Well it’s been a while…Again. I don’t think any I’m back speeches or promises will do anything, so I’m just going to say keep watching for my columns. This time I look at why I believe that Raw vs. Smackdown matches should only happen on one stage. That stage is the grandest stage of them all. That stage, is WrestleMania.
Recently (in fact as recent as Monday on Raw), matches that Vince McMahon himself said would only happen at WrestleMania, have taken place and been booked. Those matches are the inter-promotional matches. At Taboo Tuesday, we saw Snitski and Masters of Raw take on Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio of Smackdown. At Survivor Series, we’ll see a 5 on 5 Raw vs. Smackdown match as well as the GM’s facing each other. Hell, watch Smackdown this Friday and you’ll see Edge and Batista! This shouldn’t be happening…and I’ll tell you why In The Locker Room.
Gives the Matches More Prestige-
If these matches happen all the time, they will start to lose their luster. The inter-promotional matches have been built up very well for the past two WrestleMania’s. Kane and Undertaker was built up brilliantly, and people were dying to see the match, knowing it would be a one-time thing. The Shawn Michaels/Kurt Angle match was built up great just on the fact that these two were perhaps the best wrestlers, period, and they had never faced each other. And it happened on what is supposed to be the night where things that can only happen there, do. If we start having these matches on other shows throughout the year, that takes away so much from the theory of the brands being split and something so special for WrestleMania.
Makes the Brand-Split More Realistic-
If WWE were to continue restricting Raw vs. Smackdown matches to WreslteMania, the fans would take the brand-split more seriously. If these matches can happen any time, who cares what show each wrestler is on? Any wrestler at any time can just go over to the other show and say ” I want to face you!” and it’s set for the next PPV or weekly show. If one happens at WrestleMania, big deal, it’s just a different two guys than last time. Now, I know that no real feuds have been made yet, but they are still facing each other and feuds could easily come out of this. The fact still remains though that the “brand barrier” seems non-existent right now.
If these matches were to only happen at WrestleMania, like I believe they should be, then the WWE actually appears to still be going through with the brand extension. At WrestleMania anything can happen, that’s been proven over and over again. So why not keep it this way and have the Raw vs. Smackdown matches be just another thing to anticipate for WreslteMania?
Keeps New Feuds Open for the Draft-
This may be the most important one out of the whole bunch. The draft has happened after WrestleMania the last two years and I would bet money that the same thing will happen this coming year. Why does this draft occur? For a brief ratings boost yes, but also so wrestlers can get new storylines with new people and hopefully revive their character (in most cases anyway). Look at Kurt Angle. He had been on Smackdown since the beginning, and had fought just about everyone he possibly could have. His character was growing stale and he needed to be able to have new matches. So WWE moved him to Raw, where he could pick up his feud with HBK, and leave feuds with HHH, Flair, Edge, and others open. Kurt Angle’s character is re-born. Of course, this can go the other way (See: Christian, Muhammad Hassan)
If the wrestlers are feuding with each other all year, there would be no need for a draft and really no point to having two separate brands. Feuds would really be wasted too, as these matches seem to just be thrown together and I don’t really think they would build the matches with the same enthusiasm that they would for WrestleMania. Let me ask you. Would you rather see a thrown together Shawn Michaels/Eddie Guerrero feud, or a well thought out, well planned, and well built up feud? I know what I would choose.
WWE Scared of Growing TNA?-
This really is the only reason I can come up with for why WWE insists on having these matches outside of WrestleMania. Why else would WWE suddenly start pushing something to happen now that they had been building up as an “Only at WresleMania” occurrence? Well, this new rival company suddenly has a TV deal with growing ratings and a very good following. A rival company has new stars that people want to see as well as stars they used to see that haven’t been around. That company is Total Nonstop Action wrestling.
TNA is quickly becoming very popular, I for one am a huge fan and have been for about 2-3 years, since they were having those Wednesday Night PPV’s. Yes WWE is still the number 1 company, but I don’t think Vince wants to give TNA any chance. Vince doesn’t want another Monday Night War. So he wants to put TNA down before they get to the point where they are stealing away a good portion of the fans. How do you do that? Get fewer people to watch. By making these matches that are only supposed to happen at WrestleMania, people will want to watch WWE to see something they don’t know if they’ll see again. They want to watch something that doesn’t happen very often. Thus, WWE ratings rise, TNA ratings drop. Will this plan work? Who knows? Is this really what WWE is trying to do? I believe it just might be.
Well there is why I really think that these matches should be saved for WrestleMaina and only WrestleMania. If you go back in time in my columns (HIT UP THE COLUMNS LOUNGE PEOPLE!) you would find a column where I had an idea for truly a Super Bowl of wrestling, and that would fit in well here with my theories.
So to end it all off, I really wish we could just see these matches at the biggest event of the year, I think WWE is becoming afraid of TNA, and I believe WWE is losing something great by having these matches now. Agree? Disagree? Think I’m a genius? Crazy? Let me know. Email me at jordanprill@hotmail.com or come talk to me, I’m on very often and love to talk wrestling on AIM and MSN, on AIM I am JordanPrill, and on MSN you would most likely find me at showtime1up@hotmail.com. That’s it for this time, keep a look out for a very innovative column about King of the Ring….what happened to second place? But, that’s for another day, so now I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave The Locker Room.
