Brand split redux

Big news hit yesterday for the land of WWE.  The brand split will be returning in July.  To read the official announcement from WWE.com click here.

Here's what we know: 

- The split will start on July 19th. 
- Smackdown will move from Thursday to Tuesday and be live.  That's right no more pre-tapped Smackdown's.  This means that there will be 5 hours of live TV each week.  Of course this will be on the USA network. 
- Stephanie will likely be in charge of one, while Shane gets the other. 
- Lastly each show will have it's own roster.  I assume there will be a draft a week or two before the split officially begins.

Here's what we don't know yet:

- How will this affect the title pictures?  My guess is that one show will get the Intercontinental title (likely Raw) while the other gets the US title (likely Smackdown).  But what about the world, tag and women's championships?  Will each show get their own?  Or will these titles appear on both shows?

Personally I think that these titles should be divided between the two shows.  I don't think the tag or women's divisions are large enough at this point to host two separate titles.  The world title is supposed to be the big one, so naturally there should be only one.  Not to mention potential logistic problems with separating the WWE and World Heavyweight belts again.  Because when you do that one title inevitably gets devalued.  Which was one of the problems with the original brand split in my opinion.  This can also be used to elevate the IC and US titles.  But that is a topic for another day.

- What does this mean for PPV's?  Will the PPV's be split up between Raw and Smackdown with the rosters coming together for the big 4(Survivor Series, Summer Slam, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania)?  Will there be two PPV's a month (on for each show) plus the occasional NXT takeover?  Or will all the PPV's host matches from each show?

Please don't add more PPV's.  There are already too many.  It hurts the story telling element of the product, giving less time to build stories, and let's face it they are already hurting in this department.  I think the best bet would be to split up the existing PPV's between the two shows, bringing the brands together for the big 4.  This would mean that the world, tag and women's champs would work most if not all the PPV's.  Maybe have a triple threat match as a special attraction on one shows PPV or the other.

How exclusive will the rosters be?  One of the problems with the original brand split was that towards the end the rosters merged back together making the split mean nothing.  So please keep the rosters exclusive.  If you want to have a big name like Lesnar, or the Rock when does a return to push a movie be a wild card that could show up on either fine.  But there can't be more then one or two of them for this to work.

Final thoughts:

I think the split has potential.  Last time around I don't think they really had enough big names to make it work.  But there are lots of quality wrestlers on the roster today who are getting lost in the shuffle.  This could be a chance for guys like Ziggler, Ryder, Breeze and Neville to shine somewhere if handled right.  But it could just as easily be a disaster.  For now I'm going to choose to be optimistic and hope that they'll do right by the fans and right by the talent.

So what are your thoughts, hopes and concerns about the brand split?  Is there anything I missed?  I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

The Reigns conundrum

So let's start this blog out by addressing the elephant in the room with the WWE.  The current champion Roman Reigns.

It's safe to say and honestly accepted as fact at this point that Roman has been groomed to be the next guy John Cena 2.0.  With a few notable acceptations the WWE has always had an uber babyface that the company is based around.  Bruno Sanmartino, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior.  Then the attitude era gave rise to the time of the anti-hero's Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, HHH, Shawn Micheals.  Followed by the Cena era and now they are trying to make it to Reigns era.

This isn't a good thing, it isn't a bad thing.  It is just a thing ... they do.  The problem is that the fans today aren't as willing to be spoon fed heroes as in past eras.  In fact more and more as time has gone on fans have been rejecting people "chosen" my management.

WWE creative seems to be genuinely flummoxed about why this is.  Or they just don't care, either way they are going full speed ahead letting Roman take the Reigns.  Well maybe that isn't a very good analogy, rather then being the driver.  Roman is more like the child who's father is letting him sit on his lap pretending to drive.  We have to remember that Roman is being told how to act, what to say and to a point, how to wrestle.  Even so Roman is constantly being booed out of the building.

But what does WWE expect.  Ever since the attitude era they have been conditioning the fans to think of the people in charge as being the bad guy.  Everyone the authority ever backed, the fans were supposed to boo.  After decades of these types of stories it has finally gotten to the point where the fans do it on instinct.  It is the one thing that has been constant in the WWE.  Corporate suits equals villains. 

Rather then choosing a guy and running with them come hell or high water, the WWE should be letting things happen more organically.  Yes have your plans, craft strong stories (please start crafting strong stories).  With Cena things happened organically, he was over with the crowd at one point.  With Danial Bryan the fans just fell in love with him and made the WWE change their plans.  If they want a champ the fans love that moves merch (and make no mistake it's all about merch these days).  They need to find people who connect with the fans and push them when they are hot.  They missed their chance with Roman, there was a short period right after the shield broke up that the fans loved him. 

Speaking of the Shield, let's talk about them for a minute.  Dean Ambrose went on to become the unhinged Denis the Menace of the WWE.  Seth Rollins went on to forge his own path as the Guy.  While he was booed.  It wasn't anti Rollins heat.  It was boo the heel heat, meaning he was doing his job perfectly.  Roman however never moved on from the shield.  Same shield music, until recently same shield entrance.  No character growth ... or much character to speak of in general for that matter.  While the others have gone on to do their own things and being able to get over on their own.  Roman can't seem to get over with a crowd if he isn't either teaming with Dean or fighting Rollins.  Which just goes to show how much being in the shield protected him.

When you are one of three it is easy to get away with being a heat vacuum who doesn't have a ton of personality.  This lack of personality isn't an unbeatable obstacle, look at Bret Hart.  Now I love Bret Hart, don't get me wrong.  But he was never a great talker.  But he was great in the ring ... well his punches weren't the best, however that's getting a little nitpicky.  Bret however was never given the obnoxious dialog Roman was during a pivotal time in his career.  "Sniveling pile of suffering succotash son" I'm looking at you.  In that creative really dropped the ball with him.  Even without the poor writing, Roman seems to have trouble sounding natural on the mic.  It's unlikely his mouth was ever going to get him over with a crowd.

Let's be honest to be a top guy you have to be able to make people love you like Dean Ambrose, hate you like Seth Rollins or fear you like Brock Lesner.  Roman hasn't been able to make people love him.  He hasn't done much to make people fear him.  But he has managed to get people to hate him, be it intentional or not.  To the point where people chant "You still suck."  They are that determined to boo him that they wont cheer when he does something awesome.

So if he isn't that great on the mic, maybe he's great in the ring.  I mean there has to be a reason he's the top guy right?  Well he isn't terrible in the ring.  But he isn't anything special either.  His big matches are all the same.  He takes tons of damage, then hits one big spear and it's over.  All this manages to do is make all of his opponents weak.  Take his last two PPV matches with AJ Styles for instance.  They fallowed this formula and all it did was make AJ (who really is phenomenal that isn't just a catch phrase) weak.  He beat on Roman, through everything at him, two styles clashes (one on a chair in the last match) and all it took to beat him was on spear.  So in other words AJ's offense must not hurt too much.  It's basically a Hulk Hogan match with a superman punch and spear rather then a big boot and leg drop.

The trick to wrestling is to make both champion and challenger look strong.  Roman hasn't been able to do that with any regularity.  Bret Hart told stories in the ring, Dean Ambrose tells stories in the ring, Seth Rollins tells stories.  Roman hasn't been able to do that yet, at least not in the roll he's been given.

Is it hopeless for Roman?  No, I don't think so.  But if you want him to actually draw anyone in he will need a repackaging.  If it was up to me here is how I would do it.  The fans want to boo him, so give them a reason too.  I'd turn him heel.  The whole program with AJ would have been the perfect opportunity.  I wouldn't let him talk.  Maybe he gets a manager to talk for him like Paul E does for Brock.  Roman would show up destroy someone and leave.  I would make the man a monster heel.  Something for the hero to overcome.  Make him a mountain to climb.  Make him an ass kicker who's destroys the babyfaces.  Make him brutal.  They showed glimpses of this with his feud with HHH.

If they can do that I think it would get him over.  Then if down the line you want to have a redemption story for him, great.  But sometimes the fans need to hate you, before they can love you. 

My final thoughts on Reigns.  He's not a good wrestler, he's not a bad wrestler.  He's just another wrestler.

Why I'm here.

Hello,

I'm starting this blog because I'm a fan of wrestling.  I have been since I started watching with my Dad in the mid to late 80's.  Having been a fan for so long I have a variety of opinions about the current and past product.  My goal is for this blog to be a place I can post my thoughts, ideas, criticisms and praise for any and everything surrounding this unique medium of entertainment.  I welcome comments and discussion on my posts.