WWE Payback 2016: 10 Things You Might Have Missed
2. No Brand Split?
As promised, Vince McMahon made his decision about who would run Raw long-term. After both Stephanie and Shane made a pitch as to why they should be in control, the elder McMahon decided that, starting on Monday, his two children would be running Raw in tandem.
The decision was unexpected and, to be fair, can probably lead to some very interesting storylines. Fans hoping that this would be the impetus for the return of the brand split, though, may have been disappointed. There was no discussion of one of the McMahons getting to make Smackdown his or her domain - in fact, there was no mention of Smackdown whatsoever.
It's still possible that a brand split can be coming. If it turns out that Shane and Stephanie, after several months, simply can't coexist, then one of them may be put in charge of Smackdown and the roster may be divided. The fact that Smackdown wasn't even mentioned, though, and that in the course of the angle, "control of Raw" seemed to be analogous with "control of WWE" makes it seem unlikely. All this segment did for Smackdown was make it seem insignificant.