7 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (14 July - Results & Review)

4. Why Have A Brand Split?

WWE Raw Bron Breakker LA Knight
WWE

Semi-serious question here. What’s the actual point of the brand split between Raw and SmackDown these days?

Raw, which boasts a bigger roster, was home to a handful of SmackDown acts on Monday night, with LA Knight wrestling in the main event for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, the top men’s title on Raw. Chelsea Green and the Secret Hervice journeyed to the red brand so Chelsea could tangle with Nikki Bella. And Roman Reigns popped up to set the table for SummerSlam. Raw wrestlers have appeared on SmackDown several times since WrestleMania 41.

John Cena defended his WWE Championship against Raw superstar CM Punk at Night of Champions. He teamed with Logan Paul at Money in the Bank to battle Cody Rhodes and Raw superstar Jey Uso.

The crossovers used to be so rare that it was treated as a transgression or a situation where a GM had to get special permission. Now, superstars just wander onto a different show like it doesn’t mean anything. SmackDown wrestlers can compete for Raw-exclusive titles, and vice versa.

This becomes a problem when you have Naomi boasting about leaving the blue brand and former partners Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill behind. Apparently, they could just show up and ask Raw GM Adam Pearce for a match – there’s plenty of precedence for the crossover.

Again, why bother having the brand split if WWE isn’t even going to pretend to enforce it?

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.