If you wanted to watch a Raw wrestler, you had to tune in on Monday night. If you wanted to watch a Smackdown wrestler, it had to be on Thursday or Friday depending on when Smackdown aired. Each brand had their own set of house shows on the weekends too. There were brand exclusive PPVs as well as those that included everybody on the roster. The rules about being on one show only were very strict for a lot of those years. The Undertaker was never on Raw because he was basically the top face on Smackdown for about a decade and that prohibited him from being on the other show. If you were a Smackdown wrestler and your best friend was on Raw, that's too bad. They didn't see each other. Those brands were kept separate on screen and off. When you watch wrestling today, one thing WWE does that infuriates me is they repeat matches over and over. A lot of weeks you might see a match on Smackdown that ends up taking place on the following Raw or vice versa. How many times has WWE done matches like Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio? It feels like their favorite match to book. They just did it on Raw this week! When healthy, it seems as though those two have been booked on television more than any wrestlers in the last few years. By keeping wrestlers exclusive to one brand, it allowed WWE to keep their talent fresh without putting them on television too much and making fans see their favorites only one night per week.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
