anarchistxx Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 It's strange. If you told me in 2006 that Kevin Steen and AJ Styles would be trading bombs in a twenty minute, back and forth main event on Smackdown I would have been incredulous, even heartened and excited. In practice I couldn't give less of a shit. Lazy booking on the finish - no way should AJ Styles be jobbing on Smackdown at this stage. Just run a fucking non finish if you must. They could have done the exact same thing without anyone having to take a fall. Jericho still looks like a prick, Styles doesn't suffer a loss. Jericho is brilliant at the minute though, as a character and on the mic. Still sloppy as fuck in the ring. But it is much better to watch a sloppy match you are invested in than a clean, crisp clinic that gives you zero reason to care. It's why Necro Butcher is ten times the worker Christopher Daniels is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 Dave mentioned that WWE didn't expect most of their fanbase to know who AJ was, and him getting huge reactions made them realize their fans know TNA guys. That comment was in response to being asked if Bobby Roode and Eric Young asked to be released to sign WWE and/or NXT deals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 "People care about TNA" was probably not the message to take from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted March 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 I am not sure why anyone in WWE would be surprised. Punk, Low Ki, and Bryan were all over once since day one on the main roster and none of those guys had the type of exposure Styles had. I guess its that WWE bubble thing. As for Young and Roode, I don't want to see them in WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCS1988 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 If they do a brand split again, just have the champions be on both shows, then if they lose the title to a RAW superstar, they stay on RAW, if they lose to a Smackdown superstar, they stay on Smackdown and have WWE Superstars for the RAW superstars who don't get on RAW, but have 3 matches and Main Event have 3 matches for superstars who don't appear on Smackdown. NXT is it's own thing and they decide what show they want to be on when called up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slasher Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 I think that the draft episode is usually one of the highest rated shows of the year so there is no doubt they'd bring that back if they re-split. And if there was anything that the draft would have made sense being utilized for, it's NXT. So no, the NXT guys shouldn't just decide where to show up. Give them more of impact if managers are tripping over each other trying to be the one who got to pick a top prospect, like when they did it for Brock Lesnar in 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 If they do a brand split again, just have the champions be on both shows, then if they lose the title to a RAW superstar, they stay on RAW, if they lose to a Smackdown superstar, they stay on Smackdown and have WWE Superstars for the RAW superstars who don't get on RAW, but have 3 matches and Main Event have 3 matches for superstars who don't appear on Smackdown. NXT is it's own thing and they decide what show they want to be on when called up. I like the champion being on both shows, but I would prefer the champion to still be an official part of one of the rosters. The WWE World Champion represents Raw and once he loses goes back to Raw. If a Smackdown guy beats him, it doesn't matter he is still a Raw guy. It's closer to the traditional NWA Champion role where Flair was the Champion, but his home was Mid-Atlantic. It's not like he was stuck in WCCW once he lost the title to Kerry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anarchistxx Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 It is hard to have the champion working both shows if you are doing a true brand split. If he is feuding over the strap with a Raw guy, what does he do on Smackdown every week when his PPV opponent isn't around? Unless he works two feuds at once. Smackdown should definitely have an exclusive belt, just keep it below the level of the main strap so you don't have the confusion over two world titles in one company. Then have the world champion make sporadic appearances on the brand when you have something for him to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 "People care about TNA" was probably not the message to take from that. That's not the message I took from that. The message I took was that they didn't expect anyone to know about AJ at all because he spent so much time in TNA, and that was incorrect on their part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 It is hard to have the champion working both shows if you are doing a true brand split. If he is feuding over the strap with a Raw guy, what does he do on Smackdown every week when his PPV opponent isn't around? Unless he works two feuds at once. Smackdown should definitely have an exclusive belt, just keep it below the level of the main strap so you don't have the confusion over two world titles in one company. Then have the world champion make sporadic appearances on the brand when you have something for him to do. One month he is on Raw (or two or three till feud is over) then he goes to the other show. Not difficult. What did World Class do when Flair wasn't there? They did their own shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slasher Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Logically a guy they want representing the entire company should be a guy who's talented enough to carry two feuds at the same time. I don't think it would be a good thing to split up the belts back to single branded belts after they made yet another big deal out of the unification with Cena and Orton. They should just stick to that and have one champion. There are ways to extend programs without having to overexpose the champion physically. They could do stuff like two guys feuding over who got the next title shot and they could have the champion do pretaped promos promising to deal with someone the next time he's there or be a chickenshit heel champion like Rollins being given a night off with his opponent having to carry an episode by himself dealing with people who are connected to the champion even on just a peripheral level. If they are splitting the rosters again they have to be comfortable with the reality that certain guys are just not gonna be used on the shows and find ways to have compelling programs without depending on a Cena type ace there all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 I like the idea of a brand split but as long as Raw is 3 hours, they won't pull it off. They were already pulling SD guys to Raw on a regular basis before the 3 hour shows. The best thing is to not advertise the brand split but have guys work rotating rosters. This keeps guys apart from each other but you don't have a fake brand split in your way when you want to pair two guys up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakeplastictrees Posted March 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 It is hard to have the champion working both shows if you are doing a true brand split. If he is feuding over the strap with a Raw guy, what does he do on Smackdown every week when his PPV opponent isn't around? Unless he works two feuds at once. Smackdown should definitely have an exclusive belt, just keep it below the level of the main strap so you don't have the confusion over two world titles in one company. Then have the world champion make sporadic appearances on the brand when you have something for him to do. This is simple, but the resolution involves WWE changing up everything. WWE would have to go to a true ranking system for both brands. WWE can flat out steal UFC's model. Top ten rankings with the number one guys getting title shots at the WHC. If the number one contender loses, he drops in rank. Its pretty straight forward and WWE can mix it up to keep it interesting. Maybe one month its the Smackdown number one contender vs. the WHC, next month its the Raw number one contender, the following month its a triple threat, the month after its the top two on both Raw and Smackdown making it a 5 way dance for the title. Maybe a number one contender doesn't want the WHC and instead wants to go with "Option C" and go after the secondary title (U.S./I.C.) on his brand. This would make all of these meaningless matches on Raw and Smackdown mean something if it means getting closer to the title or "Option C". WWE can, at times, do a traditonal 'feud' by having one of the number one contender's essentially doing anything and everything to stay at the top and even at times interfering in the other number one contender and the WHC's match just to be a stick in the side of the champion. A brand split will also force WWE to not have Smackdown be so Raw replay heavy. Main Event and Superstars honestly can go either way, but I would love for WWE to update the format of both shows and not have them as clip shows with opening graphics featuring guys who will never work an episode (don't show me Cena, Taker, Reigns, etc. unless they are going to actually appear as those spots can be used for guys/gals who actually will appear on the show). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fando Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 So Jericho's podcast with Charles Robinson went up today and they talked about what happened in the match with Neville. Some expert bullshitting. Jericho's version goes: "I get up and, this is really going south cuz now people are gonna start sniffing that something's wrong. So I'm like, I push you. Like, boom. I push you....But I'm thinking, If I push Charles - I should've just said DQ me - But I'm thinking If I push you, you'll DQ me. Because I'm thinking we gotta get the spotlight off of Neville. Because I don't want this to be a really awkward moment when there's a guy down in the ring and then the thing just kind of ends." And "I never once thought, Charles yousonofabitch, I was just glad you DQ'd me." Watch the tape back. That's all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 There are 2 separate touring groups...why can't they just do that with the TV shows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 3 Hours of Raw is just too much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 Been trying to catch up on things before WM this weekend, but I really enjoyed the Styles-Owens match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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