Maybe it's time for another one of these threads

[Favre4Ever]

Currently there are 57 total active male wrestlers on the combined rosters of Smackdown and RAW. That's not counting a plethora of shitty divas, which there are almost 20 of.

In the year 2000, there were between 50-60 active male wrestlers on the roster and a much smaller women's division. Also not included in those numbers are supporting characters like Mcmahon's henchmen Brisco and Patterson and announcers.

Obviously in 2000, the rosters weren't separated save for wrestlers resigned to Heat for eternity. Also in 2000 the tag division was much larger and more legitimate, and makes up a sizable chunk of the 50-60 man roster.

Based on the current rosters and the direction of current feuds/storylines, would you support combining the two rosters again and have everyone appear on both shows?

[El Fangel]

"Brands" never ever made sense to me at all.

[PhallenAinjewl]

I'm gonna have to say yes, that would be a good idea. It opens up ALOT more storyline options, they could mix and match and create more depth for any of the belts, including the tag-team division, and it gives people that can't watch SD! due to cable/satellite blackouts a chance to see wrestlers that don't normally appear on Raw. Of course there would be some downsides, which I'm sure someone will point out...

[XCaliber]

Yes the only reasons they did it in the first place was to boost their revenue by having two tours at once and give the sense that there was some sense of competition.

[Mooияakeя™]

Wouldn't hurt them to trim the roster down and get rid of the shit, that'd be a good by-product of merging.

[Favre4Ever]

You have to believe that it would improve the quality of the product tremendously. I also think it would be much more entertaining from a storyline standpoint as the conflicts would just write themselves. It even works when it comes to competition, as mid level belts like the Intercontinental and US Titles actually mean something to the rack of guys who wouldn't be main eventing for months.

Main Eventers(WWE Title/World Heavyweight Championship):

Triple H, Sheamus, Orton, Cena, Edge, Jericho, Big Show, The Undertaker, Kane, CM Punk, Mysterio

Mid-Level(IC/US Titles):

The Miz, Christian, Morrison, McIntyre, R-Truth, MVP, Gallows, Cawdy, Dibiase, Bourne, Kozlov, Kingston, Ziggler, Swagger, Matt Hardy, Ryder

You could easily make a stacked tag division with left over guys and guys in the mid level who aren't currently competing for the belt(s). You could also cut some deadweight from the programs. Do we have to see Santino/Kovlov vs. Regal/Jobber in a non-funny squash match every week?

It would also be easy to bring guys into main event programs from the mid level because of the abundance of talent, as well as have guys in the main event scene competing for the now legitimate US/IC Title. And that would be my last point, Title Unifications.

Look I know this has all already been done, I'm just brainstorming.

[Favre4Ever]

I wasn't too sure how to inject Nexus in there at the moment.

[jskinnyg]

I don't like the "Brands" theme but I really like that they are 2 totally different shows...

[Favre4Ever]

I think that was a valid point when they were both sort of in "competition" with each other back when the concept was first launched. They've stayed with it for about eight years now so you have to give them some kind of credit, but Smackdown! is less than a non-factor now.

[Kane Knight]

MERGE THE ROSTERS!
TURN THAT GUY HEEL!
PUSH SOMEONE WHO DRAWS AS WELL AS A BOX OF ROCKS!

The threefold smark solution.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Don't get me wrong, I'd enjoy it, but you'd have to probably unify the world titles, and to ensure both brands showed some small semblance of being unique, once again make it so only the undisputed champion (and the unified tag champs) would be able to go to both shows.

Also, they'd have to come up with some sort of huge storyline possibly, explaining that WWE as a company is doing away with the brand split of 8 1/2 years ago. Seems worth it, just tough to pull off (IMHO).

[MoFo]

MERGE THE ROSTERS!
TURN THAT GUY HEEL!
PUSH SOMEONE WHO DRAWS AS WELL AS A BOX OF ROCKS!

The threefold smark solution.




you forgot 'FIRE RUSSO'

and 'end guest hosts'

[Mooияakeя™]

I wasn't too sure how to inject Nexus in there at the moment.

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/11/wadescopy.jpg

Meh, I'm not such a wiz with Photochop.

[dhellova guy]

No. Mid carder can get more face time with seperate brands. If they are combined, all we'll ever see are the top guys.

I think they should go back to seperate PPV's honestly.

[DAMN iNATOR]

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3339/wades.jpg

Meh, I'm not such a wiz with Photochop.

Not too bad really. The only thing I could possibly suggest to make it better would be if you had put Barrett's name on the nameplate. Other than that it looks pretty decent.

[PhallenAinjewl]

Like I said, someone would point out the bad side, lol

[Favre4Ever]

My response to the "mid-carders would get less facetime" argument is that the undercard in a combined roster scenario would be much different than it was ten years ago. With no Light-heavyweight/Hardcore championship for jobbers to squabble over, much more time would be allocated for mid-card feuds and the tag division.

[Juan]

MERGE THE ROSTERS!
TURN THAT GUY HEEL!
PUSH SOMEONE WHO DRAWS AS WELL AS A BOX OF ROCKS!

The threefold smark solution.

You've really been laying on the whole smark/IWC thing pretty thick lately.

[Mooияakeя™]

Not too bad really. The only thing I could possibly suggest to make it better would be if you had put Barrett's name on the nameplate. Other than that it looks pretty decent.

FIXED?

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/11/wadescopy.jpg

[blak23]

the brands are a good thing. merging them again would result in a loss of some major talent a lot of guys wouldn't get the time they need to shine. the brand split is the reason alot of guys got their chance

[Schlomey]

I am a fan of WWE going back to splitting up their PPV's and only really coming together for the big 4.

Why?

Because it gives more time to build emotional storylines...Thus after some time should HELP the bottom line (buy rate) --- could be wrong and it could also make buy rates even worse because there are fewer matches/ top names on the card.




just my personal opinion that I would sacrifice top names for the sake of better storytelling.

[blak23]

imo it was laziness of the writers that forced themto merge ppvs

[Schlomey]

Laziness perhaps. Buy Rates perhaps. Too much time between blow off matches did make some feuds boring.

It is not a perfect system any way you look at it.

But like I said if the writers work hard and find ways of keeping storylines interesting it can lead to mega pay offs.


Another benefit is better TV feuds. Not every feud gets a PPV match and this way we might get better quality TV matches and feuds with more time.

[Droford]

I thought Id be the only one that would be in favor of keeping them split. If you asked this a couple years ago I would have gone the other way but I think that everything is fine as is for right now.

[Schlomey]

I agree that the roster split is working I was more saying that as far as PPV's go it might help buy rates and interest if the build is longer and better for each show.

[parkmania]

Another thing that probably helped with the merging of the PPVs was some of the boys (HHH, HBK, and others) complaining that they didn't get as many paydays.

I have nothing to back this assumption other than I know that guys get paid extra for PPV appearances.

[Schlomey]

good point park.

[Snowden]

Think about RAW now...pretty crowded, what with Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Edge, Jericho, the Nexus, Evan Bourne, and the Miz running around. Now add HHH...pretty stacked show for only two hours.

Where do you then put Undertaker Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and the society, Big Show, Kane, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre, Christian, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, etc? Say what you will about the brand split, but the reason that the WWE can make so many younger guys relevant so quickly is that they can get airtime due to the brand split. With the split, the WWE was forced to build a multitude of main eventers, more than is feasible to place solely on one show. To combine the rosters would squeeze out a lot of the midcard talent, and make pushing somebody new very hard...

Yes, there was roughly the same amount of talent back in 2000, but most of that talent was in the midcard that didn't need to be showcased every episode...you have guys now whose profile is too high to just leave them off TV.

[DAMN iNATOR]

FIXED?

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/11/wadescopy.jpg

LOL, didn't expect ya to take me literally but still looks very nicely done.

[BollywoodSingh]

I'm surprised the roster split has lasted this long - more than 8 years! I thought it would be abandoned within 6 months of first starting.

I would prefer a combined roster, but a lot of wrestlers will lose their jobs.