So.......The WWE Draft

[S.L.L.]

Apparently Vince McMahon getting killed is an official part of their closing ceremonies now. That is something.

[Eduardo]

I have to admit, the stage self destructing was kinda hilarious.

[Jingus]

Various thoughts on the draft:

 

-Looking back on paper, Raw and Smackdown came out pretty even. It sure didn't feel that way watching the show live though. ECW seems like it got raped the hardest overall, and it was almost funny to listen to Tazz get more obviously pissed about it as the night went on. Are they supposed to be doing a Raw/ECW talent exchange next? If not, taking away Kane and Punk doesn't make much sense.

 

-What's the point of randomly switching the play-by-play announcers? Both Ross and Cole seemed genuinely unhappy about it.

 

-Man, the WWE is really lacking in the top heel department. On Raw, Orton is hurt, Jericho is the IC champ and currently stuck in an endless feud anyway, JBL is... JBL, and who else is there left? Meanwhile, they did lose Jeff and HHH, but still drafted a whole shitload of new faces to fill those spots up (Batista, Rey, Kane, Punk). On Smackdown, Edge is really the only main-event level heel they have now, with a vague secondary tier of also-rans like Khali, Big Show, Mark Henry, and such to job to the guys who eventually job to Edge. ECW is the only exception; that brand is bursting with various undercard heels, without enough faces to, well, face them.

 

-The new dumb angle. So it's a rehash of the miserably aborted Dead Vince angle from last year. And it takes place on the anniversary of the Benoit slaughter. And how long has it been since the stage collapsed at the TNA show and killed the guy? Like two weeks? I don't think they're necessarily doing all this shit on purpose, but it depresses me that they just didn't care enough to change their plans around these kinds of things.

[MikeCampbell]

Until HHH got picked, I was thinking that SD was going to be interesting over the next few months with potential programs between Edge/Hardy and Edge/Kennedy. I'll also admit that I got a pretty good laugh out of Matt Hardy going to ECW, since it'd been reported that an Edge/Matt program was going to start on Friday, unless one of them got drafted.

 

What I'm wondering is if WWE will go all out on switching up the titles with the brands, like they initially did in '05 with the WWE and World Titles. I'm figuring Big Show will win at the PPV to keep the ECW Title where it is. But I could see WWE again switching up the WWE and World Titles.

[S.L.L.]

I'm still trying to figure out what to make of the draft itself.

 

Favorite WWE guys currently are Randy Orton, John Cena, Rey Mysterio, JBL, John Morrison, The Miz, The Big Show, Matt Hardy, MVP, Finlay, Chuck Palumbo, and Festus. That was 3 guys from Raw, 7 guys from Smackdown, and 2 from ECW. Well, functionally, it was 3 from Raw and 9 from Smackdown and ECW via the talent exchange. Only two of those guys changed places, but they were both from Smackdown, giving us 4 guys on Raw, 3 on ECW, and leaving 5 on Smackdown. Playing field is a bit more even now. Then we get the question of what happens when they start doing the ECW tapings with Raw. I doubt they'll continue the ECW/Smackdown talent exchange. If they do an ECW/Raw talent exchange, you get 7 to 5. If not, 4 to 3 to 5. Either way, far more even.

 

Then there's the matter of prominent guys who irritate me. I don't necessarily think Triple H is a bad wrestler (the match he had with Mark Henry last night was pretty boss, actually), but his constant presence at or near the top of Raw has pretty consistently kept Smackdown the more watchable show. One of the major causes of the quality B-show phenomenon that was going on there. If I may jack something TomK wrote a while back....

 

I’d argue that the big difference between the 90s and the 00’s is that in 1999 Smackdown debuted ( I’d also be curious as to the exact time period when Patterson first left). And suddenly you had hours of WWF time to fill with stuff that management didn’t really care about.

 

I don’t think much changed in the way RAW worked from a wrestling standpoint. Rock v Austin at Mania, Rock v Jericho stuff, the two HHH v Cactus PPVs, the 01 heel Austin run, Batista v HHH HIAC, Cena v Umaga are all things that stand up well against the top of the line 90s era WWF and feel like they are part of the same page.

 

There is a lot of HHH stuff that I don’t care for that I don’t think you’d ever see in the nineties. The HHH matches that feel like instead of him working wrestling as a narrative story he’s trying to work wrestling as a speech (collection of talking points); the way in which Elimination Chamber matches have been worked and his signature 3-ways I don’t see happening in the nineties.

 

But the real 90s-00 change is the addition of the extra hours of “lesser” (in booking importance) TV. In the nineties at the point that Bischoff and Vince didn’t give a rat’s ass about tag wrestling, if you wanted to see US style tag wrestling you watched Thunder/WCWSN or Too Cool v Hardys on Shotgun. Too Cool v Hardys wasn’t going to be given anywhere near the time that an Armstrong brothers match would get on Thunder or the Main Event. Smackdown is two hours which is a lot longer than Shotgun. It also at one point was running separate PPVS. Things like Eddy v Big Show, Eddy v JBL, Eddie v Benoit from Iraq , MNM main event run, the June 2005 Rey v Eddie Smackdown match etc. just wouldn’t have happened in the nineties.

 

I’m not claiming that Smackdown is Thunder (maybe the worlds best Shotgun but that’s a different story).We’ve all seen Smackdown scripts. I’m not making the claim that Smackdown isn’t scripted and controlled. But in terms of choices for how time is allotted on a show, RAW is something that clearly the fed cares about more.

 

So at its best this decade WWE has had these shows that are (outside of the HHH self aggrandizement that fucks shit up) carefully put together the way WWF traditionally puts together a card and plays to the WWF/Es strengths…plus you have this additional show where WWE doesn’t really care that much about what happens if you give Tatanka and Sylvain Grenier 20 minutes. It’s that element of guys being given time because management doesn’t care that I think is the big new positive feature of the WWF in the 00s.

Now Triple H is on the B-Show. What does this mean? How will this effect the rest of the show? How does the absence of HHH effect Raw? It pretty much has to make Raw better to some degree. Does it drag down Smackdown? If nothing else, it probably means we get a HHH vs. Edge feud, which might be the only thing more unbearable than the interminable Batista/Edge feud. Of course, now Batista is on Raw. Again, Batista is a guy who I think is a fine wrestler, he's just really fucking irritating. Batista as tertiary Raw babyface might not be a step up from HHH as secondary Raw babyface. For one thing, it bumps Shawn Michaels up to the #2 spot, not that that's a huge bump up. But at least HHH was often amusing is his irritating nature. He's no Kevin Nash. He still tries to be serious to laughable effect much of the time. But Batista is even more serious and even more laughably unconvincing at it. Does this mean he's going to feud with Michaels again? Christ.

 

Everything's spread out pretty even now. People are talking about how ECW got raped here, but honestly, I could see this resulting in ECW becoming my go-to brand, just because of the shifts in personnel and booking focus. And Matt Hardy is a pretty choice add for them.

[Bob Morris]

Matt Hardy going to ECW makes sense as now you have a wrestler who can be the ECW champ and be the type of wrestler who is closest to the type of wrestler that the ECW fanbase wants to see on top.

 

I suspect the switches to Smackdown for HHH (if that stays permanent) could be because MyNetwork TV sees Smackdown as its flagship show, so the hope is to put one of the top WWE guys there while allowing Cena to anchor Raw again. Of course, there's always the chance that HHH gets traded back to Raw, as happened the last time he was drafted.

 

I don't watch Raw but I don't think Lawler and Cole is going to work because I doubt the two will have any chemistry. But that being said, I think the biggest problem is Lawler, who I found to be more annoying than funny as the years went by.

[S.L.L.]

Matt Hardy going to ECW makes sense as now you have a wrestler who can be the ECW champ and be the type of wrestler who is closest to the type of wrestler that the ECW fanbase wants to see on top.

 

I suspect the switches to Smackdown for HHH (if that stays permanent) could be because MyNetwork TV sees Smackdown as its flagship show, so the hope is to put one of the top WWE guys there while allowing Cena to anchor Raw again. Of course, there's always the chance that HHH gets traded back to Raw, as happened the last time he was drafted.

 

I don't watch Raw but I don't think Lawler and Cole is going to work because I doubt the two will have any chemistry. But that being said, I think the biggest problem is Lawler, who I found to be more annoying than funny as the years went by.

Lest we forget, Cole and Lawler were the original announce team for Smackdown, and before that, they had been the announce team for Raw after JR had his Bell's palsy relapse and Russo and Ferrera tried to get him turfed out before Austin pushed for Ross to come back. It was...not pretty. Cole has gotten better since then, and Lawler has gotten worse. I imagine the result will be pretty much the same.

 

Also, the HHH thing seems especially weird in that I recall reading that it was the brainchild of Michael Hayes, but it was something that no one was else was really seriously considering, and that was before Hayes got into trouble. Now, Hayes' standing in the company is even lower, and it actually ends up happening. Go figure.

[Tim Evans]

Cole is better now that he was back then. If this sticks with Cole staying on Raw, I think it could be good. I think JR is not going to last long on Smackdown. Especially from reading his blog about not wanting to go to Connecticut for post production. And I won't believe HHH is going to Smackdown till he wrestles in a Smackdown ring.

[Bob Morris]

May I also add that it's annoying that some people think it's the end of the world that JR is going to Smackdown. Todd Martin went on and on about it, acting like going to Smackdown is a demotion.

 

It's one thing for people to be annoyed about the "JR gets fired" angle that happened a couple years ago, but it's not the end of the world that JR is now on Smackdown. He still has a job, get over it.

 

Besides, JR isn't going to be around forever. JR fans might not believe it, but I will not be surprised to see the day come that Jim Ross decides to leave. He may love the wrestling business, but almost every longtime announcer has, at some point, decided to move on. What are these JR fans going to do if he decides to leave on his own accord?

[Bix]

Todd Martin is an idiot.

 

Smackdown is going to be the flagship show of MNTV when it moves in the fall, and fucking Triple H, the boss's son-in-law who had previously considered it the B-show, is also moving there. It's at worse an equal, and at best the new A-show.

[MikeCampbell]

Supposedly, the reason for HHH's move is because Steph is having another baby and he likes the reduced schedule. I'm really hoping it's not a permanent thing though.

[Tim Evans]

Until it gets more ratings than Raw, it's still be B show. I mean it's still going to be on Friday's right?

[KrisZ]

If it isn't live then it won't be the A show.

[MyOwnSummer]

I think JR and Foley will make a pretty great team. I'm going to have to start making an effort to watch SD!

[Bob Morris]

I don't know where it's written that a show has to be either live or draw better ratings to not be called the "B-show."

 

Thunder was the B-show in WCW simply because WCW booking made it clear they didn't consider it worth the attention that Nitro got.

 

Smackdown may have been that way at one point, but with some people saying they've seen better shows on Smackdown than on Raw, calling it the B-show is a stretch these days.

 

Especially since (gasp!) Triple H is headed there. Quick, someone tell him it's the B-show and he just got demoted!

[Jingus]

Smackdown may have been that way at one point, but with some people saying they've seen better shows on Smackdown than on Raw, calling it the B-show is a stretch these days.

Fans may have called Smackdown the better show, but it's pretty obvious that Vince & co. consider Raw to be the real deal. Vince himself shows up far more often on Raw than any other program. Raw's main event has gone on last at 4 out of the 6 Wrestlemanias since the brand split. Raw traditionally gets the better end of the deal in the yearly draft. Raw is where they've kept Cena since he proved to be an earner. And until now, Raw was The Triple H Show. All that tends to suggest that Raw did indeed get preferential treatment compared to the others.

 

Especially since (gasp!) Triple H is headed there. Quick, someone tell him it's the B-show and he just got demoted!

My theory: Triple H sees this as a challenge. He thinks SD is the inferior show, but with his help they can pull ahead and be Raw's equal and do well on their new network.

[Guest Lone Rogue]

My theory: Triple H sees this as a challenge. He thinks SD is the inferior show, but with his help they can pull ahead and be Raw's equal and do well on their new network.

What Hunter doesn't see is that the ratings on Raw won't drop by losing Triple H, wheras they would have fallen even with SD! had Cena went back to Smackdown!. With exception to Taker still on SD!, Raw is now the "New Generation" show. New WWE fans buy oodles of merchandise and have tons of support for Cena, Batista, Rey Jr. and CM Punk. Taker included as right beside Cena and Batista in the merch/draw department. The Hardy Boys were another new WWE fan draw but sort of in the middle. Raw is certainly going to be the show for new WWE fans to tune into, which is why I think they went to the PG rating recently. It'll be less about pushing the envelope and more about bringing in more kids, which is the right way to go.

 

I'm wondering how long it takes the 90's wrestling fans to clue in that Raw is no longer "their show" and booing Cena won't do shit. They might as well consider SD! their new show.

[kjh]

Todd Martin is an idiot.

Yeah, this really doesn't rank highly in terms of nasty things Vince McMahon has done to Jim Ross.

 

With regards to Triple H, my theory is that he'll be glad to work in the lower pressure Smackdown environment with his second child on the way, at a time when Raw's ratings are at their lowest level in years, there is huge pressure to hotshot them back to where they were a few months ago and there is no sign of a long term solution to their ratings woes. His position as the top star of the brand will be second guessed a lot less on Smackdown than if he had stayed on Raw.

[KrisZ]

Supplemental draft is now over and here are the picks.

 

1. Mark Henry = ECW

2. Jamie Noble = RAW

3. Trevor Murdoch = SD

4. Big Daddy V = SD

5. Deuce = RAW

6. Harry Smith = SD

7. Hornswoggle = ECW

8. Super Crazy = ECW

9. Chuck Palumbo = RAW

10. Brian Kendrick = SD

11. Matt Striker = RAW

12. Maria = SD

13. Shelton Benjamin = SD

14. Fit Finlay = ECW

15. Carlito = SD

16. Layla = RAW

17. Kofi Kingston = RAW

[Bob Morris]

Given that they just added Mark Henry to the ECW title match at the next PPV, I wonder if this means they're putting the title on Henry.

[tomk]

I haven't watched either show for a while but the real thing people are missing is that since the beginning the roster split has meant you can keep Undertaker and HHH away from each other. Brand split really protected both guys and protected them from the shadow of the other.

 

Both guys were the anchors of each brand with the rest of the show deffering to them. All this is assuming Taker doesn't get switched, HHH doesn't get traded back, HHH beating Cena and Batista at Night of Chmpions won't permanently end the brand split, etc.

 

Will Taker retire at next Mania when HHH ends streak?

I mean there are going to be some interesting dynamics. It's not going to make it a show I want to see, but may make reading the results interesting.

 

 

Oh yeah Cole and Lawler can be really amusing together.

 

Lawler has good comic timing, and Cole comes from a comedy writting background and the two play off each other well.

 

I remember them having lots of good Yokozuna/Yoko Ono "who's on first?" type banter.

 

Cole is better at calling wrestling then he was back then and still can mix in the comedy, so the rifs no longer seem like a non-sequitor and more directly connected to the in ring action (the Melina date rape episode of Smackdown had Cole almost making his broadcast partner loose it when Melina got hit with the 619--"Not the first time she's been hit in the back of the head today").

[MikeCampbell]

Given that they just added Mark Henry to the ECW title match at the next PPV, I wonder if this means they're putting the title on Henry.

I'd say that it's probably a 99% chance that Henry gets the title. WWE seems to want to keep the ECW Title strictly with ECW. Lashley never defended it on RAW at all during his program with Umaga. And I don't think it was ever defended on SD (although don't quote me on that). And when Lashley got drafted to RAW last year, they vacated the title instead of having Lashley drop it.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

and Cole comes from a comedy writting background

No he doesn't.

[Marty]

Yeah, unless Cole did some comedy writing while doing his journalism degree, I'm not sure what his background is. My understanding is after his degree, he worked for several years in radio, first for a smaller radio station or two, before landing on CBS radio, then on WWF/E TV.

[S.L.L.]

I know TomK has said in the past that Cole was a writer for The Simpsons at one point. I don't know where he got that from, though.