WWE News: Update On Who Vince McMahon Will Pick At ‘WWE Payback’ To Run ‘WWE RAW’
From the archive: published Apr 29, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
When it comes to WWE Monday Night RAW, the company has suffered through terrible ratings since last year. WWE tried and failed to raise ratings during the fall, but they were able to see a good pop like usual during WrestleMania season. After their biggest event of the year concluded, ratings dropped yet again. While fans say that show quality has been better, ratings have not reflected this.
Some point to Roman Reigns being WWE World Champion as the cause, as many fans claimed that would stop watching if he won the World Title at WrestleMania. He obviously did, and it seems people kept their word. This is why there can at least be consideration for an AJ Styles win at WWE Payback this Sunday, although it is doubtful. Regardless, Shane McMahon has been given control of WWE RAW each week since WrestleMania concluded despite losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania, where control of WWE RAW was on the line for him.
Honestly, Shane, going on the stipulation of the match, should not be in charge. This is obvious. However, it has been cool seeing him return, and it looks like WWE would love to keep him around if he would like to be present. However, Stephanie McMahon claimed on the show this past week that Vince McMahon himself will choose who will run the show. It looks almost too easy that Stephanie and Triple H will be given full control back again, right? Wrong!
We’ve heard of the split being possible for months now. Even before Shane McMahon came back, WWE was going to start putting things in place for a brand split this year. The reason is pretty simple, really. USA Network wants WWE SmackDown to matter just as much as WWE RAW now that it is on the same network. Due to this, they have to bring some importance to the show. Right now, SmackDown isn’t truly important.
Matches are always good there, and the announce team aces it every week. However, if you miss something important, it will be covered on RAW the following week. Most of the time, SmackDown has been seen as the RAW recap show. This has been a problem for the show for some time now. Bringing a brand split back automatically brings up importance, because both shows will have different rosters with different storylines.
When will they make the split happen? Some experts speculate near WWE SummerSlam. WWE could always push for this sooner, or they could go later with it. However, it will occur this year, and it makes total sense to do it. Most fans want to see it happen, and it seems USA Network truly wants to bring importance to SmackDown. This would help WWE with both things. The only thing WWE has to do now is make the most out of the split, as the last years of the previous split were pretty bad.
