the longest time!


----------



## TripleG (Dec 8, 2004)

Oh god...what if they are splitting the World Titles just so Cena can get one and Roman can have the other. 

Now THAT would be truly sinister.


----------



## WrestlingOracle (Jul 6, 2013)

I'm not gonna sift through 54 pages so Im sure this has been stated already by someone but while this roster certainly has the talent to pull this off: this roster sure as hell doesn't have the name value/cache to pull this off. This worked really well when if you wanted to watch the ring combinations of the "Smackdown six", Angle, Lesnar or Taker you had to tune into Smackdown but if you wanted to watch Rock, HBK, the antics of Austin or power to ya HHH you had to tune into Raw. When they shuffled the stars deck in 04-06: it still worked since they made a healthy amount of stars. Now, clearly *on one show* fans don't see much to tune into given historically low ratings (and don't give me the "different time"/"youtube clip viewing" excuse when there have been a number of recent shows pulling massive tv numbers). A brand split imo. works far better out of necessity. 

Let's be honest: while coming out of WM 30 we thought things would be completely different in mid 2016: but the truth is: Brock is a star, Cena is a star, I suppose one would have to admit HHH is a star (not the star he or WWE thinks he is mind you), Orton is half a star and if Rollins turns face: there seems to be money there but outside of that none of these men have received the booking, longevity and/or acceptance to be a star. Such a young roster with such piss poor booking. The positive I see coming out of this: perhaps two brands will veer Vince over near exclusively to the Raw side since Raw is Vince's baby/cash cow and as a result: we get strong Smackdown shows and the competition to have the better shows drives up the show quality.


----------



## Jingoro (Jun 6, 2012)

i don't get it. raw is more often than not shitty so now they want to try their worst twice a week? i just hope this means we get angles for more wrestlers and not the same top few getting even more tv time.

you know they are going to split up the roster so we'll have to tune in and fast forward through both shows. smark favs will be split among both shows.


----------



## TerraRising (Aug 5, 2015)

>rollins
>attraction

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


----------



## CenaBoy4Life (Jul 31, 2013)

I am thinking an hour of RAW will go to NXT. Because I cant imagine how they will fill 3 hours when they can barely do it now.

Unless they sign like every fucking "hottest free agent!!!" there is out there.


----------



## Darren Criss (Jul 23, 2015)

Everyone is talking about how the roster will split but can we talk about announcers?

I hope see Mauro still on SmackDown.


----------



## Darren Criss (Jul 23, 2015)

CenaBoy4Life said:


> I am thinking an hour of RAW will go to NXT. Because I cant imagine how they will fill 3 hours when they can barely do it now.
> 
> Unless they sign like every fucking "hottest free agent!!!" there is out there.


Longer matches will fill the shows.


----------



## JamesCurtis24 (Jun 7, 2012)

I've always said I will never watch Smackdown so long as it is pre-recorded. I cannot justify watching something for two hours when I can find the results in two seconds.

July 19th will be the first time I've watched Smackdown in its entirety, and on a regular basis, since the early 2000s (important to note I stopped watching from about 2004-2011).

This is step 1.

Step 2 is making Smackdown great again. This means that storylines actually progress. Things happen. This appears to be happening with the brand split.

Step 3 is making sure Smackdown is NOT a B show. The talent needs to be divided equally. In fact, I'd put Reigns on Smackdown, just to show they mean business. Then start a new title belt on Raw.

If they're going to do all of this just to bury talent on SD with a B title then it is absolutely pointless. However, if they're putting in the effort to go live, I don't believe that to be the case.

I'm excited. I can't wait to start watching Smackdown again. I want to see Raw and Smackdown as competing companies, with the occasional invasion, brand hopping, and 'big signing' to keep things interesting. I even want to see opposing brands challenging for titles from time to time. I think it would be exciting to see scenarios where the title hops from one show to another. Perhaps one PPV a year where Raw title holders defend their belts against Smackdown stars, and vice versa.

Obviously those would be RARE occurrences to keep their shock value. The meat of the shows would be inter-brand content.


----------



## JamesCurtis24 (Jun 7, 2012)

This is also a perfect opportunity to bring back certain belts, like the original women's title.


----------



## Sugnid (Feb 11, 2010)

JamesCurtis24 said:


> This is also a perfect opportunity to bring back certain belts, like the original women's title.


It's really not. They literally just debuted the new title and you're wanting them to bring back the original one..... Come on now.

What is it with people wanting all these old titles resurrected? I've seen the Big Gold, Undisputed and now this mentioned-can't people be forward thinking rather than looking to the past?

SD needs a fresh new championship which is on parity with the current belt to give it the importance it deserves.


----------



## CenaBoy4Life (Jul 31, 2013)

Sugnid said:


> It's really not. They literally just debuted the new title and you're wanting them to bring back the original one..... Come on now.
> 
> What is it with people wanting all these old titles resurrected? I've seen the Big Gold, Undisputed and now this mentioned-can't people be forward thinking rather than looking to the past?
> 
> SD needs a fresh new championship which is on parity with the current belt to give it the importance it deserves.


Whoever wins the cruiser weight tourny should be added to SD! with a new belt for it.


----------



## JTB33b (Jun 26, 2007)

I have this sick feeling that the reason they are doing this brand split is so they can have both Roman and Cena as top stars. There is only room for 1 superman on a show.


----------



## BigRedMonster47 (Jul 19, 2013)

JamesCurtis24 said:


> This is also a perfect opportunity to bring back certain belts, like the original women's title.


Well I was reading that whoever it's the Women's Champion is going to cross deploy between both shows so it sounds as if they'll more than likely be sticking to one belt.


----------



## Wonderllama (Apr 8, 2014)

Random thoughts:

I loved the World Heavyweight Championship and would be excited to see it back. In its prime it was fought for top tier superstars like Undertaker, Batista, and Edge. It main evented WrestleMania. This is the kind of treatment it deserves. As long it they don't give it to people like Ziggler or Big Show or Kane again, the return of the WHC will be a big deal.

You want SmackDown live to be a big deal? John Cena should be drafted there. Let him be the godfather of the show like Undertaker was for so many years.

And for the love of Christ, please don't leave RAW at three hours. It has to go back to two. Put Superstars on Saturday night if you really need another hour of programming. It could be like Velocity back in the day!


----------



## Yuffie Kisaragi (Sep 24, 2005)

*One of the only things that held Smackdown back in the initial brand split was indeed the fact it was still taped. With this added boost I have big expectations for the show. I used to love Smackdown pre "super show" era,never read spoilers for it and just watched it like RAW. They have a major chance here to make it a true rivalry between brands now and now we can have legit surprise returns and title changes on Smackdown just like a live RAW. Not that RAW is anything like it used to be back in the day but I feel the ending of the brand split contributed a big part to RAW being so all over the place and inconsistent. Maybe sorting everything again will help these writers/bookers pull their heads out of their asses for each show with a clearer idea of who is at their disposal to use.*


----------



## southrnbygrace (Jun 14, 2014)

I was not watching when the other brand split was around so question....do they draft announcers too? If so, can we draft JBL to catering before every show so he stays the hell off my screen? 

I hope one of the shows gets Corey Graves on the announce team. I enjoy listening to him talk.


----------



## BryansBeard (May 27, 2016)

Let's see for a minute what WWE's problems are, and how they apparently seek to change them:

Their titles mean nothing: let's add more!

They ratings fall with one roster: let's split it in two!

They make Reigns the new Cena, a boring Superman: let's have two of them, Reigns AND Cena!

50:50 booking and endless match series between two people: let's split the roster, make two thin ones, and have even MORE 50:50 booking, and LONGER feuds!

The only reason for this is that both McMahon offsprings can have a show. Nepotism. And ain't that a fucking surprise?


----------



## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

It appears that AJ Styles, New Day, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, and Sami Zayn will be getting sent to SmackDown.



> WWE Smackdown returns to Mohegan Sun after three years! What will happen just two days after SummerSlam?!
> See your favorite WWE Smackdown superstars including:
> Dean Ambrose
> AJ Styles
> ...


----------



## lovehurtsbaby (Mar 31, 2016)

dosent change the fact that the product will still suck either way.


----------



## LaMelo (Jan 13, 2015)

The live Smackdown thread is about to be lit! :woods


----------



## RLStern (Dec 27, 2014)

*In 2002 they took a strong roster and split it, making the product worst and fans left in droves.

The roster now is far less strong, this isn't going to work.

And where do people get the idea of keeping rosters separate being something good?

It's not, go back to 2002 as a kid I was PISSED that The Undertaker wasn't appearing on Raw anymore, I was pissed that Triple H wasn't appearing on smackdown anymore, I wanted to see superstars on both shows. 

Say they moved Dean Ambrose to smackdown, that would be a travesty this guy made his history on Raw.

Brand Split isn't the answer. 

Lets say in 1999 people were upset that Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Steve Blackman and etc weren't getting the WWF title, does that mean in 1999 they should have made Raw and Smackdown into two separate brands with 2 separate rosters and created a 2nd world title for those guys?

No. that's not the answer.*


----------



## RLStern (Dec 27, 2014)

*Having two world title's and a brand split shows me that WWE is incapable of having a megastar/top star with the current roster.

When they unified the title's I truly believe it was because of Daniel Bryan, who was their top star and draw, I know alot of people are going to mention Batista, but I believe if they truly that the WWE isn't that stupid, that Daniel Bryan would win big at Wrestlemania 30 somehow, if they truly wanted Batista as champion they would've kept the belts separate having Bryan win one and Batista win the other,


This way Batista and Daniel Bryan could win them as babyfaces at Wrestlemania 30...

...But they didn't do that, instead they unified it because they once again had a megastar who could be the top of the industry the best of the roster, thus one title, they had Orton unify it because they knew Daniel Bryan was gonna end this story with the guys it started with, Orton and HHH.

When Daniel Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and was doing the yes chant on his knees with both belts to represent the One Undisputed World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment Champion, it was symbolic that the days of the Brand Split were forever over, it was to me a message to the locker room, "you wanna be champion, get over, earn it and become the top guy like Daniel Bryan did".










They should be ashamed of themselves for doing a brand split and having two world title's, now you don't have anyone who's the 'best', no top prize.

This is like the socialism/communism of WWE, now you don't have to work so hard to get to the top and succeed, therefore talent level and workrate drops because guys not ready to be the top dog will simply be given an easy route with a second world title, rather than improve their skill for the single top prize.

Single prize makes everyone on the roster better.

*


----------



## IHaveTillFiveBitch (Nov 11, 2010)

Two dollar says Ambrose will go to smackdown


----------



## Rocketmansid (Nov 14, 2015)

Its about time SD goes live and its a good move as the show can feel more organic. Interested in seeing how the brand split will work out this time, could be very helpful for the overall talent in the company.


----------



## HiddenViolence (Jan 15, 2011)

I wouldn't mind the brand split in order to keep each show different and fresh from one another. However, they still need to maintain one world title (and scrap the US title too- what a waste of time that belt is). This way they can still maintain the sense of everybody going after 'the' title that goes above any brand; but that signifies the best in the company.


----------



## Y.2.J (Feb 3, 2015)

Smackdown going live and the brand split is the best thing the WWE could do. I have a feeling Smackdown is going to be even better than RAW actually because SD will be two hours (right? or are they changing that?). RAW is really hard to watch nowadays because of the three hour shows. 

Smackdown vs. Raw video games again? :mark:


----------



## Frost99 (Apr 24, 2006)




----------



## Sin City Saint (Feb 4, 2006)

I'm one of many that didn't like it when they originally split the rosters, because it seems like it watered down the product on many levels. I understand that some people got pushed that wouldn't have at the main event level, but TV time was also given to wrestlers who probably shouldn't have been on TV (at least not until they were ready). I would hope they've learned from the last brand split to only have one champion, and not to split the PPV's. I'm optimistic about the new brand split, as it will at least give us a reason to watch SMACKDOWN. Hell, SMACKDOWN might even beat RAW in ratings (seeing as it is only two hours, and won't have the burnout during a third hour). That said, even though it is going live, RAW still seems positioned as the A-Show because of the fact that IT IS three hours (which I really hope doesn't mean that they intend to add a third hour to SMACKDOWN). A solution to that could be one hour of the Monday night show revamped and rebranded as a non-RAW entity (with RAW itself being two hours, and the first hour being something else). Many people have suggested that NXT be the lead in, but I personally would prefer that to be a Network exclusive brand. They've wanted the women's division to look strong and on par with the men's division, so I could see them making a WWE Women's Brand (or something similarly titled), with a live one hour show prior to RAW, basically separating the women's division from both the RAW & SMACKDOWN brands for the moment). It's not ideal because I don't think their target fan base is ready for that, nor do I think the current women's division has enough depth to pull off a weekly one hour show - but it would be something different and I would be glad to be proven wrong about the lack of depth. Either way, this brand split definitely benefits SMACKDOWN far more than RAW, and while that's great for SMACKDOWN - they definetly need to revamp RAW (at least an hour of it) if half the roster is no longer going to be featured.


----------



## Rated Phenomenal (Dec 31, 2011)

Cut RAW down to 2 hours and make a bunch of NXT call ups to flesh out the rosters and I can see this working.


----------



## SonOfAnarchy91 (Jan 4, 2015)

*Brand "Extension" ?*

So in the opening of RAW they talk about the possibility of breaking up New Day (and interupt some possible twerking from Stephanie McMahon!) but by calling it a Brand "Extension" instead of an actual Brand Split is anyone else having doubts that this will be a "True" Brand Split now? They might as well ditch the idea altogether if they aren't gonna go all the way with it and do it properly. If they really have to I guess only the champions should be on both shows, especially if they aren't going to introduce a second World Title.


----------



## Scholes18 (Sep 18, 2013)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

Brand Extension is just the term they use. They called it the same thing when they first did it in 2002.


----------



## SonOfAnarchy91 (Jan 4, 2015)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

Really? My memories a bit fuzzy but I cannot recall them ever calling it that before.


----------



## Scholes18 (Sep 18, 2013)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

Yeah when Linda McMahon makes the announcement she calls it the brand extension.


----------



## The_Workout_Buddy (Jan 11, 2014)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

It sounds much more elegant and professional _Brand Extension_ than _Brand Split_.


----------



## josedino salcedo (Feb 10, 2016)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

I think this brand split thing is gonna hurt the divas and the tag teams BADLY


----------



## SmackdownvsRAW2005 (Jul 10, 2015)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*

That's what they called it when they introduced it in 2002.


----------



## SpikeDudley (Aug 3, 2014)

josedino salcedo said:


> I think this brand split thing is gonna hurt the divas and the tag teams BADLY


Divas maybe

Tag team will be fine. Division is more stacked then ever.

Face:
Usos
New Day
Lucha Dragons
Golden Truth
Shining Stars

Heel:
Wyatt's
Club
Fandango and breeze
Dudleys
Ascension
Vaudevillans

Plenty of directions they go


----------



## Drago (Jul 29, 2014)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*



SonOfAnarchy91 said:


> Really? My memories a bit fuzzy but I cannot recall them ever calling it that before.




0:45


----------



## glenwo2 (May 9, 2011)

Only good thing about this is that FINALLY I will be able to watch Smackdown again because.....NO...MORE....FAKE...CROWD...NOISE! 

No Canned Heat, cheers, boos, whatever..

We now get to hear the REAL reaction of the crowd from now on. 

Plus, since it's going to be LIVE, there's no way to know what happens. 

Thus the unpredictability of RAW will now be on Smackdown. ME LIKE!


----------



## Papadoc81 (Jun 3, 2015)

SpikeDudley said:


> Divas maybe
> 
> Tag team will be fine. Division is more stacked then ever.
> 
> ...



Damn! When you look at it. That is a SHIT group of tag teams! You're wrong only one direction to go. Straight down. Maybe Enzo & Cass can bring some life back into it.


----------



## Rocketmansid (Nov 14, 2015)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*



josedino salcedo said:


> I think this brand split thing is gonna hurt the divas and the tag teams BADLY


They will have to make an exception with the womens division due to e size of it by having them compete on both shows.


----------



## wwetna1 (Apr 7, 2005)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*



Rocketmansid said:


> They will have to make an exception with the womens division due to e size of it by having them compete on both shows.


They could if they wanted to fill time put the Divas all on Raw in the first hour. It seems like an easy way to boost the ratings to the last two hrs if they wanted to announce hour 1 of Raw was for the Women. That would also make the time for the men on the shows dead even while pushing gender equality and empowerment 

They could put the tag titles on SD with The New Day as the draw. There is enough teams to make Teddy Long work for free


----------



## ST1TCH (Aug 6, 2014)

I hope everyone's ready for Jimmy and Jey Usos singles runs!


----------



## Rocketmansid (Nov 14, 2015)

*Re: Brand "Extension" ?*



wwetna1 said:


> They could if they wanted to fill time put the Divas all on Raw in the first hour. It seems like an easy way to boost the ratings to the last two hrs if they wanted to announce hour 1 of Raw was for the Women. That would also make the time for the men on the shows dead even while pushing gender equality and empowerment
> 
> They could put the tag titles on SD with The New Day as the draw. There is enough teams to make Teddy Long work for free


Tag team division could be split on both shows cause they have decent enough tag teams to make it work. Only way they be able to do this with the women is to have the females on the main roster face off against indie women wrestlers weekly.


----------



## Mr. WrestleMania (Oct 16, 2012)

WWE so desperate that they're doing a brand split. This shit is worse than 1995. At least in '95, the guys were in their correct roles (heels/faces). 70 year old Mr. MaGoo can't even get that right.

Split could be good for a short shot of excitement, and like everything in current day WWE, will be awful shortly after.


----------



## kamaro011 (Jan 3, 2012)

The only good thing from this brand split is Romans Reigns going stuck in whatever brand he ended up with.

Because f*ck him, he's a terrible performer. I rather watch any superstars/diva than him.


----------



## TakerFreak (Mar 26, 2013)

I like this.


----------



## btbgod (Jan 14, 2007)

I have not posted on here for years but the prospect of the brand split has got me interested in the WWE again, although I have watched it casually on and off. I am really looking forward to seeing which superstars go where and hopefully pushing some of my favorite talent, one thing is for sure that is nearly all the wrestlers on the roster should get more air time and my favourite wrestlers typically haven't over the last few years so looking forward to seeing that


----------



## Sin City Saint (Feb 4, 2006)

wwetna1 said:


> *They could if they wanted to fill time put the Divas all on Raw in the first hour. *It seems like an easy way to boost the ratings to the last two hrs if they wanted to announce hour 1 of Raw was for the Women. That would also make the time for the men on the shows dead even while pushing gender equality and empowerment


I suggested this a few days ago...



El Taco said:


> ...A solution to that could be one hour of the Monday night show revamped and rebranded as a non-RAW entity (with RAW itself being two hours, and the first hour being something else). Many people have suggested that NXT be the lead in, but I personally would prefer that to be a Network exclusive brand. They've wanted the women's division to look strong and on par with the men's division, so I could see them making a WWE Women's Brand (or something similarly titled), with a live one hour show prior to RAW, basically separating the women's division from both the RAW & SMACKDOWN brands for the moment)...


Would definetly benefit them to revamp at least one hour of RAW. They'll NEED to with having only half the roster on a three hour show, a separate women's division would be interesting as it would be something different. Not sure that they have enough depth currently to fill an entire hour each week though, they might need to call up Baley and Asuka, and give TV time to Paige and Sasha Banks again. 



wwetna1 said:


> They could put the tag titles on SD with The New Day as the draw. There is enough teams to make Teddy Long work for free


As far as teams, if they put the current Champions on one show, I can almost guarantee they'll bring back the World Tag Titles for the other show. I'd prefer the tag Champs non-exclusive but if they draft them to one show, it's only a matter of time before we get another set of tag belts on the opposite brand. They aren't going to have tag belts only on one show.


----------



## Mra22 (May 29, 2014)

Looking more and more like a hard brand split.



> The Wrestling Observer is reporting that following the impending Draft and Brand Extension, WWE will officially run live events for SmackDown on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
> 
> This means that SmackDown live events will be running at the same time that Raw will be airing live.


http://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/...-Plans-For-WWE-SmackDown-Following-Draft-And/


----------



## Empress (Jun 24, 2014)

*Key reason for Live Smackdown shift – major TV production upgrade*

One of the key reasons why WWE is able to go live with Smackdown on Tuesday nights starting in July is a major upgrade to their TV production capabilities.

SportsVideo.org published an interesting article on WWE upgrading their on-site production with new “state-of-the-art NEP production trucks.”

WWE executive Duncan Leslie said WWE outgrew their previous NEP mobile units due to the growing WWE Network requirements for live satellite feeds and the ever-growing WrestleMania live event.

“It’s very exciting, and it’s very rewarding to have these new platforms. We knew that we had maxed out Red and Black and needed to expand. Now we can give production the professional workspace and technical firepower that they deserve,” says Duncan Leslie. “It was a very organic build and a real team effort between WWE staff, NEP, freelancers, and vendors from start to finish because of the complexity involved. That allowed a pretty seamless transition and some brand-new systems to be introduced.”

The new fleet of production trucks were introduced on April 25 for a Raw TV taping. Part of the transition was going to a tape-less recording set-up.

“The move from tape to tapeless was a process,” said Glen Levine of NEP, “and a joint venture between the guys in the field, our integration department, and their organization in Stamford. But that workflow is totally new to them and somewhat unique to an entertainment-style client.”

Another challenge was transitioning to new the fleet of production trucks with all kinds of new bells & whistles and capabilities was keeping the same process in-place for everyone to work together.

“WWE does an awful lot of television shows throughout the year. They don’t like change because they’re a very well-oiled machine,” said Levine. “They go into venues in the morning, do massive productions, and then get out in the evening and go to another city. So, from a production standpoint, they were looking for minimal change. There was a lot of focus on keeping things very similar for the producer and the director but still adding to the areas that were in need of expansion, especially graphics and replay, which have become a big part of their show.”

The other key was making the trucks suitable for even more Network programming delivery as part of WWE’s long-term content strategy.

“WWE Network had a big impact on [the truck design],” said WWE executive Mike Grossman. “The network requires a pretty significant amount of shoulder programming, and we also had to expand our production capabilities in terms of multi-languaging. We’re even expanding what we do with our core product as well as all these other ancillary shows we’re adding. The new trucks have helped us accommodate a lot of that.”

All of the changes were necessary, especially if WWE was going to add two hours of live programming to the weekly schedule, as opposed to just taping Smackdown on Tuesday nights.

“The overall WrestleMania scope has grown outside of just one show; it’s now a number of shows across the region where it is held, and they are managing dozens of inbound and outbound [feeds],” said Levine. “So the trucks started to explode at the seams over the past couple years, and the infrastructure just wasn’t supporting it. After lots of discussion, it became apparent that there were better-streamlined ways to do things for future growth.”

It helps that WWE has locked in key TV agreements in the U.S. and internationally that will kick in millions of dollars in 2016, 2017, and beyond to pay for the production upgrade.

http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/06/08/key-reason-live-smackdown-shift-major-tv-production-upgrade/


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## Raw-Is-Botchamania (Feb 13, 2015)

So they go live with Smackdown because they got some new toys. And it's toys that were brought in because of Raw and Smackdown, Shows that both don't air live on the Network. Yeah, good one :eagle

In fact, third to last paragraph explicitly says the change was also made because WWE goes live on Tuesday, not the other way around.

Instead of that, get better servers to stop content from buffering, morons.


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## nicklibertine (Mar 17, 2016)

Not sure if this deserves its own thread, or if it's already well known, but WWE announced a new WWE Live UK show in Aberdeen, the same night Raw is live in Glasgow.

Scheduled to appear at the WWE Live show is Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, and The New Day. I know 'card subject to change', but for UK WWE Live shows, injury aside they hardly ever make changes to the main stars that are scheduled to appear from the start.

From that I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that Reigns, Styles and Bray Wyatt will be on the Smackdown brand going forward.


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## Brock (Feb 26, 2012)

I only watched some of last week's Raw recently, but the way they announced and introduced the formality of this new 'Brand extension'. 

:maisie3 :heston 

It was just like 'Oh yeah I was sitting on the toilet one day and came up with the idea of bringing back the brand split, I mean extension, so I spoke to Shane and he was like Yeah fuck it, can't get any worse I guess' 

Was that fucking it? Shane and Stephanie end up having a bloody dance off over this apparent momentus occasion?

They really couldn't give a shit any less could they.


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## Bushmaster (Sep 28, 2010)

I'll be amazed if more people actually start watching Smackdown now. WWE stopped giving a shit about SD a long time ago, the brand split will be awful but they'll stick with it.


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## American_Nightmare (Feb 17, 2016)

I doubt that SmackDown will ALWAYS be live. I'm sure there will be exceptions, such as before WrestleMania, Christmas or New Year's Eve (if they fall on a Tuesday). Which begs the question... when will SmackDown be taped in such a case?


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## Sin City Saint (Feb 4, 2006)

American_Nightmare said:


> I doubt that SmackDown will ALWAYS be live. I'm sure there will be exceptions, such as before WrestleMania, Christmas or New Year's Eve (if they fall on a Tuesday). Which begs the question... when will SmackDown be taped in such a case?


Probably the week before? They tape RAW on those occasions as well. In the past they've taped for three nights (as opposed to just two) some years - where they'll have a RAW taping, SD taping and a RAW/SD double taping for the following week. I do hope they start having SMACKDOWN tapings during 'Mania week again as opposed to taping two matches at the RAW tapings and inserting them into footage from Axxess (as it makes SMACKDOWN seem more like a C-Show those weeks, obviously a big step down from it's B-Show status (which itself will hopefully start to change with SD going live)).


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