All Elite Wrestling currently has a lot of wrestlers on their roster, in fact, we wrote about their bloated roster months ago and in that time it’s managed to become even more loaded. This is a good problem to have for Tony Khan and co. as there is more than enough talent to fill their current programming with good matches. With AEW Rampage on the way though, we think it may benefit them to try and replicate the brand split. Why do we want an AEW brand split? Well, let’s explain.
Why We Want an AEW Brand Split
More Talent Get Opportunities
The key reason to split the roster between Dynamite and Rampage is that you can give opportunities to more talents. As of now, it is difficult to get talents like Hikaru Shida, Riho, Sonny Kiss, The Acclaimed, and others on the main TV show. The women’s division as a whole is fighting to get more than one storyline on Dynamite. With two separate rosters, talent like those named above would be more likely to be put in big storylines, get major matches, and be given the chance to showcase their potential. We’ve seen it before in WWE, splitting brands has forced talent to step up and allowed them to create more stars than they did when their focus was on one singular roster.
As a part of this, we think AEW could finally solve some of their women’s division woes with a brand split. As of now, Britt Baker is one of the only women featured regularly on Dynamite with only short squashes or The Bunny being featured otherwise. With two shows AEW will either have to build up other women, or better yet, they could have the women exclusive to a show like Rampage to help the show stand out and allow the women to grow on a show with less pressure to perform well in the ratings.
Keep Stars Seperate
One big bonus of an AEW brand split is that they could hold off on massive matches while waiting for the correct time to pull the trigger on a match. It’s something WWE has done in the past but if you want to build up two stars without having them come to blows you can allow them to build their names on different brands. Take Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley for example, AEW likely doesn’t want them to wrestle again anytime soon after their series of matches over the AEW World Championship. Instead of having to avoid Moxley getting too high in the rankings or keeping him sidetracked, they can just keep Omega and Moxley on separate brands until they are ready to run the match again.
Makes Both Shows Must-See
When Raw and SmackDown were using the same talent it was impossible for WWE to present them both as important shows that fans had to see. SmackDown, in fans minds, was the B-show and wouldn’t have any huge matches or moments as Monday Night Raw was seen as the main show. AEW could run into this same issue with Dynamite and Rampage, in fans eyes Rampage will be the B-show no matter how much Tony Khan or any EVP tries to say otherwise. Short of AEW consistently doing big matches and debuts on Rampage it will gain a reputation as being lesser than Dynamite eventually.
A brand split would help AEW avoid this issue. If Rampage was the only show where you could see the women or PAC or Darby Allin etc. it would be a show with interest rather than being resigned to the B-show image.
Potential For Crossover Events
While less important to fans, the potential for crossover events would offer AEW an easy chance to make certain shows feel special. WWE’s Survivor Series is regularly one of the most anticipated events of their calendar as Raw and SmackDown talent go to battle in matches we wouldn’t otherwise see. Whether it would be for a PPV, or just a TV special, AEW would be silly to not take advantage of such an easy opportunity to hype up an event and make it stand out. They don’t need to do inorganic brand vs brand warfare but we trust that they’d find a way to make these events stand out and make the most of the storytelling opportunities available to them
Who Doesn’t Love A Draft
Drafts are fun, be it in major sports like the NBA, NHL, or NFL, or in the world of pro wrestling drafts bring with them a lot of excitement and buzz. The WWE Draft has often provided them with a boost in viewership and this is something that AEW could take advantage of. At the end of the day AEW is reliant on their TV deals to make a chunk of their money, much like WWE, and the viewership bump offered by a draft would be a decent way to increase their attractiveness to broadcasters.
As a fan, a draft would lead to a lot of fun content from podcasters, writers, and fans on social media as far as making draft boards and analyzing picks goes. A draft is a sure-fire way to get fans interested as there’s so much going on and if done well a semi-regular draft could become a marquee event for AEW that gets a lot of eyes on the show.
AEW Brand Split Could Give Added Purpose to Dark and Elevation
AEW currently has two YouTube shows. AEW Dark, and AEW Dark: Elevation. Currently, there’s nothing setting these two shows apart other than airing on different days and having slightly different color schemes for their branding. There isn’t a NEED to set these apart as they are relatively inoffensive YouTube events that help get some talent ring time and pad out the win/loss records of pushed talents. But, a brand split would give some focus to both Dark shows, they could mimic Heat and Velocity by becoming a brand exclusive show.
While there are certainly reasons against doing a brand split, we think the positives far outweigh the negatives. In the capable hands of AEW a brand split could be an exciting addition to AEW’s programming that would make both TV shows better while also allowing the company to take their time and build to major matches involving talents from different brands.
