Guest Report post Posted April 3, 2002 Don't Know Much About Wrestling By Nick Renton On last week's RAW, the WWF finally went through with their much-hyped roster split. On the internet, many people are divided over whether or not the split will be successful. I can answer all of these people with one word, no. The first of several reasons would be the difficulty of following what is now two promotions accurately. While the so-called "smarts" may be able to easily distinguish between the two programs, your average casual fan will quickly become confused. And it is the casual fans that make the money for the promotion, not the smarts. Think back to the InVasion, remember when all the title's were floating around? I myself cannot remember how many times I was asked by the casual fans I know, what's going on? Who has (x) belt? When did (y) lose (x) belt? Basically, this roster split is going to have the same effects, just with new questions this time. How come no belts are on RAW? Where's Stone Cold? How come the Rock's not on RAW? The effect of this confusion will be to make what is already a down period in wrestling even worse. Another highly overlooked facet is Vincent K. McMahon. Now, I won't argue the man's contributions to the sport or discuss tendency to fail whenever he tries anything different from the norm. I will, however, argue the fact that his ego will not let him lose what he probably see's as a new ratings war. That's what they mean by "trading to balance the rosters", its going to involve McMahon trying to scoop up RVD and the nWo and maybe grabbing Bubba Ray Dudley. In return he'll give, maybe the Cruiserweight division or something along those lines. And to get Bubba maybe he'll trade Faarooq. Bottom line, ALL the stars are going to Smackdown. And watching Austin battle the Undertaker on RAW will get mighty old after a few weeks. In my opinion, the only saving grace of this whole split will be the developmental system/territories. Hopefully, talent will be brought up and if it is, it will go to RAW. Once there, a breakout star must emerge in a relatively short time. Someone like Brock Lesnar or Randy Orton will need a chance to shine early on in their debuts. And if the crowd catches on, the WWF will need to strike while the iron is hot, just like they didn't do with Rob Van Dam. The two divisions that RAW has (Hardcore and Intercontinental) will need to be extremely competitive and always have a defined fued. Making main events with Rob Van Dam defending his title might help him recover from his months of downpushing as well as he could become a focal point of the RAW brand. As far as Smackdown goes, everything should be smooth sailing. With The Rock, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and the eventual return of Chris Benoit, the main events are there week in and week out. Assuming the title situation stays as it is, the undercard should be fine with Cruiserweight and European title matches. Near the midcard, the tag titles can be chased after and hopefully taken off of Billy and Chuck. I also suspect that both the WWF Title and the WWF Women's Title will be much more prone to be seen on Smackdown than on RAW. All in all, the roster split is probably never going to work. A month or two down the line, the intershow matches will become commonplace. Six months down the road a angle will be run where Vince will "save" the WWF by agreeing to reintegrate Smackdown in exchange for Ric Flair's share of the stock. And a year afterward, the WWF will be the exact same as it was a few months back. Thats my opinion on the matter anyway. Thank you for your time and I hope to be accepted into your websites staff, Nick Renton Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted April 3, 2002 The part about being accepted into your websites staff was for something else, please disregard it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
