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WWE BRAND EXTENSION TO RETURN, SMACKDOWN MOVING LIVE ON TUESDAYS

By Mike Johnson on 2016-05-25 08:46:00

WWE will move Smackdown to live weekly broadcasts starting Tuesday 7/19, it was announced today in Variety.

The Variety article notes that Raw and Smackdown will have "separate casts."  PWInsider.com has confirmed that, as we wrote several months ago was being discussed [Elite subscribers, click here], that there will be a new brand split between the two brands.  

I have not heard this is happening but I do wonder whether this is a first step towards separate Raw and Smackdown PPVs.  Certainly that could happen.  With the WWE Network, it would be very easy to add additional live events to the company's calendar and it would seem to be a logical step following a brand split.

WWE sources, however, are confirming that at some point yet to be determined there will be a draft splitting the roster between Raw and Smackdown.

The Variety article notes that there will be separate writing teams for each brand.

With the advent of so many talents returning to the company from injury and the influx of so many talents who have come up (and will come up) from WWE NXT, this is obviously a smart move for the company to make.  The timing is certainly right given how stacked the roster will be once Randy Orton, John Cena and The Wyatt Family return to TV and there are a number of veterans, including Kane, Mark Henry and Big Show who can also return to featured roles.

In the past, having the two separate brands allowed for stars to be made on each brand and allowed for more upward mobility for talents.  JBL as WWE champion of the Smackdown brand is a great example of a talent who was able to move upwards thanks to the original brand split.   By having two unique shows with two unique rosters, both of which airing live, WWE could remove the past stigma that Raw was more important because it was live while Smackdown was taped in advance.

WWE has flirted with the idea of moving Smackdown live a number of times over the years but had never pulled the trigger.  The two move to Tuesdays this July would put a live Smackdown opposite a taped Impact Wrestling on POP.

“WWE’s flagship programs will both leverage the incredible depth of our talent roster, distinct storylines and the unpredictable nature of live TV,” said Vince McMahon to Variety.  “This move will undoubtedly build more excitement and deepen engagement with our fans around the world.” 

What this move means for the WWE championships remains to be seen.  During the initial brand extension, the WWE champion would go back and forth between brands.  When Brock Lesnar won the belt at Summerslam 2002, he became a Smackdown-exclusive talent, leading to Raw establishing "The World championship" with Triple H as that first champion.   The new championship belts remained, even after the brand extension was abandoned in 2011 until they were unified at the TLC 2013 PPV when Randy Orton defeated John Cena in a TLC bout.  From that point on, the unified champion has been billed as the "WWE World Heavyweight champion."

Secondary championships, for a time, were exclusive to each brand, leading to separate Tag Team champions, etc., so it should be interesting to see if WWE intends to follow that path again or perhaps build, for example, a Tag Team division on Raw as an attraction while having a Women's division on Smackdown to have something unique for the other brand.  WWE has a clear canvas here and could go in lots of different directions.

Note: An original version of this post noted split PPVs "would" happen.  That was a typo.  It should have read "could" happen.

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