New-look SmackDown!

[HTrain90]

I think it's not a secret that SmackDown! made out quite well in the draft. Getting JR and Triple H puts instant credibility to the brand, but getting Jeff Hardy was crucial to get a new face at the top. Dumping Batista doesn't hurt at all, and CM Punk to RAW isn't too much of a loss for SmackDown! (we knew he'd leave ECW, but I don't believe SD! needed him too much)

I, for one, think that the best pick for SmackDown! for the long-term is Mr. Kennedy. A Kennedy-MVP feud (which seems inevitable at this point) has a lot of the same feel as a Austin-Rock feud of old - the arrogant, brash heel against the confident, loud-mouthed babyface. That seems like a rivalry that they could start up, then throw a secondary title into it, then one of them rises to the world title after a year or so, and then brings back the feud to lift the other.

Jeff is a great pick. I just hope that Edge holds on to his strap Sunday so they can feud for the belt. If Edge retains then Trips loses to Cena - which would be great for one reason - Cena claims HHH has never beaten him. If this is still the case and the two switch shows, it allows for the feud to come back in the future when they find themselves on the same show and for Cena to still hold that over HHH's head, making the feud a lot better. If HHH goes over Cena, suddenly there's nothing left for HHH to prove, and the feud is pointless.

Umaga is a great pick for what he is - a big body that can do some jobs and lift some people up with his staus. He main evented the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania merely a year and a half ago - he's got some tenure and will help elevate some of the young guys on SD!

If the point of this draft was to make me tune into SmackDown!, mission accomplished. Michael Hayes is going to have ba field day with this roster - and I expect SmackDown! to end up being the better brand within a year.

[Jeritron]

It's awesome for Smackdown. I hope they go all the way with this now.

I think the best bet would be to have a show centered around the fact that they have both world champions Friday, and then have Edge drop the title to Batista to get it on Raw. Make the WWE title the Smackdown title.
Also, they should switch up the tv graphics and logo for the change.

I still think theres a few moves that shouldn't have been done. Matt Hardy should have been left there, or Jericho should have been moved there in his place. They need the secondary title.

[thedamndest]

They're getting a Divas title...

[The CyNick]

They could do something where Edge retains against Batista, and then Edge tries to help HHH beat Cena to keep the belt on SD. That results in Edge "messing up", which leads to a Cena win.

That way you keep the heat on Cena against HHH to do that later.

And you also set up HHH vs Edge for the title on SD.

[McLegend]

I say HHH retains and Edge losses to Batista and brings the Heavyweight title back to Raw.

The WWE wants to do Cena/HHH III so I def think HHH winning on Sunday makes sense on paper.

[NoRoolz]

I loved it when Kennedy came out and was pointing at Edge telling him he's coming for him. I thought it'd be great for them to pick up from the whole MITB thing last year. But then Trips got drafted to SmackDown (which is great too btw), and that kinda automatically demotes Kennedy, at least for now...

[Sepholio]

I just had an interesting idea. What if Edge retains against Batista? You would think that this would mean Cena over HHH, right? Well how about HHH winning and then Punk cashes in MITB and wins the title, thus keeping it on RAW? Would be pretty shocking tbh.

[thedamndest]

They are going to need to come out with stipulations for this Edge match. What is to stop him from getting counted out/DQed in the first minute of the match?

[GD]

I would love to see a Kennedy-MVP feud. John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton and Punk on the same show...whoa! thats some shit.

[Mooияakeя™]

yup over all of this, Kennedy - MVP is just making me excited all over again.

Only pity here is, we'll get spoilers all over the place. RAW was live. Just gonna have to dodge Boone and Ryan's shit now.

[Heyman]

They could do something where Edge retains against Batista, and then Edge tries to help HHH beat Cena to keep the belt on SD. That results in Edge "messing up", which leads to a Cena win.

That way you keep the heat on Cena against HHH to do that later.

And you also set up HHH vs Edge for the title on SD.

I like that idea a lot.

On that note however - I think it would be interesting if ALL the world titles ended up on RAW (i.e. Cena, Batista, Kane). Smackdown and ECW would then be without world titles. As result - both brands team up and take on RAW?

Yes - the alliance angle was done.....but that was way back in 2001 (time flies eh?). I think the WWE could use another 'invasion' type angle (only this time - it would be to see which brand could get the Monday timeslot...or something to that effect).

[Heyman]

yup over all of this, Kennedy - MVP is just making me excited all over again.

Only pity here is, we'll get spoilers all over the place. RAW was live. Just gonna have to dodge Boone and Ryan's shit now.


This is one thing that REALLY has me scratching my head (the one above my neck :shifty:).

With Triple H, Jim Ross, and Undertaker on Smackdown, combined with the fact that Smackdown now has arguably the top THREE promising/emerging talents in the company (i.e. Jeff Hardy, Ken Kennedy, MVP), will Smackdown become the NEW "Flagship" for the WWE?

If not - then was it really a wise decision to have so many talents head over to Smackdown? Cena and Batista are (finally) on the same show, but this would have been far more intriguing had it happened 2-3 years ago.

In theory, Smackdown and RAW should be seen as equals, but it's never been that way. Perhaps this will finally be the year? (and if not, perhaps Smackdown will be the new 'flagship').

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just had an interesting idea. What if Edge retains against Batista? You would think that this would mean Cena over HHH, right? Well how about HHH winning and then Punk cashes in MITB and wins the title, thus keeping it on RAW? Would be pretty shocking tbh.

I suggested something very similar in another thread. The way CM Punk has been hinting that he's going after Edge, sure he might just be playing his character well, but it seems like there are ideas there. Either that, or Triple H retains the WWE Title, and Punk does the same thing. Either one would be awesome, but screwing over a heel makes Punk look more like a face.

Many think Batista may be turning in the near future. Batista being upset that his work led to Punk winning the World Heavyweight Title could be a great built-in aspect to that.

Personally, I think Triple H losing the WWE Championship to John Cena at Night of Champions is too papery. What kind of impact does it have moving a World Title to another brand, if the same title just jumps back to its original brand? The World Heavyweight Title has been on SmackDown! for years, so moving it will seem less...foreseen?

One thing I would mark out for, is Vickie Guerrero stripping Triple H of the WWE Championship when he walks through the doors at SmackDown!, and awards the WWE Championship to Edge, because he was the pre-existing World Champion of SmackDown!, and Triple H coming in as a secondary World Champion isn't needed. This gets the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship on Edge, which certainly would make him a heat machine. You'd need to work out alternate arrangements for Night of Champions, but I can't see La Familia happy that there is another World Champion running around.

[Hanso Amore]

Edge should retain, then cost HHH the title so he can be the LONE Champ on Smackdown. This leads to HHH vs Edge program, I think it would get good heat.

Then the next night on Raw, while Cena is in the ring, Bats comes out and lays down a challenge. I would love to see Bats lose the first match, and then just fucking SNAP. Maybe he does somethign about being frustrated at losing so many title matches. he tried to eb a good guy, but now its on. Then just have him fucking wreck a bunch of guys.

Those would be 2 decent and new programs.

I just realized that Miz and Morrison are going to lose the titles....to Swog. With ECW going to Raw, they wont be on Smackdown anymore, so they will need to get the tag belts to a smackdown team..

Unless they come to Raw and Unify the tag belts.

and whats up with the US title on ECW? That will bea Raw/ECW title now.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Edge retaining the World Heavyweight Title could be very cool, I'll admit it, but the only way I'd want to see it is if Triple H then cost Edge his title in turn. Not by winning it himself (although I'm sure that would be the plan, which is why I would rather Batista take the belt to RAW).

If Edge kept the big gold belt on SmackDown!, I'd like to see Mr. Kennedy start a feud with Mr. Kennedy, based on their pre-existing heat, with Triple H going after...fuck, I don't know, he faces The Great Khali because Vickie wants him crushed? Mr. Kennedy, as a former military man, challenges the evil Canadian at The Great American Bash, and when it looks like La Familia will silence Kennedy, Triple H makes his way down with a sledgehammer, and cracks Hawkins, Ryder, Neely and maybe even Chavo and Edge with the hammer. Kennedy comes to, kicks some ass of his own, and wins the World Heavyweight Title.

Whether this would lead to a Triple Threat at Summerslam, or Triple H and Edge feuding away from the title, is up to you, but I'd desperately want to see the big gold belt on Mr. Kennedy if it were to stay there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Also, I've heard that The Miz, John Morrison, Finlay and Hornswoggle have actually been having really entertaining matches at house shows. Finlay & Hornswoggle as WWE Tag Team Champions won't annoy me nearly as much as it does others, mainly because Finlay deserves to wear some gold, and Hornswoggle, as ridiculous as it is, has become important enough to storylines that him being carried to a WWE Tag Team Title reign sort of somewhat justifies it. A little?

[Hanso Amore]

Miz and Morrison are the best tag team of the last 10 years. They could save the division, but they just arent pushed right, and tag teams are fading away.

[The Optimist]

The problem with the whole Hornswaggle thing is that it puts into total perspective how little wrestling means anymore. I can except that this is now Sports Entertainment and wrestling ability takes a backseat to entertainment, but with the Swog angles it's thrown under a bus. It's a joke. I enjoy that Finlay is way over as a face, that's really cool, so I'm fine with him being around Finlay or intefering. But actually putting a championship on him is just one level over Chyna winning the IC title on the Disgrace-O-Meter. Surely there is any number of people they want to get on television that will agree to act Irish just to team with Finlay.

[The Optimist]

Miz and Morrison are the best tag team of the last 10 years. They could save the division, but they just arent pushed right, and tag teams are fading away.Hilarious.

[Destor]

Colin Delaney should team up with them.

[Hanso Amore]

Dude, They are the best to break on the scene since the E and C/Hardy days, no fucking lie.

Who betta than them? They have a great gimmick, great mic skills, great look.

Dont even try to say Londrick and their failure reign.

[Destor]

They do not have great mic skills.

[Afterlife]

Morrison is good on the mic. Poochy tries too hard.

[Destor]

Morrison is good on the mic n the same way a wreck is good for a NASCAR race.

[Afterlife]

No way. Wrecks are the only thing interesting about Nascar. Mic work is the least of Morrison's attributes.

[Afterlife]

Also, this is what it says on wwe.com about Supercrazy's move to ECW:

"He’s super! He’s crazy! And thanks to being randomly selected in this year’s WWE Supplemental Draft, he’s now extreme! Super Crazy is a high-energy luchador who has Moonsaulted off arena balconies, so the Land of the Extreme should be right up his alley!"

In an undeniably impressive form, the company has indirectly stated that Supercrazy has never been on ECW. More about ECDub than SD, but it's one of those things that just blew me away.

[Fox]

I think Smackdown's drafts are being blown out of proportion. Sure, the WWE Champion Triple H is a big draft pick, but that's just one guy. The only other true blue main eventers are Edge, Big Show (to an extent), and possibly Undertaker if he happens to return.

MVP, Kennedy, Jeff Hardy and Benjamin are all upper mid-carders or mid-carders, and so far, that hasn't really changed at all.

RAW has Batista, John Cena, Chris Jericho, JBL, Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels in their main event line-up, with CM Punk, Kane, Paul Burchill and Lance Cade coming up in the undercard. They also seem to have the only Divas that fans care about. To me it would seem that RAW is by far the stronger show.

[Afterlife]

This is the first time in forever that SD has a rea line-up of talent. That's really the point.

[Volare]

Morrison is good on the mic n the same way a wreck is good for a NASCAR race.

Starting the whole "Palace of Wisdom" was the best damn thing he could do. (IMO)


But I know I'll tune into Smackdown! a little more due to the fact of the nice change of pace...I'm just worried Trips will overdose on a title reign and kill any hopes of seeing something refreshing...don't get me wrong, Trips with the title is great now and I've wanted to see it for awhile, but have him lose it, get pissed, and regain it back again in a good feud.