Some of the rumours so far don't paint this idea well.
THE BRAND SPLIT HAS RETURNED. I think.
- Thread starter Psionic
- Start date
Care to elaborate?
Apparently they're going with 2 different creative teams. That's a good start.
Well it was only a rumoured list of both rosters and one had a majority of the bad heels and no decent major faces on it leaving Reigns roving between to apparently make that up.
If they can't get one creative team right... I'm not sure two unless hired by someone that doesn't have to get the approval from Vince is something good or bad.
I just don't see the timing as working unless, like one rumour I hope is right, they make Smackdown the NXT extension and treat it properly as such.
I just don't trust any idea disseminated or approved by Vince while his choices and directions are boring the hell out of me save for a couple of midcards and two tag teams.
This risks spreading inconsistency even thinner, if it accompanied re-tooling the writing staff ENTIRELY? Sure I'm in, but that promo on Monday between Reigns and Rollins is so offensively boring, stupid and ill-conceived for YOUR MAJOR BELT FEUD that my faith is zero and no argument is going to convince me to engineer faith in that company.
I've come to terms with the fact I am watching again to either see the end of Vince or the slow decline of a Deer hit by car on the side of the road in terms of a trainwreck attraction.
I also saw a rumored list and thought "Smackdown is going to fucking kick ass."
"Smackdown:
Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Corey Graves, Mauro Ranallo
Other Announcers: Funaki, JoJo
Wrestlers: Rusev and Lana, The New Day, Apollo Crews, Becky Lynch, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, The Vaudevillains, The Wyatt Family, Baron Corbin, Emma, Tyler Breeze and Fandango, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Randy Orton, Dana Brooke, Big Show, Titus O’Neil, Tyson Kidd, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Darren Young and Bob Backlund, Goldust and R-Truth, Kane, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, Tamina Snuka, Eva Marie, Finn Balor, Peyton Royce, Tye Dillinger, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, Austin Aries, Mojo Rawley, Billie Kay, Nia Jax, No Way Jose"
That is an incredibly strong talent heavy with a lot of the better workers.
The Raw roster on the other hand is heavier on the, shall we say "sports entertainers"
"Raw:
Announcers: JBL, Michael Cole and Byron Saxton
Other Announcers: Lilian Garcia, Renee Young
Wrestlers: The Miz and Maryse, Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, Dean Ambrose, John Cena. Paige, Alberto Del Rio, Neville, Chris Jericho, The Dudley Boyz, Summer Rae, Kalisto, The Shining Stars, Zack Ryder, Naomi, Sin Cara, Sheamus, The Usos, Dolph Ziggler, The Ascension, Nikki Bella, The Social Outcasts, Bayley, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Revival, Carmella, Alexa Bliss, Bobby Roode, Hideo Itami, Liv Morgan, Blake and Murphy, Elias Samson"
Nakamura would fit in better with the Smackdown roster though. If those were the rosters going forward and you could put Shinsuke, Enzo and Cass on Smackdown I might never watch Raw again, lol.
Who are your decent to major singles faces on that Smackdown list and the fact they have Tyson Kidd in it suggests it's a total fabrication.
Who is it Titus? Big Show? That list is slanted VASTLY towards heels. I don't buy it, the original claim was Cena was going to Smackdown to drive the brand, which that I would get.
And a roster != decent booking your Gatekeeper to decision is Vince.
My problems are not with roster talent or their work rate, my problem is the booking and the writing.
This doesn't ease any of that concern.
This doesn't ease any of that concern.
I think the roster is a complete sham. They wouldn't already be booking people who just showed up in NXT. NXT'ers often undergo several repackages. New Day, Crews, Show, O'Neill, Swagger, Henry and a couple others are decent faces. You also need to consider most of the heels aren't true heels in the traditional sense. It reminds me quite a bit of the type of roster WCW had in the late 90's.
Singles faces and Titus has never been more than a low midcarder, you need an Ambrose or someone on Smackdown, New Day is not a singles team unless you break them up. Big Show, Swagger, Henry? Not relevant to headlining your shows and never will be.
I don't agree that list doesn't show me anything.
I'm not optimistic that with the writing and booking quality and that list they'll make anything more than take from one to slightly augment the other into an inconsistent mess.
If a major rumour said "Vince is realizing he may be out of touch and the whole company is re-structuring" then you've got my attention.
This just shuffling deck chairs for more ad money until I see writing and booking improvement.
This just shuffling deck chairs for more ad money until I see writing and booking improvement.
In what galaxy is Ambrose a face?
Either way, your headliners there is New Day, Club and Wyatts feuding none of which falling under a neat little "heel or face" heading.
At this point I'm certainly willing to give it a try, lol.
I was dead serious the other day when I said I was thinking of buying some shares in order to have at least a couple votes at their quarterly meetings.
What? Baby faces, not face of company you have or will keep in the mix near the top of the midcard at least or involved in belt feud. Yes Ambrose is still that.
Club just beat down Cena, those are heels, you can disagree, I don't see it, that's a heel situation. New Day is not wrestling Roman Reigns when he roves between the two promotions.
Wyatts? Remains to be seen what they do with them, they are heels to me but all of a sudden they think Bray is a face then gets injured, we'll see. Bray has been booked into oblivion, I don't see where that is destined to change immediately.
You can be optimistic all you like, I'm not trying to take it from you, but personally, and I only speak for myself, I don't see it, not yet not until I see weeks of proof and improvement.
Some people thought Raw was great this week.
To me you book a belt feud with a returning Seth Rollins that weak, not even a sentence to enhance his heat, you can't make up for it in the rest of the show the show's major driving slant weighs the overall score down the shitter. It;s a sign you're not interested in anything but lazy minimum effort.
I will give it a chance by virtue of the fact that I am watching wrestling, I just don't expect anything until there's substantial change in who makes decisions.
To me you book a belt feud with a returning Seth Rollins that weak, not even a sentence to enhance his heat, you can't make up for it in the rest of the show the show's major driving slant weighs the overall score down the shitter. It;s a sign you're not interested in anything but lazy minimum effort.
I will give it a chance by virtue of the fact that I am watching wrestling, I just don't expect anything until there's substantial change in who makes decisions.
Dean? Heel? XD yeah right.
"loose cannon" gimmicks are heels because their actions fly in the face of the traditional hero role. He's "unstable", he doesn't play by the rules, he cheats, he uses weapons.
Pillman, Piper, Austin, all heels.
Did the fans like them (especially Austin) fuck yes they did. Doesn't make them a face though.
Call him whatever term you want, Kevin Owens would wrestle Dean and Dean is not the heel.
The list looked to lack an amount of guys that would be that position versus heels like Owens, that's all I mean't.
It's splitting hairs to debate the term for him, he's almost never wrestling faces and isn't on some quest to fuck over the boss like Austin either so by defacto, he purely wrestles heels which was my only point.
So whether 'renegades' 'anti-faces' or faces that, Smackdown list was top heavy with the direct opposite in booking, that was the only point.
The list looked to lack an amount of guys that would be that position versus heels like Owens, that's all I mean't.
It's splitting hairs to debate the term for him, he's almost never wrestling faces and isn't on some quest to fuck over the boss like Austin either so by defacto, he purely wrestles heels which was my only point.
So whether 'renegades' 'anti-faces' or faces that, Smackdown list was top heavy with the direct opposite in booking, that was the only point.
Anti-heroes is the word you're looking for