I happened to read a recent interview conducted with Shane McMahon. One of the questions that Shane was asked talked about the splitting of the roster. Shane said this idea made him totally uncomfortable. He said that his grandfather, Vincent J. McMahon would be rolling in his grave if he knew that Vince and Stephanie would be writing storylines. I agreed with everything that Shane McMahon said in that interview as far as this brand extension goes. After seeing RAW and reading the SmackDown! spoilers, I'm now convinced that this will fail miserably. Shane pointed out that he was vehemently against this idea from the start, and that he hopes that ends around King of the Ring. I don't remember what site this interview was at, but I'll agree with one thing: if anyone can fix this mess, it's Shane.
Fix what mess? Raw was much better than the previous efforts in my opinion and I've yet to see Smackdown nor have I read any spoilers. Honestly they've already "fixed their mess" more in one episode than they had in 12 previous ones truth be told......
I'm thinking we have a member of the McMahon family posting under an assumed name here.
"You used it to shove your miserable daughter down our throats week in and week out...not anymore!" - Ric Flair gives me hope, Raw 3/18/02
"I thought it was cool how HHH just tossed Jericho out of the ring and made him vanish, possibly into another dimension, at the end of the match." - Dr. Unlikely says the funniest thing I've ever read on Wienerville.
4/1 RAW was ok. But let's look at the big picture here.
This feud is about Vince vs Flair. For Flair to win, Vince essentially has to be written -out- of owning the WWF for good. Does anyone here think this feud will be the end of owner Vince? Didn't think so.
In the end, Vince will still own the fed. So the realization is that this brand extension angle is all about VINCE PUTTING VINCE OVER YET AGAIN. Boy what an accomplishment. The other possibility, I suppose, is Vince turning face. But Vince still is putting himself over that way, too.
And that is if this angle is a successful at some level. If this angle bombs, we all know it will be swept away quickly with, of course, Vince putting himself over anyway.
Flair is there to do for Vince what he did for Hogan in WCW all those years. Flair is gonna do his job and that is that.
So yes, I can see Vince J McMahon rolling in his grave at the thought of his grandson putting himself over like this on a big ego trip while a lot of talented wrestlers sit out of the spotlight.
If the "brand extension" remains permanent, Flair does not have to put over Vince. Only if the split flops will one "owner" have to put over the other... I don't think this is an angle/feud so much as a way to increase revenue for the WWF. With the split, the WWF has two separate touring companies and, eventually, brand-exclusive PPVs. Also, it will eventually give stale players fresh roles by shuffling them between companies -- kind of like in the old territory days.
I would never say that Vince doesn't book for ego. The invasion proved that. But I don't think that's the case here, really.
Could you have possibly read this interview on April 1? Honestly i don't think Shane is going to be giving any interviews saying anything negative about the wwf. This is a joke. Shane saying he hopes the angle fails by King of the Ring? Why would Shane hope an angle would fail? Makes no sense to me.
It's still really really early, but the one thing I'm really digging is the entire week between storylines, it won't be a Raw/smackdown and feud is pretty much done the next week... Now it's like 3 or 4 weeks to get a story to hit, I like that.
Originally posted by Net Hack SlasherIt's still really really early, but the one thing I'm really digging is the entire week between storylines, it won't be a Raw/smackdown and feud is pretty much done the next week... Now it's like 3 or 4 weeks to get a story to hit, I like that.
I think they're going to make Jakked and Heat more important, so they could very well be part of the storyline. That seems the idea to me, to make Jakked (or Heat) the second show for each promotion.
Yeah I thought of the waiting as a good thing myself, but it can also kind of suck if you want to see a *little* bit more development of a storyline later in the week. But you're right, the way the WWF did it, I guess by assuming that none of their fans have any kind of attention span whatsoever (thank you MTV!), everything was over in one week. I just don't like one little thing I saw last week and heard in the spoiler this week about Smackdown- no woman's division matches. But I guess I'm one of the few who cares about that anyway.
Shane definitely was opposed with the idea of the WWF splitting the roster. What really bugged him was the idea of the WWF Champion having the right to be on both RAW and SmackDown!. Apparently, he remembered the old NWA/UWF situation from 15 years ago. He felt that was what led to the downfall of the UWF as well as World Class Championship Wrestling. He's afraid either RAW or SmackDown! might end up being canceled. When his requests to not go ahead with the split were denied, he told officials that he did not want anything to do the storylines as long as this roster split was in effect. I, personally, can't blame Shane for feeling like this. However, I do know that Shane's heart is in the WWF. As far as I'm concerned, Shane has perhaps more dedication to his family's business than any other McMahon, including Linda. He just wants what he thinks is best for the WWF, and more importantly, for the WWF fans.
some site puts up a fake interview as either an April Fools Day joke or some moron sends it in thinking it would be funny. People read interview and take it as real, forgetting that it is on the internet, where everyhting must be taken with a grain of salt, especially screamingly false reports such as this.
The split was originally planned for last summer, why would Shane just be getting upset about it now?
Personally, I think that the end result (brand extension) is the best thing that could have happened to get the Fed out of the doldrums it had been in. We as viewers aren't going to get overload on any one person (Other than the undisputed champ, maybe), and other guys are getting their shot at tv time.
I'm not willing to say it's a success yet, nor would I call it a failure. I'm interested to see where they're going with it, and that's the best I can hope for right now.
I've had no complaints either so far. I will give it a few weeks at least... and then if the shows start tailspinning again then we'll see. But so far apparently the shows have been decent.
I am the JOBBER TO THE STARS. You better remember that.
If Shane would do an interview like that, he would be the only McMahon no longer working for the WWF
I don't think that even if he would think it, he would say it!
DMC, wasn't there a match between Trish and Terri? Two women..women division match. Don't expect too much of a women division, dude!
"...And I use that to fuck them some place fairly uncomfortable." "What, like the back of a volkswagen ?" -Mallrats
Shane definitely was opposed with the idea of the WWF splitting the roster. What really bugged him was the idea of the WWF Champion having the right to be on both RAW and SmackDown!. Apparently, he remembered the old NWA/UWF situation from 15 years ago. He felt that was what led to the downfall of the UWF as well as World Class Championship Wrestling. He's afraid either RAW or SmackDown! might end up being canceled. When his requests to not go ahead with the split were denied, he told officials that he did not want anything to do the storylines as long as this roster split was in effect. I, personally, can't blame Shane for feeling like this. However, I do know that Shane's heart is in the WWF. As far as I'm concerned, Shane has perhaps more dedication to his family's business than any other McMahon, including Linda. He just wants what he thinks is best for the WWF, and more importantly, for the WWF fans."
Tell me that post was a joke. Or that you're Shane McMahon.