Should WWE’s Brand Split come to an end?
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
Now that Roman Reigns is WWE’s Unified Universal champion, a big question lingers: Should the brand split between Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown come to an end?
With the dust settled on WrestleMania 38 and Reigns now holding the top prize on both shows, talk of ending the brand split or unifying all the titles continues to be a discussion among fans — one that was furthered by "The Head of the Table" sending The Usos to Raw on a mission to unify the tag team titles.
In all honesty, whether to end the brand split is a difficult question to answer succinctly. I've seen good arguments made on both sides. Therefore, in the interest of fairness, let's take a look at both and see which sounds better.
The argument for …
One promotion. One roster. One set of champions. Plain as that.
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This puts the cream of the crop on TV as much as possible and allows for the biggest matches available. It also gives more time to strengthen the core storylines. To many fans, this makes the most sense from a viewing standpoint. And for many of us, it’s what we grew up on.
Those who’ve read my "Highs and Lows" articles covering SmackDown also know I’ve written at length about the lack of babyfaces on the show. Ending the brand split and merging the rosters would solve that.
It would also give Reigns the chance to feud with Superstars such as AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton and maybe even Cody Rhodes at some point, elevating both shows.
The same goes for someone such as Bianca Belair being champ between shows. This would allow her to feud with Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Alexa Bliss, Rhea Ripley, Shotzi or even Raquel Rodriguez.
If you want the best ratings and the best product, you need the strongest roster possible.
The argument against …
The problem isn’t a lack of talent right now. The problem (from my vantage point) appears to be a lack of consistent storytelling, as well as not enough dedication to getting new Superstars over.
Thankfully, the latter is beginning to change. If given the opportunity, there are a bunch of WWE stars who could be propping up both shows and making them feel independently compelling.
Just look at Ricochet! He’s finally being given the chance to prove his worth, and it’s paying off in fantastic main events.
That same energy should be kept for women such as Shotzi, Aliyah and Xia Li, who have been fairly absent since they made their debuts, or for a tag team such as the Viking Raiders, who should’ve been given a fresh start on SmackDown.
Finn Bálor is holding the United States title, but he’s barely in any stories. Would ending the brand split make that any better? Or would he get further lost in the shuffle if all the top talent shared both shows?
You could easily make Bálor, Damian Priest, Kevin Owens, Ripley, Liv Morgan, Orton, Rey Mysterio and others compelling on Raw without ending the brand split and do the same for Superstars such as New Day, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Happy Corbin, Sasha Banks and Naomi on SmackDown. All you need is good, creative writing (as simple as that sounds).
In the end, a brand split allows more time for wrestlers to be in the spotlight — wrestlers who might not get that shine without the split. From a fan perspective, that can’t be seen as a bad thing. I would think it would be a good thing from a business perspective as well.
Final verdict
The best compromise would be to keep the brand split yet continue to unify all the titles and let champions travel between shows — which might be a bit of a cop-out on my part (apologies).
But I think this would be the best of both worlds.
Look how well it worked having Brock Lesnar appear on both Raw and SmackDown in the build to his match with Roman at WrestleMania.
Doing the same thing with other big names would be exciting while still allowing other performers to have opportunities to move up the card via the brand split.
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Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief. You can follow him on Twitter at @RyanSatin.