The original WWE brand split created competition between wrestlers, as was the goal.
The most recent Fightful's weekly podcast with Shane Helms focused on the last brand split in WWE, from the drafts, to switching brands, and more. After the buyout of World Championship Wrestling, Helms was brought to WWE with the Cruiserweight championship. Helms noted that the influx of talent from WCW inspired the brand split, and eventually a third brand. The separate brands were supposed to create competition not only between the shows but to inspire the talent to beat the other show. Helms said the competition between locker rooms became real.
"There was a time when I was Gregory Helms and I was on the Smackdown brand, and we had Undertaker, Booker T, Mr Kennedy, MVP, Myself, Matt Hardy, Chavo, Rey. We had the roster and we were the wrestling show. You might see a little more of the glitz and glamor on the other one. But if you want the good wrestling, it was Smackdown. And it was by far the better wrestling show. When we went overseas, there was this competition on who would outdraw. When we outdrew them overseas, we would make sure they knew. We would send little messages and shit like that. It was definitely competition, nothing heated or hated, but there was definitely competition," said Helms.
For the rest of the podcast, Helms would cover how the brand split affected him personally. The conversation with podcast host Sean Ross Sapp included how each draft redistributed talented wrestlers and being separated from half of the locker room. Fightful publishes a podcast with Shane Helms every Friday, which are immediately available for free registered members of Fightful.
