7 Traps WWE’s Brand Extension Has Fallen Into (Again)
1. Too Much Emphasis On Authority Figures
Vince McMahon championed SmackDown and Ric Flair ruled over Raw during the early days of the original WWE brand extension in 2002. Those faces had changed to Stephanie McMahon and Eric Bischoff respectively by the end of the year, and the 'General Manager' positions continued to switch going forward.
WWE's decision to announce that GM characters would be backed up by Commissioners on Raw and SmackDown felt like overkill in the summer of 2016; left looking secondary to Stephanie and Shane McMahon, Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan don't have final say on their respective shows.
Once again falling into a familiar trap, WWE's reliance on the idea that someone must explain why matches are made is strangling the product. There's too much of an emphasis on authority figures across Raw and SmackDown, especially when a retired Daniel Bryan is shown feuding with The Miz. This isn't leading to anything - Bryan won't wrestle Miz in WWE.
If anything, WWE have made the issue of authority figures dominating Raw and SmackDown a bigger issue, because now four power brokers are featured instead of two.
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Do you see any other familiar traps WWE has fallen into with the brand extensions? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below!