By Dan Pointer

Many wrestling fans believe that 2016 was the year WWE finally started listening to its universe and gave them many of the things they’ve been crying out for since the PG era began. One of these things was the brand split, fans believed that by having separate rosters for Raw and Smackdown it would give more superstars a chance to flourish and get some exposure on TV and in some occasions this has been the case. Who could have ever predicted that Heath Slater would win a championship in 2016? Without the brand split, there would have been very little chance he would even get on TV let alone with the tag team titles.

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However, it’s certainly not all been plain sailing for WWE. After a positive first week of the split, every episode of Raw felt cobbled together and samey, with the same superstars getting the same opportunities week after week to such an extent, that very few people care about the raw tag team division anymore. It’s very clear that now we’re just patiently waiting for The New Day to break Demolition’s tag team title reign of 478 days so we can have some fresh champions.

Another issue with Raw that seems to be continuously irate fans is Roman Reigns. Whatever WWE try to do, they just can’t get him over and the hostile crowd reactions that have plagued him since early 2015, are still looming over him despite the fact he’s supposed to be on the company’s top faces! Fans just can’t relate to Reigns in anyway, even though he’s put on some truly fantastic matches this year. His unstoppable powerhouse gimmick just isn’t working and everybody outside of WWE can see that a huge heel turn is needed to freshen up his character and to take him out of this rut that the creative team has put him in.

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Smackdown on the other hand has been largely excellent. AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose have put on some excellent matches in their feud. The Miz has made the Intercontinental championship prestigious again, with some great heel work and the women’s division is running along very nicely thanks in part to, the most recent NXT recruits and Becky Lynch as champion. There have been some misfires though it must be said, whilst James Ellsworth was a novelty at first and very relatable to many fans, it seems this short fairytale has run its course and it won’t be long until he’s taken off of TV all together.

Five months on, both shows now seem to be on a par with each other, with Smackdown giving consistently interesting storylines and good character development and Raw improving every week. It’s finally turned the Tuesday night show into something more than a repeat of Raw and we’re getting a taste of the old rivalry we used to see in the early 2000s. Now if only we could cut down on the authority promos like Shane McMahon promised.

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