On March 25, 2002, Vince
McMahon and his cohorts at Titan Towers went through with
one of the gutsiest if not popular decisions in the history
of World Wrestling Entertainment. It was on that fateful episode
of Raw where Mr. McMahon – along with then “co-owner” Ric
Flair – orchestrated the first ever WWE Draft.

In the on-camera storyline, the purpose
behind the draft was that since Mr. McMahon and The Nature
Boy could not coexist as 50 percent owners, WWE CEO Linda
McMahon and her “Board of Directors” decided that the best
thing to do was split the WWE product into two distinct brands
that would be exclusive and completely separate from each
other.

Behind the scenes, there were several
reports as to why the WWE roster pool was split into two factions.
First, of course, was the idea that the fabrication of “healthy
competition” between the two groups of talent would perhaps
rekindle some semblance of the spark that had been lost in
professional wrestling since the fold of World Championship
Wrestling (WCW). Second, McMahon and company figured the successful
development of two separate brands could mean more accrued
revenues due to an increased house show schedule. For instance,
the Smackdown! and Raw brands could now have live, non-televised
house shows on the same night, essentially doubling the earnings
at the gate for those nights.

Third, and seemingly least important to
the McMahons but most important to the fans, a brand extension
produced opportunities for certain wrestlers relegated to
the low- or mid-cards to step up and potentially become main
event superstars without those already at the top of the card
getting all pissed off about losing their “heat” to younger
talent. This reason right here is why I used to look
at the brand split as a good idea.

As I look back on the past 16 months of
WWE programming, there exist several elements to this fabricated
extension that truly irks me to no end. The thing that bothers
me the most is that while Raw and Smackdown! have certainly
developed different methodologies as to how the storylines
and superstars are presented, the two brands are nowhere near
realizing the goal of creating a fresh competitive spark for
the pro wrestling fan to latch onto.

In fact, the pro wrestling fan should
feel downright cheated by the brand extension because a) Even
the most casual fan knows that both factions are still owned
in real-life by Vince McMahon – especially considering Vince
likes to pop up on both shows – making it impossible to sell
the idea of separation; and b) There is an indication from
fans and people in the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC)
that Smackdown! is the fresher program from top to bottom
– maybe it’s the HHH Effect – and as a result the extension
loses its luster every Monday night.

Now many people will argue that the brand
extension is better than the way things were before the draft
due to the increase in stable main event “spots” for guys
like Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, and I used to even think
that myself. The argument from pro-brand extension camps is
that at least the young guys on Smackdown! have their own
playground apart from the World’s Business Casual Champion.

However, what I see on Smackdown! nowadays
is the same shit that has spewed out of Vince’s wrinkled old
ass for the past three or so years. What I drew from the Vengeance
Pay-per-View is that Vince McMahon had such little faith in
his superstars to carry the whole show that he booked himself
in a main event encounter against Zach Gowen. Reports came
out that Vince perceives himself to be the top heel on Smackdown!
so the best way to elevate the one-legged Gowen is to have
Zach pitted against good old Mr. McMahon.

Are you telling me there isn’t one wrestler
on the roster that could have taken Vince’s place? To me,
that does not show progression towards creating a new feeling,
but rather another gutless rehashing of the WWF’s crown jewel:
the Austin-McMahon storyline.

In all seriousness, how many times have
we had to bare witness to an owner-worker feud since 1997?
It seems that WWE creative has this unhealthy obsession with
management having to get involved in big angles to drum up
fan interest – whether it’s Vince or Stephanie on Smackdown!
or Bischoff and Austin and even Linda this past Monday
on Raw – rather than letting the WRESTLERS take precedence.
Hell, even Brock and Angle had to get involved with the Vince-Gowen
angle on Smackdown! in order to seemingly pump up their face
pop-ability to max volume for their Triple Threat match against
Big Show … as if their backstage vignettes as of late weren’t
enough to seal the deal.

My point is this: The last 16 months of
the brand extension have not had a tremendous positive impact
on WWE, mainly because the problem of stale booking leftover
from the past three years has never quite been resolved. I
would like to see things the way they used to be, if for nothing
else than the fact that I like the idea of the WWE producing
a continuous series on Monday and Thursday nights, as well
as he prospects of reuniting the talent pool to produce a
more potent mix of characters and storylines.

Either way, the less McMahons in the ring,
the better.

What are your thoughts on the brand extension?
You can send me feedback about this or anything else in this
column to chris411wrestling@yahoo.com
by clicking over to the message
boards.

That’s all for now … PEACE.

-
Chris

In addition to his weekly ramblings with
moodspins, Chris Biscuiti is also a regular pro wrestling
columnist with 411Mania.

Last 5 posts by Chris Biscuiti

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• The Phone Number Attached - March 15th, 2005