Brand Extension...

gimmick

...Or whatever the bloody hell it is called these days. Does anyone actually care about it, or the drafts, or are we all happy enough that the sole purpose of its existence is for the filthy lucre to be made at touring house shows?

As was mentioned in the Raw thread, the draft at the beginning (while still a stupid concept imo) was somewhat exciting if someone crossed the line into the rival brand. There was definitely excitement coming to WM time when there was to be a "cross branded match" like Goldy Vs Brock.

Now though - who cares? There is someone from SD on Raw every week and someone from Raw on SD every week.

The best they seem to get out of it nowadays is trying to make the draft seem exciting, which it isn't, and then some multi man tag match for Bragging Rights, which, tbf, nobody actually cares about either. Hence the scrapping of the PPV of the same name.

GTR63

The only thing that annoys me is that Raw always have Smackdown wrestlers yet the opposite rarely happens enough when you consider how much weaker the smackdown roster is.

Garseys

gimmick wrote: »

...Or whatever the bloody hell it is called these days. Does anyone actually care about it, or the drafts, or are we all happy enough that the sole purpose of its existence is for the filthy lucre to be made at touring house shows?

As was mentioned in the Raw thread, the draft at the beginning (while still a stupid concept imo) was somewhat exciting if someone crossed the line into the rival brand. There was definitely excitement coming to WM time when there was to be a "cross branded match" like Goldy Vs Brock.

Now though - who cares? There is someone from SD on Raw every week and someone from Raw on SD every week.

The best they seem to get out of it nowadays is trying to make the draft seem exciting, which it isn't, and then some multi man tag match for Bragging Rights, which, tbf, nobody actually cares about either. Hence the scrapping of the PPV of the same name.

I still maintain that next year (the 10th anniversary of the draft) that both shows rosters are reset, everyones a free agent and it is enforced that you will not see these superstars anywhere else except on their respective shows/specials.

Anyway Bragging Rights was used to promote Smackdown Vs Raw and since the game series is gone, why keep the PPV.

JP Liz V1

I dont mind the draft (as SD gives other superstars more time to develop and shine compared to being lost on Raw) but I wish it was implemented better as in only SD stars on SD and Raw stars on Raw, tag champs are suppose to be on both shows yet so far mainly are on Raw since Michael McGillicuty & David Otunga became champs.

I mean Riley was drafted to SD and was on one show and then back to Raw what was the point of him being drafted considering he was going to be feuding with Miz :rolleyes:

Barrett and Gabriel and Slater all ended up on SD no word on how that happened did Teddy or Vickie get them

I just wish the roster divide and draft was adhered to better

jaykhunter

Yep i think you're right gimmick, we all agree that today's brand split is to just keep separate touring schedules (and so twice the cash) and the split means nothing. Actually it's the worst of both worlds because with one united roster we might actually get better quality shows over all.

It seems it's much more like "Smackdown wrestlers appear on RAW" rather than both on both, that SD sacrifice their draws so RAW won't seem as shítty. Like Sin Cara being on RAW this week - why couldn't Bourne have come to SD instead? Nah, because RAW needs it, fcuk smackdown.

As Garseys said they no longer even have the videogame SD vs RAW -- not that they even promoted Bragging Rights around it -- so what's the point.

Anyway, I watch watching an old nitro yesterday - from late 97. the opening match was Jarrett/Eddie vs Benoit/Mongo. It was immediately obvious that one of the best things about having legitimate competition is that back then (well, up until 2001) you never knew who was going to jump ship next; so we always got an influx of new, ready wrestlers. Is a SD wrestler on RAW supposed to garner the same feel? Oh my God will Drew MacIntyre show up on RAW?? :eek:

I don't understand what the point is showcasing a wrestler in their early/mid-20s. Wrestlers only hit their peak in their mid-30s. With today's oversaturation, a wrestler should not have a 15-20 year career in one company and entirely on camera. Seeing them when they're green and poor on the mic, and seeing them feud with everyone on the roster is just boring. This ties in with not having the influx of new, primed talent. If a wrestler has a great 7 year career, that's enough, or longer if it's broken up, but not one long stint. Not everyone is Shawn Michaels, capable of keeping himself fresh and exciting.

It's a shame, really. Imagine if TNA were on the level of WCW. Then think of if AJ and Samoa Joe showed up on RAW. Or if Orton or say Kane showed up in TNA. Wrestling companies would have to spend so much to get them for their rivals not to have them that they'd have to push them. It'd be class!

Connorzee

i dont watch Smackdown, much prefer the wrestlers on Raw

Lord TSC

Bragging rights is gone, isn't it? Am I not right in saying the concept has been dropped and isn't on the calander at the moment?

Anyway, I think it's a great concept but, as per usual in WWE, they ruin it by undermining the idea left, right and center. If the brands were kept completly seperate, without the constant crossovers, they it would mean so much more and would lead to more excitement when interbrand events did occur. I'm still a big fan of the product in it's current form though; people who argue cards would be stronger if there was one brand are the same who'd argue Cena is overpushed or stories are letting down the show. Yet they fail to realise if there was only one brand, Cena et al. would be on EVERY show and stories would be dragged out for twice as long, since they would have to encompass eight shows a month instead of only four. Writers are struggling to keep stories exciting over brief periods, why would anyone think they would do better when the angles had be dragged out for twice as long? :?

parker kent

Bragging Rights would have been a great PPV had they actually shown some balls and renamed Smackdown as WCW Smackdown.

Ridley

Teamshadowclan wrote: »

Bragging rights is gone, isn't it? Am I not right in saying the concept has been dropped and isn't on the calander at the moment?

Anyway, I think it's a great concept but, as per usual in WWE, they ruin it by undermining the idea left, right and center. If the brands were kept completly seperate, without the constant crossovers, they it would mean so much more and would lead to more excitement when interbrand events did occur. I'm still a big fan of the product in it's current form though; people who argue cards would be stronger if there was one brand are the same who'd argue Cena is overpushed or stories are letting down the show. Yet they fail to realise if there was only one brand, Cena et al. would be on EVERY show and stories would be dragged out for twice as long, since they would have to encompass eight shows a month instead of only four. Writers are struggling to keep stories exciting over brief periods, why would anyone think they would do better when the angles had be dragged out for twice as long? :?

That's pretty much my take on it. No draft means the two or three storylines ongoing at the moment get watered down.

I didn't like the draft when it first started where the world champion was having a fued on one show and dealing with an understudy number one contender of sorts on the other. The draft grew on me once Raw and Smackdown got world champions. Surprised no-one, that I've seen, has suggested unifying the brands if Punk ran away with the WWE championship.

I mostly like the set up they have now except for the frequent crossovers. I think it's best for the tag and Divas champoinships that they're crossbrand though, due to the smaller roster. Plus the tag titles are more interesting for it. I wanted it to happen on ECW but defend the tag titles on Superstars and throw NXT a bone once in a while.

I understand if it's just not the best financially, right now anyway, but creatively there's more storytelling opportunities (which in theory helps the company financially in the long run). It doesn't need to be Smackdown vs Raw in the roster but have better defined boundries. You're on Smackdown but want to get your revenge on some guy who's been traded to Raw? Tough, either get a tag partner and win the championship, wait for the PPV (or even Superstars) and hope they show up. Or put the King of the Ring on PPV again. Make the GMs a little more like business rivals again, even if they respect each other blah blah blah, so the few times a wrestler is loaned out to another show (since it's what the fans want or something) it's expensive and a bigger deal. Don't just have someone kicked off of Raw appear on Smackdown, make them earn their spot in a match make a stint on Superstars be their thing.

I can see the Money in the Bank winner getting the title straight off Punk if he wins at the PPV but I think I'd rather have Punk run off with the title (for a month or so) just to see the fallout. Like Cena getting fired was until he turned up the next day and the week after that and...

Lord TSC

See, I disagree with people when they argue that the PG rating is one of the damaging factors in WWE's decline in popularity. BUT at least I can understand that arguement. I cans see the logic and while I don't agree, the logic at least is sound. Some people want violence, sex, swearing, etc.

But I don't get why some people rip into the brand split to the same extent. I ask this and want to start this discussion up cause I've seen people complaining about in a few times in recent topics, so want to get their reasons for disliking the split.

For me, the draft isn't a problem. Poor and lazy writing is. And what confuses me is people say "God, they should end the split", but dont realise that not only does that not improve the writing problems by default, it also means that some of the other problems (Cena et al. being uberpushed, stories dragging out for months) don't get solved in ending the split, but would actually be intesified. Ryder can't make it on TV when there's two rosters; what makes people think he will when there's only one, and thus twice as much competition for a spot on TV. Do you really want to see Cena wrestling twice a week instead of once? I get the theory that there would be less titles as well, meaning more credibility, but in truth, I think it would end up getting switched around twice as often amoung a smaller group of wrestlers who would dominate the main event scene without stop.

So then, genuine question: What makes people think that ending the draft split would lead to an improved product?

gimmick

Similar threads merged

jaykhunter

People (including me) believe that with only one show, the product would be better. Twice the shows means the talent is spread between the two.

At least half of both rosters are prunable and don't deserve to get a weekly slot on main WWE programming IMO. of course bad/lazy writing is also a factor, and not doing the best you can with the talent that's available, but i think it stands to reason that bad/lazy writing with a bigger pool of talent would be preferable to bad/lazy writing with a small pool of talent. You could make a much better roster for one show cherry-picking the best of RAW and SD.

I for one have no time for people with the talent of Heath Slater, Johnny Curtis, Rosa Mendez blah blah blah. We're also exposing the green-ness/unreadyness of young talents, like Drew McIntyre, because his in-ring and mic-skills look to be about 5 years away from actually being ready.

Having two world champions (exclude the immediate current storyline lol) is also such a slap in the face. I'm the champion of the Tuesday Tapings. Great.

Lord TSC

Whoops, sorry. Didn't know if I should make a new topic or bump an older one

Lord TSC

jaykhunter wrote: »

People (including me) believe that with only one show, the product would be better. Twice the shows means the talent is spread between the two

At least half of both rosters are prunable and don't deserve to get a weekly slot on main WWE programming IMO. of course bad/lazy writing is also a factor, and not doing the best you can with the talent that's available, but i think it stands to reason that bad/lazy writing with a bigger pool of talent would be preferable to bad/lazy writing with a small pool of talent. You could make a much better roster for one show cherry-picking the best of RAW and SD.

I for one have no time for people with the talent of Heath Slater, Johnny Curtis, Rosa Mendez blah blah blah. We're also exposing the green-ness/unreadyness of young talents, like Drew McIntyre, because his in-ring and mic-skills look to be about 5 years away from actually being ready.

Having two world champions (exclude the immediate current storyline lol) is also such a slap in the face. I'm the champion of the Tuesday Tapings. Great.

See, I get that, BUT here's the thing. I do think WWE have enough talent to produce two high quality shows. Yeah, there are wastes of time on both shows at the moment, but there's plenty of people who could and should be getting more time then they are.

Actually, I'd point to the final few months of ECW as an example of a show with a smaller roster but which still managed to produce good TV and good shows. My point is that it would be easy enough to keep the brands seperate but also to make sure people who are on the shows deserve to be on the shows. We dont need 30 man rosters but nor do we need to kill off the draft to fix the problem of people undeserving of TV time getting it.

THAT problem is not caused by the draft, but rather by who Vince & co deem ready to be elevated to the main roster, and ending the draft split is not going to change who Vince & co believe is and is not ready for TV. Again, thats a valid concern but, in my opinion, not one which will be fixed by simply ending the draft split...

JP Liz V1

Cody Rhodes is one guy imo who has benefitted from being drafted to SD of course it can be argued that this is down to a new gimmick and great feud with Rey but if he were on Raw with the same gimmick would he been getting any sort of push.

Ziggler is another person who did well while on SD and also Bryan too has benefitted from his switch to SD, would Christian if be near the world title scene on Raw I think not

I think SD helps builds up future potential superstars more than Raw

Smackdown could be helped by being live and maybe on another night Wednesday or Thursday perhaps

Vince135792003

From a fan perspective, one main show would probably be better. However, you would run the risk of the top guys being re-cycled again and again (even more that it has done).

From a wrestlers perspective, 2 shows is alot better. It means more jobs and it also allows the WWE the freedom to push newer guys with less risk.

I do think there should only be 1 main title though.

drayme

I agree with Vince.

Top stars are over exposed as it is. Also when you have two World champions you have no world champion.