Why WWE's Brand Splits Never Work (& Probably Never Will)
Reports say WWE is about to end its current Raw and SmackDown brand split, and at this point, it seems unlikely such a setup will ever work. When WWE first attempted a «brand extension» as they usually refer to it, the timing seemed right. WWE had purchased the assets of its former chief competition, WCW and ECW, and also absorbed much of those promotions' talent roster. With WWE about to change its name from the WWF due to a lawsuit, WCW and ECW gone, and the Attitude Era seemingly over, a brand split didn't seem too far-fetched.
After all, it makes sense that WWE wanted to recapture the magic of its wars with WCW, most personified by the battle between Raw and Nitro. If Raw andSmackDown could truly be made into separate entities under the WWE corporate umbrella, airing on different TV networks and with a different wrestler line-up, there's no real reason this attempt to manufacture a feeling of competition couldn't work. However, work it most certainly did not, at least not fully.
Related: Why Cody Rhodes' Creative Stands Out Among Bland WWE Storylines
WWE boss Vince McMahon stubbornly stuck with the brand split experiment through early 2011, but by then the audience had long since grown tired of its failings. With WWE's second «brand extension» reportedly about to end — after kicking off in fall 2016 — it appears that WWE's brand split is set to once again go out with a whimper. For various reasons, WWE just can't seem to make the idea work very well, and those problems don't look likely to vanish in the foreseeable future, at least as long as Vince McMahon remains in charge.
While WWE will sometimes have brief periods where it tries to act like Raw and SmackDown are on an equal playing field, most of the time there's
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