This... this was just special. I mean really, really special.
Obviously this won't work since it's not a star who draws, it's what said star does. We wanted to see Braun Strowman wreck stuff every week before his dumb ass heel turn, just like we wanted to see Stone Cold more than the Ringmaster.
But lets say having your top stars does matter. And it's the buildup for Wrestlemania again when Becky Lynch was coming out and talking mad shit and punching people and getting arrested... so if you're having Becky Lynch show up on every Smackdown, that's just diminshing Becky like it is now because your roster can't just be Becky and Charlotte and lets try to feature someone else lol. (And Bayley, too)
The brand split has really been a great thing for the product. It gives them the annual chance to give us new matchups, and gives more opportunities for guys like Bryan and Styles on SDL to not get lost in the shuffle behind Roman and Lesnar, and it damn sure matters because Fox ain't paying a billion dollars for lame duck 2015 Smackdown. Those saying "just end the brand split"..why? And if you're not ending the brand split, why do this?
As good as it sounds to say "Cool, you can bring Charlotte to Raw to face Lacey Evans" or "Pull the Revival to Smackdown to have a serious match with Bryan and Rowan", you'll run out of fresh matchups quickly there too. And if you're teasing main eventers jumping brands - again, who cares, you have AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins coming up and people are waiting with baited breath for Double or Nothing to topple this sinking ship - and just pull tag guys and undercard women to bounce between shows then that's disappointing, but so is opening next week's show with "The Big Dog is here! He's got unfinished business that involves Baron Corbin!"
I just don't see what this accomplishes. Can't you just have a match that makes Seth Rollins look cool and then AJ Styles look cool and then be like "Hey, watch these guys fight at MITB!" and not do this? But then you can't just have jobber matches on Raw because we're supposed to sit there for THREE HOURS which is why things have to be 50/50 and... ugh my head hurts.
I've wondered for a while if they just need to get rid of NXT, and just go back to the FCW model except run by people who give a shit. Imagine not being emotionally invested in all these characters before they're called up. Imagine not knowing of the War Raiders and watching them put on some classics and deliver high-flying action before they became a meme within minutes.
Meh.