by Wayne Douma

Created on: August 17, 2009   Last Updated: August 18, 2009

I began watching the WWE during the popular late 1990's "Attitude era" when wrestlers like Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, D-Generation X, masked Kane, and the Undertaker were popular competitors every Monday night. The brand extension in 2002 meant that some Superstars would be appearing on Raw only, and other superstars would be found on Smackdown. At first I was hesitant to this idea, but as I have grown older and continued watching wrestling I am voting good on the brand extension.

To begin it is great from a business standpoint. Believe it or not, some people still do not have cable television in their homes, and only network channels can be accessed. The only weekly wrestling show these fans could then receive is Friday night's Smackdown. A lot of people tend to be out on Friday nights, busy with parties and dating, and do not watch Friday television. Smackdown is one of Friday night's highest rated programs though, so the WWE can earn off of that.

The biggest beneficiary of the brand extension has been the superstars, for a number of reasons. First, the WWE stars no longer have to tire themselves out wrestling so many nights. Yes, there still are house shows performed throughout the week by each brand, but stars can get an extra nigh off, which is a large help to people doing what they do for a living. This has been especially noted with stars like the aging Undertaker or Shawn Michaels moving to a single brand and having more nights of promotion and nights off in general at times.

Second, the WWE can "train" younger stars on the lower brand. If you want to see the WWE's newest young talent it is a smart choice to tune into ECW Tuesday night on SyFy Network. Young men like Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger began their professional careers on the ECW shows, and eventually were moved up to Raw when ready. If on an already talent packed show like Smackdown or Raw it would be harder for these young stars to get in quality matches. The common theme for many years with WWE Raw when bringing in new talent was to have them in early matches of their career be basically a "time kill" and have them face the best guys in the business and lose. ECW provides more time for matches and talent to face opponents also newer to the scene.

The perhaps biggest boost to the WWE with this brand extension has been the "WWE Draft." The draft is a Monday night 3 hour episode that features all 3 brands in matches. Winners of the matches get the draft pick allowed for their respected brand. The draft has generally been one of WWE's highest rated and watched programs of the year for the company.

I am not saying that all is great with the brand extension. For example, moving J.R. as ring announcer on Raw with Jerry the King to Smackdown was a mistake by the WWE. For the most part superstar moves have been beneficial for both the company and the wrestler.

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