For months, reliable sources have been reporting of a brand split coming soon to WWE. Today, that news was made official through a press release and an in-character video posted from Shane and Stephanie McMahon.
Personally, I see this as great news and believe it has potential to fix a number of WWE’s problems:
– Talent Schedules – Some of the WWE talent has been vocal about being overworked. However, if a talent working “Raw” on Monday isn’t going to be part of the “Smackdown” programming on Tuesday by default, this ensures some of the talent having more days off and being less injury-prone.
– Talent Development – Now that there is going to two hours of live programming with a distinct roster of talent, some of that talent is going to get more on-airtime than they had before. In turn, some of the talent being overexposed is going to be on-camera. This may not create more dominant superstars, but it ensures more talent staying fresh while more talent has more to do.
– Less Recaps – “Smackdown” has a reputation for being a “Raw” recap show. Now that it has its own roster, it will be forced to have watchable content. Or at least storylines that reinforce it as a WWE brand. For a while in the 2000s, under the supervision of Paul Heyman, “Smackdown” was arguably “the” show as some of the then-mid-card talent was elevated to main event status in an interesting way.
– Live Energy – Some people have a preference for overproduction, but I like things that are live and organic. Maybe some of the “Raw” crowds can be a bit much with chants and signs that go against the storylines, but that sort of energy keeps things organic. “Smackdown” airing live also ensures that WWE can’t “sweeten” matches-gone-wrong as they have done often in the past. To draw a comparison, “Saturday Night Live” may often be mediocre, but the fact that it is in front of a live crowd and being broadcast immediately adds a certain amount of fun for all watching.
– More And/Or Meaningful Titles – Before “Raw” and “Smackdown” were unified, each show had its own set of championship titles. Currently, there are five titles: World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental, United States, Tag Team, and Womens. Aside from John Cena’s reign, the U.S. Title has been largely-ignored in recent years. This brand split could mean the introduction of new titles, or it could mean giving more focus to current champions and developing their storylines better. Either way, an improvement.
The brand split does leave a number of questions and concerns, however. Will each show have its own General Manager? Will we go back to the era of having a heel GM that sets unfair matches regularly? Will the brands themselves feud? Will the brands having their own touring companies and pay-per-views? Will the brands be entirely independent of NXT? Is this just a way to make NXT its own thing?
Questions aside, another positive part of this new development is that it shows that the WWE is listening to its fanbase. While complaints about Roman Reigns are still being ignored for the most part, the fact that WWE is going back on action that it had taken only a few years ago is a good sign. Maybe it leads them to making “Raw” a two-hour show again. Maybe it elevates “Smackdown” to being “the” show, leaving “Raw” in the dust. After all, “Raw” does spend a good chunk of the year competing directly against “Monday Night Football.
If the brand split is successful and ratings go up (and subscription numbers increase), perhaps the payouts get bigger to the talent. If the talent get bigger payouts and wind up working less with better creative to deal with, then perhaps mass releases like that of this month will be a thing of the past.
As the great Mel Brooks has been known to say: “Expect the worst, hope for the best.” That way if all of this anticipated goodness isn’t the exact end result, we can still be excited when A.J. Styles, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins have great matches on weekly television. Or when The New Day cuts a promo that doesn’t involve a refrigerator box.
