How many times have they done this Raw vs. Smackdown feud?

[agent817]

I know a thread like this has been done, but I am curious as to how often this has been a thing. I've been on and off throughout the years. A friend had told me that the feud happened in 2018 as well. I know that Survivor Series 2005 was the first to have this feud happen, despite how before there were "interpromotional matches" before. I even remember this type of angle happening for the Bragging Rights shows, and even thinking of that shows why that PPV didn't have much of a shelf life.

I could give a pass to last year's angle because I really enjoyed NXT being added to the mix. Plus, NXT wrestlers being featured on Raw and Smackdown, as well as the Survivor Series card made for some good matches. But really, this whole "brand pride" thing doesn't really work, especially fresh off the draft. I did enjoy the storyline going into Survivor Series 2005, but really, after this long I don't see why anybody should care. It even felt that way going into Bragging Rights 2010. It didn't help that during that time the brand split was nonexistent with some Raw or Smackdown wrestlers appearing on the other show.

So how many times has this been done? I would have preferred it if they had gone with the old style of 5-on-5 matches with people from their respective brand taking part in that match, not people from the opposing shows.

[Chiral]

This'll be the eighth by my count:
2005 - Survivor Series
2009 - Bragging Rights
2010 - Bragging Rights
2016 - Survivor Series
2017 - Survivor Series
2018 - Survivor Series
2019 - Survivor Series
2020 - Survivor Series

[fw91]

It’s only unbearable when the shows go under siege

[GuyOfOwnage]

It's always amusing how everyone is in their own programs and doing their own thing, and then November rolls around and they're suddenly like "I BLEED RED/BLUE! BE VANQUISHED, OTHER BRAND I HAVE NO REASON TO HATE!"

[Sephiroth]

As I’ve said before, if they were serious about the brand split then the pay per views should be divided; RAW and Smackdown get four a piece, and with four that cross the two over. Further, WM and Summerslam should be cross-brand, while the Rumbme and Survivir Series should also feature NXT vs main roster.

[Perd]

Why does the audience care about brand superiority? We know it’s all WWE. Now, I all probably think that one show is more entertaining than the other. But it’s not like it’s a “F RAW! SMACKDOWN TIL I DIE!” type thing. It’s a month long build to something that doesn’t matter and will be forgotten about, the second it’s over.

[agent817]

Nov 10, 2020 21:15:46 GMT -5 GuyOfOwnage said:

It's always amusing how everyone is in their own programs and doing their own thing, and then November rolls around and they're suddenly like "I BLEED RED/BLUE! BE VANQUISHED, OTHER BRAND I HAVE NO REASON TO HATE!"

Or in last year's case, yellow.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Are they even really feuding this year? It's mostly them just announcing matches and having the existing RAW and SmackDown feuds continue uninterrupted.

[Mozenrath]

Nov 10, 2020 21:24:48 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

As I’ve said before, if they were serious about the brand split then the pay per views should be divided; RAW and Smackdown get four a piece, and with four that cross the two over. Further, WM and Summerslam should be cross-brand, while the Rumbme and Survivir Series should also feature NXT vs main roster.

They tried this in the past and the PPV buy rates got ugly, which is a shame considering it did give some feuds room to breathe. It'd also lead to a lot of "we put zero effort in, uhh, have some filler" matches since WWE still wouldn't use its time effectively.

[Pooh Carlson]

It wouldn't be quite as dumb if they didn't do a draft every year and didn't JUST do the draft at that.

[A Platypus Rave]

Nov 10, 2020 22:13:20 GMT -5 Pooh Carlson said:

It wouldn't be quite as dumb if they didn't do a draft every year and didn't JUST do the draft at that.

yeah... the Draft was literally RIGHT before they started doing the RAW vs. Smackdown stuff...

and then they had the New Day talking about being Raw superstars vs. The Street Profits... and it's like you guys literally just handed each other the titles from the other show...

[legendkiller1985]

Echoing a lot of the sentiments here, if Brand Supremacy is at stake....make the show have some stakes like the winning brand gets the first draft pick if the draft is done later in the year at the end of November/December or the winning brand main events TLC or gets the #30 pick in the royal Rumble and the losing brand gets the #1 rumble pick. Make the actions at this PPV mean something. If WrestleMania is your Super Bowl and the Rumble is like the playoffs, make this the equal to the MLB all star game or something.

[legendkiller1985]

Nov 10, 2020 22:13:20 GMT -5 Pooh Carlson said:

It wouldn't be quite as dumb if they didn't do a draft every year and didn't JUST do the draft at that.

Piggybacking my earlier post, have the draft be the night after Survivor Series or at the latest the last RAW and SmackDowns of the year. If you wait until the last shows, It gives your New Year booking some refreshing or a little unpredictability. If you have the audience on break, you make those shows matter and maybe if it's good, get people excited for the Rumble

[A Platypus Rave]

Nov 10, 2020 23:32:39 GMT -5 legendkiller1985 said:

Echoing a lot of the sentiments here, if Brand Supremacy is at stake....make the show have some stakes like the winning brand gets the first draft pick if the draft is done later in the year at the end of November/December or the winning brand main events TLC or gets the #30 pick in the royal Rumble and the losing brand gets the #1 rumble pick. Make the actions at this PPV mean something. If WrestleMania is your Super Bowl and the Rumble is like the playoffs, make this the equal to the MLB all star game or something.

Even a bullshit kayfabe cash bonus would be better than literally nothing.

It’s like Raw underground give people even a small incentive to care about things and they will.

Just putting it out there saying you should care about this and having no answer for “why?” Doesn’t work.

[Joker]

I don't know and I don't care. The brand feud is arguably the most pointless and dull thing they try to make fans care about.

They need to go back to 1990 and do cool team names and have a Grand Finale Match of Survival. That is the best way of making survivor series special.

[Feargus McReddit]

It’s sort of amazing how long they’ve gone without including some kind of reward for the winning brand.

Like, not even a token year where they could have gone “See, sometimes there are stakes to these things!”. Last year NXT beat the two main roster shows pretty handily and gained absolutely nothing from it.

[Moppy]

Nov 11, 2020 7:17:12 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

It’s sort of amazing how long they’ve gone without including some kind of reward for the winning brand.

Like, not even a token year where they could have gone “See, sometimes there are stakes to these things!”. Last year NXT beat the two main roster shows pretty handily and gained absolutely nothing from it.

Very true, NXT gained absolutely nothing, but if I could give them the teeniest, tiniest, bit of credit, it did at least lead to Seth Rollins berating his roster on Raw and speeding up his heel turn. So at least I actually remember an occasion where one event logically led to another event.

Now, the year that Raw swept Smackdown and literally nothing came from it (except some hilarious Xavier Woods salt because they didn't really), now that shit, that is pure comedy incompetence.

[Feargus McReddit]

Nov 11, 2020 7:26:19 GMT -5 Moppy said:

Nov 11, 2020 7:17:12 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

It’s sort of amazing how long they’ve gone without including some kind of reward for the winning brand.

Like, not even a token year where they could have gone “See, sometimes there are stakes to these things!”. Last year NXT beat the two main roster shows pretty handily and gained absolutely nothing from it.

Very true, NXT gained absolutely nothing, but if I could give them the teeniest, tiniest, bit of credit, it did at least lead to Seth Rollins berating his roster on Raw and speeding up his heel turn. So at least I actually remember an occasion where one event logically led to another event.

That’s fair, that did happen and I’ll give them credit for something happening.

Now, the year that Raw swept Smackdown and literally nothing came from it (except some hilarious Xavier Woods salt because they didn't really), now that shit, that is pure comedy incompetence.

To this day, this is still one of the most hilarious things because considering how much control management has on stuff, for them not to even be able to do a clean sweep to the point of trying to retcon the first match and Smackdown’s only win (and hence further push the perception that WWE pre-shows mean diddly squat) is incompetence of a LOLTNA level.

[MrElijah]

This is what the RAW and/or Smackdown Wrestlers should do next show:

[A damn road sign]

Can honestly say the only time I’ve cared for it was the original one in 2005. Because you know, you had actual brand stalwarts on either side there that you felt their loyalty. I thought of RAW, you’re damn right I think of Shawn Michaels. Rey Mysterio? SmackDown, absolutely. What do I have to get invested about with a Keith Lee or a Sheamus fighting for ‘their brand’ when a fortnight ago they were on the other side? So silly.