New WWE Rule Allows Brand vs. Brand Matches

Get the dressing room ready. Back in 2002, WWE split up their roster into two different groups, with both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown having their own unique rosters. That was the case for the better part of ten years until Triple H announced that the rosters would be merging back together. Then came another Brand Split, then came the Wild Card Rule, then came another Brand Split. I think you know where this is going.

There is no hiding the fact that the television ratings and audiences for Monday Night Raw and SmackDown have not been doing so well as of late. Fans just are not interested in what WWE is offering and they are not watching as a result. There are all kinds of reasons that this could be the case, but WWE seems to think they know the solution and that will be on display next week.

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, of Monday Night Raw, announced that he will be facing King Corbin, of SmackDown, next week on Monday Night Raw. This is the first instance of the Brand To Brand Invitation, which will allow individual wrestlers to come from one show to the other for a match. There is no word on how often this will happen or how long the rule will be in place. McIntyre’s promo was the first mention of the rule.

The two are rather good at what they do. Check out both of them in action:

Opinion: You had to know something like this was coming as WWE doesn’t exactly have a history of having these rules staying hard and fast. I’m not sure how long this rule is going to last, but if everyone is already in the same area for the shows, why not mix it up a little bit? That being said, if WWE thinks fans are going to tune in to see Corbin, I don’t think they understand the problem.

What do you think of the rule? Who would you like to see appear where? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!