7 Things WWE Fans Wanted (Until They Got Them)
4. The Brand Split
For years, SmackDown was the ugly stepsister of WWE programming. It pretty much doubled as a Raw rerun with constant recaps and rehashes of the exact same matches and angles from the night before... only with even less effort. The Brand Split offered more opportunities for wrestlers who have been forgotten about or just couldn't get enough TV time to showcase their talents
Things started rather promisingly, actually. For a few months after the beginning of the Brand Split, SmackDown was almost always enjoyable viewing. Since then the fans' attitude towards it started to sour.
More TV time for midcarders? How about for the same three people over and over again? From the land of opportunities, SmackDown soon descended into extreme mediocrity. Sadly, it could be felt that it was still clearly considered to be the B show by WWE's management.
With the Wild Card Rule running rampant, and SmackDown being drowned by Raw recaps anyway, many started to question the validity of the Brand Split. Who is even on which roster anymore? And does it matter, seeing as there are virtually no differentiating characteristics to both brands?