WWE's Brand Split and the Two Title Debate
“What’s past is prologue.”
William Shakespeare’s words aren’t often applied to the world of professional wrestling, but in this instance, they definitely fit. In a move that had been rumored to happen for years, WWE is officially splitting the brands once again.
Raw and SmackDown will have their own distinct rosters, with the latter going live on Tuesday nights. While the probability of the brand split coming back was debated upon for quite a while, fans likely could not have imagined all of this would suddenly be dropped on them with no warning.
But now that it has, the question of what will be done with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is surely being asked. Will Roman’s title once again become two separate entities, as it was before? Will fans see a WWE and a World Championship, one for each program?
Or will the company take a page out of the NWA’s old playbook, and have Roman become a traveling champion? He could appear on either Raw or SmackDown, depending on who he’s going to be facing. Is this the right move for WWE? For that matter, are fans ready for any of this to begin with?
The best part about two titles is obvious; not enough guys are getting true main event spotlight. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews are all doing well on Raw, but what are the chances that any of them will be facing Roman for the title any time soon?