10 Signs WWE's Brand Split Just Isn't Working

5. Brock Lesnar & Randy Orton Ignored The Rules Almost Immediately

WWE BrandSplit
wwe.com

Weeks before the WWE Draft even took place, it was revealed that Randy Orton would go one-on-one with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam in August. During the Draft itself on July 19, Orton was positioned on SmackDown Live and Lesnar was drafted to Monday Night Raw. Straight away, many were scratching their heads wondering how WWE planned to build the pay-per-view match.

On just the second week of Raw since the brand split, SmackDown star Orton invaded the program and nailed Brock with an RKO as Lesnar stood mid-ring being talked up by Paul Heyman. In one fell swoop, WWE had completely undermined the idea of Raw and SmackDown featuring exclusive rosters.

Orton vs. Lesnar was an anomaly, booked before the Draft. Whilst that's true, the writing team must have known their plans for the Draft when scheduling the marquee bout.

Lesnar proceeded to then intrude on SmackDown and gain revenge, once again shattering the boundaries between both shows. No sooner had the split started than WWE were overlooking it in order to properly build towards SummerSlam.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.