Tonight, on a very special episode of No Chance, we look at Smackdown going live and how that lovely little experiment worked out for the WWE. But before we get to that, lets look at the episode of Raw that took place the previous night and what major events happened there.
First up, on Raw…
Last week I was invited to be a guest on the O’Really Report, (a rather great read if I do say so myself, one which can be found here) and was asked the question, “If having the choice, what would I take away from the WWE for a year, to which I responded I would get rid of the brand split. Apparently I made a really good argument and apparently Triple H was reading every word attentively, because on the very next episode of Raw, what should happen? The first thing Triple H does is effectively get rid of the brand split by saying until further notice, Superstars from both shows would be appearing every week on Raw. Now even though I said it should happen, an end to the brand split was something I never really expected to actually take place in the near future. And now that it has, while I’m excited at the possibilities that could happen with a unified brand, I have to say that I am starting to get nervous at all the ways that WWE can screw this up. Visions of a Randy/Cena tag team main eventing twice a week every week, while promising mid carders fade into obscurity now plague my thoughts.
So, Triple H, or other WWE authority figure, if you are reading this, don’t take the good idea of unifying the brands and mess it up. Remember the promising up and coming talent you have, and use the unified brand split to create some feuds that wouldn’t have been possible before hand. And if nothing else recognize that one roster of all the superstars means that we should no longer have to watch the same match again and again, three, four or even five weeks in a row.
The other bit of news we were given at the end of Raw last night is that at Night of Champions Triple H would make his return to in ring action in a match against CM Punk. This was a match that I fully expected to take place at some point. With all the mic action that had taken place between the two over the past several weeks it was clear that sooner or later, their words would eventually turn into actions as the main event of some PPV. The surprising thing about the announcement though is that is was in fact much sooner than later. A match for CM Punk had already been announced. Against Kevin Nash. In fact, Part of the opening promo on Raw this week was used to make sure that we knew that Nash was now a superstar and could compete at Night of Champions. Nash and Punk have a strong feud starting up and it seemed obvious that Punk would be fighting Nash before getting to Triple H. So why the bait and switch at the end of the show? It was almost as if the announcement of Nash back in the ring didn’t get the reaction that the WWE wanted and the PPV lineup was changed halfway thought the night.
And now onto Smackdown…
Smackdown starting with Cena running down to the ring seemed to confirm my fear that the ending of the brand split meant little more than twice as much Cena and less mid card wrestlers than ever before. However I did like his match against Wade Barrett. Like the match between Orton and Ziggler the night before it put a main event wrestler in a match with one of the more promising mid carders. Both were also matches we wouldn’t have seen without the unified brand. (Its also worth mentioning that a Cena and Barrett matchup would have been a main event match on a PPV this time last year, yet is now the opening match on Smackdown)
And it looks like Sin Cara is going to be the latest in a long line of heel/face turns that seem to have happened over the past few months. Joining a list that includes Sheamus, Beth Phoenix and Natalya, The Great Kali, Mark Henry, Alicia Fox, Justin Gabriel, Christian, Ezekiel Jackson, Layla (though we haven’t seen her thanks to injury) and of course, CM Punk. Why has the WWE increased the number of face/heel turns over the past four months? At this rate, the whole roster is going to be flipped before long.
Though I really hate these “contract signing†segments that WWE continues to have, I would be fine with CM Punk signing a contract before every single one of his matches from this point onward, just because it give him more time on the mic. Punk and Triple H had the best “contract segment†in recent memory because for the first time, wresters on both side of the table seemed to be truly invested in the promos that they were cutting. Both Punk and Triple H spoke about fighting for their vision of the future of the company and both truly seemed to believe what they were saying, a rare sight in a WWE ring. And the whole segment almost ended with a peaceful signing of the contract until Kevin Nash said, “We can’t have that†and ran down to the ring to push both Punk and Trips before walking away.
Unrelated thought:
When asked by Rhett what would I take away from the WWE if I could two other answers crossed my mind before I settled on the brand split. While I sill stand behind my answer, I feel that these other two ideas are also worth mentioning though they are less thought out ideas.
1. The 12 PPVs per year schedule: Do we really need to have a PPV every single month? Something that is supposed to feel like such a big event it’s worth shelling out fifty bucks for tends to lose its impact when one happens every four weeks. We have a few PPV events (I’m looking at you Capital Punishment) that feel like they exist just to fill out the lineup. For a year I would like to see us cut the number of PPVs in half. Keep the big four (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series), MiTB and one more of your choice. The PPV money may go down but just imagine how impactful each of those PPVs would seem.
2. The PG rating: I hesitate to support this idea because I think the end to the PG era can cause just as many problems as it can solve. It is very possible that a pandering to the lowest common denominator storytelling could develop and we get a surge of shock and gross out moments in a cheap attempt to drive up ratings. My worry is that without the PG rating enforced we end up getting storylines that reside in the Katie Vick realm of storytelling. But I remember a statement that Vince said at the beginning of the Attitude Era, that wrestlers shouldn’t have just black and white, good guy and bad guy characters. Well that’s the kind of characterization that has developed during the PG rating. It’s only now that people like Punk are starting to figure out how to develop interesting, three dimensional characters, and even then they are pushing at the edges of PG as is.