The NFL is currently taking over Chicago for their annual draft. This gets me thinking – will the NFL Draft not be the only draft that we see in the near future?
Speculation has been running wild for months that WWE has toyed with the idea have bringing back the brand split and giving Raw and SmackDown separate rosters. With the growth of NXT over the last couple of years, the roster has been deeper than it has been in years.
With Monday’s announcement that Mr. McMahon will decide who controls Raw, the “unexpected” twist is obvious. It’s pretty easy to see Vince giving control of one show to one kid and the other show to the other.
As most of you remember, this would not be the first time the roster was split. Shortly after Vince bought out WCW, WWF created its own competition by separating Raw and SmackDown – different rosters, different writers, different everything. On camera co-owners Mr. McMahon and Ric Flair were given control of each show and drafted their rosters on a memorable episode of Raw in 2002.
The idea worked for years. Both Raw and SmackDown were on the same level and each show had its own feel to it. As the brand split winded down though, it was clear to see that WWE had shifted its resources to Raw and made SmackDown nothing more than “the other show”.
With this young deep roster we have now, it would be a while before WWE couldn’t sustain two solid shows (if it happens at all). This will also be a way to ensure that more young talent will get that chance to shine on national television.
One request I would make would involve the World Title…make it seem like a real World Title!
When the 2002 brand split took place, the Undisputed WWE Champion would be on both shows until Brock Lesnar decided he would only be on SmackDown. This led to Raw General Manager re-introducing the World Heavyweight Championship on Raw and we had two champions.
Back in the days of the NWA, the World Champion would go from territory to territory defending the world title against the top contenders all over the world. The WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the Woman’s Championship should be used this way as well (maybe even the tag titles as well). The Intercontinental Championship and the US Championship can be used as the top title on each show but the WWE World Heavyweight Championship can be held by anyone. Whoever beats the champion, the former champion will then be placed on the new champion’s show. (i.e. if the brand split was going on now and AJ Styles was on the Raw roster, Roman Reigns would be on the Raw roster if Styles wins the title at Payback).
This could just be all speculation, but if it is going to happen, it’s going to happen on Sunday! I have said before that we are in a new era, we just may not know how new it is going to be!
WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF THE BRAND SPLIT? WHO WOULD YOU HAVE ON EACH ROSTER? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
