10 Times WWE Mocked What We Really Wanted
6. Actually Booking Split Brands
While the brand split was the Bullseye version of the Invasion, time is healing - and thus, once the disappointment of the Invasion faded, fans enjoyed the extension for what it was.
Particularly when the potential of it was realised to a seminal extent.
The Kurt Angle Vs. Shawn Michaels feud of 2005 was just phenomenal. As basic and loving in its premise as it was inspired in its execution, pitting the two best wrestlers on the respective brands and breaking the faithful division to allow them to fight was thrilling in an elusive sense. WWE had control over and conjured a pipe dream. The actual episodic TV was amazing, too. They didn't lazily rely on a match graphic. Angle's impersonations and psychotic heel work were unforgettable. His crusade to one-up Michaels materialised in black comedy gold.
This in fact was the gold standard of WWE's post-Attitude Era storytelling model; the best possible (or most realistic) emulation of a shock jump that built towards a dream match.
Beyond that, WWE never even bothered to maintain the integrity of the split. For the last however many years, with the quarterly brand-to-brand invitationals, the promotion has broken the rule - the discipline of which encourages creativity.
Sometimes wrestlers just appear on the other show for reasons.
The reason?
"You're thick and nothing matters!"