There have been a couple of discussions a while back about the WWE planning or rumored to be having PPV's that were one roster only. Right now we don't know when, if ever, that will happen, but I was just thinking of some of the advantages if it did.
For one thing, there are plenty of people that clearly prefer watching Smackdown to watching RAW, and they would be satisfied with a Smackdown only PPV. At least from the Smackdown point of view, there is probably enough talent to put on a good length PPV, especially when we have seen 20 odd minute matches the last few weeks on free TV.
Thinking about the feuds right now, they could put together a nice card like the following (even if you don't agree with the booking, notice the number of decent and quality matches):
Brock Vs. Edge for the WWE title
Angle Vs. Benoit
Mattitude Vs. Taker
Rey Vs. Noble for the Crusierweight title
Big Show Vs. Someone (depending on if he will be face or heel on this show)
Dawn Marie Vs. Torrie because some T&A seems to be needed for all PPV's
Eddy and Chavo (tag champs) Vs. some team for the Tag titles, imagining that Angle and Benoit distintegrate as a team and drop the titles.
Tajiri Vs. someone (Crash Holly, Kidman maybe?)
That is 8 matches, some of which would be high quality, some of which would be average, but certainly not a lacking card, and maybe the WWE would drop the price just a bit due to it being half of the roster.
Secondly, I think that if the WWE were to do this, they would get a clear message from the fans on which product they preferred (hopefully the Smackdown version). If the Smackdown PPV buyrates were significantly higher than the RAW buyrates, that should give a clue to the writers and producers on the direction they should be headed in, and maybe that would prevent at least some awful storylines in the future.
I'm not saying that RAW and Smackdown should be the same, but one seems to be doing things the right way, and the other seems to be lagging. I think the WWE can sucessfully have two separate and distinct brands without sacrificing quality, but they need a loud and clear message from the fans on which sort of show is preferred. Split roster PPV's would be a good way for the WWE to gauge their progress.
I don't get Smackdown (not in St. Louis until April,) so if the WWF were to offer a $20-$25 PPV with just the Smackdown roster, I'd buy it in a second; the only one I've purchased since Mania was SummerSlam.
If they do start split-roster PPVs, the best way I can think of for them to pull it off is to alternate it by month. That is to say, Raw gets the PPV one month, Smackdown the next, and so on. I very much doubt they can handle 2 PPVs a month and expect to make any money off it. Besides, a PPV every two months for each roster would make the whole thang seem more important, and it would add much more time to build rivalries and storylines and so forth.
Also, such a plan would allow me to concentrate on Smackdown exclusively.
I'd arther see them end the split, keep the best workers onscreen and let Heyman be head booker. In other news, I believe in the Great Pumpkin, the Easter Bunny, and Santa Claus, and I believe with all my heart that OJ will find "the real killers" any day now.
Originally posted by Bongo P. MichinokuIf they do start split-roster PPVs, the best way I can think of for them to pull it off is to alternate it by month. That is to say, Raw gets the PPV one month, Smackdown the next, and so on.
Of course, they would have to re-adjust the rosters, to make RAW better, so for those who are complaining about Big Show going to Smackdown, realize that it's NEEDED, hopefully some good guys can be moved to RAW, to make it competitive, talent-wise with SMACKDOWN!...
The scary part is that talent wise, they ARE pretty much equal now. The dead weight on RAW is all injured. I don't want to list everyone off, but for every Edge/Rey, there's a Booker T/Goldust. For every Eddie/Chavo, there's Storm and Christian. This ain't the same show it was when Bradshaw was all over the place. When you add Jericho, Trish, Molly, RVD, Triple H, D'Lo, and Jeff Hardy and to the mix, you've got about the same talent pool Smackdown has (***) it's simply that the writers on RAW have totally different agendas than the Smackdown ones (don't let the talent get over, because if the wrestling gets over, they won't need writers anymore).
*** = the moment I realized for the first time in my life how good Heyman truely is.
Originally posted by Tribal Prophet...for every Edge/Rey, there's a Booker T/Goldust. For every Eddie/Chavo, there's Storm and Christian. This ain't the same show it was when Bradshaw was all over the place. When you add Jericho, Trish, Molly, RVD, Triple H, D'Lo, and Jeff Hardy and to the mix, you've got about the same talent pool Smackdown has.
Okay, I can understand Booker T/Edge being comparable, but Golddust to Rey??? No freakin' way Storm is below Eddie overall, IMHO.. My feelings on a few others... Regal's style just clashes with EVERYONE, too old school. Test? oh man, he just SUCKS Al Snow is always gonna be considered the Tough Enough guy Dreamer COULD'VE gone somewhere, but he's too buried to ever get out. Hurricane is good, but with no cruiser divison, he's not going anywhere soon. D'Lo is just starting to show up on Raw more frequently, as a resident jobber. Jeff Hardy I CAN'T take seriously...too damn swishy, and not much effort is being given, it seems. Bubba was looking okay for awhile, but the teaming of him and Spike just looks weak. There seems, at least to me, that so much of the RAW talent is stuck in the Low Mid-card, even the SMACKDOWN! midcarders seem better, with the obvious exceptions. I really don't like that Benoit AND Eddy left... So, I'm GLAD to see the Big Show move over, and I'm hoping that Batista will make a good showing, as well as bringing up others from OVW... Oh, and of course, maybe HHH will either break-up with Stephfunny, or tear his quad again...
If they go split PPV's, they will start running out of combinations to use in 2 to 3 ppvs. Look how much trouble they had last month just getting four matches from each roster on the PPV.
I want you to know, I agree with everything I've just said.
I think it's intentional that *we* all prefer Smackdown. To the best I can figure, RAW is supposed to be the "sports entertainment" show and Smackdown's supposed to be the "wrestling" show. What RAW really needs is better writers, much moreso than better talent, They most certainly have wrestlers capable of doing good matches and damned entertaining backstage storyline stuff, it's just that they're given nothing to work with.
Hell, to be fair, HHH and Kane have done about as well as can be hoped with this awful storyline they're stuck in.
I see what you mean, Fuzzy. That's what I'm thinking too. But I'm totally tired of waiting for the day they get something to work with. It's bad enough that Hunter will never live this down for the rest of his career. What really hurts was that this wasn't even NECESSARY.
Supposedly, the split PPV's would begin in February which makes some sense as they would both build towards Wrestlemania.
When the split does happen I believe that there will only be 7 or 8 months with split PPV's and the other 4 or 5 are combined. That way they can use the separate PPV's to build towards the combined PPV's.
Of course, this would require a lot of long-term planning which is something that we have not seen lately from the WWE.
They may run out of combinations after a year but that is where character development comes into play.
These commercials are superfine because they pay for the production costs of putting CHRIS MOTHERFUCKING BENOIT on my GODDAMN TV SCREEN! I will GO GREYHOUND! I am thinking OUTSIDE THE BUN! – Dean Rasmussen 8/1/2002 Smackdown Workrate Report
Are you kidding? They've been planning this Kane/HHH feud for MONTHS now!
-Jag
With poison running through your veins, and death marching solemnly towards you, heroic acts become more of a necessity as you see your time dwindling.
Vanquishing your enemies, making amends to those you have wronged, and leaving words of love and kindness for those around you become second nature as your own mortality looms
However, true strength lies not in these last desperate acts, but in the actions of one who has to get out of bed the next day and face the consequences of doing that which you believe is right.
Uh, sorry to burst everyone's bubble but they actually put out a statement saying they had absolutely NO plans for split PPVs. They're not as dumb as we think, apparently, and realise that separate monthly shows would drive into bankruptcy faster than any other stupid money-wasting venture.
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