WWE News: Brand Split Discussed For Comeback Well Before Shane McMahon’s WWE Return
The WWE brand split may have been the best thing WWE did for its roster years ago. They had too many people after WWE bought out ECW and WCW. They had so many talented people, and the split needed to happen so that the company could make more stars and, in turn, make more money. This helped a lot of people stand out, including Randy Orton, Batista, John Cena, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Christian, and more.
Most of these men may have never been a World Champion in WWE without a brand split. Some such as Cena and Batista would have done well because of their look alone, but others like Edge needed the split to stand out despite how good he looked in the eyes of WWE. People like Eddie and Rey would have never been the stars they became if not for the split as WWE would have overlooked them. Look at Kalisto alone for this, who has really done nothing as US Champion other than fight Alberto Del Rio and compete in tag team matches.
We’re seeing so many talented people get overlooked because they are not at the top of the heap that WWE actually created during the split to begin with. Then others are trying to stand out in a world without it, which, as it turns out, can be quite difficult. Now it seems WWE is considering the idea, according to PWIinsider.
However, it was not due to Shane McMahon’s return at previously assumed. According to Cageside Seats, the plan to split the brands again was discussed before Shane McMahon’s return was confirmed. The thought was that due to USA Network wanting WWE RAW to get better and the fact that they wanted WWE SmackDown to be just as important, it would make sense to split the rosters up again.
Shane’s return then gave the creative team a way to actually create that split. Basically, the entire return for Shane O’Mac and the stipulation added to it was due to the discussions about a roster split, and it was not the start of the idea as most fans thought. That means WWE had been wanting to do this for a while, and McMahon’s return to WWE is giving them a cool way to use the McMahon family in a split.
Beforehand, the reason for the split was because Ric Flair and Vince McMahon could not agree on how to run a promotion. Once the Alliance lost against Team WWF at the 2001 WWF Survivor Series, Shane and Stephanie McMahon had to sell their stock. That meant the stock options were up for grabs and Flair bought them all. That led to he and Vince becoming partners. This led to the two of them fighting a great deal both figuratively and literally.
The split was mostly due to their rivalry, but Flair did not stay in power for too long. Eventually, the brands had personal general managers, and the craziness went from there. Then 2011 hit and WWE started taking some of SmackDown’s best talent. The show was not special anymore and things just weren’t working. That led to low house show attendance and almost a merger of the brands. Then they eventually cut the idea of the brands.
Now that USA Network is sort of demanding a change in WWE programming, this split is not only needed but it is almost being demanded by WWE. Most of the fans seem to be for it as well. The match at WrestleMania with Shane McMahon and The Undertaker may be the beginnings, but we may not see the real split until the summer. Most of the injured talent are said to be back by then, so it makes more sense to hold it off until that point.
[Image via WWE]
