If Shane McMahon beats the Undertaker at WrestleMania, he gains complete control of Monday Night Raw. This has fans talking about the possibility of another brand extension. PWInsider noted that WWE has discussed the idea, even before Shane returned to the company. I would like to put to rest and let me explain why.
The reason why WWE is not going to move forward with a second brand split is because Monday Night Raw is three hours. The length of the show makes it a chore for most fans to watch while the writers have a hard time producing 180 minutes worth of content. That’s with the entire main roster and Imagine splitting that in half?
Yes, there’s NXT, but it’s a developmental system where not everyone is ready for prime time. Some star power needs to remain in Orlando for the brand to thrive. Ever since NXT call ups became en-vogue, there have been as many successes as there have been failures. For every Kevin Owens there’s an Adam Rose.
WWE did a brand extension between Raw and SmackDown from 2002 and 2011 with ECW set up as a third brand in 2006. It started off strong, but fizzled because inter-brand matches occurred too often, which diluted the concept.
Plus, WWE promotes and produces SmackDown as their secondary show and that sends the wrong message when both rosters are supposed to be on equal footing.
At the end of the day, WWE was never able to fully embrace a separate but equal ideology with their roster. Going back to an idea that ultimately failed is going backwards when the company should be moving forward.
If WWE does go with another brand extension, they’ve already started off on the wrong foot when Vince McMahon stated on television that whoever controls Monday Night Raw controls the company. How does SmackDown compete with that?
Ringside Logic 