5 Good Things Regarding New WWE Draft and Brand Split

If you haven’t heard the news announced by the WWE yesterday regarding the future of the roster….well, then you’re just not much of a wrestling fan. The WWE made a press release regarding the future of Smackdown and their entire roster in general yesterday, and the brand split between the shoes is coming back, as well as a move for Smackdown to Tuesday nights, where it will finally be a live show.
The rumors of a brand split have been swirling among us speculators of the wrestling world for awhile now, and they only grew in unison after Shane McMahon returned, and ended up sharing the Manager duties with his sister Stephanie. Now that it’s finally come, it’s time to analyze what could make this thing really work, and what could bring it to a disastrous halt.

5 Good Things about the Brand Split

1. More time to build stories for all wrestlers on the card

   This is pretty much the most obvious good thing about the rosters dividing themselves. Midcarders and lower-midcarders who were simply relegated to jobbing to those above him, occasionally picking up a victory on Superstars or Main Event or whatever Minor League shows get put on the Network these days. It gives more of a chance for guys to get over and possibly move up the card through their own work, and get built more properly, rather than 80% of the focus going to their main events and upper midcarders, and everyone else just trying to survive.

2. Better NXT debuts that can matter

   This kind of ties in to my first point, what with better overall direction in the company, but I really wanted to specify the way this can help those moving from NXT. So many debuts have gotten lost in the shuffle and then given no other direction other than “fun guy on our show, check it out!”
   For some NXT guys, it’s just not much of a problem. They come in with big, theatrical debuts such as when The Shield debuted and took out Ryback. However, for others, such as Neville, The Ascension, Bo Dallas, and most notably Apollo Crews, they don’t have such luck. They’re thrown in with little to no momentum and some are casted away almost as soon as they are brought in. This brand split can help define NXT debuts much better, and give time to create more concrete characters, and help them reach their potential. The Ascension were the longest reigning tag champs of NXT, and guys like Neville and Bo Dallas were very credible NXT champions. There’s more to them than we’ve been able to see in WWE programming, and this should help those guys who aren’t exactly box office or set up with huge debuts to still be able to thrive inside the roster.

3. More Time Between Pay-Per-Views for feuds to develop

   There was three weeks leading into Extreme Rules after Payback took place, which means development between feuds had to happen pretty fast. In my opinion, although I enjoyed both Club vs. Bloodline matches at Extreme Rules, I thought some of the overall weight of the feuds had been carried down due to the fact that we were seeing SO much of these guys brawling with each other in such a short time span. It felt like every RAW and Smackdown leading to the Pay-Per-View had all guys from each stable battling with each other. Most of it was good stuff, but they could take a lesson from how to more properly saturate their product and stories that they’re working with.When you allow for over a month to two months before a next PPV battle, it allows the booking team to take their time with things, and not have to force-feed any sort of feud down our throats. It can naturally develop, something WWE definitely needs to work on doing a better job of.

4. Time to see Shane McMahon actually run the show

   Everybody (including myself) ate up Shane’s return to WWE with a fervor that hasn’t been seen in quite some time. He had earned respect and adulation from most of us years ago, with his never-ending charisma, electricity, and his never-ending courage to take the big bumps and dives others might shy away from. Since he’s come back, he’s been given half-control of RAW….and we see him for about five minutes a night. The Authority were featured on TV prominently as the…well, authority figure, so why not Shane? Someone we’ve all missed and really want to see more of? With a brand split, putting Shane officially in charge of his own show, this will hopefully make sure that they do just that.

5. Smackdown going LIVE! 

   I don’t watch Smackdown that much. I haven’t watched Smackdown regularly pretty much since Paul Heyman was helping write and book the show with the likes of Angle, Lesnar, Taker, Mysterio, Guerrero, and the exciting cruiserweight division. And yes, that was also the time of the brand split. It’s no secret that Smackdown is the lesser show, and when it’s not even live and results are all over the internet before the episode airs, it’s hard to get me considerably interested. Well, now it’s freaking live, so I don’t have much of a choice if I want to keep up to date. It’s a move that should have happened so long ago, but just because it’s a little late doesn’t mean it ain’t a great thing.

It’s certainly an exciting time to be a WWE fan. Regardless of how it eventually turns out, big  changes always bring out a lot of entertaining stuff, and gives fans plenty to discuss and speculate over.
What are your thoughts on this big decision regarding the future of the WWE?