WWE brought back the WWE Draft back into the calendar in the year 2016 to split up the Raw and Smackdown roster. For a long time, this was much needed since numerous young talents were not given the needed amount of TV time that they deserved.
Furthermore, only one prime title present in the brand was not good enough for such a huge base of superstars.
Once the brand extension draft became successful, a new trend was started in WWE programming where we have seen brand-exclusive PPV events getting hosted.
It meant that Raw and Smackdown would host PPV events from their specific brands rather than co-branded shows.
Only the ‘big-four’ (Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble) was kept in the same way.
This move was appreciated big-time from the wrestling pundits since it was an effort to bring out new talents from both the brands rather than emphasizing on the existing big names. This is why the newcomers in the company like AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Bobby Roode managed to receive big success with longer TV presence.
. @camjxm sent this to me earlier – #WWE Backlash on May 6th is being advertised as a #Raw and #SDLive event. ? pic.twitter.com/cRSqvfzodl
— Brad Shepard ?? (@TheBradShepard) February 13, 2018
As per the recent updates, the trend might just put to rest since WWE is intending to host all the PPVs in a dual-brand manner following Wrestlemania 34.
The first such event will be hosted on May 6th in the form of the Backlash PPV at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
WrestlingINC.com reported that Backlash, which was originally supposed to be a Raw-exclusive PPV event, will now be a co-branded event.
Some of the fans who have booked tickets for the show received a confirmation email from Ticketmaster which confirmed the upcoming change in the WWE PPV events. Later, reliable source,
WrestleVotes also gave updates regarding the same starting from Backlash onwards, the dual-brand trend will be followed.
No hint of the same was confirmed in WWE programming, till date. It is not likely to be out until and unless the Wrestlemania season gets over in the year 2018.
For now, we will have perhaps the final Raw-exclusive PPV in the form of Elimination Chamber and the Smackdown-exclusive PPV as Fastlane.
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