WWE Draft 2016: Past Mistakes WWE Must Avoid in Raw-SmackDown Brand Split

When WWE splits its roster into two distinct, separate entities on July 19, it will do so with the expectation that it will be easier for younger wrestlers to step up and become stars, all the while renewing credibility and excitement about the SmackDown brand.

If history tells us anything, though, it is that the company's previous attempt at a brand extension was not a smooth undertaking.

During the first one, which took effect in 2002, WWE officials found themselves scrambling on a weekly basis to make up for mistakes made in the initial draft process. The result was a mangled mess of booking decisions that did more harm than good and made for an inconsistent product.

As the company prepares for another high-risk split, one that will allow the company to maximize its talented roster, it must be mindful not to make the same mistakes that plagued its first attempt.

The Favoring of One Brand at the Expense of the Other

One of the biggest issues with the original brand extension was the constant favoring of Monday Night Raw. As the flagship show of WWE, it always received preferential treatment from management. The star power was always greater, and the biggest storylines and angles were always saved for the red brand.

No one from Raw ever had to venture to SmackDown during cross-promotional feuds. Instead, SmackDown Superstars always had to go to Raw, as the writers ensured that Monday night was where the most important developments occurred.

Even when SmackDown developed hot new stars like John Cena, they almost always ended up on Raw.

That cannot happen here in 2016.

SmackDown ratings are down across the board. The important 18-to-49 demographic has not turned out in droves to watch the show, as evidenced by the June 30 episode's rating.

According to TV by the Numbers, that broadcast was No. 7 for the night, ranking behind repeats of Family Guy and American Dad, not to mention Discover Channel shows like Nuclear Sharks.

WWE needs to rejuvenate the SmackDown brand, and to do that, it must split things evenly and give that show's audience both compelling characters and meaningful stories to follow. WWE should not hesitate to take a franchise player like John Cena and put him on the brand.

Raw will sell itself, whereas fans need to be reassured that SmackDown will not continue to be treated as the proverbial second-class citizen of WWE programming.

Otherwise, the entire ordeal will be futile.

A Disastrous Draft

WWE Creative spent the better part of the summer and fall of 2002 shuffling around Superstars, making trades and trying to cover for the fact that the initial draft that occurred the previous March was an unmitigated disaster.

It was a good idea for management to take the necessary steps to correct its mistake, but at the same time, it was announcing to the world that it had screwed up royally and needed to go into rewrite mode.

With the draft being the most anticipated event of the summer for WWE, it cannot afford such a screw-up this time. The product is hardly hot enough and does not have enough credible stars to test the audience's patience in that manner.

Thus, it will be of the utmost importance that those within management survey the layout and make sure that every transaction of Superstars is exactly what they want it to be. Failure to do so will lead to months of hard work erased by the sudden need to trade one Superstar for three, shuffling around rosters to better fit a vision that should have been there from the beginning.

Limited Brand Crossover

The concept of the brand extension eventually became watered down later in the 2000s, when Superstars from Raw and SmackDown appeared on the competing shows. There were cross-promotional feuds, and soon, every pay-per-view event reverted back to a dual-brand show.

The idea of brand-exclusive Superstars no longer mattered because ECW fans could tune in and see Raw's D-Generation X. SmackDown fans could see Raw's John Cena, and ECW's CM Punk would flow between the shows to suit ongoing storylines with Edge, Vickie Guerrero and La Familia.

If the company is going through all of the preparation, hype and marketing for the upcoming WWE draft, it needs to ensure that things remain true to the promise of an actual split. Dean Ambrose should not appear on SmackDown for any reason whatsoever if he winds up the exclusive property of Raw. The same goes Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.

The minute the Superstars start jumping from show to show for one-night appearances or meaningless TV matches, the entire concept is rendered irrelevant.

Has WWE Learned from History?

There has been enough time from the initial announcement of the brand extension to the actual draft on July 19 that WWE Creative should have a clear plan of what it wants to accomplish this time around. The rosters should be solidified well before that first live episode of SmackDown.

The importance of balanced rosters has never been more important. WWE found that out the hard way when John Cena, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins all went down with injury, and it was ill-prepared to replace them.

WWE will not make the same mistake when it comes to shoring up Raw and SmackDown with enough talent to carry both the main event scene and the midcard, which forms the foundation of any lineup.

Hesitantly speaking, it would appear WWE has learned its lesson.

Superstars such as Rusev, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder have all seen boosts in momentum ahead of the draft, with commentators putting them over strongly. What that does is increase their credibility among fans so that, when the time comes, asking the audience to buy into them as elite stars on either brand is not such a stretch of the imagination.

Of course, that could all be for naught if the company reverts to its insistence on putting Reigns and Cena over at the expense of everyone else, but its implementation of the New Era and its stars to this point suggests that may not be the case.