Old-school brand split

Scott–

Pure spitballing here, but suppose Vince had pulled the trigger on a brand/roster split during one of the earlier eras when there was one demonstrable top guy in the federation. Who might have headlined the "other" show in…

1984-87 opposite Hogan? (Could Savage have been asked to carry the load that early in his run?)

1998 opposite Austin? (Hindsight suggests The Rock as the clear go-to, but I’d argue he wasn’t really ready to be THE guy until his post-Corporation face turn.)

​Well, the 80s essentially DID have a brand split, since they ran A and B shows, and sometimes even C ones. Now they do the same thing and just call it "RAW" and "Smackdown" brands. And yeah, Savage frequently DID main event the B-shows during that era, as IC champion, back when that title meant something. Especially since Hogan barely worked once a week, if that, during his title reign. That’s why they worked so hard to get midcard feuds like JYD v. Funk over, or Piper v. Snuka, since that’s the stuff that had to sustain the house shows when Hogan was busy dealing steroids out of his Malibu beach house. But only to white people.

…​Allegedly.

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