Changes may be coming

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

WWE has told both TNN and UPN to expect a lot of surprises on WWE programming leading up to WrestleMania. There is a lot of talk about also switching the brands of The Rock & Austin, with the Rock heading to RAW and Austin heading to Smackdown. The two are the favorites to headline WrestleMania.

 

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[Guest My Eyebrow is on fire]

makes sense -i hope it happens - smackdown has 6 upper-midcarders who need elevating.

 

austin can be punished for leaving by jobbing to all of them after extensive programs.

 

oh wait. UT is on smackdown. Corporate Ministry Pt 12 here we come!

[Guest El Satanico]

Let me guess they also talked about pushing new faces but told them that it takes time.

[Guest jester]

WWE has told both TNN and UPN to expect a lot of surprises on WWE programming leading up to WrestleMania.

Shut up. Don't talk about it. Don't say a word about it. Just do it.

 

"Big suprises" better not mean something like "Stephanie steals Chief Morely." Yeah, what a huge upset that would be.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Hopefully the brand split is ended.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Hopefully the brand split is ended.

I sure hope not. Ending the brand split will kill WWE.

[Guest Sandman9000]

Hopefully the brand split is ended.

I sure hope not. Ending the brand split will kill WWE.

Then I hope it is ended then.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

It's gonna fall apart soon, they can't hold anything for long because if ratings are down week after week they panic and shift EVERYTHING instead of slowing things down and going back to the fundamentals. They never really think these things through.

[Zetterberg is God 0]

The last thing we need is for Rock vs. Triple H round 1,222,346. That feud is just too stale, in my opinion.

[cawthon777 0]

There should be a rule - you face a guy 6 times on pay-per-view and you can never speak to that person on camera EVER again. Move on. Work a program with Billy Kidman or something.

[Guest humongous2002]

Rock on RAW?Either Book or RVD gets to go over him.

[JasonX 0]

Hopefully the brand split is ended.

I sure hope not. Ending the brand split will kill WWE.

No, the brand split is what's killing the WWE. It needs to die a horrible death since it's been a huge, complete, and total flop...

[Guest creativename]

Hopefully the brand split is ended.

I sure hope not. Ending the brand split will kill WWE.

Oh lord no, the brand extension has been a disaster for WWE. Killing it cannot hurt the company, only help it.

 

While the roster split might hurt the product in some people's eyes--namely, those people that only watch SD! and skip Raw entirely--it is not good for the company, and it is preposterous that they are still going with this obviously failed experiment, which is bound to be canceled within the next year anyway (there really isn't much chance of this lasting beyond WM XX, if it gets that far).

 

So while the roster split helps get more faces on TV and helps to combat the glass ceiling somewhat, as well as letting the SD! wrestling writers do their thing (namely Heyman, presumably), it is not good for monetary success of the WWE.

[Guest Shanghai Kid]

I hope WWE is planning on some monster surprises, otherwise, we're looking at probably a hell of a low buyrate for WM. And I fear for the WWE's life after WM.

[JasonX 0]

WWE has told both TNN and UPN to expect a lot of surprises on WWE programming leading up to WrestleMania. There is a lot of talk about also switching the brands of The Rock & Austin, with the Rock heading to RAW and Austin heading to Smackdown. The two are the favorites to headline WrestleMania.

 

Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Switching Rock and Austin is a huge freaking mistake even if Vince found some way to blackmail/gangpress Rock into returning to the ring for a signifigant (like say an entire year) amount of time.

 

Austin needs to come to Raw and kill off HHH and the Evolution. THEN you can start shipping Angle, Edge, Benoit to Raw in some sort of "Evolution for the Smackdown 6" type trade which must lead to the WWE forcing Austin to job 24-7, on both PPV and free TV to the now Raw 6 until they are all considered top guys.

[Guest geniusMoment]

If Rock and Austin are on different shows you cannot build up the match properly. Why are they so insistant on them being on different shows.

[Guest razazteca]

the last time they did a surprise switch:

 

Raw got HHH and the UnAmericans

Smackdown got Brock, Eddy, Benoit, Mysterio

 

who got the better trade?

 

If the Rock is a heel will that make HHH a face or will Booker T get another shot at a battle of wits with the Rock which he will lose?

[Guest packwingfn]

ya rock is defnitely a heel meaning, if he goes to Raw, he could be feuding with Booker or RVD which is cool. Id like to see a RVD-Rock feud

[Guest bob_barron]

If they end the split I'm putting my fist through the TV. Everyone will become overexposed again and we'll have Triple H taking up both shows.

 

Plus- they spend so much time establishing the split that killing it would be retarded

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Yeah, the announcers hyping the other show is really establishing the split. The split would have been a good idea if it were truly someone else running the other side and they made no mention of the other show, but like everything else WWE does they screwed it up and it is worthless. They should just drop the roster of about 10 people and rejoin the rosters. They are also making less money now running twice as many house shows than before the split.

[Guest bob_barron]

Except on Monday they rarely if ever hype Smackdown.

 

For the most part since getting seperate GMs they've really established the split and made both brands seperate.

 

Ending the split won't help turn business around. The only thing they would get out of it is the potential Triple H v. Brock Lesnar money match- and that's it.

 

Do you really want Triple H and Taker hogging both shows?

[JasonX 0]

the last time they did a surprise switch:

 

Raw got HHH and the UnAmericans

Smackdown got Brock, Eddy, Benoit, Mysterio

 

who got the better trade?

 

If the Rock is a heel will that make HHH a face or will Booker T get another shot at a battle of wits with the Rock which he will lose?

Best thing to do is for the WWE to simply ship HHH and the Evolution off to SD (where they need heels) while shipping Team Angle and the SD 6 to Raw so that Angle and Brock can prove whether or not they are capable of carrying the company by way of pulling Raw out of the rating shithole that HHH put the show in...

 

And as for Rock, unless he's willing to return to the WWE for at the very least 6 months, don't deserve to have the company built around him. Just job him out and send him off to do Johnny Bravo or Spy Hunters or whatever movie rolls Rock's been offered to do...

[Guest bob_barron]

RAW's ratings are actually starting to go up with the Austin return and Evolution.

 

Shipping TeamAngle and SD!6 to RAW is going to kill Smackdown!

[Guest Brian]

The brand extension works very well in theory, but the execution has been horrible. Theoritically, you open twice as much spots for stars, you give more TV time for guys, you run twice as many angles, you have a more centralized touring group (rather than running A and B or split shows), and you don't overexpose the product and top guys by putting them on twice as much a week. Plus on the rare occasions that the brands do interact, it should draw. Of course they haven't run it like that at all.

[Guest Human Fly]

the last time they did a surprise switch:

 

Raw got HHH and the UnAmericans

Smackdown got Brock, Eddy, Benoit, Mysterio

 

who got the better trade?

Raw also got Chris Jericho who has turned into the Raw MVP.

 

They need to keep the split, with all the guys they have now it's almost impossibleto go without it.

 

Does anyone else remember when this board was counting down the days to the split?

[JasonX 0]

Do you really want Triple H and Taker hogging both shows?

That's a given consequences of ending the split, but they are already doing that which you fear as it is WITH the roster split, so it's not like the world will suddenly come to an end. It will simply continue it's slow and ultimate descent into oblivion...

 

On the other hand it lets us see Brock, Angle, Benoit, and company on both shows which outweighs the continued bullshit of HHH and UT IMHO....

[Guest Brian]

The thing is, the split is a talent problem. It's a creative problem. And until they get the problems with creative solved, nothing's going to change. Because when Triple H and Undertaker are on the same show it means one less main event spot.

[Guest nikowwf]

Rock's doing 2 PPV matches period...probably both with Austin so forget any other programs.

 

niko

[Guest Choken One]

Am I the only one who LIKES the brand Split...I like it as a fan...

[Guest Brian]

I like it, and I think it has it's purpose. I just think they could be doing a much better job with it.