How would you book the brand split?

[BotchMan]

My proposed brand split system:

Two rosters, one singles champ, one tag team champ, one women's champ, fuck midcard belts (they don't mean anything anyways). Champs are on both shows but only when they are champs, if you lose your belt you can't appear on the other show.

You get shots at the champion every other month by show. April would have a Raw contender, May a Smackdown Contender, wins and losses now matter (watching the show now matters).

The Big 4 PPV, have cross brand tournaments/matches to crown contenders.

King of the Ring Winner gets a shot at Summerslam.

There is one Survivor Series Match and its 5 Raw guys vs 5 Smackdown guys, the team that wins has each member of their team pick a partner from the opposite show to be their partner in the tag tournament for the Royal Rumble shot (guys with most eliminations from winning team get to pick first)

Tag team tournament of Singles guys and the winners of this tag team tournament both get a match with the champion at Royal Rumble (Three-Way at Rumbles have always been good) and the tag teams are made up of guys from different brands which means you can have egos and unfamiliarity at play and forced tag teams caring about matches.

Then of course the Royal Rumble for the one title at WM.

2 MITB for ONE Title so champ has to face a potential cash in from a Raw guy and a Smackdown guy, and you can have angles where MITB holders cost each other cash-ins etc.

Both shows are two hours, angles are about people screwing each other over from becoming the champion and getting the exposure on both shows/more money, etc.

 

[King Bastar]

I'd make Raw all women's bra and panties matches commentated by Enzo Amore and Ric Flair.
I'd put everything else on SmackDown.

 

[EJRMAN513]

One world champion. Two champions take away the sports feel where one competitor/team is the absolute best. Now I'm supposed to think there's two bests? And it's going to be worse if one champion(ship) is simply booked better than the other champion(ship). What's the point? And if you can't handle schedule of being on both shows and having a busy workload, then you shouldn't be THE guy(Not a jab at Roman lol).

I like the idea of both shows getting a shot at the title every other program(can't really say every other month in case a storyline between 2 guys lasts more than a month). But something interesting I would add is the champion having rivalries being built up on Smackdown while a guy on Raw is vying for the belt at the next PPV or vice versa. I would also apply this to triple threat and fatal four way matches. Keep the actual rivalry separate until the PPV match outside of a Smackdown guy appearing on the tron via satellite on Raw to get his little two cents in and once again vice versa.

 

[LuchaBear]

All I have to say, is that one of these shows needs to take a completely new direction... From the way it's produced and scripted. Off the wall and away from tradition.

Same old shit = Continuation of record low ratings.

 

[Count Zero]

Some are calling for a hard split, some are calling for a soft split.

I'd like it mostly complete, BUT with certain inter-brand concessions.

I think there should be one top-top champion that competes on both shows. I've actually talked about this idea recently ... it would be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Raw would be the exclusive home of the ECW Championship. Smackdown, the WCW Championship. Women's title is same as top male title. Tag champs same as top singles titles. All PPVs are co (but not cross) brand. Replace some of the minor ppvs with major cross-brand ppv events, like Bragging Rights. And, yes, NXT is part of the mix. It would be the only show to have its own tag and women titles, but it is still considered developmental although its profile is raised. NXT championships are now defended in rare events at main roster ppvs (potentially only the most major shows - 'Mania, Summerslam, definitely Bragging Rights).

The Draft becomes a regular yearly event, and helps cement the status of 'Mania as a place to end feuds. Draft Month begins the Raw following 'Mania (starting next year, of courser), and that Raw is the beginning of a rare series of cross-brand non-ppv matches. The Draft itself takes place on the Raw prior to the PPV that month - which is Bragging Rights. This sets the stage for the rest of the year.

Contendership when there's one title traveling between two distinct shows is tricky, but it's easily handled by juggling which of the B titles is the top focus of that show or not. Example: WWE Champ Reigns is feuding with #!1 contender Samoa Joe who is only on Smackdown. During this period, KO and Zayn are feuding over the ECW title at the top of Raw while Ambrose is feuding with Jericho over the WCW Championship on the midcard of Smackdown. When Reigns moves on to feud with Bray over the WWE title at the top of Raw, Zayn is feuding with Samoa Joe in the midcard of Raw over the ECW title while Ambrose is feuding with, I dunno, Corbin over the WCW title.

 

[A Pennysworth]

I wouldn't!

 

[Wariowokecancel]

You can't have a proper brand split with one joint champion. You mix the brands up for the belts and you destroy the split.

 

[Frank23]

Make Roman Reigns look strong and have John Cena win.

 

[El Dandy]

I'd put Roman, Orton, and Cena on Smackdown, because I don't want to watch wrestling on days not named Monday or Sunday.

 

[Max Power]

Exactly like the first one for a month, only for it to be revealed to have been a dream the Raw after the first ppv and then it is promptly forgotten about and never mentioned again.

 

[JohnRam87]

My proposed brand split system:

Two rosters, one singles champ, one tag team champ, one women's champ, fuck midcard belts (they don't mean anything anyways).

You get shots at the champion every other month by show. April would have a Raw contender, May a Smackdown Contender, wins and losses now matter (watching the show now matters).

The Big 4 PPV, have cross brand tournaments/matches to crown contenders.
King of the Ring Winner gets a shot at Summerslam.

There is one Survivor Series Match and its 5 Raw guys vs 5 Smackdown guys, the team that wins has each member of their team pick a partner from the opposite show to be their partner in the tag tournament for the Royal Rumble shot (guys with most eliminations from winning team get to pick first)

Tag team tournament of Singles guys and the winners of this tag team tournament both get a match with the champion at Royal Rumble (Three-Way at Rumbles have always been good) and the tag teams are made up of guys from different brands which means you can have egos and unfamiliarity at play and forced tag teams caring about matches.

Then of course the Royal Rumble for the one title at WM.

2 MITB for ONE Title so champ has to face a potential cash in from a Raw guy and a Smackdown guy, and you can have angles where MITB holders cost each other cash-ins etc.
Both shows are two hours, angles are about people screwing each other over from becoming the champion and getting the exposure on both shows/more money, etc.

Bruh, this is too good that the WWE won't come close to doing.

One little thing though, I'd keep the IC and US titles just to make things interesting on either show (or even PPV preshows) and once this Cruiserweight Classic tourney concludes, make a champion out of that winner. 6 titles, plenty of contenders and match ups to spread across the WWE landscape. And leave NXT be, they're fine the way they are. At the most, maybe bump their show to a 2 hour format and their Takeovers to 3 hours.

 

[Jesus Freak]

My proposed brand split system:

Two rosters, one singles champ, one tag team champ, one women's champ, fuck midcard belts (they don't mean anything anyways).

You get shots at the champion every other month by show. April would have a Raw contender, May a Smackdown Contender, wins and losses now matter (watching the show now matters).

The Big 4 PPV, have cross brand tournaments/matches to crown contenders.
King of the Ring Winner gets a shot at Summerslam.

There is one Survivor Series Match and its 5 Raw guys vs 5 Smackdown guys, the team that wins has each member of their team pick a partner from the opposite show to be their partner in the tag tournament for the Royal Rumble shot (guys with most eliminations from winning team get to pick first)

Tag team tournament of Singles guys and the winners of this tag team tournament both get a match with the champion at Royal Rumble (Three-Way at Rumbles have always been good) and the tag teams are made up of guys from different brands which means you can have egos and unfamiliarity at play and forced tag teams caring about matches.

Then of course the Royal Rumble for the one title at WM.

2 MITB for ONE Title so champ has to face a potential cash in from a Raw guy and a Smackdown guy, and you can have angles where MITB holders cost each other cash-ins etc.
Both shows are two hours, angles are about people screwing each other over from becoming the champion and getting the exposure on both shows/more money, etc.

How is this different from the brand split they did many moons ago?

 

[Ozymandias]

I'll take a crack at this.

One world champion, wherever he is drafted that brand gets the belt. The other brand gets the IC Title as the top title, this belt is prestigious and needs to return to glory. Look at NJPW, their IC title is held in high regard. Top guys hold it and in some cases it has even headlined a show over the HW title.

The brand that gets the IC title will have opportunities at the World title too. Money in the Bank, could do 4 competitors from each brand, of course the Royal Rumble. Then at Survivor Series you could do a Team Raw vs Team SD match with the winnings brands team will get an eventual title shot.

For instance, say Team SD wins one year and has Cena, Styles, Wyatt and Owens on it. One of those guys will get a future title shot, how that will be decided will be either a Fatal 4 or two week tournament on SD.

The US Title will go to the brand opposite the one with the IC Title. Womens Title would be exclusive to one brand, to counter this the Cruiserweight Title will be brought back as an exclusive to the other brand. Tag Titles will be defended on both shows as two sets of titles are lame and not enough teams or competition for two sets.

Announcers will also be Drafted. Eligible announcers are: Michael Cole, Mauro Ranallo, Corey Graves, JBL, Byron Saxton and Jerry Lawler.

After the Draft, an NXT Draft will be held. Maybe about 5 picks for each brand. Those who don't get drafted stay in NXT.

And of course, Shane runs one show and Stephanie runs the other. They will be overseers and can bring in a General Manager or Commissioner if they like: this could give someone like Daniel Bryan or Sting something to do.

 

[SocraticMethod]

One Undisputed World Champion and Undisputed Tag Team Champions who compete across the brands. They are the only ones to appear on both shows, and it's built into the storylines that they are working harder than everyone else, that being the hunted is harder than being the hunter, etc. Have the announcers recognizing how longish title reigns really wear down the champions, making holding onto the titles more difficult than ever, since the guys you're defending against only wrestle and travel half as often.

Raw: The Women's Division is exclusive to Raw and is treated like a real championship on par with the world title. The US title stays on Raw, since Cena's open challenge made it viable there. The US title is also elevated as something important. The Women's title and US title alternate in main events on Raw.

SmackDown: Bring back the CW division and make it exclusive to SD. The IC title also stays here and is booked similarly to the US title. I.e., the US and IC titles are the highest brand-specific titles. With the World title not constantly being defended in the brand, the midcard titles can be elevated. Sort of going for the vibe of a territory's top championship when the world champion wasn't there. The IC and CW titles would take turns main eventing SmackDown and would both be treated like important titles. I'd also keep the CWs away from non CWs for the most part. No bringing in Braun Strowman to wreck 10 CWs at the same time. Only on rare and special occasions would a CW "go up in weight" to challenge for the IC title or the World title.

PPVs:

The Royal Rumble would be interbrand, with 15 guys from each show competing for a shot at the World champion at WM.

WM would feature both brands, but the matches themselves would all be intrabrand.

MITB would be an interbrand match. The rest of the card would be intrabrand matches.

SummerSlam would be booked like WM.

I would also bring back KOTR, which would be interbrand, with the rest of the PPV being intrabrand matches. The winner of KOTR would get a title shot at Survivor Series.

Survivor Series would feature an interbrand "traditional" elimination match - direct competition for bragging rights between the two shows. The rest of the card would be intrabrand matches.

That's 6 PPVs featuring both brands, leaving 6 others, which would be three Raw only PPVs and 3 SD only. Might also throw in another brand exclusive "Network exclusive" show for each brand during the year. I would get rid of the HIAC and TLC PPVs, and save those matches for times when they are called for organically by the storyline.

A slight tweak of this would be to get rid of the MITB and KOTR PPVs. Move the MITB match back to the Royal Rumble, and either scrap KOTR altogether, or make it an interbrand Network special that starts on each show and then has the semi-finals and the finals (SD vs. Raw) on the special. This would make for just the traditional "big four" PPVs being interbrand, then having 4 brand-exclusive PPVs for each show.

One thing for sure I'd like to see is have KO win MITB and be drafted to SmackDown. Keep the briefcase on him for the rest of the year and into 2017. Eventually get the World title back on Cena, maybe at WM. After Extreme Rules, which would be a Raw only PPV in which Cena defends and is left battered, have KO come out through the crowd (since he isn't on that roster so he wouldn't be back stage) and have him cash in. Or, in the alternative, have him come through the crowd the next night on Raw, to cash in.

 

[Micah]

Separate both brands completely.

Monday Night Raw:

1. World Heavyweight Title

2. Intercontinental Title

3. Tag Team Title

4. Women's Champ

5.Cruiserweight Champ

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday Night Smackdown

1.
WCW Championship Belt is brought back for the Champ

2.
United States Titile

3. Tag Team Title

4. Women's Title:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Raw will be the powerhouse of talent where most of the Superstars reside.

Smackdown will be the competitor who will cherry pick off the NXT roster.



Each brand has their own PPV's throughout the year.


New Years Eve a massive PPV is held "A Night of Champions" where Champs Vs. Champs and dream matches are made a full blown cross promotion event.

This will be the only time in the year the two will cross promote, anything goes.



Build both brands and go from there.


Cruiserweights and the title will have free reign to fight on both Raw and Smackdown.

 

[Zezima]

I'd put reigns on superstars and superstars only, he's such a boring character.

He's the most boring push ever IMO.

The rest can be split across raw and smackdown I'd have seperate champs for everything aside from the world title.

Each show has a ppv or network special every month.

The big 4 PPV's are interpromotional, but only one or two interpromotional matches on each card. Aside from survivor series where I would have every match on the card interpromotional, the world title would be triple threat, top guy from raw and smackdown vs champ.

Ocessionally have invasions to build up an interpromotional matches but the whole locker room would be against the invader aside from friends.

I'd have a mini draft every big ppv where it's a lottery for each show to draw 3 wrestlers from the others show in like a trade.

I'd keep new day and enzo and cass together for defo. Them teams are gold.

I'd book Cena to be champ in time for the draft, he brings ratings, so if he was appearing on both shows it gets ratings for both shows to kick on with. I know that wouldn't be the most popular option with the IWC, but I think we need a Cena title run to get rid of Roman, it may even propel Roman to be half interesting.

 

[Count Zero]

Figured I'd post this in here since it kinda relates to this stuff, and I think this is a slow thread that could use a bump anyway, but.

I'm at the point where I'm about ready to fully fire back up my new 2k16 season mode (I talked about the setup in the main chat thread), so now I have to finalize what belts I'm going to use for Raw/Smackdown.

Up until now, I'd been toying mostly with the idea of having one top title shared between raw/smackdown, and either ic / us or ecw world / wcw world titles as singles on them. I actually still am stuck on that last part, if I go that route. But my other big option is just having one world title per show and that's it, and maybe either sharing a secondary title or separate secondary titles. Actually, that sounds pretty fun - separate top titles but a shared secondary title.

Gah so many things I could do. I like so many of the different possibilities :/

Hrm, here's one possible setup:

-Raw:
(Some pre-Undisputed ... as in not sharing a lineage with World Heavyweight / Undisputed / WWE World Heavyweight) WWE Championship
Women's Championship
WWE United States Championship
WWE World Tag Championship

-Smackdown:
World Heavyweight (big gold belt)
WWE Cruiserweight Championship (possibly WCW instead ?)
(some type of Cruiserweight / Light Heavyweight tag belt ... off the top of my head I don't know if there are any stock ones in game, but I can always download something)
(no womens division)

Raw would be the clear "A" show, and more sports entertainment oriented. Smackdown would be the rasslin' show. I would for sure just make it all WCW belts but I don't want to make it a WCW show. But I do want to make it its own world title (at least in this one possible setup), so that either might headline ppvs.

Gah I'll probably wind up having them share a top and do separate singles titles. I def want one to be a cruiserweight title ... hrm.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

i would keep raw to only top 15 talents + whatever filler divas and 2 hrs long and combine smackdown with NXT

having a complete rankings systems.

 

[Count Zero]

I decided to have one top title shared between my shows, probably WWE Undisputed or maybe the spinner belt for the lulz and to see if it actually spins on here. Think I'm gonna do NXT as singles title on Raw and WCW Cruiserweight as singles on Smackdown.

Will def do one set of tag team, probably WWE ... maybe NXT.

I'll probably be able to burn through this season before the actual draft, or close to just after, then I think I'll do a full hard roster split myself.

 

[Wariowokecancel]

Separate both brands completely.

Monday Night Raw:

1. World Heavyweight Title

2. Intercontinental Title

3. Tag Team Title

4. Women's Champ

5.Cruiserweight Champ

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday Night Smackdown

1.
WCW Championship Belt is brought back for the Champ

2.
United States Titile

3. Tag Team Title

4. Women's Title:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Raw will be the powerhouse of talent where most of the Superstars reside.

Smackdown will be the competitor who will cherry pick off the NXT roster.



Each brand has their own PPV's throughout the year.


New Years Eve a massive PPV is held "A Night of Champions" where Champs Vs. Champs and dream matches are made a full blown cross promotion event.

This will be the only time in the year the two will cross promote, anything goes.



Build both brands and go from there.


Cruiserweights and the title will have free reign to fight on both Raw and Smackdown.

Raw has World WWE Title, US title, Womens belt, Tag Title.

Smackdown has Heavyweight title, IC title, Cruiseweight Title, Tag Title.

Differences are that:

1) all the girls on RAW - not enough depth.

2) Cena and Reigns are on RAW. Also all the big ass wrestlers Vince loves. Lawler and JR on commentary.

3) Styles, Owens, Cesaro, Rollins and the cruisers, flippies and foreign wrestlers are on Smackdown and given time to breathe. Mauro on commentary with some new fucker. Bas Rutten.

4) Raw is sports entertainment with long ass promos and stories. Smackdown is wrestling.

5) Brands are totally split with no crossover ever on tv (matches not promos) because that's a slippery slope. Maybe PPV sometimes. House show crossovers as a special bonus for fans.

6) Minor shake up once a year or every six months. Shake things up. Maybe Cena to Smackdown. Samoa Joe to RAW. But they don't change the tone of the show. So Joe cuts big ass promos and Cena does short shit without 25 kickouts.