what's up with everyone's sick obsession with split brands?

[DANJ!]

wcw was pulling better ratings than the wwf for years before the nwo.

raw stunk for a long time even after nitro came out.

Second sentence I def. agree...

That first sentence tho'... receipts, breh.

I LIKED WCW's product better around '92-'93... and so did a lot of people... but they were still giving away tickets for $1.00 to pack the Arena, losing money, and not nearly drawing as many fans as WWF had. By '94-'95, both of them shyts were in the dumps. Bischoff steered that shyt in the right direction by starting Nitro.

 

[Wacky D]

I LIKED WCW's product better around '92-'93... and so did a lot of people... but they were still giving away tickets for $1.00 to pack the Arena, losing money, and not nearly drawing as many fans as WWF had. By '94-'95, both of them shyts were in the dumps. Bischoff steered that shyt in the right direction by starting Nitro.

that was their problem. they couldnt draw house shows and such. their merchandise wasnt hitting either.

but those superstation ratings were always up. two different things. i dont know where to find "receipts" for that but nitro winning at the very beginning of the monday night war tells it all. that was before the nwo as well.

edit: i remember their house shows didnt draw well here cuz they used to run in the civic center, and that chit was smack-dab in west philly. i dont know the venue locations for every city, but i noticed that the crowds were always half or mostly black. when nitro blew up, they started running in the same building as the wwf.

TNA is another one. they run at the liacouras center. north philly, altho it helps that its on temple's campus.

 

[DANJ!]

that was their problem. they couldnt draw house shows and such. their merchandise wasnt hitting either.

but those superstation ratings were always up. two different things.

that was their problem. they couldnt draw house shows and such. their merchandise wasnt hitting either.

but those superstation ratings were always up. two different things. i dont know where to find "receipts" for that but nitro winning at the very beginning of the monday night war tells it all. that was before the nwo as well.

edit: i remember their house shows didnt draw well here cuz they used to run in the civic center, and that chit was smack-dab in west philly. when nitro blew up, they started running in the same building as the wwf.

I'm not saying they NEVER drew higher ratings, but consistently? Nah. That didn't happen until Nitro took off.

 

[DANJ!]

Far as the split... nah, doesn't need to happen.

I like the idea of having a nicely stacked roster rather than two, because I remember how dry Raw & Smackdown started to be around the mid-00s, and then how lopsided it eventually became, and how a lot of mediocre MFs started gettin' TV time. It made sense in 2002 when they did it, not so much by '07 or so. Current roster is cool, but it doesn't call for a split.

 

[TBdaGhost]

They already repeat matches way too much. If they cut the roster in half we'd be on Owens vs. Ziggler 45 by now

 

[DANJ!]

They already repeat matches way too much. If they cut the roster in half we'd be on Owens vs. Ziggler 45 by now

This is what I remember too... same damn match every week... I don't know how many times they did Matt Hardy vs Greg Helms or Lashley vs Finlay on Smackdown back in like '06, but I remember it was waaaay too many fukkin' times.

But if y'all wanna quadruple your chances of Swagger vs Rusev, OK.

 

[BiggWebb79]

The brand split gave the chance for Eddie Guerrero, Edge, CM Punk, and many others to shine and get the spotlight that they deserve. I'm all for it. However they shouldn't add more belts. Just have the World Champion show up on both shows.

Have The US Title be the main belt on smackdown and bring back the cruiserweight title for only Smackdown. Brand Split could also cut down on injuries.

 

[Bryan Danielson]

It would shake up things in the beggining. But then we all realize its lesser star power will split brands and also what if the best guys get injured? shyt would be screwed.

I like the idea of wwe n nxt better than three.

No... its forces the FO to make and build new stars, it gives certain guys more screen time and opportunity they will never have with a full roster (think about the guys that NEVER make it to PPV's.... these same guys that cats in here be on some "well its better they sit backstage and do nothing than main event or being in weekly feuds in TNA/etc" shyt).

One roster when its a big roster is just wasteful talent and wasteful spending, its like Vince and co are paying so many people to just not be in other feds and to be fed and buried for the sake of it instead of doing anything real with them

The Brand split and splitting ppvs is perfect for the E

 

[Bryan Danielson]

They already repeat matches way too much. If they cut the roster in half we'd be on Owens vs. Ziggler 45 by now

This is what I remember too... same damn match every week... I don't know how many times they did Matt Hardy vs Greg Helms or Lashley vs Finlay on Smackdown back in like '06, but I remember it was waaaay too many fukkin' times.

But if y'all wanna quadruple your chances of Swagger vs Rusev, OK.

The only real reason the repeat matches suck is because low key the whole "WWE Style" is bland and suck. Cats who have repeat matches pretty much wrestle the same match in the exact same sequence and phone it in

Been watching that LU and they have a smaller roster, some cats had repeated matches (2 cats had 5 in just as many weeks) and each time it felt like a new match. Cats was actually able to have the opportunity to go out unrestricted and have a great match, vs a spot fest of signature moves and camera poses (people love to call other matches in other feds "spotfest" but act like the E dont have their own version of it when the WWE style is based on a 5 Moves of Doom theory).

If Owens vs Ziggler cant be creative and make all 45 matches interesting and different..... thats their own fault talent wise

 

[El Poyo Loco]

You guys aren't gonna watch smack down anyway so all it would do would give you all another chance to complain about someone you're a fan of being "buried in smackdown".

Raw will always be the A show, so a brand split creates a virtual minor league....

This.

Once Heyman left Smackdown this is exactly what happened. If anyone started to get over on Smackdown they where sent to RAW if anyone on RAW needed to be punished send them down to Smackdown. When you added injuries and suspensions Smackdown got raided. Basically Smackdown as Heyman would say was the B as in bytch Show it was the minor league to RAW.

 

[RammerJammer]

SmackDown was main eventing PPVs up to 2009 They really started to dishonor the brand split though that year. Anyway, if they did have a strict bland split, that would give me a reason to watch SmackDown because that would be the only show where I could see an Styles or Cesaro etc.

 

[Wacky D]

I'm not saying they NEVER drew higher ratings, but consistently? Nah. That didn't happen until Nitro took off.

yea they were drawing higher ratings on weekly shows for years(i wouldnt be surprised if it was decades actually). they just werent making the money & moves that the wwf was until bischoff got promoted. for what its worth, its not like they were going head-up in the same timeslots like that.

again, nitro didnt have to 'take off'. it won the very first monday ratings war for a reason breh. it really wasnt the big deal that its made out to be in hindsight. hell, they barely even mention how nitro was winning out the gate when the wars jumped off. they got the general public thinking that they didnt win anything until the NWO,

You guys aren't gonna watch smack down anyway so all it would do would give you all another chance to complain about someone you're a fan of being "buried in smackdown".

Raw will always be the A show, so a brand split creates a virtual minor league....

now that theyre on the same station, smackdown doesnt actually have to be the B show if they dont want it to be.

theres really no excuse, unless they want it to be that way.

This.

Once Heyman left Smackdown this is exactly what happened. If anyone started to get over on Smackdown they where sent to RAW if anyone on RAW needed to be punished send them down to Smackdown. When you added injuries and suspensions Smackdown got raided. Basically Smackdown as Heyman would say was the B as in bytch Show it was the minor league to RAW.

yea kurt angle used to complain about that too.

haha @ heyman. i like that "B as in Bytch".

 

[DANJ!]

So... @Wacky D we gonna rewrite history now and suggest that NWA/WCW was always more popular and more watched than the WWF, even during the boom in the 80s? Wacky Wacky... I got a bridge I can sell you if you believe that. If that was the case, NWA/WCW would have been making more money as well, and wouldn't have been getting repeatedly pulled out of the hole by Ted Turner. Of course, ratings and revenue don't go hand-in-hand all the time, but they gotta connect at some point, breh. If NWA/WCW was doing just fine and doing better than WWF, it would've translated across the board somehow.

BTW, Nitro ran unopposed the first night it aired.

And yes, it took off from the get-go. And the reason it took off is because they presented a great show, and one that aired at a better timeslot than the one their original A-show aired on. They threw themselves into direct competition with a better program. Saturday Night was doing good numbers, but Ted wanted to do better, which is why they aired Nitro opposite of Raw in the first place.

 

[Cartier Murphy]

They sabotaged SD every chance they got anyway.

 

[Wacky D]

So... @Wacky D we gonna rewrite history now and suggest that NWA/WCW was always more popular and more watched than the WWF, even during the boom in the 80s? Wacky Wacky... I got a bridge I can sell you if you believe that. If that was the case, NWA/WCW would have been making more money as well, and wouldn't have been getting repeatedly pulled out of the hole by Ted Turner. Of course, ratings and revenue don't go hand-in-hand all the time, but they gotta connect at some point, breh. If NWA/WCW was doing just fine and doing better than WWF, it would've translated across the board somehow.

BTW, Nitro ran unopposed the first night it aired.

And yes, it took off from the get-go. And the reason it took off is because they presented a great show, and one that aired at a better timeslot than the one their original A-show aired on. They threw themselves into direct competition with a better program. Saturday Night was doing good numbers, but Ted wanted to do better, which is why they aired Nitro opposite of Raw in the first place.

not rewriting history at all. whats funny is, youre arguing with me based on speculation.

more watched doesnt neccessarily mean more popular. the wcw had a much more serious/loyal fanbase. alot of that same fanbase from black saturday too. im sure you know about that.

i wasnt really speaking on the '80s. i said "probably" when i made that decades comment. youre doing that thing that you do again.

im not talking about the 1st night. i clearly said the first war. the first head-to-head.
nitro took off from the get-go because wcw was already established with casuals. as opposed to say a TNA, who has to go out there and risk killing themselves just to pop a 1.1 or some chit.