Vince McMahon decides WWE's fate at Payback.

[Headlesspete]

So as announced on Raw, Vince McMahon will be at Payback to make a decision on what happens now for WWE, Raw and who's in charge, Predictions?

I'm surprised Shane is still around, and i assume this wasn't the plan when he first came back to WWE, but i guess with the reaction he's been getting, WWE felt they needed to placate the fans for a while. I have an awful feeling WWE will be predictable and have Vince give Raw back to Stephanie and Shane simply walks away.

What I'm hoping happens is just that, Vince gives Stephanie control of Raw, Shane looks disappointed and the crowd boo. And then Vince gives Smackdown to Shane! I know everyone has talked about the pros and cons of having the brand split back, but i still maintain WWE was producing better shows when they had two brands, and with NXT bursting at the seams with talent, i think the time is right.

Anyay, whats everyone else thinking is going to go down?

[Westcoastvibes]

Im guessing its gonna be another power struggle scenario. Vince will announce a match were shane picks his person or persons and same with steph. Something like a 5 on 5 Elimination type match with the victorious getting the control. We shall call it Survivor Games.

[Circled Square]

Team nose vs team sweat at summerslam Maggle

I'd give Shane smackdown in a perfect world. Make the writers or whoever the fuck pay attention to it

[KaiserGlider]

He's probably just gonna give Shane control of Raw so they don't have to keep explaining why he's still in control.

[Twister]

If they gave Shane Smavkdown would that mean they would actually make it into a show worth watching? Last time I watched SD it was mostly filler and Raw Recaps. Very boring.

[Hanley!]

I say this every time, but it's more true every time I say it.

A brand split would be a horrible idea.

Their roster isn't deep enough. We've already seen the impact of the recent injuries. In terms of talent, they have a huge amount of it on the roster but still probably not enough to support an extra brand. And if they did split the roster in this way, there would be absolutely no room for anyone to get injured.

In terms of star power, the company is already hurting. If they split the brands, there wouldn't be nearly enough star power on either show. That or all of it would be on Raw, and Smackdown would have no star power at all.

And what happens to the women's and tag team divisions? Do we need to half them, just as they look like they're actually getting decent at long last?

People might suggest taking people out of NXT and using them to bolster the rosters, but all that accomplishes is killing off the WWE Network's second biggest asset after live pay per views, and ultimately people would prefer the NXT brand to remain its own thing.

They could always have Shane run Raw and Stephanie run Smackdown (or visa versa) but keep the rosters the same. So the only real difference would be that we would have two different GMs each week, with their own styles. That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Of course, part of me can still hold out hope that Vince's big announcement is that neither sibling will ever appear on television again, and neither will he. Oh I'm fully certain that won't happen, but dammit a guy can dream.

[Circled Square]

I think the brand split is a good idea only because the upper midcard is crowded. Dean, AJ, Cena, Cesaro, Orton, Zayn, Owens, all could be fighting for the Smackdown title. Guys like Joe, Balor and maybe even Roode would be great on the B show.

[Headlesspete]

I dunno Hanley, i think while Smackdown would maybe get shafted a little in terms of talent and only be given mostly mid-card acts, they have proven before that with enough talent they can make the show work.

And i also think they should make the Tag Team Titles exclusive to one brand, and the Woman's title to another. That way, each division an be spotlighted and pushed as "You can only see these woman on Raw..." and vice versa with the Tag Team Titles.

A brand split would also mean they can have the two different styled shows WWE so desperately need to cater to in terms of the fan base. Put all the older, more pushed stars on RAW, and all your IWC darlings on Smackdown.