Could WWE be bringing it back?
There are some indications that WWE is bringing back a brand split for 2015.
For many years, WWE had separate rosters of wrestlers that appeared exclusively on Raw and Smackdown. Over the last few years it was quietly phased out, but there are some indications that WWE is looking to bring it back for 2015.
One of the pitches WWE had for moving Smackdown to Thursday was to assure Syfy that the show would be promoted strongly and be a focus for WWE booking.
WWE made a change to move around the announce teams, seeing Jerry Lawler move to Smackdown to signal to casual fans that the show is important.
Daniel Bryan was promoted to return to the ring on Smackdown for the Thursday debut. Then on the show, he did a storyline with HHH that resulted in a match being booked for later in the show. Then a followup Bryan vs. Kane match was made for the following week’s Smackdown, where if Bryan doesn’t win, he is out of the Royal Rumble match. This change – making Smackdown storylines that skip Raw – is the first step in the separation of the brands in a more official way.
There is talk in creative now about exactly how the brand split will work. It might end up being similar to the past with strictly separate rosters. Or something “softer” that would have guys that predominantly appear on one show or the other but nothing is completely official.
The show hovers in a high 1.0 to low 2.0 rating from week to week. WWE officials are hoping to steady the rating about 2.0 and more towards 2.5. At that point it would be very close to Raw’s rating on a normal week as well.
