The Raw Undercard

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Note: Contains Raw spoilers

So, they just ran a backstage vignette where Carlito sounded really pissed off over the guest hosts not giving a lot of guys stuff to do. Kozlov also seemed pissed, and claimed he would destroy MacGruber next week.

Anyway, invariably this will just lead to Kozlov acting as a super villian (without even paying attention to the movie, I'm guessing MacGruber's nemesis is Russian). It will just be a comedy segment.

BUT - it made me think...until I looked at the roster I didn't realize just how many guys on Raw have fucking nothing to do. I would love to see the Raw undercard heels band together. Carlito, Kozlov, Ryder, Chavo, Regal, etc. let them get pissed off, protest, form a "union", I dunno.

Basically I just would like to see all these guys stand up to the guest host bullshit and get involved. They would form a contrast to the undercard faces (Santino, Primo, Masters, Yoshi, etc.) that don't seem to mind being involved in mindless comedy every week with little in-ring success.

Dunno...just wondering if anybody else had any ideas for something like this. I know it won't happen, but nothing wrong with armchair booking.</font>

[screech]

I would like to see that as well. It would give guys something meaningful to do who normally wouldn't have anything other than making a weird face when Swog farts.

[dronepool]

I'd like that as well.

[HBPunk]

ya put those 5 against cena to job and fired the next week

[Lock Jaw]

Sounds like a plan. Though I cringe at Regal being on the undercard.

[el bobbo]

You forgot to add Christian as one of the faces on the Raw undercard...

Which is something all of us need to be worried about. He wasn't even on TV this week.

[tjmidnight420]

You forgot to add Christian as one of the faces on the Raw undercard...

Which is something all of us need to be worried about. He wasn't even on TV this week.

And that is truly sad.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's because Christian was actually being given time to wrestle on Superstars. Ideally, I do like your suggestion, Vito -- but then you'll have so many of these guys drafted to SmackDown! in the near future, anyway.

I mean, the supplementary moves can be random as all hell, but Chavo Guerrero seems like a safe bet to once again move over to where Vickie Guerrero is; Chris Masters' relationship with Eve Torres seems to be getting forgotten, so it is possible he could be moved; Carlito moving to SmackDown! after RAW has done next to nothing with him would not be shocking; and the same thing goes with Primo.

I expect them to replaced with guys from SmackDown! like JTG, Jimmy Wang Yang, Slam Master J and even Finlay.

[Thunder Savage Go]

should be a national holiday when swoggel gets the axe

[Evil Vito]

That's because Christian was actually being given time to wrestle on Superstars. Ideally, I do like your suggestion, Vito -- but then you'll have so many of these guys drafted to SmackDown! in the near future, anyway.

I mean, the supplementary moves can be random as all hell, but Chavo Guerrero seems like a safe bet to once again move over to where Vickie Guerrero is; Chris Masters' relationship with Eve Torres seems to be getting forgotten, so it is possible he could be moved; Carlito moving to SmackDown! after RAW has done next to nothing with him would not be shocking; and the same thing goes with Primo.

I expect them to replaced with guys from SmackDown! like JTG, Jimmy Wang Yang, Slam Master J and even Finlay.

<font color=goldenrod>I'm not entirely sure about this year's draft. As I've said in other threads, I think they should scale back the draft a bit this year. Last year there were over 30 draft picks...I just don't see the point in moving that many this year now that it's down to 2 shows. It'd be like just flipping the entire rosters.

I'd probably make 20 moves tops (10 new additions per show, obviously). Knowing WWE, a good chunk of those picks will be somewhat noteworthy guys...leaving little room for undercarders to be moved. For that reason, I kinda feel that the Raw undercard will be largely unchanged except for one or two swaps...meaning the storyline would still make sense.

But yeah, I just really love the idea of the Raw undercard heels saying "fuck this shit" and doing something about it.</font>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think a few of the RAW undercard heels have the best chance of staying on RAW, actually, as quite a few of them moved over from ECW just recently. And they job so much that the WWE may not think they are worth moving (this is the only reason I can see Chavo Guerrero remaining on RAW).

I agree that a few of the moves will be scaled back. I think that we are having a few telegraphed for us right now after RAW, though. It seems like the big smark mystery of the draft will be "Who goes to SmackDown! -- John Cena or Randy Orton?"

The moves we do get will probably be designed to shock more than anything, but I do think we'll get about 15-20 supplementary draft moves (with the usual big five or six).

[Evil Vito]

I agree that a few of the moves will be scaled back. I think that we are having a few telegraphed for us right now after RAW, though. It seems like the big smark mystery of the draft will be "Who goes to SmackDown! -- John Cena or Randy Orton?"

The moves we do get will probably be designed to shock more than anything, but I do think we'll get about 15-20 supplementary draft moves (with the usual big five or six).

<font color=goldenrod>I definitely think it will be Orton. My guess is that Swagger cheats to retain the World Heavyweight Title at Extreme Rules...the next night he boasts about it during the draft episode. However, his celebration is cut short when it is revealed that Randy Orton has been drafted to SmackDown (I'm guessing they'll just operate with a set number of draft picks this year...no point in doing matches for picks when only two brands are involved). But Orton's been on Raw since 2006, so him moving will definitely seem like a refreshening to the rosters. Hopefully that's how it goes down...I'd rather not see Orton WIN the title and then switch, because it's happened several times already and I don't want Swagger's MITB title run to be over so quickly.

I agree with the notion of shock drafts moves, though. For that reason...I can see The Undertaker being drafted to Raw. He's been on SmackDown for nearly the entire duration of the brand split, and him moving can be seen as a huge pick despite the fact that he will take time off and probably appear once a month, if that. Still, Cena/Taker and HHH/Taker are two matches I can see in the cards for WM27 so having them all on the same show can help foreshadow that (and negate the need to completely ignore the split when WM time comes around).</font>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've thought about The Undertaker moving to RAW, as well. To be honest, I eventually decided that doing the move is unneccessary, and that it would actually shock people more if Taker just showed up on RAW after his absence and randomly Chokeslammed people; but I can understand why people would like to be official and get the move done. Kane also swaps brands every year, so it seems like he would be a safe pick to go with Taker. Throw in the usual rising stars on SmackDown! like R-Truth, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler and one of the Cryme Tyme guys.

And yeah, I also see Orton being drafted to SmackDown!. While I would like to see Swagger retain (possibly with help from a returning Cody Rhodes), I could also see the WWE putting the World Heavyweight Title on Orton. Let's hope they go with Swagger winning. I also see Rhodes being drafted to SmackDown!, along with Kofi Kingston (who has hit a bit of a roof on the red brand).

[jskinnyg]

This wouls be awesome... Killing me with Christian on the undercard...

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and I either see Christian being drafted to SmackDown!, or perhaps a greater shocker -- Edge being drafted to RAW. To be honest, I can see the latter happening. I don't know why they wouldn't just give him a short reign with the World Heavyweight Title, but I got the sneaking suspicion that the reason they didn't have him beat Chris Jericho at WrestleMania was partially so that Swagger didn't cash in against him, and they didn't have to prolong their interaction.

Maybe I am completely wrong, but I can see Edge being one of the big moves this year.

[Lock Jaw]

I hope Edge and Christian end up on separate brands.

Or else Christian is just going to end up being the Matt Hardy to Edge's Jeff Hardy.

[Evil Vito]

Oh, and I either see Christian being drafted to SmackDown!, or perhaps a greater shocker -- Edge being drafted to RAW. To be honest, I can see the latter happening. I don't know why they wouldn't just give him a short reign with the World Heavyweight Title, but I got the sneaking suspicion that the reason they didn't have him beat Chris Jericho at WrestleMania was partially so that Swagger didn't cash in against him, and they didn't have to prolong their interaction.

Maybe I am completely wrong, but I can see Edge being one of the big moves this year.

<font color=goldenrod>I've thought about Edge moving. Another case of a guy who's been on his show for a long time moving, would be a good counter for Orton moving.

I think a good amount of the picks will be people essentially swapping places with their counterparts on the other show, something we've seen in years past. I think they'll do a title swap of some sort again this year...my guess would be McIntyre and Miz swapping shows. That counts for everyone...main event, upper midcard, midcard, jobbers...I could even see some divas getting flipped around. I can envision Kelly Kelly being drafted to SmackDown, King crying about it, but then Tiffany gets drafted to Raw to replace her or something.

Oh yeah, and I actually think a good amount of the people who just joined their respective shows will be moving. I feel like maybe they were "signed" to their respective shows with the plans of moving them a month or two later, just because they can act as built-in draft moves. Christian, Zack Ryder, Goldust, and Tiffany are all people I could see switching shows.

I might make a thread soon asking how people would book the draft this year. Not just the picks, but the formatting of the show. I'm really intrigued by how it'll work this year for some reason.</font>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I've thought about Drew McIntyre and The Miz swapping. It seems like a safe bet, but on the other hand, there is part of me that just cannot see them moving The Miz right now. He's so fucking entertaining on RAW. It wouldn't surprise me, but I'm not going to be shocked if he doesn't move, either. He just fits RAW so well right now (although I am intrigued to actually see him wrestle on SmackDown!).

But let's say they do the mid-card title swap. Do you think that is a good sign that Maryse and Tiffany would be supplementary swaps? They are both banging the respective mid-card champs. I dunno, I could see the WWE doing that. Plus, they just took the Divas Title off Maryse -- perhaps so she could move and not take the title with her? Although I'm still not convinced that they won't do a Women's/Divas Title swap, with McCool following The Undertaker over, and Eve going to SmackDown! where the girls there can wrestle over her abortion of a title. I think they swapped the females' belts to establish the Divas Title on RAW, but then realised that they have no clue how to book the ladies, so they'll give it to Michael Hayes to make it worth caring about. I can see Melina moving to be on the same brand with John Morrison, as well.

A swap I still see coming is Kofi Kingston for R-Truth. I thought that Kofi would move last year, but they kept him there. Kofi and R-Truth are both very similar in that they are rising African-American stars, both can talk, both can wrestle; but the emphasis on their strengths seems to indicate they are on the wrong shows. R-Truth is the "enterainment" (RAW) and Kofi is the "sports" (SmackDown!).

You may be right about a lot of the ECW guys. Zack Ryder would be able to do so much more on SmackDown!, so him moving in the supplementary draft would not shock me. Goldust hasn't done much, either. It may depend on where Cody Rhodes ends up, and what sort of role they want for Goldust. If they want him to be a comedic character -- I can see him on RAW; but if they do want to push him -- SmackDown!.

[Anybody Thrilla]

You forgot to add Christian as one of the faces on the Raw undercard...

Which is something all of us need to be worried about. He wasn't even on TV this week.

He wrestled on NXT.