The Draft

[tjmidnight420]

I'm curious how everyone feels about the outcome of the draft. I was reading through the Raw thread (I didn't get to watch last night unfortunately) and it seems to me SD! got raped as usual. They'll turn to their strongest point to rebuild: Booking the better show.

So on to my topic: Who does everyone see getting the best treatment after the draft? Who gets the worse end of the deal?

I see Christian being firmly placed in the main event scene on Smackdown over the next few months. In contrast, Jericho will be moved out of the main event now that he's on Raw. Just too many top talents there for him to be consistantly booked. What do you guys think?

[Triple Naitch]

I'm disappointed that Raw now has almost all of the top names in the company, but this gives SmackDown the opportunity to create some new main eventers.

So basically the SmackDown main event picture will feature:
Big Show
Christian
CM Punk
Drew McIntyre
Kofi Kingston
Rey Mysterio
Undertaker

I'm pretty sure that Big Show will be turning face. It'd be interesting to see him team with Rey to face the SES. Kofi or Christian could have a great feud with McIntyre. And I'm expecting Undertaker to be the next challenger for Swagger, unless he does take a break.

[Ermaximus]

Jericho will be on tv weekly, there is no doubt about that. The one guy on Raw who is mostly going to be lost is Morrison. I wouldn't expect to see much from him this year with all those main eventers on the same show.

As for SD, I see Christian and Kofi both being put in the Main Event right away. Smackdown's main event comes together like this now.

Faces:
1) Undertaker
2) Rey
3) Christian
4) Kofi (This is a strong possibility.)

Heels:
1) Punk
2) Swagger
3) Big Show (He should become the 3rd heel now, but I have a feeling he'll be a face.)

You also have Kane there who could really go either way. Clearly SD will be getting several new main eventers as the year goes on which makes me want to wach SD even more. Let's see what Hayes does with this challenge.

[tjmidnight420]

Clearly SD will be getting several new main eventers as the year goes on which makes me want to wach SD even more. Let's see what Hayes does with this challenge.

Agreed. As usual I'm looking forward to the blue brand even though on paper Raw got the better end of the deal with the draft.

[Ermaximus]

Agreed. As usual I'm looking forward to the blue brand even though on paper Raw got the better end of the deal with the draft.

But with that many egos and what not on 1 show, it's only a matter of time. I mean, Cena, Orton, HHH, Sheamus, Edge, Batista, and Jericho all together is just a huge clusterfuck waiting to happen. How many times will the title change hands this year?

[tjmidnight420]

Yeah I'm definitely not looking forward to Raw, even if alot of my favorites are there.

[Jordan]

Raw is the flagship, quit your bitching.

[Ermaximus]

Raw is the flagship, quit your bitching.

Raw may be the flagship, but putting a majority of your top guys there won't solve all the problems. The next smart step would be ending the guest host shit and getting a full time GM.

[Jordan]

Well forget that, go ahead and bitch thats what this place is for. I just don't think you should be upset by the draft, Smackdown! will always be work rate focused while Raw is the storyline show, just watch whatever show you want to watch. Personally I like both shows, because they are very different, Smackdown! pushes younger talent and gives people the chance to make it on Raw with the BIG dogs. Not that Smackdown doesn't have big dogs, but you know...

[Ermaximus]

That's why I said I think Smackdown will be ok because they produce new stars. Hayes knows what he is doing.

[tjmidnight420]

Smackdown! pushes younger talent and gives people the chance to make it on Raw with the BIG dogs.

The whole problem here lies in what happens to the talent when they get to Raw... Jericho, Morrison, and the like will be standing still until there's a break somewhere in the main event. Then they'll be pushed for a few weeks/ months, then right back to the mid card. Rinse and repeat until next years draft, when they wind up back on SD!

[tjmidnight420]

From WWE.com (http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2010/april22-28/14283994):

Christian: "To be back on Smackdown feels unbelievable. I'm a little caught off guard, but hey man: the peeps are blue. It's not because we're sad it's because I'm about to take over Smackdown. Jack Swagger, look out because I'm coming for the WHC. Captain Charisma is back on Smackdown, and it's unbelievable."

Jericho: "I've spent most of the year on Smackdown, and Raw, and NXT, so what's the difference?"

Lets see where this goes.

[XL]

I have mixed feelings about how it's all panned out.

Christian going to SmackDown should be a good move. He's the goods in the ring and SD is where the less established guys get pushed to the Main Event. Just a little gutted that both Edge and Jericho moved across to Raw as either of those guys fueding with Christian would make for a good programme and elevate Christian.

I expected to see Ted DiBiase move over, especially if they are gonna go with this "Fortunate Sons" group. I feel it would feel more fresh on SD! for some reason. That won't happen now Cody has moved over in the Supplemental Draft.

Morrison's move is a little suprising with Mercury being brought back on SmackDown! they had a ready made fued for the SES. Can't see him making a splash over on Raw - but he does seem to have lost ground whilst over on the blue brand. Dare I say The Shaman of Sexy could be a wite Shelton Benjamin?

I'm glad they haven't switched any of the champions about. I hate it when they do a straight swap with champs. Sooooooooo convenient.

[tjmidnight420]

Christian going to SmackDown should be a good move. He's the goods in the ring and SD is where the less established guys get pushed to the Main Event. Just a little gutted that both Edge and Jericho moved across to Raw as either of those guys fueding with Christian would make for a good programme and elevate Christian.


Agreed, although Xtian doesn't really need anyone to get over.... not even the writing team.

[Ruien]

But with that many egos and what not on 1 show, it's only a matter of time. I mean, Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Edge, and Jericho all together is just a huge clusterfuck waiting to happen. How many times will the title change hands this year?

Without HHH and Batista it is not that much of a clusterfuck.

[Rammsteinmad]

Smackdown is pretty much fucked, although the only saving grace for me is the possibility of a Christian/CM Punk feud, with Christian possible getting a run with the title.

[XL]

Agreed, although Xtian doesn't really need anyone to get over.... not even the writing team.
Well no, I guess not.

But he does need that one fued to put him amongst the headliners. Jericho/Edge could have delivered that. Now we have to hope for a CM Punk fued.

[jskinnyg]

Smackdown is pretty much fucked, although the only saving grace for me is the possibility of a Christian/CM Punk feud, with Christian possible getting a run with the title.

Especially since Swagger has the title and when Christian returned to WWE, who did he beat??? Sufferin' Succotash!! That would be a good feud... But I think it's a pipe dream... I don't think Vince & Co. will give him a title run... Christian seems to always get screwed in the WWE...

[tjmidnight420]

Especially since Swagger has the title and when Christian returned to WWE, who did he beat??? Sufferin' Succotash!! That would be a good feud... But I think it's a pipe dream... I don't think Vince & Co. will give him a title run... Christian seems to always get screwed in the WWE...

It's gonna go down bro. As CC used to say himself: Bank on it.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Since I'm bored, here are my thoughts on each pick:

<b>Raw:</b>
-John Morrison: Upsetting, but not unexpected. Raw usually gets guys who have stepped it up on SD and Morrison fits that mold. Unfortunately I can't help but feel he'll be like MVP last year and be totally underutilized and ticketed right back to SD next year (barring a heel turn).

-R-Truth: Again, I figured he'd be Raw-bound. Same thing as Morrison really, the only difference being I really don't care if Truth gets underutilized.

-Edge: He's the longest tenured guy on his current show to be moved, so it definitely provides a fresh feel. I figured either he or Y2J would switch. Seems to have turned heel right away, which would make sense with Batista's impending departure, except...

-Chris Jericho: ...Jericho got drafted too. So now Raw almost feels a little TOO heel heavy if Edge has officially turned. Perhaps Edge is gonna be a tweener? Who knows. But anyway, Jericho should be entertaining as always.

-The Great Khali: Another move I expected. Khali's taking time off now and seems to have constant knee problems. So it makes sense to move him the show with less focus on wrestling and more focus on comedy segments.

-The Hart Dynasty: Feels like more of a formality. Even though the Unified Tag champs can appear on any show, I get why they'd want them officially on Raw especially if Bret is going to continue to be involved in storylines. Also they probably just want to be able to say the tag champs belong to Raw (they moved the Colons to Raw last year when they had the belts and they obviously did nothing).

-Ezekiel Jackson: Meh, couldn't hurt. I figured Raw was a better place for him when ECW folded. Hopefully Regal manages him again once he heals up.

-Goldust: Much like Zeke, I figured Raw would have been the place for Goldust after ECW folded. I feel like maybe they only moved him to SD just to serve as a built-in draft pick a couple months later. Goldust will be involved in the Guest Host skits. It's kinda a shame since his ring work has been awesome for most of the past year.


<b>SmackDown:</b>
-Kelly Kelly: Meh, SmackDown needed another face diva. Not really much to say about this one.

-Big Show: Kinda unfortunate that ShoMiz broke up so quickly, but I'm interested in seeing where Show goes with a change of scenery. It'll be funny if he forms another mash-up team.

-Kofi Kingston: Dude was obviously getting lost on Raw, so going to SmackDown should do wonders for him. With SmackDown losing 2 of its top 3 guys, Kofi's got a huge chance to step up.

-Christian: See Kofi Kingston. Christian to SmackDown is a move I'm very happy about...kinda wish Edge was on the same show as him but I guess we'll have to wait another year for that.

-Chavo Guerrero: This can only help him. I'd expect interaction with Vickie.

-Cody Rhodes: Eh, I'm not too sure what to make of this. I don't know if I'd be able to buy Cody as a legit threat in any way, shape, or form. I would've moved DiBiase instead and let him start his Fortunate Sons stable on SmackDown. Then keep Cody on Raw to interact with Goldust.

-Chris Masters: Again, this can only help him. All Raw does with its undercard is use them in comedy segments. SmackDown might actually give them something to do.

-Hornswoggle: It's extremely unfortunate but pretty clear that WWE has had no idea what to do with Finlay without Hornswoggle. I figured they'd be re-united on Raw but it wound up the other way around. We're never gonna see awesome heel Finlay again.

-Rosa Mendes: I really don't get this move. Clearly, they wanted to add a lower-end heel diva to SmackDown. Fine. But why Rosa? She was at least managing somebody on Raw and was IMO one of the hotter divas on the show where the divas are meant to be eye candy. I woulda moved Jillian instead, or even Alicia Fox.

-MVP: Really happy about this move. MVP got totally lost on Raw. SmackDown will be a good thing for him, and I wouldn't be opposed to see him turn heel again.


<b>People Who Didn't Move:</b>
-Randy Orton: This was the real shocker of the draft for me. I thought for sure he and Cena would be split up. However, it's not a bad thing as SmackDown's got plenty of room to create new stars now.

-The Undertaker: Not completely floored here or anything, but I figured Taker would go to Raw to foreshadow a WM27 match against HHH or Cena (since I can't see him fighting anyone else next year). They'll probably just ignore the brand split again at WM-time next year.

-Cryme Tyme: I definitely thought Shad and JTG would get split. Obviously, that was the plan as JTG got drafted to Raw only for them to change their minds. I probably would have kept JTG on SmackDown and move Shad to Raw instead of Ezekiel Jackson. Regardless, I hope they can clearly establish their own identities and not always be associated with one another.

-Zack Ryder: I wanted Ryder to move more than anybody else on the undercard. The guy was such money on ECW and has just been wasted beyond belief on Raw. Then they drafted away his sexy valet. It pains me to say this but I think Ryder will be in the next bunch to be wished the best in their future endeavors. Clearly they've soured on him.

-Carlito: Carlito's gone on about how pissed off he is being stuck on Raw with the guest hosts. I figured that'd lead to him getting drafted but apparently not. I hope they go somewhere with that storyline rather than dropping it without explanation.</font>

[Veronika]

Agree with you majorly on Goldust and Cody. I must admit though, I'm curious to see what Cody does on Smackdown.