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Post by MysteryPartner on Feb 15, 2007 14:01:10 GMT -5
I'm sure this has been brought up a million times sorry, But I missed the whole thing. When did the brand split "officially" happen and how did Teddy Long get brought into the whole picture?
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Post by Richard on Feb 15, 2007 14:21:03 GMT -5
Brand Split was made official the RAW after Wrestlemania 18. They announced that the next week on RAW due to McMahon and Flair (who were 50/50 owners of the WWE) not being able to work together, that WWE would be split into to brands. RAW led by Flair and Smackdown!, led by Vince.
Two weeks after WMX8, the held the first Draft Lottery. Each owner had 10 picks and, the rest would be decided by a random choosing after RAW went off the air. The Undisputed Champ and Women's Champ would float between shows. The other champs would become brand exclusive. The current tag team champs Billy and Chuck would count as one pick. The only two who could not be chosen on were Jericho and Triple H who were wrestling that night on RAW for the Undisputed Title, they would put in the random draft are the show was over.
Later after McMahon got sole ownership of WWE, he put General Managers in charge of both RAW and Smackdown!. Bischoff on RAW and Steph on Smackdown!.
Steph was fired and replaced by Heyman. Heyman quit WWE when drafted to RAW and as replaced by Kurt Angle. Angle (who was recovering from neck surgery) was removed from the GM role for abuse of power, lying on insurance forms and not acting in the interest of the fans. McMahon then hired Teddy Long because he felt Teddy would do what was best for the fans.
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Post by The Boss on Feb 15, 2007 14:48:30 GMT -5
To this day I'm still amazed that Smackdown hasn't been renamed WCW. Especially since the WCW/WHC World title and U.S. title are defended there already. It would make much more sense then having two WWFs.
What makes this even more amazing is the fact that Vince McMahon has always been one to take advantage of marketing possibilities. He owns WCW and it's entire library. He could make much more money on it if they released the WCW events in full rather than just an occasional match on a WWF DVD. And of coarse renaming Smackdown would keep the name of WCW fresh so that he could forever take advantage of it's history.
Very unlike McMahon to pass up such an opportunity.
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Brain Of F'n J
Hank Scorpio
Not that cool enough to have one of these....wait.
We Discodians must stick apart.
Posts: 6,890
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Post by Brain Of F'n J on Feb 15, 2007 15:28:33 GMT -5
That would mean making money on a product he didn't make. By only releasing WCW matches here and there, and always under the auspices of a wrestler's "early" days, he gets to keep the WCW brand looked at as the inferior product, put over his own promotion, AND make money all at once.
Jed Shaffer
~Vince ... acknowledging another promotion positively ... you're a stand-up comedian, right?
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Post by The Boss on Feb 15, 2007 15:36:14 GMT -5
That would mean making money on a product he didn't make. By only releasing WCW matches here and there, and always under the auspices of a wrestler's "early" days, he gets to keep the WCW brand looked at as the inferior product, put over his own promotion, AND make money all at once. But by just adding in an occasional WCW match on WWF DVDs, he's not making any money off of the WCW name. True he didn't create WCW. But he didn't create the WWF either. His father did. Jed Shaffer ~Vince ... acknowledging another promotion positively ... you're a stand-up comedian, right?[/quote] He owns it now. He uses the titles now. He should rename Smackdown "WCW". Not only to take advantage off of the WCW name, but also to get Smackdown looked at as more than the WWF's B-program which is how it is looked at right now. And that's a shame being it is currently the better product. |
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Brain Of F'n J
Hank Scorpio
Not that cool enough to have one of these....wait.
We Discodians must stick apart.
Posts: 6,890
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Post by Brain Of F'n J on Feb 15, 2007 15:54:50 GMT -5
Look at the Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes DVDs (and the upcoming Flair/Horsemen DVD). That's making money off the WCW/NWA name. Nobody's buying those for Flair vs. Triple H and Dusty vs. Corino. Ditto the Benoit and Pillman DVDs ... those would be NOTHING without the WCW footage. The people who buy those DVDs are buying them wanting classic stuff. If the Benoit DVD only had WWE footage, it would've sold slightly less copies then Toxic Avenger 4.
The reason WCW didn't launch under it's own name 6 years ago is because it was perceived as a dead, loser brand. Seriously, that's why TNN/Viacom balked at relaunching Nitro or anything with the WCW name on it. Like it or not, the initials WCW conjure up a sense of failure and disaster. Vince knows this. THAT'S why Smackdown won't get renamed.
Besides, renaming it WCW wouldn't change the perception of the show. Vince views it as the second tier. The name is irrelevant.
The WWF/E, as we know it, is FULLY a Vince creation. If it continued in the model Vince Sr. had it in, it would still be a regional promotion in New England. The WWE, as a global entity, is SOLELY Vince's doing.
Jed Shaffer
~Besides, look at the promotion he DID resurrect. Do you really want to go through that TWO nights of the week?
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Post by Bobafett on Feb 15, 2007 16:33:43 GMT -5
To this day I'm still amazed that Smackdown hasn't been renamed WCW. Especially since the WCW/WHC World title and U.S. title are defended there already. It would make much more sense then having two WWFs. What makes this even more amazing is the fact that Vince McMahon has always been one to take advantage of marketing possibilities. He owns WCW and it's entire library. He could make much more money on it if they released the WCW events in full rather than just an occasional match on a WWF DVD. And of coarse renaming Smackdown would keep the name of WCW fresh so that he could forever take advantage of it's history. Very unlike McMahon to pass up such an opportunity. I saod this too..its daft to have 2 wwe brands and "ECW" if it was wwe, wcw and ecw it would be better |
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Post by molson5 on Feb 15, 2007 17:07:38 GMT -5
That would mean making money on a product he didn't make. This whole line is incredibly overrated. Vince could care less whether a product or character was his. Hulk Hogan himself was already the hottest new wrestling star in America before Vince brought him back in '83. The truth is, Vince's vision of his product and his characters has been, historically way more profitable than everyone else's. That's why everyone else went out of business. Smackdown is a better brand name than WCW. A "new WCW" would be crapped on as much as the "new ECW", even if it were good. If the shows weren't booked like 1983 mid-south, old fans would complain, and if the shows weren't booked like 1998 WCW, the Goldberg/NWO fans would complain. He can't be anyone else, he can only be himself, and that has worked DAMN well for Vince in his career. |
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AriadosMan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Your friendly neighborhood superhero
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Post by AriadosMan on Feb 15, 2007 17:23:14 GMT -5
A "WCW" resurrection would just mean the return of the NWO for the 9 millionth time, and people would get sick of that in about 2 seconds.
Wrestling has way too many recycled storylines as it is.
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Post by Richard on Feb 15, 2007 17:26:49 GMT -5
Smackdown was an established brand when WCW was bought and the Brand Extension took place. There is no way that you could have convinced UPN/CBS/Viacom to rename one of their highest rated shows after a business failure. This is even more so today.
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AriadosMan
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Your friendly neighborhood superhero
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Post by AriadosMan on Feb 15, 2007 17:46:48 GMT -5
especially since Time-Warner (the people who cancelled WCW) own a stake in UPN's successor and Smackdown's current airer, CW
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