EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY COMES FULL CIRCLE. WHEN THE DIE IS CAST, IT INEVITABLY SEEMS LIKE WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE. AND PERHAPS WE HAVE.
The WWE roster split is nothing new.
Right around the end of the Attitude Era the company was blessed with a deep, talent-laden roster and needed to somehow provide an opportunity for all those involved to flourish.
Having captured and conquered all of its competition, the original idea was for Vince McMahon to run WCW as its own separate brand; complete with exclusive rosters, on-air talents, and shows. When a fateful Monday Night RAW contest between Buff Bagwell and Booker T ruined that idea, it was decided to simply use the original formula and lend them to RAW and SmackDown!
The result was the “WWE Brand Extension”.
Throughout the years it went through a few different variations (GM’s selecting talent, random draft picks, matches to determine which brand got which picks), but at its core it has always stayed true to a similar vision.
And much like the extension itself, so to did the shows involved.
RAW, the flagship program, always seemed to be the home beacon. Storylines abound were set up on the Monday night program. SmackDown! of course, became known as the wrestling show. Vince McMahon’s vision for creating his own competition was proved as prudent and viable nearly immediately.
With the exclusive rosters, it was simply the natural and expected progression for fans and writers alike to begin comparing the brands, arguing over which roster was stronger, which show was better, etc. It’s a tradition that has carried on to this day, and has returned in full force with the most recent roster splits.
(I myself don’t feel a particularly strong allegiance to either. I’ll always be a fan and viewer of both. However, for whatever it’s worth, RAW gets fast forwarded on the DVR far more frequently than SmackDown Live!)
Even in its earliest iterations, it was clear the rosters were slanted toward RAW, the golden goose of the company’s television portfolio, at least in name brand value. However, as legend so goes, the creative vision of one of professional wrestling’s true masterminds would slant the field decidedly in favour of SmackDown!
Paul Heyman would ask Vince McMahon for very little as he took charge of creative for the blue brand. In fact, it isn’t so hard to imagine Vince chortling that big old laugh at the ask, which he surely assumed was far too small. Heyman asked for, and was granted: Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Chris Benoit.
They became affectionately known as “The SmackDown! Six” and they went on to change the wrestling world.
It took virtually no time for SmackDown! to be synonymous for a great in-ring product, with events consistently outshining their Mondaynight counterpart. The body of work from these six men set forward a wrestling revolution, and defined what SmackDown! as a brand would become.
Fast forward to 2017, and SmackDown Live! presented their monthly pay-per-view offering, “Money In The Bank”.
The main event was hotly anticipated by many, myself included. A ladder match where the winner would receive a Championship opportunity at their time of choosing. The competitors were some of WWE’s brightest: AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. Six of the most entertaining stars WWE has to offer.
Six.
Hmm.
To some it could be a coincidence. But as many of you may know of me: I don’t believe in coincidences.
In these six extraordinary competitors, the blue brand once more has their new “SmackDown Six”, a hexad of talent the likes of which MondayNight RAW simply cannot compete with. It’s no wonder why SmackDown Live! has once more become known as the wrestling show, destination programming for wrestling fans which weekly offers up dream matches like Ziggler VS Nakamura, Owens Vs Styles, and more.
SmackDown Live has reinvented themselves by dipping back into their past. And much like it was in the 2000s, the revolution will not only be televised, but intently watched.