RAW vs Smackdown stuff

[Guest Y2DAYDAY]

It just dawned on me that Mania 22 is going to be headlined by Austin vs Hogan and Cena vs Batista with both guys as champs.

 

Don't know where that leaves HHH. I guess he could always wrestle Mick Foley.

 

 

They usually only do interpromotional at Mania and Rumble. This year it is Survivor Series, Rumble, and Mania.

 

Seriously, what match on the Smackdown side can be a legit Mania headliner since Batista vs Brock Lesnar isn't happening?

 

On Raw, they'll do Cena vs Angle both times in November(maybe a 3 way with HBK at Taboo Tuesday), then Cena vs Edge at New Years Revolution, then Cena vs HHH at Rumble.

 

On Smackdown, they'll do Batista vs Guerrero at No Mercy and Survivor Series.

 

I guess Batista vs Orton at Armageddon with Orton winning the belt, Orton defending against somebody at Rumble(doesn't have to be anybody big because they have the Rumble and Cena vs HHH), and Orton dropping the title back to Batista at No Way Out(which if built right, should be good business because the last Batista chase did business). leading to Mania.

 

I just cannot see Batista vs Orton at Mania when they are going to it after Survivor Series. Batista vs Orton is the big program and it won't last until Mania.

 

So you have Hogan vs Austin and Cena vs Batista with both as champs as the double headliner with everything else underneath. You can fill the card with a bunch of great matches because with those top 2 matches, the money is already drawn.

 

Either that or I just woke up.

[genius33 0]

source for the cena/batista stuff?

[UZI Suicide 0]

I don't think the RAW vs. Smackdown stuff is going anywhere, I just saw it as a way to sort of end the show with a "big bang". If you do something like that you need to capitalize on it right away and I don't think they're going to put all the angles they're currently developing on both shows to do RAW vs. Smackdown.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

I actually hope they re-unite shows at Survivor Series.

[Black Lushus 0]

me too

[Caliban 0]

Just for Survivor Series, I reckon. After what Vince said after the Austin stunner fest, I think it will be some sort of stipulation like the GM of the losing side is fired.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I actually hope they re-unite shows at Survivor Series.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

My guess is they've invested too much into both "brands" to suddenly end it at a PPV like that. I'm pretty sure the final brawl last night was done to simply set up a "RAW vs Smackdown" Survivor Series tag match. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The brand split is the only reason I'm still watching (somewhat).

[Dangerous A 0]

WWE isn't going to disintegrate the brands unless they absolutely have to i.e. SD getting cancelled by UPN. WWE is not trying to get off UPN despite UPN telling WWE ixnay on the Hassan character and being booted to Friday nights. WWE's UPN deal is the only TV deal where they get right's fees as well as ad revenue. The reason the USA deal was seen as a bad deal for WWE is because even though they get TV for the next 5 years, they get ZERO in ad revenue. All that ad rev goes into USA's pocket. It's a loss of around $20-$25 million a year for WWE starting yesterday. At least with UPN, they get ad rev and the show fee. However, ad rev is going to be down because of the move to Friday because when they were on thursday, a lot of movie companies would advertise specifically on SD because movies traditionally open on Friday and they could get a buzz going the night before. Now, that may not be the case as much and since pro wrestling still carries the stigma that low income folk watch and not high income people (not a stigma really, it's a fact) advertisers aren't kicking down WWE's door to put commercials on their show.

 

It's another big reason they have to start paying attention more to creative storylines and selling ppv's on Raw because ppv revenue is going to become more important to them now that Raw gets zero in ad rev.

[Guest Y2DAYDAY]

No source for Cena vs Batista. Just speculation though I think strong speculation.

 

Actually now that I think about it, Smackdown has only one match for Batista that is a respectable Smackdown Main event title match and that is Undertaker vs Batista for the title. Either Batista loses the title after a one year reign(for this to work, he needs the belt all year) or Taker's streak at Mania ends.

 

I guess it is all based on how well the Raw vs Smackdown angles get over.

 

But to the poster that said this was only for the USA show, well, it is going through at least Survivor Series.

 

It wouldn't shock me if, liked suggested by someone else, that they do Team Bischoff vs Team Long with Smackdown winning and then they replace Bischoff with, um, maybe Stephanie.

 

Either way, with the proposed lineups, I think Survivor Series is going to be strong business.

[Fro 0]

Spoilers ahoy...

 

 

 

 

The plan right now is for them to do a Raw Team (with Michaels as captain) v.s. Smackdown Team (with JBL as captain) match at Survivor Series, with the losing team's GM getting fired. No more than than.

 

WWE is planning on doing Orton/Batista at WM for the World Title, so there are no plans to recombine the brands (as that would ruin their grand plan to get to 24 PPVs a year).

[Perfxion 0]

I thought their grandplan was 20 PPVs a year and only 4 shows a year joint.

[Dandy 0]

Spoilers ahoy...

 

 

 

 

The plan right now is for them to do a Raw Team (with Michaels as captain) v.s. Smackdown Team (with JBL as captain) match at Survivor Series, with the losing team's GM getting fired.  No more than than.

 

WWE is planning on doing Orton/Batista at WM for the World Title, so there are no plans to recombine the brands (as that would ruin their grand plan to get to 24 PPVs a year).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

So what would be the motivation for Raw's team? Michaels shouldn't like Bischoff, and if he got any other faces, I'm sure they wouldn't care either.

[Guest *KNK*]

Spoilers ahoy...

 

 

 

 

The plan right now is for them to do a Raw Team (with Michaels as captain) v.s. Smackdown Team (with JBL as captain) match at Survivor Series, with the losing team's GM getting fired.  No more than than.

 

WWE is planning on doing Orton/Batista at WM for the World Title, so there are no plans to recombine the brands (as that would ruin their grand plan to get to 24 PPVs a year).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

So what would be the motivation for Raw's team? Michaels shouldn't like Bischoff, and if he got any other faces, I'm sure they wouldn't care either.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

And why would JBL care about Teddy Long? In fact, he would want Long out of a job.

 

Simple logical cover-up? Some sort of "prize" for winning the match such as the "Favor" from Bischoff 2 years ago.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

No source for Cena vs Batista. Just speculation though I think strong speculation.

 

Actually now that I think about it, Smackdown has only one match for Batista that is a respectable Smackdown Main event title match and that is Undertaker vs Batista for the title. Either Batista loses the title after a one year reign(for this to work, he needs the belt all year) or Taker's streak at Mania ends.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think its extremely apparent that they are going with Batista v. Orton, HHH v. Cena and Hogan v. Austin as the top matches at Wrestlemania.

[Guest Y2DAYDAY]

I would agree somewhat that at this time, it looks like the 3 main events would be Batista vs Orton, Cena vs HHH, and Hogan vs Austin.

 

However, last October, Mania was looking like HHH vs Orton and Angle vs Undertaker and well, things changed.

 

I don't know how they can hold off Orton vs Batista that long. No doubt that won't be the first match but how will they keep it that hot from, presumably, Dec to April.

 

HHH vs Cena does seem obvious. There is a reason both are tied down with other guys for now.

 

Hogan vs Austin seems obvious but who does the job. Only way I see this match happening is if Hogan agrees to do the job.

 

So basically, again, no one knows and this is all speculation, even on my part.

[Guest nokia]

* I got this over at deathvalleydriver's forum and thought I'd share here..

 

Credit to wrestlingobserver.com regarding Survivor Series spoilers:

 

--Roddy Piper vs. Bob Orton has been added to Survivor Series (not No Mercy) and the Raw vs. Smackdown match is tentatively JBL & Chris Benoit & Rey Mysterio & Ken Kennedy & Christian vs. Shawn Michaels & Big Show & Carlito & Chris Masters & Shelton Benjamin

 

* Eh.......not sure what to say...Hope the first "match" is a joke