Roster Situation

[ShaRpY HaRdY]

So in light of the recent successful recruiting for WWE and their NXT program there are most likely going to be several new faces hitting the main roster by the end of the year, however the WWE Main Roster seems packed with many superstars and may not be able to create adequate room for storylines for people like Sami Zayn and Adrien Neville.. and it doesn't stop there, there's currently about 5-7 wrestlers on the NXT roster that could get called up between now and Wrestlemania 32.. and that number may grow depending on how NXT books themselves.

Now with that being said how do you think the Main Roster should be adjusted in order to accompany the large roster? If you were in charge of the WWE Main Roster would you make some cuts? Would you do a brand split? There's a lot to be said about this.. I'm struggling to imagine how the WWE will deal with this, I can only see them just keeping the whole scene crowded.

 

[Solidus1]

I'd send a lot of the main roster down to NXT, probably more than 50%. So many are just pointless fillers.

 

[TheChuck]

Ideally, the roster would be so loaded that bringing back the Brand Extension would be a necessity. However, that is not the case now. The roster has talent, but it is not being utilized to where most of the wrestlers can reach their potential. There is a dearth of heels. With Raw being three hours, WWE would either end up having a lot of crossover, anyway, thus negating a Brand Extension, or would have to bring in more wrestlers to compensate. A whole lot would have to change. I

The way the reality is, cuts would have to be done.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I'd send a lot of the main roster down to NXT, probably more than 50%. So many are just pointless fillers.

While 50% is ridiculous, there is definitely something to this. Kidd had a stint in NXT and was praised for his work there, now he is in a tag team that is doing well on the main roster. It shouldn't be viewed as such a bad thing for a main roster guy to be sent down to NXT to work on certain things, it can be a big benefit and help keep things fresh on both shows.

 

[Wacokid27]

I know this might cause some guffawing from some of you, but I actually think there's enough talent on the roster to manufacture a "brand split/brand extension" again. One of the reasons for this is the fact that we all agree there's talent there, but it's not being utilized properly.

The problem is that you've got too many guys (Bryan now that he's back, Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Ziggler, Cesaro/Kidd, the Usos, etc.) who headline both Raw and Smackdown (and some lesser lights who tend to headline Main Event and Superstars). If you had a true brand split and assigned Main Event to one brand and Superstars to the other, this would be a far less serious concern. Raw could be main-evented by Cena, Wyatt, Ambrose, Reigns and Smackdown would be headlined by Bryan, Rollins, Ziggler (or however the brands got split up. By adding a second "brand" to WWE, you create the necessity to utilize talent more effectively and actually use that deeper, talented roster. Also, that way, when Neville or Zayn or Kalisto or Owens were promoted to the "main roster", there could be some doubt about where they would go, storylines that could be built around "who gets the new top draft pick" or "who signs the hot young free agent".

wk

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

I know this might cause some guffawing from some of you, but I actually think there's enough talent on the roster to manufacture a "brand split/brand extension" again. One of the reasons for this is the fact that we all agree there's talent there, but it's not being utilized properly.

The problem is that you've got too many guys (Bryan now that he's back, Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Ziggler, Cesaro/Kidd, the Usos, etc.) who headline both Raw and Smackdown (and some lesser lights who tend to headline Main Event and Superstars). If you had a true brand split and assigned Main Event to one brand and Superstars to the other, this would be a far less serious concern. Raw could be main-evented by Cena, Wyatt, Ambrose, Reigns and Smackdown would be headlined by Bryan, Rollins, Ziggler (or however the brands got split up. By adding a second "brand" to WWE, you create the necessity to utilize talent more effectively and actually use that deeper, talented roster. Also, that way, when Neville or Zayn or Kalisto or Owens were promoted to the "main roster", there could be some doubt about where they would go, storylines that could be built around "who gets the new top draft pick" or "who signs the hot young free agent".

wk

I've thought this for a while, even when the roster was "down" by most people's estimations. Two brands >>> one brand

edit: And just to clarify, no, that doesn't mean I want to add back stupid shit like "Bragging Rights" or use the brand split as a crutch to book stupid shit like SD vs Raw Survivor Series matches or anything lame like that.

 

[Wacokid27]

I've thought this for a while, even when the roster was "down" by most people's estimations. Two brands >>> one brand

edit: And just to clarify, no, that doesn't mean I want to add back stupid shit like "Bragging Rights" or use the brand split as a crutch to book stupid shit like SD vs Raw Survivor Series matches or anything lame like that.

I wouldn't have a problem with a SD vs. Raw match (or even a Team SD vs. Team Raw at Survivor Series, for that matter) every now and then, but I also wouldn't support building a PPV around the idea of "Bragging Rights".

Complete side note: Back to the Survivor Series match, though, you've got 30 guys in the Rumble, right? What if Team Raw took on Team SD in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match with the stakes being that the brand that won could put 20 guys into the Rumble whereas the other could only put 10? I don't know if that would work as well in practice as it sounds in my head (hell, my head might be the only place that sounds good), but I'm just spitballin'.

The other piece, to me, would be to have 4 Raw-only PPV's and 4 SD-only PPV's (each brand would have its own world title, secondary title, tag titles, women's title, maybe have a Cruiserweight Division on one brand and women's title on the other....I don't know....details) with the Big 4 PPV's being common to both brands. This was, reportedly, the idea that was thrown around back in 2001 and was supposed to be the final goal of having Shane in charge of WCW/ECW (depending on exactly when we're talking about), but Vince's ego got in the way of good writing and good storytelling, which meant that WWE had to totally destroy The Alliance. If you had HHH and Stephanie "in charge of" Raw and Sting or Dusty or even Ric Flair "in charge of" Smackdown, you could still have two true brands and a true brand split.

There's a lot of creative angles that could come out of such a situation.

wk