A few days ago, WWE.com confirmed that RAW and SmackDown will be separate brands once again, also SmackDown will air Live on Tuesdays from July 19th. Wrestlinginc.com reports that, WWE Hall of Famer, Stone Cold Steve Austin talked about this decision of WWE in the 328th episode of his podcast, The Steve Austin Show.
About the reason for brand split :
"I'm quoting Vince from the SmackDown stuff. It says, 'WWE's flagship programs will both leverage the incredible depth of our talent roster, distinct storylines, and the unpredictable nature of live TV.' Okay, lets go back to the 'incredible depth' of the talent roster. I don't see 'incredible depth'. It is a lot of people, and talented people, but I don't think you can say your roster's necessarily deep. But you do have a lot of people they're going to try out. Are they going to make the all-star team by getting over or are they just going to be bodies that go out there and occupy time on the television screen?"
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Regarding SmackDown’s popularity :
"The SmackDown roster can't be the minor leagues. It can't be the NXT of the big leagues.SmackDown could become the hotter show just because it takes less time to watch it, and, man, you know everybody has attention deficit these days, so I don't know. To me, it could have the makings of making SmackDown the hotter, more popular show."
Thoughts on two separate World Champions :
"I absolutely think that the world champion ought to travel back and forth. If the champion is on RAW, Reigns, who has the championship, goes to SmackDown, to me, that in and of itself creates something that I want to see."