10 Ways WWE Can Maintain Their Current Business Success

3. Consider A Brand Split

Smackdown Raw The key feature to a successful brand split is actually treating the shows like separate, but important entities. I can't use the word "equal" because realistically, whichever brand is on the flagship show, Monday Night Raw, is going to be perceived as the major one. This is a tough reform to implement because WWE just went through another round of belt consolidation (December's TLC 2013 with Orton/Cena). However, there's still a superfluity of championships (US Title and IC Title?). A decade ago, WWE was able to pop ratings for events such as the draft. They could build storylines around Smackdown versus Raw feuds. They were able to create different touring entities and vastly grew the Live Events revenue. There's much to be learned from the failed ECW brand launch which was built too heavily as being a third brand with too little top star power and running the fumes of nostalgia. Instead, there's a lot of advantages around running the brands as separate companies. It can revitalize a show like Smackdown which has continued to be relegated to an afterthought. Utilizing separate creative talent on each show will prevent breakout and train additional people in the company. It expands the size of the basic roster so that more wrestlers have an opportunity to break out and keeps the matchups more fresh. It also opens up more potential for targeting specific markets with each show and more merchandising options. Now that the developmental show is more heavily featured (NXT), there is more potential for creating rivalries around where new talent goes (which brand?). Instead of devoting upwards of six hours of weekly television (Raw/Main Event/Smackdown) programming to the same top storylines (which is probably an excessive amount), different aspects of wrestling and different creative arcs can be explored. Furthermore, this can be used to reinforce the importance of the monthly "PPV" event - a time where the two brands come together. In time where WWE lacks true national wrestling competition (neither ROH or TNA qualify), the best bet WWE has for creating a true rivalry and elevating quality is to essential launch their own competitive brand.
 
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Contributor

I'm a professional wrestling analyst, an improviser and an avid NES gamer. I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota and I'm working on my first book (#wrestlenomics). You can contact me at chris.harrington@gmail.com or on twitter (@mookieghana)