The draft is one of the more fun nights of the year on Raw, as it (along with the Royal Rumble match) is one of WWE's few events where it seems like anything can happen.
While the draft has lost much of its oomph in recent years with the increase in cross-branded Pay-Per-Views and TVs, it'll still be interesting to see what happens tonight.
That being said, here's a few quick thoughts as to what might go down, and then I'd like to hear yours.
-- Everyone's chattering about how ECW is going to be taped on Mondays from now on, and how the crews will be joining up. So I wouldn't be surprised to see ECW Champion Kane drafted to Raw, or heck, maybe the entire ECW roster will be drafted to Raw.
-- I think we'll see the long-rumored move of Umaga to SmackDown.
-- I'd love to see Batista and Triple H switch places. Imagine Triple H vs. Edge on SmackDown, or Batista vs. Cena on Raw. Two feuds between top talent that we've never seen before. Imagine that!
-- I think you'll see some kind of movement that will allow Ted DiBiase Jr., Cody Rhodes, D.H. Smith and Natalya Neidhart to form some kind of third-generation faction, which I personally think could be the coolest idea I've heard of in quite some time. Perhaps a returning Randy Orton could lead the way for them down the line ...
Comments (12)
I would leave Nattie out of the generation stable, and include Carlito, It would give Carliton a real storyline for a change.
I'm eagerly looking forward to RAW
I call CM Punk being drafted to Raw, and immediately hotshotted into a match at Night of Champions for the IC title, which he probably wins as part of the Jericho-Michaels feud. At the very least, I see someone being drafted to Raw and named the IC #1 Contender, to maintain the gimmick of last year's Vengeance, that every single title was to be contested in some way. And Jericho is much higher up the card and much further involved in a feud than Deuce and Domino were last year when they went into Night of Champions without a #1 Contender and brought out some ex-champions to fight. (Even though they seem to be hinting heavily about MVP leaving, I don't see him filling in the IC #1 Contender role above, because he and Jericho are now both heels.)
Speaking of Deuce and Domino... I call Deuce being drafted to Raw and named Ted DiBiase Jr's partner at Night of Champions.
You won't see any large-scale movements of ECW superstars to Raw or vice versa, except people in ongoing feuds who turn out to be able to continue them. You WILL see ECW-SmackDown movements intended to continue feuds and keep officially-SmackDown talent on ECW. Big Show and Mark Henry are currently listed on the SmackDown roster; I wouldn't be surprised to see Mark Henry moved to ECW. Big Show being moved to Raw, but keeping his ECW Title match with Kane, is also a possibility.
I call a non-competitor being drafted (such as a referee or a commentator) just to reinforce the notion, especially pushed on Friday's SmackDown, that ANYONE can be drafted.
HHH will NEVER move to SD!. And I know "never say never", but that dude will NEVER move to SD!
I think Edge and HHH should be the ones to "lead" their respective brands. I think that a great storyline between the brands can take place when Edge starts ripping down on HHH and the RAW brand and brags about how the best talent are on SD!
I really feel to bring some more "oomph" to SD! it needs to be taped live. But.. meh.. w/e.
Imagine though, an Edge v. HHH cross-brand feud that blows up at WM25! That has the chance to be epic. Course "Creative" will suck as they always do since they couldn't write an interesting storyline to save their ass.
Kennedy to SD and feud with Edge. Edge has run out of opponents and he took Kennedy's briefcase a couple years ago. Also Kennedy isn't working out on Raw.
Carlito to SD and feud with Hardy. Carlito isnt happy and deserves a push. He's got good mic skills and wrestling ability. Hardy has run out of opponents.
Greg Helms to ECW for the win. He should win the ECW Belt and be billed as a 'Giant Killer'. He deserves it. He's the most underrated and most forgotten, and they took away the Cruiserweight title. So he's got nothing on smackdown unless they bring it back. Also, he's due back really soon from his injury.
MVP to Raw (Obvious if you've been watching Smackdown)
JBL to SD to replace the horrible Mick Foley on the mic.
Mick Foley is great on SmackDown.
I hope they do something along the lines of ending the ECW/SD talent exchange. Perhaps have Teddy say that he doesn't want to do business with Vickie anymore. This will allow ECW to form some long term storylines of it's own that aren't just supplements of Smackdown. The whole reason it started was because ECW barely had any talent and Smackdown was decimated with injuries, but I'd say both having exclusive rosters again would be okay now, draft some people who have lost their way to ECW - Haas and the like - and they will have plenty enough. ECW has been good as the place that people can go to develop a new personality.
I dearly hope for HHH, Umaga and Kennedy to go to Smackdown. HHH has done all there is to do on Raw, literally. He could feud with JBL and maybe Regal later on, but feuds with Edge and MVP would be a lot more fresh, and if they really have to do a JBL feud with HHH they could just cross promote it. Having a main event quartet of Edge/MVP/HHH/Kennedy would be 100% fresh and all could make decent feuds with each other. When supplemented by Matt Hardy, Morrison, Miz and possibly Punk, Smackdown will look awesome. I'd move Kennedy because there is simply too many faces on Raw. He's not going to get a chance to be a top face with Cena and Jeff Hardy around. He'll be third in line, where as on Smackdown he could really make it his show, along with HHH.
Batista to Raw would be my big one, but other than that it seems Raw already has all the real talent. Perhaps draft Punk there and turn him heel to balance it out as there seems to be too many faces and not enough high enough opponents for them (see Kennedy feuding with Burchil after the heat magnet Regal). Perhaps also send Burke to Raw, as well as one of Deuce or Domino. Trevor Murdoch to Smackdown also.
I'm very much looking forward to tonight.
I like Foley as well. Although i wish that both cole and foley would react more to promos.
I think Batista going to raw is a real possibility although Triple H going to smackdown sadly isnt.
Kennedy should come to smackdown as should the more talented divas who could fight for the knockout... sorry divas championship without the drooling Jerry Lawler reminding us that they have breasts.
My predictions for the big shockers tonight:
Hacksaw to Smackdown
Funaki to Raw
Rori Mcallister to ECW
Colin Delaney to Raw
Val Venis to ECW
Ashley to ECW
Ranjin Singh to Raw
Curt Hawkins to Raw
this should definitely shake things up!
Here are just a few picks I would not be suprised at:
Mark Henry to Raw
just to put distance between he and Hayes
Helms to ECW
As was stated before, he's almost ready and can have good matches with Shelton and Morrison at the least.
Punk to Raw
$$$ in the bank and ready to be pushed for the run. He'll lose, but the need to build him up for the eventual use of the case. Also I'd love to him turn heel.
any other African American guys to ECW
I can't be the only guy to notice this...
Umaga to Smackdown
has to be the worst kept secret in wrestling.
Other than that I guess Everything else will kind of suprise me.
VINCE IS JUST TRYING TO CREATE THE FIRST EVER ALL-BLACK WRESTING SHOW.....
IT'S SAD THAT SEEMINGLY EVERY BLACK WRESTLER IS GETTING MOVED TO ECW....AND STILL CAN'T BE CHAMP!
We're going to see a TON of boring, useless moves tonight. As far as HHH and Edge switching brands goes, I like it, but I don't see it happening. If anything, I see Edge losing the title somehow and getting drafted to RAW to challenge Hunter. What I'd LIKE to see is HHH losing the title and getting drafted to SD!, but the odds of that are...well...
And I was psyched for the Next Generation Hart Foundation before Teddy got fired, so seeing DiBiase, Rhodes, Neidhart and Smith on the same brand would be nice. Looks like if that stable happens they'll unfortunately be booked as heels. Does anyone else remember how awesome (not so much) that New Blood thing in WCW was?
Geez, Seth, did you contact a buddy in WWE Creative before writing this blog? Seriously though, congratulations! I hope you spoke sincerely about your thoughts. Otherwise, be careful what you wish for!
Personally, I have always been a supporter of an annual WWE Draft, but this one seemed ill-timed being so close to a pay-per-view weekend.
Regardless, I have a feeling that there might be some more movement, either a supplemental draft or a few inter-brand trades. Wouldn't Teddy Long and Vickie Guerrero have to break their (kayfabe) working arrangement before ECW can move to RAW's tour schedule?