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May Wrasslin' |OT| "Not a good thread. Not a bad thread. But THEE Thread" "

Been telling everyone who'd listen that this has been in the works for at least two years now. The signs got real obvious in the last eight months or so.

USA was the one who basically killed Smackdown as a separate brand. When WWE returned from Spike USA started getting pretty picky about what talent could go over from RAW because they didn't air it. Now it's on USA.

They hired a world class commentator...for Smackdown.
They've been picking up every indie darling they can. A lot of people assumed it was for NXT, but in reality it was for filling another roster.
They're running two separate touring groups anyways.
The leaked upcoming events thing that basically told everyone a brand split was coming a few months ago yet people still assumed this was some sort of false flag.
Finally, Shane. A good guy authority figure and this whole new era stuff?
You're a poster I could actually lay down for. Good guy and stuffs. Too bad, I'll never do it. Sorry.


🙃

But good post, those who didn't want to believe it were blind to the facts. I guess they'll crown a champion for which ever show at Summersham.
 

Caderfix

Member
Been telling everyone who'd listen that this has been in the works for at least two years now. The signs got real obvious in the last eight months or so.

USA was the one who basically killed Smackdown as a separate brand. When WWE returned from Spike USA started getting pretty picky about what talent could go over from RAW because they didn't air it. Now it's on USA.

They hired a world class commentator...for Smackdown.
They've been picking up every indie darling they can. A lot of people assumed it was for NXT, but in reality it was for filling another roster.
They're running two separate touring groups anyways.
The leaked upcoming events thing that basically told everyone a brand split was coming a few months ago yet people still assumed this was some sort of false flag.
Finally, Shane. A good guy authority figure and this whole new era stuff?

Yep. The Shane part was the biggest indicator though.
 

Brinbe

Member
It makes sense. By July they'll have more than enough talent coming through once guys like Cena/Orton/etc start coming back from injury and others like Joe/Finn/Nakamura come up from NXT. You start losing space for guys and gals real quick.

Anyway, the draft was always my favorite thing and a real distinct brand split is good. Guess we're getting Shane on Smackdown. The bigger question is who of Cena/Reigns is getting the Raw slot. You'd think Reigns, but who knows. They might both just end up on Raw lol.

This'll be fun to speculate on for a month or two as they'll probably still treat Raw as the obvious A show but Smackdown will be the better and more watchable show, just like it was back during the first brand split.
 
If Raw is staying 3 hours, this brand split is going to fail- the longer show means you need to have the deeper/better roster on Raw, so Smackdown is going to seem inferior.

Not if you put the more talented indy darlings (AJ, Owens, Zayn, Cesaro, Balor, Nakamura, maybe even Rollins) on SD and have them just have excellent matches, while the big stars (Reigns, Cena) stay on Raw. Raw becomes the family friendly show while SD is the show for the hardcore wrestling fans.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Ugh, another brand split?

WWE doesn't have the roster nor the creative team to support three shows like that. They can't even go through a 3 hour Raw without padding the shit out of it, and that's with the entire roster at their disposal.
 

Browny

Banned
Been telling everyone who'd listen that this has been in the works for at least two years now. The signs got real obvious in the last eight months or so.

USA was the one who basically killed Smackdown as a separate brand. When WWE returned from Spike USA started getting pretty picky about what talent could go over from RAW because they didn't air it. Now it's on USA.

They hired a world class commentator...for Smackdown.
They've been picking up every indie darling they can. A lot of people assumed it was for NXT, but in reality it was for filling another roster.
They're running two separate touring groups anyways.
The leaked upcoming events thing that basically told everyone a brand split was coming a few months ago yet people still assumed this was some sort of false flag.
Finally, Shane. A good guy authority figure and this whole new era stuff?

We're just one step away from

Bragging_Rights_2010_Logo.png
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Yep. The Shane part was the biggest indicator though.

The one where I knew it was definite was hiring Mauro, though SD coming to USA made it likely. Shane running RAW after mania was the smoking gun that the plan was definitely on.

I think they won't split the tag teams and put them only on one show. I think they will make a Cruiserweight division and make that brand exclusive as well. People think they don't have enough women to do two rosters but I actually think that one is easier to do than Tag Teams as NXT is overloaded with women.
 

Caderfix

Member
This'll be fun to speculate on for a month or two as they'll probably still treat Raw as the obvious A show but Smackdown will be the better and more watchable show, just like it was back during the first brand split.

Yeah, that's exactly what I expect and hope for.
 

Brinbe

Member
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

They can run all the guest host/gimmick/vince-like garbage on on Raw and Smackdown can be a real boon for the more in-ring oriented fan, especially if it gets the exclusive cruiserweight title attached to it.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

I think they'll likely put Cena on one show to keep him away from Reigns because otherwise the two would feud and Reigns isn't ready for that.
 

Caderfix

Member
The one where I knew it was definite was hiring Mauro, though SD coming to USA made it likely. Shane running RAW after mania was the smoking gun that the plan was definitely on.

I think they won't split the tag teams and put them only on one show. I think they will make a Cruiserweight division and make that brand exclusive as well. People think they don't have enough women to do two rosters but I actually think that one is easier to do than Tag Teams as NXT is overloaded with women.

Yes. From the top of my head I can think about 6 big names, 3 big names is all you need at first, then they can build the rest will call ups, new talent or simple rehabilitation. I'm actually excited about this.
 

imBask

Banned
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

They can run all the guest host/gimmick/vince-like garbage on on Raw and Smackdown can be a real boon for the more in-ring oriented fan, especially if it gets the exclusive cruiserweight title attached to it.

they love to complain. This is the best news WWE has had in years
 

Strax

Member
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

They can run all the guest host/gimmick/vince-like garbage on on Raw and Smackdown can be a real boon for the more in-ring oriented fan, especially if it gets the exclusive cruiserweight title attached to it.

Personally I'm not assuming they'll do what you are saying, until we know more this could be terrible or great.
 
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

They can run all the guest host/gimmick/vince-like garbage on on Raw and Smackdown can be a real boon for the more in-ring oriented fan, especially if it gets the exclusive cruiserweight title attached to it.
Because people are dumb like that. Talk shit now, eat crow later.
 

Sephzilla

Member
And why are ppl complaining, if they stick Roman/Cena on one show and all the IWC darlings on another, doesn't everyone win in that scenario?

They can run all the guest host/gimmick/vince-like garbage on on Raw and Smackdown can be a real boon for the more in-ring oriented fan, especially if it gets the exclusive cruiserweight title attached to it.

The infinitely more likely scenario is that we get one show with Roman destroying internet darlings, and another show with Cena destroying internet darlings.

I wonder what big tag team is going to get destroyed by the draft - New Day or Enzo/Cass?

I wonder if they'll bring back the big gold belt...

I really hope they don't go back to dual-world championships. Do we really need the world title devalued any further?
 
If SD doesn't get its own world title the indie darlings are even more screwed than we thought. No way on 2 stacked rosters do any of them get a belt the shows share
 

Aiii

So not worth it
If SD doesn't get its own world title the indie darlings are even more screwed than we thought. No way on 2 stacked rosters do any of them get a belt the shows share

If they don't get their own belt, they'll elevate the IC title to the Smackdown title, so it doesn't really matter either way.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Let Raw have the Intercontinental Title exclusively, and let Smackdown have the US title exclusively. Push both of those titles as being big center points of the show. The men's and women's world titles can float between shows.

This is an infinitely better option than adding another world title, which ultimately devalues all of the titles.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Austin's going to jail. Austin's going to jail. Trying to kill the damn man!

I'm a few years behind you and JR is just starting his Austin sycophant phase. It's a bit jarring but it kinda works because McMahon did fire him twice. McMahon's character is great right now, giving motivational speeches to Dude Love, talking in his normal tone of voice 99.999% of the time, trying to be rational with Austin while hinting at screwing him over at any opportunity. The last RAW I watched started the Patterson/Brisco appreciation videos.

They've been hyping Val Venis for two months now. Edge just got his own hype video. Owen Hart had ENOUGH at Unforgiven and joined the NATION OF DOMINATION in beating down Ken Shamrock.
 
The brand split is back coming this summer: Smackdown will be live starting July 19 with a different roster, writing team, and plots. They're gonna hold a draft before it goes live.

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/wwe-smackdown-live-usa-1201782569/

Been expecting it for a while and with the WWE Network doing well enough where Vince is no longer reliant on PPV buys for revenue the issue of weak buy rates that came with the brand split last time, especially for Smackdown, is no longer a concern. There's plenty of talent there, especially with people who are more than ready kind of being wasted in a jam packed NXT. Smackdown has pretty much been an afterthought since the brand split ended and I've only watched a full show a handful of times since, I might start watching again.

I could definitely see the Tag and Women's titles being a cross brand thing though eventually I'd hope they'd have the depth to keep the tag and women's titles exclusive to one show and reintroduce a tag title for the women on the show the men's title isn't on (maybe keep it on the brand with the women's singles title) but that's a ways off since there's currently only a handful of women active on the main roster and that's something that would probably need to start happening in NXT, it sucks Emma got hurt because she and Dana could've been one team and they have Peyton Royce and Billie Kay that could be another, they'd need at least three more not thrown together teams to start and then some thrown together and "enhancement" talent from the indies or early development to pad it out a bit. I wouldn't even have hated the Bellas being around for it, at least for the early days.

Have Stephanie be in charge of the brand that has the women so maybe she can go against people who might be allowed to physically confront her and maybe finally get one up on her.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
The time is ripe for a New Day breakup. I give it 6 months. Leave on a high note, as George Costanza said.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
I feel the New Day should have broken up already, the highlights make them look stale as fuck.

The big reason I think it hasn't happened is because they're a merch selling machine. They've been amazing too. But all good things must come to an end.
 
I'm a few years behind you and JR is just starting his Austin sycophant phase. It's a bit jarring but it kinda works because McMahon did fire him twice. McMahon's character is great right now, giving motivational speeches to Dude Love, talking in his normal tone of voice 99.999% of the time, trying to be rational with Austin while hinting at screwing him over at any opportunity. The last RAW I watched started the Patterson/Brisco appreciation videos.

They've been hyping Val Venis for two months now. Edge just got his own hype video. Owen Hart had ENOUGH at Unforgiven and joined the NATION OF DOMINATION in beating down Ken Shamrock.
JRs obsession with Austin, I always found it weird simply because he's the face play by play guy. Usually you're not supposed to lean to one side but he will cheer on Austin at any cost! They allowed Jr to really get away with adding more to his character compared to Gorilla and Vince. They would actually stay in between but with Jr it was Austin or bust.
 

Sephzilla

Member
I feel the New Day should have broken up already, the highlights make them look stale as fuck.

Nah, they're still pretty entertaining together and their matches are still fun. I'd rather New Day break up after it's clear the angle is past its prime - otherwise we'll get some stupid Shield-like breakup that made no sense and happened at the pinnacle of their over-ness.
 
Nah, they're still pretty entertaining together and their matches are still fun. I'd rather New Day break up after it's clear the angle is past its prime - otherwise we'll get some stupid Shield-like breakup that made no sense and happened at the pinnacle of their over-ness.

It didn't make sense because they constantly refused to break up, and the company forced their hand by having it happen to close a Raw and not telling them it was happening until minutes before, so they couldn't change it or do anything about it

New Day constantly refused to break up too, so they're on borrowed time. Enjoy Kofi and Xavier while we can
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
JRs obsession with Austin, I always found it weird simply because he's the face play by play guy. Usually you're not supposed to lean to one side but he will cheer on Austin at any cost! They allowed Jr to really get away with adding more to his character compared to Gorilla and Vince. They would actually stay in between but with Jr it was Austin or bust.

If you really go back and listen Gorilla is pretty adamantly pro face. Vince was basically neutral except when face HBK is involved. Cole and Kevin Kelly are even more neutral.

Also for Raw is War I'm still in the era where half the show is JR/Cole/sometimes Kevin Kelly. Three play by play guys. One pro face, the other two stone cold neutral.

They also just replaced the 500 million people watch this* bumper with the Attitude era one. Business has, as they say, picked up.
 
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