3 things WWE did this week to secretly hint the fans about the end of brand split
WWE re-introduced the brand split in mid-2016 to freshen up the WWE product and focus more on character development rather than extending the same feuds on different shows. This move was highly appreciated by the WWE Universe, with a major credit of the improvement going the SmackDown show.
It has been nearly 3 years since the night SmackDown aired live on a Tuesday night, and it seems like WWE wants to end the brand split now. After the Superstar Shakeup of 2019, Vince McMahon introduced the 'Wild Card" rule which has been heavily criticized because WWE is not following the rules they themselves made.
The Chairman had said that any 4 random superstars of each brand may be invited to the other brand as Wild Cards but we are getting the same superstars appear as wildcards on TV.
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It looks like we are back in 2015-16 where the same storyline is the center point of both RAW and SmackDown. In this article, we will have a look at the 3 things which WWE did this week to secretly hint the fans about the brand split's end.
#3 EIGHT SmackDown superstars appear on RAW
It seems like Vince McMahon's sole purpose behind introducing the Wild Card rule was to have Roman Reigns appear on both RAW and SmackDown Live. For some reason, he believes that the Big Dog brings in higher viewership numbers hence, he has always used him as a Wild Card on RAW.
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However, Vince crossed all limits this week as along with Roman Reigns, he called Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Carmella, Xavier Woods, Dolph Ziggler, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce appear as the Wild Cards on RAW.
While on SmackDown Live, we had only 3 Wild Cards in Lacey Evans, Drew McIntyre and Bray Wyatt (the rerun of Firefly Fun House).
The fact that WWE used 8 SmackDown superstars on RAW was a slight indication that the brand split is ending.