justcoz

But we are going on what... three years with the gimmick? I agree that there were certainly things they COULD HAVE done to push the character. He's a super hero so your idea of him coming to the rescue of people is a good example of things that they could have done. They also never gave him an arch nemesis. It's always funny how creative release people that they "don't have anything for". They could have easily thrown Kanyon on Raw, put him in Mortis gear, and played out a comic book type feud between him and Hurricane. Nick Dinsmore could have thrown on the Doink the Clown gear for a program with Hurricane. Not to mention Nova. Steven Richards is a huge comic book geek, I'm sure him and Hurricane could have had a good run also. So, yes, there is more they could do with the character but by this point it's just stale and he's been jobbed out. The company don't even get the intended humor in their own creation (the Hurricane choke slam ban). If they can't laught at it and if they can't get creative with it, end it. Let this supposed hot head become a cocky heel and maybe the next HBK (that may be stretching). Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene and more

They would have had an instant PPV program between Booker and Eddie with something as simple as Eddie interrupting Booker's Smackdown debut promo to welcome him to the show. Booker getting upset over the Eddie chants and being interrupted. Booker saying something to get himself booed by the audience then flipping out because the Smackdown audience disrespected him. There would be no need to refer to the brand as minor league or say that Raw is superior. They could have even played into the idea that Booker, a five time WCW champion, felt that his championship's lineage was the big gold belt on RAW, not the WWE title and how he wanted Chris Benoit's title, not Eddie's. Pretty much the same as the angle right now without Booker repeatedly commenting that Raw is superior/Smackdown is inferior, Eddie is a minor league champion, etc. Those aspects of the angle are just ridiculous. It's especially stupid when Booker says this stuff to the Smackdown GM Angle who nods his head in agreement without taking any offense to the comments. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene and more

There is nothing more that can be done with the Hurricane gimmick. It's laughable that some people (not necessarily saying you Choken One) within the smark community love this gimmick but talk about how Eugene will damage Nick Dinsmore's career. I'm in no way saying the Sugar Shane Helms gimmick is original but I would take the pretty boy arrogant heel Helms over Hurricane. Smackdown needs heels and they need a heel who can work. Helms in real life is an avid hip hop fan from what I've read and would probably get a kick out of working a program with Cena. Plus, it would benefit Cena to work with another young guy who can actually work. Rene Dupree could be interesting but is Dupree still too green? Helms has been around and a change would do wonders for his career, in my opinion. I agree here. UPN is terrible but what can you do? It's the only network deal WWE can get. Our UPN affiliate here in Pittsburgh suffers from the same grainy picture you mention. Not to mention that the audio levels are terrible. I sometimes have to turn the volume up all the way for Smackdown but when I flick the stations, my apartment probably sounds like that of an 80 year old man who can't hear the television. I'm constantly messing with the volume. Plus, I still feel that Smackdown would be better served with a time slot switch. The Thursday night competition is fierce when there is almost no competition on Tuesday or Wednesday nights. What also sucks is that in the era of the Smackdown six and the great matches (although sometimes pointless and reduntant) we were given, I often argued with co workers who thought Smackdown was inferior due to name value. Now we barely even get quality matches which was the strong point of Smackdown even when creative was questionable. I still feel that they get more "wrestling time" on Smackdown which I like. It legitimately still feels like more of a wrestling show. The lack of top name players is hurting them however. Especially when guys like Benoit and Edge end up on Raw. I'll also say that the Booker T storyline isn't helping matters. They are planting the idea that Smackdown is second rate and minor league into the minds of the viewing audience. This audience may already be feeling that vibe and it doesn't help to have a jump over from Raw echoing it. Even my uncle, who is pretty mucha casual fan, commented to me this week that Smackdown is making themselves come across as minor league. If that's evident to someone who isn't a Internet geek or has access to inner workings of the product - something is wrong. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

Choken One, I've been wondering why they don't use that formula for both Raw and Smackdown. One week Raw should be live. The next week Smackdown should be live while Raw is taped? As long as Raw is live every week, of course, it's going to be looked at by the company as the premiere show. Smackdown's problems run deep. With the loss of Benoit, Lesnar, Edge and Angle, you pretty much lost your work horses. The guys who could go the distance with Eddie Guerrerro, making his title reign seem meaningful, with some great matches. I LOVE Bradshaw's character. It's believable and I think the WWE should get as much mileage as possible from Bradshaw's crossover success with Wall Street. However, like it's already been stated, you can't go from the APA to a world title contender and ratings draw. I think Bradshaw is getting big time heat in his role and he's playing it to the best of his ability but his first feud should not be against the world champion. They needed to run with Booker T as Eddie's first contender instead of doing the throwaway match the first Smackdown following the draft. Hell, I'd even be in favor of giving Booker a transitional reign before putting the belt back on Eddie. I also think they should have stuck Teddy Long with him. I understand Booker can talk and be an effective heel but I miss the days of managers like Albano, Blassie and Heenan gunning for the world champion. If they were serious about creating new stars, they had every opportunity with the draft lottery to move someone like Hurricane over to Smackdown. Perhaps turn him heel, let him go as "Sugar" Shane Helms and feud with John Cena and Eddie later down the line. Someone like Steven Richards as well could have benefitted from the switch to Smackdown. I'd say Matt Hardy would have been the perfect heel challenger to Eddie but to move him back to Smackdown AGAIN would just look silly to most people. Whatever vendetta the company has against Matt - this would be the perfect opportunity to stick it to him. Promise him a push to the moon to go to Smackdown or he could just stay on Raw with his girlfriend and get jobbed out. See how serious he is about getting a push. They could have also easily moved over and repackaged Val Venis. Moved Lance Storm, putting him with Dawn Marie, maybe even letting Storm/Morely align as Team Canada. I think they would be stupid not to let RVD challenge Eddie. I think he's needed as a face however rather than turning him, unless Heyman was involved. There is no reason Jamie Noble couldn't be pushed as WWE's version of AJ Styles, let him run with the Redneck Messiah character, give him mic time and he should be able to get over. Tag Team division could be Dudleys, Kidman/Paul London, Akio/Sakoda and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn (end Mr. Ass)/"Big Shot" Bob Holly. The CW division can stand on it's own but it wouldn't hurt to raid the indies, bring in some ROH guys who aren't contracted to TNA, give Teddy Hart a shot maybe? Bottom line is, if they were smart, they'd look at Smackdown in comparison to Raw in the same way that Raw was challenged by Nitro's star power back in the day. Smackdown should be the show they are feeding new talent to and giving them an opportunity to make a name for themselves without HHH, Austin, Evolution, etc. As much as I enjoy Shelton on Raw, and the HHH job, I still question if long term, they should've built him up on Smackdown. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

He's not good in this role. He's bland and boring. He doesn't seem comfortable. I'm tired of heel GM's as well but at least with Paul Heyman you had someone who could very effectively sell a storyline or match with his mic work. I think Heyman did a lot to get Cena and Eddie over as well. I think the Bischoff/Heyman GM era will go down as my favorite because for a moment you could suspend belief that they were both just paid actors and envision the heads of ECW and WCW going at it with their respective brands. The two of them made that draft lottery episode of RAW. I know Anglesault doesn't want to hear this but Kurt can't be serious in this role because in a non wrestling capacity he needs to be entertaining. It was fine when he was a competitor in the ring and you wanted him to be taken seriously as a main eventer. We need funny Kurt. I'm trying to think back to why in your opinion he was no longer funny after 2001. Could you give me some of the unfunny 2002/2003 moments so I know where you're coming from? LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

I personally miss The Rock's $5,000 shirts. My man had a great wardrobe back in the day and it was an essential part of his character. You think now that he is a movie star, he'd sport that look again rather than the cheesy catch phrase of the month in BIG LETTER t-shirt and workout pants. Shawn's look is awful. Who the hell wears black tight jeans anymore? The worst is when he wears the classic HBK sparkly ring attire with the baseball cap. Shawn used to be the epitomy of cool and now he's the lamest looking guy on RAW. From the out of date music to the horrible attire. I was watching some old WWF RAW IS WAR tapes from the DX-Tyson era. Shawn dressed real sharp, the DX music was very fashionable for the time and he sported facial hair then. If Shawn is going to stick around for a few more years, I think it's time to tweak the look and music. Cut the hair short, grow some facial hair, stop wearing the sparkly ring vests and pants, look more contemporary. I also hate GM Kurt Angle's attire. I hate GM Kurt Angle period. I can't believe how awful he is in this role, all of the strengths of his character are non existent. It just seems too forced. I wouldn't object to Stephanie coming in as his partner in crime, it would at least continue a forgotten storyline. Batista does certainly look the part. Way more so than Randy Orton who can't pull of the Evolution look. I was also hoping for Shelton Benjamin to drop the amateur wrestler attire. I forget who had the pic on these boards but there is a Sheltom pick with a black bandanna, black tights, etc. and he looks friggin bad ass. For him to truely get over they need to not dress him like a black Bob Backlund. Give him some street cred. I like Big Show in suits also. Okay, I'm done being Joan and Melissa Rivers. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

The character would more than likely just evolve gradually. Especially if they go the route of having him be a really good wrestler in the ring despite the gimmick. There wouldn't be a storyline explanation. They would probably just have him play a little crazy rather than mentally retarded. That's why I think they should go the way of being a wrestling facts buff. He could go into the announce booth and just spit out random stuff like King Kong Bundy beat SD Jones in 9 seconds at the first Wrestlemania, Bret Hart was the excellence of execution and won his first WWE title against Ric Flair. Paul Roma was a Horsemen. They could gradually turn that quirk into him being "Mr. Wrestling" Eugene Dinsmore. A ring technician and wrestling history buff. If they did any explanation at all, it could easily be he's medicated. They never explained when Edge and Christian stopped being vampires, how Mankind went from the boiler room to a children's book author, why the Undertaker went from satan to a biker, etc. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

They can go a number of different directions with the character. Regal can take advantage of his disability and make him a sadistic terror that wrecks havoc on RAW to Bischoff's dismay. Or like the Amazing Rando said, he can be in this character and transform into a total wrestling machine with Regal's guidence. I personally see them staying with the comedy aspect. Apparently part of his act, based on the Bushwacker bit tonight, will be bringing up past names and mimicking them. Dinsmore is talented enough to copy different wrestler's movesets, so let him think he's the Macho Man, Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, a Moondog, Hogan, Mankind, etc. Even Doink The Clown or the Iron Sheik. All the way down to his ring attire, ring intros and movesets within a match. It's been done previously to an extent with Goldust and the Big Show but not to the point where the wrestling movesets were copied to perfection like Dinsmore could probably do. If they went with the above scenario they could even gradually turn the character into a smark, I was hoping to see more of this tonight and was disappointed. I wanted more Dustin Hoffman/Rainman than Farley Brothers type characterization. He could be mentally slow but a huge wrestling history buff who annoys Regal by always bringing up wrestling facts. Sort of like how Rainman was with math and numbers. That would also work nicely with him actually being a competent wrestler who comes to the ring as this buffoon. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

I was all for the idea of Kurt being used as GM on Smackdown but something was just lacking last night. There was no entertainment value at all to his presence. I know the longstanding debate with Kurt was how the company missed the boat in people taking him seriously as a main eventer due to the character being heavy in comedy and campiness. I was all for the latest incarnation as Kurt as bad ass/serious heel. WHEN HE WAS WRESTLING. I don't think the bad ass/serious routine is going to cut it in a non wrestling capacity. There are serious elements I think Kurt should have in his role. First of all, as GM of Smackdown, he has power over that unworthy, non role model, drug abusing, lying, cheating, stealing Champion. Was there any mention of that last night beyond him booking the Booker T title match? His character should definitely be giving Eddie a difficult time because he doesn't want the man representing his brand. Also, in terms of America lacking morals, Kurt should be all over John Cena and worried about FCC attention, etc. Perhaps pulling the old Right To Censor routine during Cena's raps. Maybe Kurt objecting to RVD talking about getting high? Beyond that Kurt can still inject some humor into his character, especially with the Mysterio's, Ultimo's, FBI's, etc. I was just bored with him last night. Where is the spark from a few year's ago? Like with Essa Rios cracks someone mentioned on here in another thread. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

I would have found it funny if HHH threatened Kurt and Angle called Bischoff and traded him back to RAW for Rico and Jackie. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE AND MORE

What would WWE be like if Stephanie McMahon had fallen in love and married someone like Spanky? You still have to wonder what would happen to HHH's career if he screws up the marriage somehow. I think he's wiser than that, he probably envisions himself out there at the age of 60 being a hybrid of Mr. McMahon and Ric Flair. I'd love for him to get busted messing around on her though. LISTEN TO THE PITTSBURGH MUSIC SCENE, BANDS COMING TO PITTSBURGH AND PROGRESSIVE INDEPENDENT MUSIC...

Seeing that pic kind of makes me wish they would have given Shawn OHaire's Devil's Advocate gimmick to Batista. Batista has actually shown the ability on the mic to maintain the image and character outside of WWE video packages which I guess was OHaire's problem (although I only heard him speak twice in that role outside of those packages and they were in crappy backstage segments). For as bad as I think Batista is in the ring sometimes - I still feel that he would be over if they pushed him half as hard as Randy Orton. Batista has a look which just screams "Look at Me" and has shown with limited opportunites that he can do more on the mic than Orton. Pittsburgh's alternative to the FM radio dial: Local music, bands coming to town and music not heard on Pittsburgh radio...

KURT ANGLE is the new GM????????!!!!!!!! I think this is only short term but I like it. I also like that HHH has gone back to RAW as both the Dudley's and Booker T are better off on Smackdown. This also means that RVD will finally get away from HHH which I was hoping for. They still need some heels on Smackdown however so I'm thinking that either RVD or Booker are turning. Booker with Teddy Long perhaps? Chuck Palumbo and A Train to RAW as well for Rico and Jackie. Maybe Rico can get some time to work a decent match on Smackdown. Palumbo and A Train could have breakout potential on RAW also. Pittsburgh's alternative to the FM Dial... Local music, bands coming to town and music not heard on Pittsburgh radio...

Much like Superstar Billy Graham was twenty years ahead of his time, A-Train is twenty years past his time. This guy would have been a huge star in the 80's. I could see him and Hogan going at it on Saturday Night's Main Event. I think he's a good worker. He's a power guy but if you put him in there with the right people you get good matches out of him. He's just been another victim of a creative team who do nothing to get anyone over. They try to push him and he performs well (see Benoit feud) but creative does nothing to make anyone care. I think he has potential for a good babyface run also - something better than him dancing with Scotty Too Hotty. Pittsburgh's alternative to the FM radio dial: local music, bands coming to town and indie music not heard on Pittsburgh radio

They only need a small roster with a one hour time slot each week. You can have big Smackdown or Raw ECW names like RVD, The Dudley's or Rhyno make one shot appearances just for ratings pops here and there. No full time commitment is needed from them. Underutilized WWE names: Paul London, Steven Richards, Lance Storm, Damaja, Tommy Dreamer, Jamie Noble, Rico OVW Guys: Johnny Jeter, Nick Dinsmore, Nova, Chris Cage Indie Raids: CM Punk, Matt Stryker, Xavier, American Dragon, Shark Boy, Jimmy Rave, try to get Lo Ki if there isn't a conflict with Zero One as I'm sure there would be for Spanky too who would have been perfect. Teddy Hart would be gold for an ECW comeback. Returning stars: Jeff Hardy ECW legends: cut Sabu his break, yes he's battered but it's ECW. Eye Candy: Dawn Marie, Lita, Jackie Gayda Announcers: Josh Matthews (if Joey Styles isn't possible) and Paul Heyman Ring Announcer: Joel Gertner Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

Hayes got a bit of attention a few months ago for injecting himself in Smackdown's creative process. I think Hayes wanted John Cena pushed as an anti authority babyface ala Austin and called for him to FU his tag partner Chris Benoit after their match. The idea was rejected by Smackdown's team as such a thing had nothing to do with the direction they were going in. Hayes went straight to Vince McMahon and Vince approved the idea. Smackdown's creative team were insulted that Hayes, a Raw writer by what was described, was able to get in Vince's ear. The angle ended up not airing after all. That aside, the Matt Hardy mystery will forever confuse me. Here is pretty much a home grown talent with charisma who was able to get himself over. Yet they bury him for seemingly no reason at all. The move to RAW was the perfect opportunity to push him big time and even the audience was ready for it. They of course dropped the ball. There is no reason to be pushing Orton, Cade, Jindrak and Batista over Hardy. It's sickening the talent that they waste on their roster because of what creative is lacking or silly personal grudges like I think the Hardy thing is about. You push the people with talent who the fans respond to for the good of the business. The people still respond to Hardy despite his burial. Personally, I would be down with an alliance of Matt, Shannon, a non Hurricane Shane Helms and Stevie Richards. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

EXACTLY!!!! If creative had any idea what they were doing it wouldn't be necessary to hit the "reset" button on the brand extension with another draft/lottery. You could freshen up the product with STORYLINES and it would be relatively easy to do with fictional contract expirations, trades, match stipulations like loser leaves Raw or Smackdown matches, firings, etc. So Raw needs a spark at some point? Go back to the Nitro days and have Bischoff walk out on the show with Kurt Angle and announce that Kurt's contract just expired and Paul Heyman was too busy on his knees trying to get Brock Lesnar to stay with the company that he forgot all about an Olympic gold medalist and former champion. Have a furious Heyman retaliate by bringing out the RAW tag team champions, RVD and Booker T and having them throw the championships in the garbage on Smackdown - then being booked into WWE and U.S title matches with Eddie and Cena on the next pay per view. I'm all for shaking things up but they might as well just end the brand extension if creative can't work within it to keep the product fresh. Even when they've had people switch brands like Matt Hardy, creative offered nothing in terms of good explanations, buildup and a debut with impact. The Smackdown announcers could have speculated for weeks that Hardy's contract with the brand was expiring and he has yet to come to terms on a new agreement and his future with the company wasn't certain. There is so much that could be done beyond starting from scratch like they are. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I think this should just be a yearly thing after Mania. The first week following Mania could essentially be the start of WWE's "new television season" when the rosters change and we get fresh television. I've always supported the brand extension but they never made any effort to creatively book guys jumping shows, contract renegotiations, trades, etc. The GM's don't even create the illusion that they are competing with each other to put on the superior show. A TRUE creative team could have booked the GM/brand rivalry and at least created an illusion of the intensity being as it was with the Monday night wars. The GM's going all out to screw over the other show by stealing talent they felt would make their show better. Little twists along the way could have freshened up each show when things got tired and created new matchups. Something like another lottery wouldn't be necessary had creative been creative. I'm going into this optimistic because I'm hoping that the Lesnar incident and the smart audience at Mania made Vince realize that maybe it is the fans afterall who dictate how the product should be, even the Internet community. That was a pretty vocal 10% of the total wrestling audience who were "in the know" at Mania during Goldberg- Lesnar. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Vince is seriously wanting to change the product. Perhaps he is seriously going to listen to the net and the audience. We have two former WCW cruiserweight stars given the ball to carry the company at a time when the company is pushing more wrestling, strong workrate and storytelling within matches. There was the "where it all begins again" Mania theme. We seem to have a more low key Vince going on television and giving a speech about shaking things up, creating new stars, fresh matchups and giving the people what the want. Hell, he even threw out an insider term of his own when mentioning members of his own family. This just seems like '97 all over again. I was waiting for him to comment that WWE doesn't insult the intelligence of their audience, just like he said then. I'm personally hoping Heyman can be the guy in Vince's ear this time around in Russo's previous role. I'm too tired to get into my picks so I'm shutting up for tonight. I'll check back in and get to the picks at some point. I'm hoping for a change in announce teams, some actual talent cuts, I hope both Benoit and Eddie stay where they are (although if they were ever going to do a unification match, I'd hope it be now). I also think the cruiserweight division should be dismantled with that talent being split between the two shows for more matches. There is no reason we can't have Jamie Noble challenging Benoit or Eddie vs. Rey Rey for that title. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

What's cool is that it's very rare that we have a universal moment like this as wrestling fans. We all know that wrestling matches are worked but the final moments of this match had me feeling the same range of emotion that I do watching any "legitimate" sporting event. And those of us in the room who were smarks were able to carry that emotion over to those who were just casual fans or not even fans at all. We were on the edges of our seats screaming for HHH to tap. Tapping on the furniture. When he did tap, EVERYONE watching cheered even if they didn't relate to it quite the same way as us smarks. They still got caught up in it and that my friends is a WRESTLEMANIA moment. Seeing Eddie in the ring with Chris was such a nice touch. There was a moment when they were both crying as they embraced and my girlfriend looked at me and said, "Those are real tears, aren't they?" I said yes and got choked up myself. There had to be no greater moment for these two guys, after everything they've been through in their careers, than that moment right there. That's as real as football, baseball, hockey, basketball and anything else. In a show in which I spent most of the time disappointed- one moment made it SO worth the money spent. I sincerely hope this is truly "where it all begins again". I hope Vince now realizes that the Internet wrestling community is comprised of more than just 10% of his audience and maybe we do know our stuff a little bit. I hope Vince realizes that two men on top of his company are cruiserweights, not Hosses, and didn't have to be WWF/E products to make an impact. Thank you Vince, thank you HHH, thank you HBK and thank you Eddie and Chris for making me feel like I was twelve again. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I thought Show was great. It's amazing how much I like this guy these days. He's improved so much in his role on Smackdown and this guy never makes a public appearance for the company where he doesn't come off like gold. I wish there was a way Vince and company could capture his natural personality and humor his character but I guess that isn't wise since he's worked so well as the pissed off monster. I'd be all for this guy getting crossover success in movies. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I was discussing this with a friend of a mine. This would be masterful promotion if this was indeed a work. Even the most casual of fans have heard from somewhere that Goldberg is done with the company after Wrestlemania. There are still plenty of small market newspapers that run a regular wrestling column where they report things from the net and sheets. Plus, you'd be surprised by how many people I run into who haven't watched wrestling in two years but click on a wrestling website from time to time at work just to keep tabs on what's going on. They just aren't interested enough in the product to watch. We got to talking about how WWE could completely f*ck with the internet wrestling community and the sheets by using them to plant stories. It can't be too hard to instruct a few people on your payroll to talk to the sheets and notify them that Brock Lesnar just quit at the meeting and will be trying out for the NFL. Wouldn't it get to the point where the sheets and wrestling sites would become completely unreliable because of the reputation of reporting "leaked info" which was totally false. Look how many times we've seen false Smackdown spoilers get posted? You are telling me the company itself can't be this clever and leak out false info to build interest in storylines and matches? The writers would pretty much have to go through a system of verifying sources before reporting anything in their newsletter or on their website. They would be so paranoid as to whether or not the info was accurate that they would hold off posting it! Instead Vince goes on these pissing rages where he threatens the locker room to not talk to the Internet and dirtsheets, he bans photographers from ringside, kayfabes his company's website, etc. Just join in on all the games Vince. You can inject a lethal poison into their very existence by just messing with them. The same applies to the media. Look at how much coverage they were able to get from the Billy/Chuck angle? Everyone can be worked. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I could see him not wanting Vince McMahon to sell a PPV on an appearance and speech by Bret Hart where he talks about being forced into retirement with a concussion, his stroke, being partially paralyzed, not being able to work out, being depressed, his brother Owen dying in a freak accident on a WWF pay per view, his father passing away, Davey Boy passing away and last but not least Montreal. All this and THE FIRST EVER PLAYBOY EVENING GOWN MATCH for $50!!!!! So, yeah, I think he could possibly want people to think he wasn't going to be there and would be okay with shock value. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365...

They also had one main television show which was RAW, saw the majority of their "stars" leave for WCW and were getting their asses handed to them in the ratings! They took a chance and changed their product and that consisted mainly of creating new stars. They didn't have any alternative but to create new stars. The wrestlers were actively encouraged to make suggestions for their characters, they were given free reign on the mic with their promos and if something wasn't getting over like The Ringmaster and blue chipper Rocky Maivia - it was changed and eventually got over BIG TIME. I understand the point about the brand extension limiting matches and feuds. It's bothered me too but there are other ways around that by roster trades, guys jumping, etc. They haven't done any of those effectively. You need the balance of the split or else you have Austin on his ATV on both shows and Triple H giving boring promos and burying everyone getting over. If you told me they would end the extension and book both shows to feature entirely different stars and lineups every week - so you don't get guys who were on RAW on Smackdown, I'd be cool with it. That wouldn't happen however. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I thought I made my point later by saying that Eddie Guerrerro would have probaby never won the world title had it not been for the brand extension? He would have been fed to HHH along with Lesnar, Cena and anyone else who was getting over. If there wasn't a brand extension we'd have one champion and guess who that would be? I wasn't trying to put together a ringing endorsement of the brand extension. That wasn't my intention. It's failed on many levels. My point was that ending the extension wouldn't resolve anything except get the same people on both shows at a time when they desperately need to develop and push new stars. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

I still don't understand anyone's logic behind ending the brand split? Do you not realize that there are guys on both rosters who already don't get on television? By ending the extension, you are just going to see the same guys on both shows? Austin will waste 20 minutes on Smackdown, in addition to 20 minutes on Raw, riding his stupid ass ATV down the ramp and calling himself Sheriff. The extension is needed to build and develop new stars. I could almost guarantee you that Eddie Guerrerro would not be WWE champion right now if there was no brand extension? He would have been buried by HHH the minute he got a pop from the crowd. The problem isn't the extension, it's the suck ass creative teams. Do I think they need to shake up the rosters from time to time? Yes, most definitely, there should be a yearly post Wrestlemania trade to change up each show for the coming year. It's absolutely not feasible for WWE to end the split though. Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365