"I told Vince McMahon that" - WWE was warned about the Brand split being a horrible idea (Exclusive)
The brand split made its return to WWE in 2016 and has since been a prominent aspect of the company's product. However, the idea of a brand extension has received a lot of criticism. Vince McMahon himself was told that splitting up the rosters wasn't a feasible long-term plan by Vince Russo several years ago.
WWE decided to implement the brand split in 2002 after its roster nearly doubled in size following the acquisition of wrestlers from WCW.
The former WWE writer revealed details of a backstage meeting with Vince McMahon, where he shared his issues with the brand split.
Vince Russo claims that the brand split has historically proven to be a mistake, and continues to be an unwanted part of WWE's programming. On this week's Legion of Raw, he said:
"This goes all the way back twenty years ago when I actually had a meeting with Vince. I'm going to go all the way back to 2002 when I told Vince McMahon that the idea of the brand split was a horrible idea. And it has proven to be a horrible idea, bro, because now you've got one good show, and now you've got one really bad show. And if you had the entire roster to work with on a case like tonight, you would have had a much, much better show."
Check out this week's episode of Legion of Raw below:
That is going to come back to bite you in the rear end: Vince Russo on WWE's brand split
Last week was the five year mark since the WWE brand split was reinstated. Of the 59 draft selection spots, 28 are no longer with WWE (totaling 35 wrestlers).
WWE officials endured a tough night on RAW as several top talents are currently unavailable due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the promotion.
Vince Russo explained that the limitations of a brand split prevented WWE from utilizing SmackDown stars, who could have helped fill RAW's three-hour runtime.
Russo urged the promotion to end the brand split as he didn't see any pros of sticking with it in 2022.
"That is going to come back to bite you in the rear end a night like tonight when a lot of the talent can't make it. So, now you're going with B, C, and D talent, some NXT guy, who I never even heard of and couldn't care less about if I see him again. Whereas, could you imagine if you had Reigns and Drew McIntyre and you had Charlotte, and you had that entire roster to work with? It's foolish, bro, and you know why they continued to do it? Because nobody will say, 'Yeah, bro, it was really a bad mistake.' So they continue to do it, and there isn't one advantage, bro, to the brand split going into 2022," explained Russo.
No more brand split twitter.com/fitetv/status/…
Do you agree with Vince Russo's opinions regarding WWE's brand split? Share your views in the comments section below.
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