The movement of WWE wrestlers from “SmackDown Live” and “Monday Night Raw” and vice versa used to be called as the WWE Draft.
But since there was no amateur wrestling pool to speak off, the so-called draft was a misnomer, which is why the WWE decided to have what it called as the WWE Brand Split instead.
The very last WWE brand split happened in July last year with Shane McMahon taking over “SmackDown Live” and Stephanie McMahon taking over “Monday Night Raw,” reports the Inquisitr.
Since the WWE brand split, the two brands have lived pretty much separately from each other outside of “Summer Slam” and the “Survivor Series.”
While the two brands continue to poke fun at each other and claim dominance over the other, at least one person doesn’t believe the WWE brand split is working at all.
On the most recent episode of “Bischoff on Wrestling,” Eric Bischoff said that the WWE brand split has not worked as it should have.
Buying out the competition
When the WWE bought WCW, they killed the biggest competition in professional wrestling.
The WWE tried to remake the competition when they had their original WWE brand split, but instead of having WWE vs. WCW all over again, they just made “SmackDown Live” and “Monday Night Raw” different brands.
The original brand split failed over time and soon the wrestlers all combined on one roster once again.
Eric Bischoff said that the current WWE brand split feels just like the last one. He said that the WWE is just going through the motions with a basic story of whose got the best roster and who puts on the best show.
Those stories, as Bischoff points out, are not something fans can really get behind when it comes to the brand split.
He explained that the competition between WCW and WWE was so intense that fans would never attempt at being able to recreate that in today’s world.
Not so good with the wrestlers
The WWE has tried to pull it off. Cesaro immediately complained after the WWE brand split that he wanted to wrestle for “SmackDown Live” and was disappointed to be on “Monday Night Raw.”
The Miz has threatened to take his services to “Monday Night Raw” if they offered him a better deal. The entire cruiserweight division was on the line at “Survivor Series 2.”
However, as Bischoff said, the fans know the WWE brand split is not a real split, and all wrestlers are working for the WWE. That causes these imagined defections to mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.
A perfect example is the cruiserweight division, which Eric Bischoff also says is not working. After the WWE brand split, “Monday Night Raw” announced that they would be the home to the cruiserweight division. The cruiserweight wrestlers became a part of that show.
During the podcast, Eric Bischoff said that the WWE has not really put a lot of work into the idea of the cruiserweight division or the WWE brand split.
The WWE brand split started on July 19 when the main roster was split into two. Men and women wrestlers moved to either “Monday Night Raw” or “SmackDown Live,” which became a live show on the same night when the split was announced.
Now that the brand split happened several months ago, it would be a good time to reflect on the good and bad since things changed for WWE in a significant way.
According to a critic, the winner in the WWE brand split would probably be “Smackdown Live.”
The days of WWE shocking fans on a regular basis are over. He does not know if that’s just because of the PG rating forcing them to tone things down or because 71-year-old Vince McMahon likely doesn’t have the same creative abilities he once had.
Some critics think the strength of WWE in 2016 is the in-ring action, thanks to a talented roster. They also wish the stories were more compelling.