WWE first introduced the brand split in 2002, when they held the very first pro wrestling draft and gave RAW and Smackdown exclusive rosters. In 2006, ECW was introduced to the brand split however in 2011 the brand split was narrowed down to two when ECW eventually morphed into NXT. Now days, WWE holds a draft practically every year. The last draft was held, and rosters went into effect on 5/8/23.
Recently on Strictly Business while speaking with Jon Alba, Eric Bischoff was asked about the draft’s from a network perspective. Specifically, Eric was asked about the 2019 version of the draft. Eric mentioned that he didn’t speak a lot with FOX regarding the changes that was going to implement and also mentioned the importance of a brand split.
“In 2019, I really didn’t communicate much to FOX. I was overseeing the Smackdown brand for a cup of coffee, and as a result, all of my conversations were kind of focused on the brand. I didn’t really have a lot of communication with the network. A little bit, when it came to the brand. More as it related to promotions and things that we wanted to do leading up to the brand split, or the draft at that point. But it’s interesting to say what’s the value of the brand split. I don’t think there’s a value in a brand split. I think it’s a necessity. I guess the value, you could argue that the value is that you have two distinct brands. Therefore, you have two distinct television licensing opportunities. As in any television show, wrestling is no different, the quality of that show is oftentimes linked directly to the star power on it. In order to have two successful brands when you have two major media companies vying for the rights, bidding for the rights for those brands, the value has to be there. But the networks look at the rosters, and that’s the challenge. So it’s not so much immediate value, beyond the fact that you do have two separate brands that you can license. But it’s a necessity in order to keep your television parties happy, and that’s where it gets tricky because not all talent is created equal,” Bischoff said.
The WWE Hall of Famer went on to discuss how challenging it can be to keep two major networks happy while both networks are looking for major stars on each brand..
“You can have your roster set and feel really good about it, but if you have somebody emerge as the biggest star in the company, who gets that star? Both networks are gonna want that star, and that’s when it becomes tricky because you’ve got to keep your television partners happy. If you’ve got one star, star A, who’s perceived to be and is, a bigger star that gets better ratings perhaps or by any other metric, is just considered to be the star in WWE at that particular moment, if that star is not on your network, you’re not happy about that. So that’s the challenge, is keeping your network partners happy. That’s the biggest challenge,” Bischoff said.
Here is a list of the updated WWE RAW and Smackdown rosters following the most recent draft.
More information on the tournament to crown the RAW-exclusive WWE World Heavyweight Champion which will begin on 5/8/23 episode of WWE RAW can be found here.
Recently Eric Bischoff had a crazy health scare, and almost died twice. Find out what he had to say here.
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