It has been officially two months since the WWE ushered in the “New Era.” Back on July 19, 2016; the WWE decided to usher in this era by having Smackdown Live and Raw select wrestlers to each show. While there has been some good material to come out since the brand split occurred like new opportunities being given, there has also been some bad things to come out of the WWE since July 19th.
I will be looking at the three things that have been bad for the WWE since the July 19th brand split and offer what I would do differently.
Put Raw back to two hours on Mondays
RAW was good before the draft when the entire roster was on the show. Since the draft happened, RAW had a 52 % decrease when it came to using superstars. I am aware that there have been some people who have left the company since the draft like the Dudley Boyz and there has been some to switch brands and join brands that were not there on July 19th so that the number may be different. I took it from the draft itself.
Just look at what Smackdown Live is doing every week in only two hours and sometimes I feel its a push just to watch all three hours of RAW. So to put it simply, if you put RAW on for two hours, you can get a better show. But, instead of putting on another repeat of a sitcom, you can put the previous week’s NXT episode for the first hour. So you will still have the wrestling on for three hours, just you have NXT for one hour and RAW for two hours.
Stop booking your main champions like jokes
Currently, your two main champions are Kevin Owens (RAW) and AJ Styles (Smackdown). First, we don’t need to see Kevin Owens on every episode. I know he has the top belt for RAW, but we don’t need to see him every week. Also, can the WWE please stop this “tag-team” with Chris Jericho, don’t get me wrong that it is some of the best stuff I have seen in years, but it is doing nothing for Owens. The way WWE is presenting both of them, I am surprised that Jericho doesn’t have the belt.
On the other side, you have AJ Styles as the main champion on Smackdown Live. Recently, WWE had AJ Styles loss to James Ellsworth, and while there is nothing wrong with him, you shouldn’t feed him to the world champion so quick into his term. Also, it devalued the title a lot as WWE made AJ almost look like a joke. AJ hasn’t had enough time with this belt to have these little matches with jobbers like James Ellsworth. After AJ Styles has the belt for a few months, then you can do something between them.
Stop having management on every week
The brand split happened two months ago, and one thing that both parties were saying before the draft was you wouldn’t see that much of Shane McMahon/Daniel Bryan and Stephanie McMahon/Mick Foley every week. However, it seems you end up seeing both of them on their shows with both of them or just one of them. I could have sworn I heard that this “new era” was about the talent.
I understand to have them on once in a while, but you don’t need to have them on every week. Unfortunately, we will probably see a lot of them heading into Survivor Series, but after Survivor Series I hope WWE limits us seeing them.I am aware that I could have gone on with others, but I felt these were some of the top problems that have been seen on WWE programming since the brand split happened on July 19
I am aware that I could have gone on with others, but I felt these were some of the top problems that have been seen on WWE programming since the brand split happened on July 19th. As 2016 closes and WWE gets into 2017, I am hoping that WWE makes changes to the brand split to ensure that it will be an overall success.