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Tonight is the annual WWE Draft. This was not supposed to take place until mid June, but due to Edge's sudden retirement, WWE had their hand forced and moved the draft forward. For those wondering, long term planning is not put into the draft. Any moves we see tonight are likely not to be finalized until literally minutes before the show goes on the air. With that said, there is one rumored exception that I will address later, but even that is subject to change. Also, any draft picks that occur tonight will not go into effect until next week's set of shows, so Friday's Smackdown and Extreme Rules this Sunday will still be under the current roster sets.
Now speaking of the current roster sets, like most of you, I find the draft quite pointless considering how guys and girls switch back and forth between Raw and Smackdown on a weekly basis without explanation. It seems that the only time WWE takes the brand split seriously is during the draft and at the Bragging Rights PPV. In theory, the brand split should work without issue. The problem is that WWE utilizes so few guys that they have to use these upper tier talents on both shows to make the shows feel important. If WWE could breakthrough this silly hangup they have over building new talent, WWE could easily have separate solid roster sets for both shows. I'm just going to rundown the current roster alphabetically here of current non-main event guys. Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Zack Ryder. There is absolutely no reason that with minimal effort that WWE could not push any or all of these guys to the main event. Throw in Christian and John Morrison. Yes, they are in the main events for Extreme Rules, but does anyone actually believe WWE will give them long term sustained pushes to elevate them to top stars? I don't. Right now WWE has two full time top level stars: John Cena and Randy Orton. What if one of these guys goes down with a long term injury? WWE would be seriously screwed. Below them, there is CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, and Rey Mysterio. Del Rio has it now and looks like WWE is serious about him, but we saw the exact same thing with Sheamus, Swagger, and Barrett, and look what happened to them, so I'm not going all in on Del Rio yet. I don't include The Undertaker and Triple H on this list since neither is wrestling full time. Lastly, there is Sin Cara. The jury is still out on him. It looks like WWE is behind him at this point, but we know how quickly that can turn. So I'll give him an incomplete grade at this point and will check back in on him in about six months. Bottom line is, WWE has numerous talented guys on their roster that are under utilized. I've said it many times in the past, but it's more imperative than ever that WWE creates new stars.
So for tonight's draft, I'm going to suspend my disbelief and try to imagine that WWE will actually keep the rosters separate. I am almost always disappointed by the outcome of the draft as the results are usually underwhelming. However, my plan for this year's draft is quite simple. Establish Raw as the clear A show. Your top stars all are moved to Raw. Smackdown becomes the clear B show with younger talent. WWE has traditionally tried to disguise the fact that Smackdown in the B show by moving a few big names to the show to try to retain its "credibility". They need to drop this mentality. Smackdown would be far more entertaining with a group of young guys who could actually wrestle and put on entertaining matches. If the ratings drop a little, who cares? It's far more important to build for the future by establishing these younger talents rather than worrying week to week that your rating dropped by .2. I don't normally tune into Smackdown because I have no interest in watching Big Show, Kane, or The Undertaker in the main event. And we can be nostalgic about Edge, but the reality is that he wasn't very good over the past year either. Regardless what WWE wants you to think, Smackdown could be successful without established names from the past 10-15 years. Remember the Smackdown Six in the early 2000's? Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Chavo Guerrero. This was also near the debut of Brock Lesnar and John Cena. This was before any of these guys were main eventers, but it was the most entertaining period in Smackdown history. With the talent WWE has now, there is no reason they couldn't do this again. Of course, Paul Heyman was booking the show at that time, but Michael Hayes has shown in the past he could put together a solid wrestling show. So with all that said, here's what I would do during tonight's draft:
TO RAW:
Alberto Del Rio - This is the move I mentioned earlier has been rumored to be scheduled some time in advance. Tentative plans for Summerslam are Cena vs Del Rio. Whether that match is for the title remains to be seen. However, I would have Christian win the belt on Sunday and then move Del Rio to Raw on Monday. He's arguably the top heel in WWE right now next to Punk, so he should be on the A show.
The Big Show - I'm not a fan of Show, and he really serves no purpose on Smackdown. We got hints during the Smackdown Battle Royal that they might be moving to a Del Rio vs Big Show program, and that is the worst thing that could happen to Del Rio. Del Rio needs to work with good workers like Edge and Christian. Putting him with Show would expose Del Rio as the still green worker that he is. Of course, if they both move to Raw, we still may see the program. Anyway, Raw is in desperate need of top heels. They flip flop Show between heel and face all the time, so just turn him heel and he can feud against Cena or Orton.
Kane - Another guy I really do not like. He's done nothing since losing the belt to Edge. Him and Show as tag champions makes me want to vomit. Move him to Raw and let him be an upper midcard jobber to the top guys.
Beth Phoenix - I know the Divas division is meaningless, but the more serious Divas matches seem to take place on Raw, so that's where she should be.
Kelly Kelly - She's arguably the most popular Diva, so she should be on the A show.
TO SMACKDOWN:
Daniel Bryan - This is a no brainer. He's the top wrestler in the company, and he should be moved to a show where he can be showcased. This isn't going to happen on Raw. When Bryan started, fans were really behind him. Vince of course didn't like this, so Bryan was buried for months, culminating with being part of the APPLE group. He deserves much better than his.
Dolph Ziggler - I know he was just fired from Smackdown and signed to Raw, but whatever. Stupid new haircut aside, Ziggler could easily be the top heel on Smackdown. I don't see that happening on Raw. Make the move. It may also be time to separate him from Vickie so he can get over on his own.
Evan Bourne - This is another guy who is never going to get over on Raw. Move him to Smackdown and let him reconnect with the fans who were really getting behind him before his injury.
John Morrison - Morrison has been one of those guys we've waiting for to break through for what feels like forever. Move him to Smackdown and let it be his make or break opportunity. Plus, splitting him up from Melina can only help his career. In fact, I would be shocked if Morrison and Melina remain on the same show after tonight.
Yoshi Tatsu - Did you know this guy actually has more talent than just performing in goofy comedy segments? He was actually really over in the later days of ECW. Give him a shot on Smackdown, there's nothing to lose.
Zack Ryder - I have a feeling he's going to stay on Raw and be a permanent jobber before getting released in a few months because he has gone against WWE's style by gaining popularity through his viral campaign. However, if WWE had any clue about what they were doing, they would move him to Smackdown and shoot him up the card. He obviously has a passionate fan base.
So those are the moves I would make tonight if I were in charge of WWE. It leaves Raw strong and adds a few more main event options. It also moves a lot of the under utilized talent from Raw over to Smackdown to give them a chance to become the new stars that WWE needs. Will all of them succeed? Of course not. But even if two or three of them become main eventers, that would be an amazing benefit. Of course, none of these moves will probably happen and WWE will go a completely different direction drafting guys like the Khali, Hornswoggle, and Chavo. I guess we can just hope for the best.
It's also important to note that tonight's Raw is only a two hour show. Drafts have traditionally been on three hour shows, so we'll see how many picks happen tonight. I'm sure there will be an online supplemental draft later this week to make more moves like they do every year.
Also, this is the go home Raw for Extreme Rules this Sunday. The show seems to be an afterthought, but there are three matches announced from the Raw brand right now:
- The Miz (c) vs John Cena vs John Morrison in a Steel Cage - This match was established after Cena and R-Truth fought to a double DQ when Miz interfered. Then last week we had the God awful segment between Truth and Morrison where Morrison beat Truth to take his spot in this match. Of course it ended with Truth turning heel in a pretty memorable heel turn, but everything leading up to it was so bad, it took away from the turn. We'll see if Truth tries to get back into the picture tonight, but I have a feeling the smoking gimmick won't happen again.
- CM Punk vs Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match - Really have no idea why this is a last man stand match. I have to think this is the blowoff to the program, and since Orton has been victorious each time, Punk really should get the win here (even though it probably won't happen).
- Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross vs Michael Cole and Jack Swagger - The foot kissing angle last week was awful. I hope they come back with something good tonight, or else they really will have blown this program by dragging it out too long. Lawler and Ross MUST go over clean and strong Sunday night.
Lastly, I am traveling for work this week until Thursday, so I will have limited access. I will be on for Raw tonight, but not sure how much after that.
