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Post by polarbearpete on Nov 18, 2021 11:53:52 GMT -5
But it circles back around to, if they had one title belt, would that make the writing suddenly better? It's a two pronged result, either it forces them to actually work more varied storytelling into their various shows, or things just stay equally stagnant. Looking at the recent history of this company, which way are we all leaning? Seems pretty obvious to me, but at the same time, the double belt crutch definitely doesn't help their creative vision; that is if they even have any left. But if you have one world title, there’s literally zero point to a brand split. The whole idea is the shows are essentially their own company, both in kayfabe and reality as the value of the shows to their TV partners is based around that. Remember what became of Smackdown the last time they didn’t have a brand split?
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Woo
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 5,312
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Post by Woo on Nov 18, 2021 14:01:32 GMT -5
Owned by the same company. "Ooh this guy's the best in the company, except for this guy who's also the best in the company". So dumb. The point of the two brands is that it’s essentially two different companies. You can watch just Raw and follow that show and its wrestlers or watch just Smackdown and follow that show and its wrestlers. Without two champions, the whole brand split makes no sense. I liked what they originally did in 2002 with the champion being on both brands defending against alternate challengers from Raw and SD and then joining the roster of the person who beat him.
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Post by polarbearpete on Nov 18, 2021 14:09:22 GMT -5
The point of the two brands is that it’s essentially two different companies. You can watch just Raw and follow that show and its wrestlers or watch just Smackdown and follow that show and its wrestlers. Without two champions, the whole brand split makes no sense. I liked what they originally did in 2002 with the champion being on both brands defending against alternate challengers from Raw and SD and then joining the roster of the person who beat him. Yeah that lasted for 5 months. It made the show feel empty when the champ wasn’t feuding on your show that month, similar to how people were upset when Brock would win the title in recent years and then leave for months.
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Post by Final Countdown Jones on Nov 18, 2021 14:22:52 GMT -5
Owned by the same company. "Ooh this guy's the best in the company, except for this guy who's also the best in the company". So dumb. The point of the two brands is that it’s essentially two different companies. You can watch just Raw and follow that show and its wrestlers or watch just Smackdown and follow that show and its wrestlers. Without two champions, the whole brand split makes no sense. I don't know if different 'companies' is the right word, but I do think you're on the right track. I feel like "leagues" might be the better way to describe it? Partly because it has its parallels in major American sports; MLB is split up into two leagues, hockey and basketball both have their divisions split up over more geographic sensibilities, football probably does something I guess but I know less than nothing about football. When you're champion on one show, that's you being the best in that league, which has its own payroll and management. Players move between the two leagues in trades, and sometimes someone gets a new lease for getting into that new league and starting up on something different and powerful. Winning your league/division's playoffs is a big deal and often there are separate evaluations for certain awards so that players from the different leagues can both be recognized. There's a lot of execution points where WWE kinda falters, not just in interbrand stuff but in the repeated moments where they start crossing the brands together for ratings grabs like they did with the Superstar Shuffle or with Raw back in the early '10s, but the bare reality of having two brands with separate titles isn't one of them. It's dead-on to say that the brand split would make no sense without the split title model.
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Woo
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 5,312
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Post by Woo on Nov 18, 2021 15:10:20 GMT -5
I liked what they originally did in 2002 with the champion being on both brands defending against alternate challengers from Raw and SD and then joining the roster of the person who beat him. Yeah that lasted for 5 months. It made the show feel empty when the champ wasn’t feuding on your show that month, similar to how people were upset when Brock would win the title in recent years and then leave for months. Did it? I recall Undertaker feuding with Hogan on SD whilst making Jeff Hardy look like a megastar on Raw
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Post by noobeast on Nov 18, 2021 16:43:45 GMT -5
I'll do it.
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Venti
Unicron
Posts: 3,002
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Post by Venti on Nov 18, 2021 17:11:29 GMT -5
I just realized that I'd love to see someone like Dolph Ziggler suddenly snap and act like it's 2012 again, and bring back the Big Gold belt and proclaim himself the real World Heavyweight Champion. And have him just beat up jobbers in his title "defences"
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