Do you think this would make WWE a little more interesting?

[Kane Knight]

There's all this talk about Smackdown being the "minor leagues," but why not have a free agent pool/minor league on TV?

Sorta Heat/Velocity, but with no actual brand affiliation. It'd be a good place to break in and introduce newcomers, and you can tie in both brands by having them vie for the next stars (while still keeping their identity largely disctinct, because there's another on-air place to get talent from).

Plus, when you have talent issues (It looked like Smackdown might lose a lot of talent around WM XX), you can always "recruit" these guys, and they'll already be semi-established (albeit, not in the big leagues).

I'd rather see something like this done than trying to cash in on ECW or something.

Don't mind the flaws in the analogies, I was just trying to keep it somewhat close to the current catchphrase. ;)

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think it would be interesting to have Heat and or Velocity as sort of OVW on WWE. Like have a main event featuring WWE stars, but have it used to sort of introduce characters to the idea of the brands.

Maybe they could have a angle on OVW where superstars are drafted into either AW or SmackDown! future superstars. Then have a few go up to Heat/Velocity, etc.

[Shaggy]

That would be pretty interesting for them to do that. I actually dont think that its a bad idea. It would be nice to have them do that so then they can just recruit from the lower area. Sorta like when a superstar is injured and they are out. Just bring someone up for a while and try them out. If the suck then when the injured superstar returns then that one can just go back to the lower league.

[Kane Knight]

Yeah, it'd be a very good use of heat and Velocity.

[DS]

I remember when Heat first went on the air and for quite a while it was quite a good show but then it just bombed after a while and hasn't picked up. The reason I say that first is it would be one of the main problems as not many people watch but if they could get good enough storylines and wrestlers on the programs and a little more plugging from Raw and SD it could propbably really take off.

Watching Heat and Velocity now, it just seems like they put little to no time into the storylines and if they actually put some work into it and made it like a smaller viewed Raw or SD then I bet they could get a nice ratings jump and be able to work the brands in together pretty well. Good idea to say the least.

[Kane Knight]

They rarely even bother with storylines on Heat and Velocity. They're an afterthought these days, useful only to provide a 600th recap of Raw/Smackdown and...Oh yeah, have a couple of "wrestlers."

[DS]

Thing is, what is the point of making Heat and Velocity practically a recap show when you already have a recap show for both brands? Why does anyone need 2 shows to recap 1 show? They really need to do something with Heat and Velocity and soon. Coming out of a big draft would really be a nice time to set up something to the liking of what you said.

[Rock Bottom]

I think it'd be neat if the WWE were broken up into circuits rather than brands. Similar to KK's idea. But the problem with my idea is that the cards would be imbalanced. So screw that. But yeah, that is a cool idea KK, would be neat for it to happen... Or at least something new with those wastes of TV slots.

[Rob]

It is practically already like that though. If you start calling one show the minor league show then people won't watch.

[PureHatred]

They could always just show one match a week from OVW's taped shows as a way to push the incoming talent. But I tend to agree with Rob; calling a show the "minor leagues" is going to give the impression you'd be watching second rate shows.

If they really want to push the younger guys, instead of having "Johnny Spade" just show up on TV, they could've made a big deal out of "promoting" him from OVW, had the GM's bid on him, and then the winning show would have to surrender another wrestler to the opposing brand as compensation (sort of a "player to be named later").
This gives the impression that a GM was willing to give up talent to get a hot young prospect.

[Rob]

WWE doesn't own OVW so they can't give them air time.

[tucsonspeed6]

The greatest thing in the world about watching Heat is when the commentators don't actually talk about the match that they're watching, and opt to talk about last week's Raw. Of course, when I say that it's great, I mean that it sucks.

[Funky Fly]

It would be greatness. It would give the "you're fired" angles some new direction.

[KingofOldSchool]

The only people who would watch would be the hardcore fans. That is if they actually remember when it's on...

[The CyNick]

Its an interesting idea to have the Heat/Velocity guys act like they are free agents.

Two problems that come to mind:

1. How do you structure the show aside from the matches? Is Heat still a recap for RAW and Velocity for SD, or do they recap both or neither or what? That would have to be addressed.

2. If the guys on the B shows dont have brand affiliation that means you cant rotate guys between say RAW and Heat/SD and Velocity. So that would mean every guy on RAW or SD would only have one show to work, and if they weren't on the big show they wouldn't be seen for the week.

Like I said its interesting, but I would think people would turn off the shows because now they would have literally no bearing on the main shows. It might make the B shows more entertaining as stand alone shows, but I dont think it would help their numbers.

[Jacko]

Nothing will ever touch Shotgun 'Saturday Night' though :)