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"The Roster Split"

I was all for the roster split when it started as it would give a chance to the lower carders to get on Raw and Smackdown because main eventers were starting to dominate both shows but now I feel that the split must end.

The European title is a good place to start. This title should have been fought between lower carders but it wasn't really. Jeff Hardy and William Regal are not low carders. Regal had recently won the Intercontinental title and Jeff beat Triple H for the Intercontinental title not that long ago. The European and Intercontinental titles were then scrapped along with the Hardcore title. So what have the lower carders got left to go for? The best they can hope for is either being a jobber on Raw or Smackdown with the very occasional storyline or a regular on Velocity or Heat. That is very damaging for morale.

I hear people saying that the split in the shows give mid carders the chance to get used to main eventing. Although that is true, the real talent is getting supressed, which leads me to more Triple H bashing. This may be controversial but Triple H is single-handedly destroying Raw. His constant interference and hogging of the limelight is hurting the people that deserve a real chance. People may not like RVD, Booker T and Jericho but they are MUCH better than Triple H.

Smackdown is the better wrestling show. No doubt about it. One problem with that though. There is only so many times that the 6 really talented ones can wrestle without the matches going stale. Angle, Benoit, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Chavo and Eddie are making Smackdown great but they need new talented opponents. Having them wrestle against each other week in, week out is great for a while but the interest drops.

The poor choice of champions is hurting as well. Shawn Michaels is not a full-time wrestler and is limited in what he is able to accomplish. The Big Show is slow and awful and is only holding the title so Brock can heal from injury. I'm not a big Brock fan anyway. He hasn't really delivered a really quality match. With Triple H and Brock going to win the titles back, the optimism isn't high.

But I hear you say that Angle and Benoit are going to get a run with the title. I say that surely these storyline leaks are bad news as the shock title change doesn't happen that much anymore.

So what can be done to resolve the problem? Scrap the split and utilise the talent but mixing it around. The tag divisions are suffering with a real lack of competition and teams being thrown together. Merge the two World titles again because I've never enjoyed having two World champions and you can't take them both seriously. Give a title for the lower carders to fight over because they deserve a chance. Forget about having two-minute matches and long, boring backstage segments. Focus on wrestling and give the talent plenty of time to shine.

I really want to get back to enjoying what I'm watching.

I was all for the roster split when it started as it would give a chance to the lower carders to get on Raw and Smackdown because main eventers were starting to dominate both shows but now I feel that the split must end.

The European title is a good place to start. This title should have been fought between lower carders but it wasn't really. Jeff Hardy and William Regal are not low carders. Regal had recently won the Intercontinental title and Jeff beat Triple H for the Intercontinental title not that long ago. The European and Intercontinental titles were then scrapped along with the Hardcore title. So what have the lower carders got left to go for? The best they can hope for is either being a jobber on Raw or Smackdown with the very occasional storyline or a regular on Velocity or Heat. That is very damaging for morale.

I hear people saying that the split in the shows give mid carders the chance to get used to main eventing. Although that is true, the real talent is getting supressed, which leads me to more Triple H bashing. This may be controversial but Triple H is single-handedly destroying Raw. His constant interference and hogging of the limelight is hurting the people that deserve a real chance. People may not like RVD, Booker T and Jericho but they are MUCH better than Triple H.

Smackdown is the better wrestling show. No doubt about it. One problem with that though. There is only so many times that the 6 really talented ones can wrestle without the matches going stale. Angle, Benoit, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Chavo and Eddie are making Smackdown great but they need new talented opponents. Having them wrestle against each other week in, week out is great for a while but the interest drops.

The poor choice of champions is hurting as well. Shawn Michaels is not a full-time wrestler and is limited in what he is able to accomplish. The Big Show is slow and awful and is only holding the title so Brock can heal from injury. I'm not a big Brock fan anyway. He hasn't really delivered a really quality match. With Triple H and Brock going to win the titles back, the optimism isn't high.

But I hear you say that Angle and Benoit are going to get a run with the title. I say that surely these storyline leaks are bad news as the shock title change doesn't happen that much anymore.

So what can be done to resolve the problem? Scrap the split and utilise the talent but mixing it around. The tag divisions are suffering with a real lack of competition and teams being thrown together. Merge the two World titles again because I've never enjoyed having two World champions and you can't take them both seriously. Give a title for the lower carders to fight over because they deserve a chance. Forget about having two-minute matches and long, boring backstage segments. Focus on wrestling and give the talent plenty of time to shine.

I really want to get back to enjoying what I'm watching.

Agreed.

I think the Split is unfair.

RAW this week had two women's matches. Yes, we know the women's division is 'improving', but there's no arguing that women are slow, sloppy and poor in the ring. There's a reason why all the main eventers are men, and there's a reason why nobody cares about the Women's Title - and it's because men are physcially better. I mean, Trish has two special moves and she can't do either of them.

Meanwhile, on Smackdown, they were able to have Jamie Noble vs Crash and Chavo Guerrero vs Billy Kidman - tro cruiserweight matches that were great to watch, and full of fluid, well-performed wrestling.

Split the cruisers, and give RAW a Cruiserweight Title too.

I thought SmackDown was brilliant this week, especially the final match.

Ok, now onto something that is actually anything to do with the topic. :-)

I, in the same way as you Grandprix, thought the Roster Split was a good idea, because it would give the smaller stars their chance in the big time, but instead, it has given us the stupid General Manager idea, only 3 Singles Titles (excluding the Women's) and the Tag Titles, and the shows in general are just not as good.

Admittedly, things are starting to look brighter again, although I've just completely stopped watching RAW, and just stuck to SmackDown. Even although things are getting better, I'd like to see the Roster Split end soon, and if it doesn't, then I don't think WWE will regain the support it had a few years back.

First of all, the roster split WAS a good idea. Buit only really needed because of the likes of Triple H and Undertaker hogging the lime-light when they really should be putting younger wrestlers over at this point in the careers anyway. Follow Hogan's example perhaps? Clear out all the dead-wood and we have a bunch of talented guys waiting to take their spots, but at this rate by the time they get the chance they'll be too old themselves.

*gets down off soapbox*

oh yeah. The roster is too damn big to ALL be on all shows now anyways.
and good riddance to the godfather. But I miss Perry Saturn :(

†hë_Çøñg_Mðñ wrote:
> oh yeah. The roster is too damn big to ALL be on all shows now
> anyways.
> and good riddance to the godfather. But I miss Perry Saturn :(

---

Yeah, and bringing back Bull Buchanan as B Squared (can't be bothered looking for the Squared sign :-D) didn't help.

Ok, so he's a big strong guy who is quite experienced, but they don't really need him.

And bringing back Hugh Morrus under the name Bill DeMott.

And they're going to be bringing this cousin of Jamie Noble, who'll no doubt be crap. :-D

And they've brought Steiner, although I'm not complaining about him, because he does rock.

My point there was that they are just re-signing guys who have had pasts in the company and not done well (all apart from Steiner).

Ruining it all, if you ask me.

With a bit of sense, they could utilise the whole roster on Raw and Smackdown. The problem is, sense is not in Vince McMahon's dictionary. Take this recent bit of news:

Vince decided that Albert was the one to fight Edge and take out Rey Mysterio instead of Matt Hardy. The reasoning behind it: BECAUSE HE IS BIG! Matt Hardy wanted to fight Edge and was upset that Vince halted that plan.

AfroJoe wrote:
> My point there was that they are just re-signing guys who have had
> pasts in the company and not done well (all apart from Steiner).
>
> Ruining it all, if you ask me.

Scott Steiner HAS worked for the WWE before, when The Steiner Brothers had a brief and highly unsuccesful stint with the WWE. Mind you, this was around the time that Vince decided to undermine WCW by signing their biggest stars and making them job to all his talent. He did the same thing to Sting at around the same time...

†hë_Çøñg_Mðñ wrote:
> He did the
> same thing to Sting at around the same time...

I don't remember Sting ever wrestling in WWF.