Backstage News On WWE's Brand Split 2016
The latest word on what shape it's all going to take.
News broke yesterday of a monumental change within World Wrestling Entertainment. SmackDown is going live, and the brand split will return to WWE, meaning a few hectic months of fantasy booking are ahead for wrestling fans worldwide. No one is entirely sure how it will all look, but a number of reports are beginning to seep out regarding the possibilities.
The current assumption is that WWE will once again have two world titles, one being designated to each brand. As for the secondary championships, they will be split between the two shows as in the original draft, with one show getting the United States Championship and the other being home to the Intercontinental Championship. The Women's Championship is yet to be discussed but the prevailing feeling is that it'll be exclusive to one show, whereas the tag titles will be on both.
Despite the recent releases (and the ones rumoured to come) WWE will continue to look for and sign talent from outside the company, as it now has two rosters to fill and four live show tours to run. As of right now there is no word on when the draft itself will be, and supposedly the decision to do the split was only made in the last couple of weeks, with some only informed as recently as Extreme Rules this past Sunday.
Vince McMahon is supposedly 'pumped up' (not a pleasant image) about the whole thing, but the only thing guaranteed is that everything is likely to change before the split on July 19th.