In WWE Draft 2016 news, former WWE commentator Jim Ross recently talked about the upcoming brand split for Raw and Smackdown.
With the WWE Draft 2016 edition hours away, a man who knows the professional wrestling business quite well recently gave his thoughts on the brand split. With the draft, Raw and SmackDown Live will each select which superstars appear exclusively on their show rosters.
According to Sports Illustrated in their exclusive one-on-one with “J.R.,” he believes the best spot for John Cena appears to be SmackDown Live. Ross’ reasoning for that pick is that WWE is banking on the launch of the new live show which airs Tuesday night on USA network. Having a marquee superstar like Cena would seem to make the most sense for ratings, as some fans and analysts feel he’s taken a bit of a backseat to other stars right now.
With that in mind, it could possibly mean a move for his current feud, AJ Styles, over to the show as well. J.R. also suggested having Brock Lesnar on SmackDown Live, although at this point it’s anyone’s guess how often he would appear on the program due to his part-time status. J.R. likes the new dynamic of having commissioners and General Managers for both the TV shows. That could be among the early surprises Monday night.
BREAKING: Tonight's #RAW will kick off with the reveal of the RAW & #SmackDown Live GMs! @StephMcMahon @shanemcmahon pic.twitter.com/SZdCW3sbyq
— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2016
Ross also mentioned in his talk that keeping all of the former Shield members on the same TV program isn’t imperative, and that the main reason for this brand split is to give newer talents a better chance to shine competitively. That probably means new stars such as Finn Balor or Shinsuke Nakamura will find their way into roster spots tonight since six spots will be filled by NXT stars. The possibility of new feuds involving these newer talents and others is definitely exciting.
In addition to all of that, Ross suggested the women’s division should not be kept on just one show and should be split up. He also mentioned having two world championships, a notion that has received mixed responses from fans. Some people argue the former World Championship paled in comparison to the WWE belt. However, it would give each show a major champion.
The most interesting comment Ross made was about the No. 1. He suggested “The Beast” Brock Lesnar is the ideal first choice. This is interesting because Lesnar is currently involved ins some controversy with the UFC and MMA over a possible anti-doping violation. Fans will know later this week whether or not Lesnar really broke any rules.
As mentioned, Brock’s part-time status makes it tough to say he’s a regular part of a show, as he seems to just show up when he wants. He’s scheduled for a one-on-one match against Randy Orton at SummerSlam, so one would think he may show up again somewhere, but not as a member of a roster.
No matter who goes where in tonight’s WWE Draft for 2016, it’s going to be a continual debate over keeping Raw and Smackdown different for Vince McMahon and it will certainly give the fans plenty to argue over!
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