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Should PPVs go single branded again?

4K views 46 replies 38 participants last post by  scrilla 
#1 ·
Personally, I think it should as it gives chance to more lower-mid carders to actually get PPV matches every so often and it would also mean that WWE couldn't focus on just the one storyline. I guess they could give more build-up to big matches and possibly stretch out successful storylines a bit longer. However, it may not work with all these shitty gimmick match based PPV's such as Fatal 4 Way and TLC.

What are your thoughts? I'd be interested to hear them.
 
#2 ·
Single branded PPVs would allow for better and longer development of storylines on both brands, and would give upcoming midcarders the platform they desperately need to become exposed to the casual audience and slowly be propelled into the main event.

That is why it WON'T happen.
 
#4 ·
But the main reason the rosters are so shallow is because of the co-branded PPV's. With single-branded PPV's, WWE was forced to keep each brand looking strong, have 6-7 feuds going on at once, and keep midcarders and main eventers familiar and over with the fans. With the current format they've been able to get lazy, stack every card with the same old main eventers, have 2-3 fueds going on at once, and leave everyone else as jobbers nobody knows or cares about, waiting to get a chance or get released.

In terms of building a strong roster, meaningful weekly and PPV programming, and a strong future for WWE's main event and midcard, single-branded PPV's are really the best way to go.
 
#5 ·
no the reason the roster is shallow is because only about 10-15 guys are talented enough to carry a PPV feud. The rest of them are talentless FCW clones. This is why the brand extension should just be ended, in 2002 they had about 40-50 talented guys contracted, now the talent pool is shit.
 
#6 ·
I'm in the middle with this.

On one side, you have the ability to gain more exposure to the mid-carders and lower mid-carders, and give them some more TV time and give them their time to shine.

But on the other hand, WWE's buyrates are low with both rosters on a PPV. Having a PPV with just one roster will make them even lower.
 
#13 ·
PPVs shouldn't go single branded. I remember how much people here hated it,now suddenly they want it back again....

If anything, WWE should just have 10 interpromo ppvs and 2 single branded ppvs(so 1 each per show. I'm thinking October is Raw, December is SD). And maybe have bragging rights earlier on in the year(like may or june) and the winner gets not only the bragging rights trophy, but the next ppv is exclusive for the winning brand(so that ppv happens in july. Meaning the losing show will end up having a huge summer show before SS since they miss out on a ppv)
 
#16 ·
YES. Because we won't have to see the same "DQ/Countout finish, rematch next month" BS that WWE always pull on us. Plus it gives midcarders a chance to shine and get over.
 
#18 ·
This is actually a very good idea, but the problem is that the Smackdown and Raw brands alone, don't have the star power they need to have single brand pay-per-views. It would definitely give much more exposure to most of the roster one each brand but it just can't happen with the current star power that WWE has. They don't have Rocky, Stone Cold, Taker, Michaels, (soon) Triple H back in the wings waiting to be called on. It's a big problem that needs to be fixed.
 
#33 ·
This is actually a very good idea, but the problem is that the Smackdown and Raw brands alone, don't have the star power they need to have single brand pay-per-views.
They don't, and they NEVER really did. Most of the worst PPVs in WWE history are the single-branded PPVs from 2003-2006. Go back and watch a Great American Bash if you don't believe me. Do we really want to return to the days of Kenzo Suzuki v. Billy Gunn on PPV?
 
#19 ·
Who are the main guys on Smackdown. Oh right Kane, Edge, Mysterio, Christian, Big Show...

None of them are drawing anything. I can't even imagine how awful a Smackdown only PPV would be, especially with no main event match that would be worth watching.

Yes the undercard would get a chance to work on ppv but nobody would be watching them.
 
#20 · (Edited)
It depends if Batista is returning or not. We don't need another main event loser.

Who are the main guys on Smackdown. Oh right Kane, Edge, Mysterio, Christian, Big Show...

None of them are drawing anything. I can't even imagine how awful a Smackdown only PPV would be, especially with no main event match that would be worth watching.
You forgot Swagger, Taker, Del Rio. Anyways, that's a lot of star power. Mysterio, Edge, Kane, Taker, Show, Christian and Swagger are HUGE.
 
#21 ·
when they had single brand, i only watched the raw ones. i didnt give a crap about jbl headlining with john cena. not that it was bad, but it didnt draw me, but like in a sense it could really work, but with the assumption that there soon gonna merge brands, and the fact that they have the gimmick ppv's scheduled all through to next like october theres really no point in having a just smack down tlc ppv or vice versa. and as far as the merging, they have to cut alotttttttt of dead weight. which would mean total chaos on here
 
#23 · (Edited)
That would mean John Cena would be unable to appear at a PPv,
that's not happening.

Look at the guys who appear on RAW/SD and the guys that appear on Superstars, does anyone believe a merge would'nt result in releases and certain wrestlers getting even less tv time?
 
#24 ·
If they are going to continue with the brand split, I think the goal should be to have all the brands be strong enough to support their own PPVs. Unfortunately, they never really got to a point where BOTH Raw & Smackdown were strong creatively & had strong enough rosters. It was always one or the other, and resulted in some of the worst PPVs of all time from the weaker brands. And the less said about ECW, the better.

I think personally, they should plan to have single branded PPVs again & work at making both Raw & Smackdown the best shows possible, and build up both rosters to a point that both of them can support their own PPV events. But that's never going to happen.
 
#25 ·
No for the simple reason that Smackdown doesn't draw sufficient ratings to justify getting it's own PPVs. From that perspective you could even make the arguement that having any Smackdown wrestlers outside of Taker, Rey and Edge on the card at all is a bad thing since it takes places away from the better known wrestlers on Raw (anyone occupying a mid-card spot on Smackdown is automatically less well known that the Raw equivalent unless they've already spent a huge amount of time on that brand)

** Please note I don't buy that arguement for one second but it is something to consider **
 
#26 · (Edited)
I actually don't think it would help get the mid card more over or whatever. If it was single branded and similar to the way it was before then it would be the same three or four main eventers on every ppv within two months from each other while the same 3 or 4 mid carders wrestle each other in two or three matches and there's a few meaningless jobber/future endeavored weirdo gimmick wrestlers on the cards.

At least now with a different ppv a month theres a chance to put somebody we've never seen before out of the clear blue in a main event match without having to wait two months and just get the same main event again in a gimmick match. The real problem is WWE needs to merge the roster together and release a few useless wrestlers like most of the Nexus guys, Drew McIntyre, The Harts, Primo, R Truth, and on and on to not cram the roster down too much one it's all one.

I mean this is WWE the biggest company in the world for some time now. No matter what company it is. Hell even today in Ring of Honor there's only certain guys that get to main event ppv's or get to get on it. They add a few names as they go and bring back some or some of them go away. Then there is always those jobbers or under achievers who are very good in the ring who are relegated to Superstars. That's just how it is. WWE needs to work on their characters, story lines and just go back to simple things that work and not have them be uniteresting and boring with gimmicks that even little kids who their suppose to be for can't even enjoy and get into probably.
 
#27 ·
It was awful.Sure,Vince's ego is pretty damn big,but there is no reason to pretend that you are the owner of two companies.The talent pool is very poor as was said.They actually should absolutely end the brand split too.In 2002 they had amazing talent,now they have like 2-3 decent people out of 20.
 
#29 ·
While the concept of brand exclusive PPVs was good due to the existence of a roster split it didn't really coem out right when it was put at practice, half of the PPVs especially the SmacDown! ones were really poor and uninteresting and Uppermidcarders and Main Eventers getting injured only made things worse. Also, since each brand could go 2 months without a PPV it would either drag the storylines or have alot of filler matches on the cards.

It was nice in WM 21 when they did those interbrand matches but WWE doesn't get it right most of the time so I don't want brand exclusive PPVs back.
 
#32 ·
There's no reason why they can't do that now though. By actually taking the time to build angles over that length of time they would be able to go some way toward fixing the drawing problem since there would be a greater sense of anticipation. They might have an issue with the 30 day rule for title defenses but they could always drop it or have test shots for upper mid-carders on tv as they continue to build them up, that tactic was certainly beneficial to people like Jericho, Benoit, Jeff Hardy and RVD.
 
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