10 Wrestlers Who've Suffered Most From The WWE Brand Split
7. Erick Rowan
It’s hard to tell what’s going on with Erick Rowan at the moment. The Draft sent Braun Strowman to Raw, and while Rowan was drafted to SmackDown alongside Bray Wyatt, there was much speculation that The Wyatt Family were set to split. These rumours intensified a few weeks ago when Wyatt showed his disappointment at Rowan’s inability to beat Dean Ambrose, and the two didn’t appear on TV together at all this past week.
Rowan’s been in catastrophically bad form since the Brand Split, and his previous singles run was an absolute failure. He’s a relatively basic wrestler with little in the way of charisma or microphone skills, which makes him perfect in his role as Wyatt’s strong, silent enforcer. If Rowan truly is striking out on his own, it’s extremely tough to see a bright future for him in WWE.
His weaknesses have been greatly exposed since the Draft. The Ambrose match was sloppy and uncoordinated, and Rowan’s fleeting appearances on Main Event haven’t exactly impressed either. Splitting him from Wyatt makes little sense on-paper, and when the Family leader threw Rowan’s sheep mask down in the ring a few weeks ago, Erick looked like a loser. Not a great start to post-Draft life for a guy who was working in his perfect niche a few short months ago.