So a really bad stomach bug kept me out of work today, which served the purpose of actually allowing me to see Raw for the first time in a while.
After three hours of the 2008 Draft Lottery, my stomach's not feeling any better.
Some thoughts:
-- I'm curious what Droz thinks of the storyline whereby Vince McMahon gets hurt and can't feel his legs. Heck, I'd even be curious what Stone Cold, Lex Luger, any guy who's ever had a stinger has to say. You can give me the argument all you want about just "telling stories," that heck, even Family Guy has a paralyzed character. I'd respond with the fact that to my knowledge, no one has ever actually been paralyzed in the making of Family Guy.
-- So I guess this is Vince's way of resuscitating the "Who killed Vince?" storyline, and killing the "Million Dollar Mania" failure at the same time. I'll say it again, I loved the "Who killed Vince?" storyline, and this could be a lot of fun. It's when they try to interject too much reality into it that they're setting themselves up for a lot of trouble. I just thank goodness that "Million Dollar Mania" is over.
-- The innate problem with the draft is that there's so much cross-branding now (especially with the ECW/SmackDown "marriage") that it negates a lot of what happens. For example, why should I buy Chavo Guerrero as an ECW guy and Edge as a SmackDown guy when I see them together every Friday?
-- And talk about KILLING BELIEVABILITY -- are we really to believe that in the main event battle royal, guys who have huge beefs with each other -- some of whom were fighting each other EARLIER IN THE NIGHT -- will suddenly put their differences aside for their brand -- some of whom have only been on that brand for a matter of minutes????
-- Is it me, or did ECW look really, really weak? Just end this experiment already please.
-- I was flipping over to the Mets-Mariners game every so often (though never for more than a minute or two) and I totally missed Ric Flair's appearance. See, THIS is why they have to do stuff like TLC Matches and Elimination Chambers, where guys kill themselves for no reason. Because the simplest of wrestling concepts -- making the fans pay for a big return or a big match -- is blown because they don't think Seg 6 of Raw is exciting enough.
-- So what would I do, if I were booking? First, I wouldn't allow any trades; they negate the entire meaning of the draft. Second, I would end any SmackDown/ECW interaction, and put a rule into place that everyone stays on their brand, except in very special circumstances, to actually make the brands mean something. And third, I'd stop using the word "tragedy" on WWE.com and on the TV shows for the Mr. McMahon incident. Goodness knows there's been enough real ones in just the past few years.
-- And finally, I don't mean to say I told you so, but I did predict earlier today about Umaga going to SmackDown and Kane going to Raw, and Batista and Triple H switching places. Sure, I missed my last prediction, and sure, some of these were obvious, but it's still fun to be right. I was going to predict Mysterio going to Raw (since he's been on SmackDown non-stop since his debut six years ago), but I figured they wouldn't want to mess with the Latino audience on Friday nights. But an interesting move still.
Comments (27)
Man.. HHH got drafted to SD! after I just said it would NEVER happen. Wow... that's awesome.. I'm stunned.
Good call on all the picks.. you got most of em.
I enjoyed the entire draft except for the ending. It did look very silly when the equipment fell, but I understand they want another huge storyline to follow the Million Dollar Mania Mess. As for the draft picks, J.R., Matt Hardy, & Triple H totally shocked me.
To be fair to Vince regarding the "I can't feel my legs" bit, he did rip both his quads apart while entering the ring at the 2005 Royal Rumble. And, it was hilarious to watch. Nowhere near on the level of Kevin Nash's quad injury, but it was still funny to play back with muted sound.
I enjoyed the Draft except for the silly ending with random equipment falling. I understand they want a huge storyline to follow the Million Dollar Mess, but that was poorly timed right after Triple H was drafted. I mean, c'mon, it's Triple H! The WWE Champion! Never been to Smackdown! As for J.R., I hope he and Mick Foley enjoy themselves because I have hopes for a fun Friday night tandem.
Reposting with my name, because I don't want it showing up anonymous:
To be fair to Vince regarding the "I can't feel my legs" bit, he did rip both his quads apart while entering the ring at the 2005 Royal Rumble. And, it was hilarious to watch. Nowhere near on the level of Kevin Nash's quad injury, but it was still funny to play back with muted sound.
HOW MANY TIMES IS MATT HARDY GOING TO LOSE IN HIS LIFETIME????
So will EgoTrips actually land on SmackDown or be traded back to Raw for 10 guys again.
I thought the draft was fun until the final segment. It looked really unrealistic to me and the first sense I saw of this not being real was when i saw the electric shocks and when i saw the contraption fall it didnt look like it touched him it looked like he ducked and when it fell the larger piece hit the top of the ramp balencing it out so nothing hits the ground or vince. Didn't really take it that good and in about an hour i figured what the story line could possible be. Before i say what it is the whole raw became a disapointment at the end after all this happened casue it made raw go out on a bad note in an unrealistic manner.
What i feel will happen is that the undertaker was behind it all and did it to casue destruction on the company for him being banished and no one doing about it. Then when its revealed that the undertaker was behind all the destruction Triple H steps up the plate to get revenge for taker trying to kill his father in law. Could be good, who knows? But we will just have to wait and see.
p.s. I thought also jr to sd could be a good move.
Also I want to say again that I enjoyed the great Khali tonight with him calling the wrong number and yelling at the phone. I saw get smart earlier in the day for my friends bday and it was really good. That today actually made me a fan for him. Too bad raw ended in a bad way but what ya gonna do.
I stand by what I said before when I said moves for Batista and Triple H were NOT going to happen. :) This gives away whichever big title match comes later at NoC, because whichever brand wins the first one has to lose the second, lest the other brand be totally buried.
This also virtually gives away the ECW Title outcome (though they may keep Kane with the belt in preparation for the Raw-ECW Talent Exchange) and the US Title outcome (though they're both ECW guys... maybe this is intended to swap the ECW and US titles, which means Big Show wins for sure).
I get the impression that a lot of these moves are actually intended to elevate SmackDown to the A show and turn Raw into the B show, perhaps to make it as big a draw as possible for My Network, unless Triple H gets traded back to Raw again. But even otherwise, you have JR and Cole switching places (F4W/WO online is reporting Melina's injury was legit, making me morbidly curious as to what the originally intended finish was) and some of the guys moving to Raw (like Rey Mysterio) will give it a very SmackDown flavor. The supplemental draft (assuming there is one) could further arouse this feeling. (And if the supplemental draft happens before Night of Champions, I stand by my prediction of Deuce going to Raw.)
Oh yeah, and they decided to repeat the Vince's limo fiasco for no reason when they could have just said last week, "Next week is your LAST CHANCE to win one million dollars!" At least they didn't actually KILL him this time.
RE: HOW MANY TIMES IS MATT HARDY GOING TO LOSE IN HIS LIFETIME????
Apparently not as many as poor Tommy Dreamer. They job him out so much now. Ugh.
OMG, that was totally and utterly incredible.
I mean never mind I got every pick that I made completely right, I also said that this million dollar thing shouldn't be written off and could lead onto something....ahhh. (BTW, I wouldn't call it a failure. They got a ratings increase after a terrible Raw 2 weeks ago, so I'd say that was because of the money, and not because people came flocking back after quality programming.)
I doubt they suddenly decided to pull this stunt, I would say that they knew the 3 hour Raw was coming up, and considering they did something big last year, they was probably planning this all along. This could be led to Regal doing something to be brought back on to TV, or it could be absolutely anything.
I feel so good right now. LOL at the 'All they'll do is send Hacksaw to SD' type predictions.
I was actually impressed with RAW last night. There was actually some wrestling matches! I think I'm seeing the point of the giveaway now. Vince has come out and given away money for a few weeks. Then an "accident" and a whodunit program. If they take the time to book it right, hopefully we find either Shane or Stephanie or Stephanie and HHH at the other end. They probably couldn't sit by and watch as Vince gave away "their" inheritance to the masses. The only problem is, you need another talent in there. It's a good storyline, but it's so good, you could really get someone over that needs it. But we'll see if that happens. Vince's performance on the stretcher killed it a little bit, but breaking kayfabe by calling out to Paul instead of HHH was interesting, coming from Vince.
I've decided the draft really isn't for the fans; it's for the company. It give the writers and agents new material to work with. I think the names that switched brands can bring some new life to some old, drawn out story lines (Maybe Vickie falls in love with one of the guys traded to Smackdown). If you look at the execution of just Monday night Raw, then you're right, should was full of holes as usual. But if you look at it like a transition show (a la the first Monday after Wrestlemania), then I think they have set themselves up nicely for the future. Now let's see if they don't fall flat on their faces.
To Phillip Sanders: I agree with you. The minute I saw the equipment start falling, I immediately thought of something involving the Undetrtaker. Could be completely wrong, but that's the first thing that came to my mind.
I thought the show was entertaining. Well, except when Vince screwed up at the beginning and said the woman was a "loser" in the giveaway. He either forgot the correct password, or it was a bad joke. Either way, it was bad TV.
The matches were good enough, though I thought Kofi Kingston should have gone over. He showed some nice moves last night, and seemed to gain a little support. A win over JBL could have been a nice bump for him, and it all came crashing to a thud with one clothesline. I think JBL is fun as an announcer, and a good promo guy, but he bores me to tears in the ring.
As for the picks, I'm surprised that MVP didn't move. With all his talk of getting drafted, I thought they'd pull a swerve and draft him to ECW, kind of as a "you got what you wanted" thing. Then he'd be pissed off and run through everyone, and eventually make his way to Raw.
The HHH thing surprised me, and I hope they stick with it. It's a shame for Matt Hardy, who has seen his popularity rise, and now is stuck on ECW. But if Wrestlemania comes and we have HHH/Edge and Cena/Batitsta, the draft might be considered a success.
Lance Storm points out on his blog that it's a little weird that they would have a stunt like this end the show so soon after a TNA stagehand died recently in a similar incident...
LOL sports entertainment.
I agree with Phillip: I too thought immediately of the Undertaker. But we part ways on his reasoning. The reason Phillip gave, while it sounds logical for just about anyone else, just sounds too emo for the Undertaker.
And Triple H better stay on Smackdown this time. He needs to be back on his original brand for a little while. I've long maintained that either he or HBK needed to be put on Smackdown because they'd both been on RAW for (now) six years, and I'm glad they finally pulled the trigger on that.
And JR and Foley should be a hell of an announce team.
Droz was the first person I thought about last night as well. Nice touch though to have Vince call HHH by his real name though...anything to sell it I suppose. At least this ends the MillionDollarMania segments.
The draft itself, and the show as a whole (except for the last 5 minutes) was very well done.
There are some great opportunities, hopefully, for some interesting feuds.
Didn't Bobby Lashley have to forfeit the ECW Title in last year's draft when he got moved to Raw? Why does Kane get to take it with him this time?
When I saw this McMahon injury thing, believe it or not, I thought it may be someone like Tazz or some ECW guy like Dreamer. Tazz spent the whole show pissed about the lack of respect ECW gets by WWE. It is just wishful thinking, and it won't happen, but it would maybe get more respect for ECW, and maybe get them some better talent.
Lets just hpe that this "tragedy" doesnt end up like last years one where Vince has to come out on live TV again out of character and make another real life morbid announcement. That would just be bad karma. Oh, and bring back Kwang!
Okay, overdue correction, and apologies to anyone misled:
It was 411mania that was reporting that Melina's injury was legit, not F4W/WO online.
Ouch, last night was painful to watch. To use J.R.'s favorite metaphor, that was all sizzle, no steak. Where is the wrestling? A Hardcore f*kin' Holly match? Was I watching Heat?
Since it's inception the "draft" has sucked, and this was no different. After what, 3 years, they still haven't managed to get a single compelling storyline out of it. But the graphics sure are purty.
I don't know how anyone can be excited over a potential Murder She Wrote storyline involving an old man and his immediate family (or it might be that spooky Undertaker!). On a wrestling show. It ended the giveaway at least, but I shudder to think what we'll get now.
I mean never mind I got every pick that I made completely right, I also said that this million dollar thing shouldn't be written off and could lead onto something....ahhh. (BTW, I wouldn't call it a failure. They got a ratings increase after a terrible Raw 2 weeks ago, so I'd say that was because of the money, and not because people came flocking back after quality programming.)
So, WWE had to spend $3,000,000, just to get something big collapse on top of Vince? And the 3.2 rating they were drawing two weeks ago was also worth all the money? (Moreover, it seems to please WWE so much that they scrapped the entire Million Dollar Giveaway from now on, because - obviously - there's just no way to do even better than that...)
Honestly, I'd like to live in your world. Seems to be a nice, shiny and happy little place.
First of all, they didn't have to spend it. They could have promoted the draft and had something happen at the end anyway, just like they did last year.
What this giveaway did was allow Vince to get the WWE name talked about on popular news media, and to generate a bit of interest. What it also did was build him up as a bit of a babyface (although not totally, with throwing Flair out etc) and also build a bit of buzz around his character, like they did last year with the appreciation night, so that when something happens to him it means more. They could have built that buzz another way, but the way they chose to do it got their name out in the mainstream.
And I highly doubt they 'suddenly' decided to scrap the giveaway. How long did you think it was going to last? $3M is plenty enough. I'd bet that this, or at least something like this, was planned the moment this giveaway was given the go-ahead. Something big happened at the draft last year, and I have no doubt they wanted to build on their heavy promotion of the draft with something big this year as well.
I thought the whole show was excellent, best RAW in ages, i even loved the vince segment at the end, thought it was real when the first light fell. Cena, Trips and Edge trying to lift the lighting rig was hilarious too.
I loved the vince getting blown up thing too last year. hopefully this angle gets a good run.
All that I could say is that I didn't get a chance to see how CM Punk was drafted to Raw. Triple H looked so stunned after he was randomly selected to be drafted to SD. Now that SD has two champions, what will happen? Will Edge still get married to Eddie Guerrrero's widow? OR will CM Punk "cash in" his Money in the Bank on Edge?
I forgot to add, will Triple H's audience on Raw boost the ratings on SmackDown?
What happened to Mr. McMahon on Monday, the news still has not been released to the public. That was a hell of an accident, but it might have been an earthquake in San Antonio. OR someone outside World Wrestling Entertainment is trying to kill him like last year? I am still puzzled.
One more thing, keep Edge out of Los Angeles!!! The Los Angeles Wrestling Academy (private since 2004) does not want him in their school. He'll have hell to pay the next time that he goes over there with Vickie!!!! Because the ratings on The CW are dropping because of them two.... Let me know if Mr. McMahon is willing to take high school guys that are 17 into WWE.