WWE Planning To Do Seperate Brand PPVs Starting

[Guest BoboBrazil]

As I talked about yesterday on my Premium hotline, as of right now the WWE is moving forward with a plan to create a "hard split" in the company's two brands. As it stands right now (and remember things are always subject to change in WWE), they are proceeding with the plan that was being considered last month where the company would do four Raw brand only PPVs, four Smackdown brand only PPVs and four combined shows a year. The June King of the Ring PPV is tentatively scheduled to be the first PPV of the new direction, with the show set to consist of Raw brand matches. I believe that the plan is for The Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and The Survivor Series to be the events that feature talent from both rosters.

 

The word making the rounds is that Vince McMahon decided to go forward with the idea after last month's Madison Square Garden house show when he heard the crowd react negatively when Triple H couldn't work his scheduled match against Brock Lesnar, due to his leg injury. On that night, Team Angle filled in for H and it ended up as a Smackdown main event on a Raw brand house show. As the story goes, Vince reportedly took the fans' negative reaction to the substitution to mean that they were angry because they wanted to see an all Raw show, and didn't come to see a Smackdown main event. If that story is true, it's sheer insanity from where I sit. The boos from the fans clearly came from the fact that H was advertised and the fans didn't know he wasn't going to wrestle until the show had already started. How it could be viewed as anything other than that is beyond me.

 

As far as the idea itself, the McMahons are said to be prepared for an initial drop in buys at the beginning of the new system, much as they said they were ready for a drop in house show gates and television ratings when they first did the split last year. They feel that if they can build two substantial, independent brands that in the long run the idea will be a good one.

 

My own take on this is that it's a potentially suicidal idea for the company. As it stands now, they don't have enough top tier talent to begin with. They need all of the drawing power that they can get on each monthly event. By thinning the talent pool on the shows, buys for the shows will drop. In addition to that, if they go forward with the idea, the best that the wrestlers can hope for is 8 PPV bonuses a year instead of 12. That will be a substantial hit in their pockets. I truly hope WWE reconsiders this and abandons the idea.

 

1wrestling.com

[Guest Angle-plex]

Horrible idea. I'm not paying $35 dollars to see a PPV with an "upper-midcard" match of Test vs Jeff Hardy.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

GOOD. This means that the brand extension isn't getting scrapped anytime soon.

 

Fuck the "decrease in business", it was happening well before the split. Smackdown's booking may annoy me but at least the show is watchable - unlike RAW.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

This is a good idea actually. It will give them longer to build to matches and it will allow more wrestlers to get storylines and matches on ppv.

[Guest bob_barron]

So that's the sucidial thing Sherer was thinking about at 1wrestling.

 

I think they'll reconsider it soon enough

[Guest Choken One]

I like the idea...Just bring the Brand Exlcusive PPV's down to at LEAST 24.99 and make the Combined shows the normal 35 bucks...

 

and WHY does RAW get the KOTR tourny?

[Guest El Satanico]

Good now maybe they will work harder on making the split work like it should.

 

Of course with the current Uncreative Team nothing will improve no matter what they do.

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

Vince is an idiot. I'm suprised he didn't think the negative reaction was because the fans at MSG only came to see HHH.

[Guest Angle-plex]

This is a good idea actually. It will give them longer to build to matches and it will allow more wrestlers to get storylines and matches on ppv.

So? Not many people are willing to pay $35 bucks for a PPV with BOTH brand's top talents. Do you think they'd be would pay for a RAW PPV like this:

 

Triple H vs Booker T

RVD/HBK vs Jericho/Christian

Test vs Jeff Hardy

Kane vs Batista

3MW vs Dudleyz vs Regal/Storm

 

.....and I can't even think of any other matches worth even MENTIONING of being on a PPV. That looks like an above-average RAW card, not a PPV card.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Let's see...pay $75 one month for TNA and a SmackDown PPV, and then $40 the next month for only TNA...

 

...works for me...

[Guest Choken One]

Why waste your money on TNA?

[Guest El Satanico]

Well Raw as awful as it is still pulls in a consistent 3 rating. So the Raw PPV could do alot better then it SHOULD.

[Guest BoboBrazil]

You should support TNA if for no other reason than because it is the only competition for WWE at this point really. I want to see TNA survive and become a viable contender like WCW was. Wrestling will really go downhill if there is no second fed for Vince to get talent from or steal ideas from.

[Guest Choken One]

Right...I wouldn't be shocked if they Make raw a Gimmicky PPV...

[Guest Choken One]

You should support TNA if for no other reason than because it is the only competition for WWE at this point really. I want to see TNA survive and become a viable contender like WCW was. Wrestling will really go downhill if there is no second fed for Vince to get talent from or steal ideas from.

Eh...I still can't take them seriously...

[Guest razazteca]

a 2 month period should build up to good storylines but I still expect they will wait until the last minute on Heat to promote a match like Hurricane vs Kane.

[Guest Renegade]

Although the idea is stupid, at least it saves people money on not to buy any RAW PPV's

[Guest bravesfan]

So? Not many people are willing to pay $35 bucks for a PPV with BOTH brand's top talents.

 

Agreed.

 

And since I DON'T see the WWE bringing down their PPV prices (honestly, why would they?) you will see buyrates drop for BOTH brand-only PPVs - In simpler terms, will the Raw fans pay for a Smackdown-only show? Will the Smackdown fans pay for a Raw-only show?

[Guest Quik]

"As the story goes, Vince reportedly took the fans' negative reaction to the substitution to mean that they were angry because they wanted to see an all Raw show, and didn't come to see a Smackdown main event."

 

Wow... Hey Vince, you do check out the ratings, right?

[Guest Choken One]

Yeah I am sure he does...HHH draws bigger numbers then Angle...

 

Just saying...

 

I know that there is a difference but Vinces sees this

 

HHH Show- 3.9

Angle Show- 3.4

 

What looks better to Vince?

[Guest bravesfan]

What looks better to Vince?

 

Everyone KNOWs SD! numbers are better than Raw, no matter what the UN-ADJUSTED ratings say.

 

It's a matter of Vince's thinking that when people pay to see a RAW show, they want to see a RAW show. Thing is, all fans want to see is a GOOD show, no matter which brand.

[Guest CanadianChick]

Yeah I am sure he does...HHH draws bigger numbers then Angle...

 

Just saying...

 

I know that there is a difference but Vinces sees this

 

HHH Show- 3.9

Angle Show- 3.4

 

What looks better to Vince?

Aren't cable ratings worth less than network ratings though? So really, isn't that the same rating more or less?

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

What looks better to Vince?

 

Everyone KNOWs SD! numbers are better than Raw, no matter what the UN-ADJUSTED ratings say.

 

It's a matter of Vince's thinking that when people pay to see a RAW show, they want to see a RAW show. Thing is, all fans want to see is a GOOD show, no matter which brand.

If that's the case then they should prefer to see Brock vs. Team Angle over Brock vs. HHH.

[Guest wwF1587]

why starting with KOTR? Why not starting with Backlash and then have the big five (KOTR WM SS SS RR) have both brands on .... isnt KOTR considered a big event normally?

[Guest bravesfan]

If that's the case then they should prefer to see Brock vs. Team Angle over Brock vs. HHH.

 

They PAID to see Brock vs. HHH. Not that it would've been a better match than the gauntlet style series between Team Angle, but it's what was advertised. Especially when it was announced only minutes before the Main Event.

[Guest Choken One]

Then it's uneven...

 

KOTR isn't that big of a deal anymore...

 

I wouldn't be shocked if they completly dump the tourny...and I wouldn't protest it...but All Y'all would...

[Guest bravesfan]

Isn't KOTR considered a big event normally?

It is, but it does create an odd number of Raw/Smackdown PPVs, with 7 brand-exclusive PPVs between them.

[Guest Choken One]

Right...and Since they already done Rumble and Mania...KOTR is lesser of the other two events...

[Guest RedJed]

Yeah I am sure he does...HHH draws bigger numbers then Angle...

 

Just saying...

 

I know that there is a difference but Vinces sees this

 

HHH Show- 3.9

Angle Show- 3.4

 

What looks better to Vince?

Aren't cable ratings worth less than network ratings though? So really, isn't that the same rating more or less?

Yup they're basically the same, actually Smackdown is a tad higher when you really get down to it, even at this point.

 

I dont think they should do the splitting of ppvs yet (especially starting at KOTR? WTF?!!) just because if anything the brand split has turned to shit in the past 6 months. I thought around the end of the summer into the fall there was a conscious effort to really seperate them, but its hardly there now. At least we don't have any interpromotional stuff, but still they sure talk up the other brands on the opposite shows lately (and before they were ripping on each other like it was competition, now they kiss each shows ass). Dave is right, the stars have yet to be established to justify each brand to be given this right. Unless they have major plans to shift everything up after Mania and work hard as hell to make the split work (which I hope so but I'm sure wont happen) then this is not a good idea at all.

 

But at least it will save me 35 bucks every other month or whatever. I'm sure I won't be buying any Raw ppvs.

 

BTW, back on giving KOTR to Raw. Whats the deal there. Hell, I think they should just merge the KOTR tourney and the Survivor Series ppv together. Thats a gimmick that obviously should be kept (having a KOTR every year) but you shouldn't give that to only one brand. Not unless the Smackdown brand would be given a new concept or gimmick to do every July on their ppv to elevate a particular talent. And then each of those elevated talents meet their respective champions at SummerSlam.

[Guest Choken One]

If they Do give SD their own Gimmick PPV concept...what should it be...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***Awaits War Games Praise***