Ending the WWE Brand Extension = Unemployment

I'm always seeing about how this columnist or that columnist thinks the brand extension has been a disaster and wants it to end. Now.

JIm Forzese's latest column on 1Wrestling.Com was one of those columns. He presented a well thought out arguement in favor of dropping the brand extension. He presented a number of good points, and stated his case well.

I don't agree with a word of it, but it was well presented.

As you can see, I am NOT one of those columnists. I am on the other end of the spectrum, and state my case here about why the brand extension cannot, and MUST NOT, end.

If, as those nay-saying columnists wished, the Brand Extension just went away, wrestling would lose a lot more than it would gain. It would mean pink slips for another twenty to forty WWE performers. And in the long run, it would mean much poorer shows, way poorer pay per view events, and overall an even larger decline in the business.

Let's face facts, kiddies: The brand extension, though not an overwhelming ratings success, HAS been a success in other ways. It allows twice as many people to see WWE live; it guarantees that you won't get overly tired of the same five wrestlers dominating both shows (well, this one is less true, but in THEORY, it should be working that way), and it allows some stellar action from the weekend recap-with-new-matches shows. When Velocity is the best show on the WWE crown, and you know you're not going to see those performers on SmackDown, let alone on Raw or Heat, you are going to tune it in. I know I do, at least. Velocity not only has the best talent around, it has WWE's current best overall announcer, wild and wacky (and short) Josh Mathews, who has more knowledge about wrestling-as-art-form in his pinky than Todd Grisham, Marc Loyd, and that goober they replaced DeMott with (who is SO BAD I can't even remember his name) have in their entire bodies. I mean, who else would DARE bring up a Japanese wrestler like Tiger Mask? Jim Ross? Michael Cole? Yeah, right...

But i'm straying from the subject. Lets face it, each show has 40 plus performers on their rosters - a total of 92 performers (including announcers). If they were to cut the brand and merge the shows again, they only need 40-60 performers to be full time. And that means:

1) The first performers to get the pinkslips would be the ones that most internet fans love the most - the performers known as Cruiserweights. No brand extension? Fine. Say goodbye to Paul London, Shannon Moore, Akio, Billy Kidman (even with his wife throwing her weight around) Chavo Guerrero, Spike Dudley, Nunzio, and all the others. Poof - they're gone. No more cruiserweights. Something John "Little JR" Laurinatis has been itching, no make that SALIVATING, to do for a long time.

2) The next level of performers to get the sack would be those that have become "name enhancement talent". In other words, they're popular with at least a section of the audience, but they rarely win matches, and when they do, there's nothing important on the line. Who falls hard here? Hurricane, Rosey, Steven Richards, Val Venis, Rhyno, Tajiri, Orlando Jordan, and possibly even such hot performers as Rob Van Dam (especially after the Iraq Trip debacle) and Shelton Benjamin.

Vince McMahon would rather dump the talented performers listed above, for the "creative has NOTHING for them" reason, than dump the true T & A Garbage of the Diva Search finalists now showing up all over your screen where you can't get away from them. Lets face facts here as well. When Vince has such STELLAR performers like the Diva Search contestants, who the heck needs talented performers like Gail Kim? Kanyon? Brian "Spanky" Kendrick (who had the NERVE to WANT to leave)? Yeah, I thought so...

So....tell me, all you "Brand Extension Must End" advocates...do you REALLY want to see Triple H, JBL, and (god help us all) Hardcore Holly, twice and perhaps as much as three times as often? What? Is that a huge collective groan coming from all of you? Yeah, Thought so.

And as if that's already not enough, then what of the Developmental talent? WWE has invested a lot of money and time in training a lot of promising young performers at Ohio Valley Wrestling, and is now looking to establish at least three more developmental territories, a sure sign that the Brand Extension is not ending anytime soon. Drop it, and you lose Matt Capotelli, John Hennigan (who is far more talented than his aborted "Johnny Nitro" character showed), Mike "The Miz" Mizanin (the TRUE winner in my eyes) and the other recent "Tough Enough" graduates, as well as at least a dozen more up and coming talents, including a little lady everyone seems so high on named Alexis Laree.

So you see, maybe dropping the brand extension isn't so wise after all. WWE product gives me enough indigestion these days. If they were to drop the performers I love to watch (most of whom fall into this catagory), i'm afraid i'd have no choice but to cut the WWE Carb out of my Wrestling Diet...and I have a feeling we'd be heading for another 1996-98, when WCW almost drove WWF out of business, instead of the other way around like it happened a few years later....