Last Saturday, LLW shook things up by firing Ricky Stardust and promoting Dan-e-o to commissioner. Tonight, Raw shook things up by having their yearly draft. The first sentence of this paragraph is really the only thing that nobody here called.However, even though the draft was by and large predictable, that's actually a very good thing. Bear in mind, the predictions made by O-sters were based on logic and what would be smart to do. Really? WWE did something smart?
Rey Mysterio was drafted to Raw, which I'm fine with. He's never going to see a world title again, so what better way to cement that than by moving him to "Raw"? Mysterio will more than likely be used solely in the midcard, or in the tag team division, which I am perfectly fine with. I think Mysterio would make a great Intercontinental Champion.
Jeff Hardy was then drafted to "SmackDown!" following a victory by Finlay and Hornswoggle over Santino and Carlito. I popped for this move big time, because if there ever were a poster child for why "SmackDown!" is a separate brand, Hardy is it. He's over, he's a draw, he can make the company money, but "Raw" is just too big of a pond for him right now. Move him to "SmackDown!", where there are less main eventers, where he has a long history with the current champion, and where he can get his opportunity to shine.
CM Punk being drafted from ECW to "Raw" is a move that everyone has seen coming for a while, so there's really nothing I can say that hasn't already been said before. I was somewhat surprised by Matt Hardy being moved to ECW, however; at first, I thought it was a sure sign that Chavo was going to go over this Sunday in order to keep the title on "SmackDown!". But then Chavo came out as part of the ECW roster, so I have no idea what they're doing with the belt now.
A few weeks ago, I completely missed a Jericho/Michaels segment and felt remissed for it, but that will not happen this week. I like the new attitude that Jericho is showing, it's simple heel tactic. Props to both Jericho and Michaels for the brawl, and extra props to Michaels for selling the spot in which he hit his eye on the corner of the announce table. HBK is still one of the best in the game when it comes to selling.
Kudos to the sell job by Melina in her match with Mickie James against Natalya and Victoria. At first I thought she might have been legitimately injured, as it looked like the divas were trying to come up with an audible. However, after the match when it announced that both "Raw" and "SmackDown!" were getting draft picks, it made a lot more sense. In the aftermath, Jim Ross and Michael Cole essentially switched spots.
This is the best move that WWE could have made with their commentators. JR was once a great commentator who added an exciting element to the matches, but he has now become a catchphrase spouting cartoon character in what is known as "Dick Vitale Syndrome" (Dipsy-doo dunkaroo, Duke's awesome, baby!) Given that set of circumstances, a character commentator like JR will do much better on the character-centered "SmackDown!", whereas Michael Cole, a guy who is inarguably the strongest play-by-play man in either TNA or WWE, will provide that missing element that JR once gave.
John Cena learned how to sell by watching soccer. He's just horrible. And he still won't lose any matches. Last night, he beat Edge via countout. After he beat Edge, Batista was then drafted to "Raw". Fine, "Raw" is garbage anyway, move the shit workers there, I'm fine with that. It's just too bad Mark Herny didn't move. Hey, there's still the Supplemental Draft! Here's hoping.
I was a little irritated by how much Tazz whined about the lack of ECW draft picks. Dude, your show is half the length and it's the "C" Show in Corporate's eyes. Yeah, you got raped in the draft, but kayfabe it, that's your job. MVP beating Tommy Dreamer was just one such case where Tazz acted like a whiny little bitch. However, on the plus side, Umaga is going to "SmackDown!" Anybody wanna bet that within the next year, Umaga and Hardy will have a feud over the World Heavyweight Championship?
I popped when Michael Cole made reference to JBL's WWE Championship run prior to his match againt "The Fakin' Jamaican" Kofi Kingston. JBL won, scoring his first singles win in forever (but then, that's what happens when you feud with John Cena). Afterwards, Kane was drafted to ECW, but was not forced to relinquish his ECW Championship. Bobby who?
I'm aware the drafting of Kane to ECW is simply a means of explaining why ECW superstars will now be showing up on "Raw" instead of "SmackDown!", but I thought it was funny that two years straight, the ECW Champion was drafted over to "Raw".
The Battle Royal surprised me. I assumed that it was going to be loaded with jobbers and guys who can't wrestle their way out of a paper bag. Instead, we get the top guys on each show going at it. Not surprisingly, ECW got put under big time, with their entire team being eliminated while only one man from both "Raw" and "SmackDown!" had been eliminated. Burialaz.
In the end, Edge threw John Cena over the top rope to gain a measure of revenge from earlier and to secure two draft picks for "SmackDown!" The first pick was Mr. Kennedy, who immediately came out and mouthed to Edge "I am coming for you". Looks like Dan was right after all. I'm personally excited, because Kennedy falls into the same category that Jeff Hardy does. Huge upside, lots of talent, simply overshadowed on "Raw".
The second pick was the one that I was actually surprised by. I had assumed that John Cena would be the one to move, but instead, Triple H got drafted. This gives me a very uneasy feeling that John Cena is going to go over this Sunday, or that WWE is doing to something extremely clusterfuckish.
Of course, the draft wouldn't be complete without Vince trying to fake his own death. This year, the stage happened to collapse exactly where he was standing, which comehow magically caused a screen to fall over as well. The physics behind this is really sketchy, but I suppose I'm being more analytical than anyone would normally be with something like this. At least Million Dollar Mania is now over.
I expect Sunday's pay-per-view to have a very low buyrate, because they didn't do much to promote it tonight, and "Raw" was probably better than the pay-per-view will be anyway.
Tha Results:
^Triple H def. Mark Henry. Rey Mysterio was drafted to "Raw" from "SmackDown!".
*Finlay & Hornswoggle def. Santino Marella & Carlito. Jeff Hardy was drafted from "Raw" to "SmackDown!".
*Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes def. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely. CM Punk was drafted from ECW to "Raw".
*John Morrison & The Miz def. Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy. Matt Hardy was drafted from "SmackDown!" to ECW.
*Mickie James & Melina and Victoria & Natalya fought to a double disqualification. Jim Ross was drafted to "SmackDown!" and Michael Cole was drafted to "Raw".
*John Cena def. Edge. Batista was drafted to "Raw" from "SmackDown!".
*MVP defeated Tommy Dreamer. Umaga was drafted to "SmackDown!" from "Raw".
*JBL defeated Kofi Kingston. Kane was drafted to "Raw" from ECW.
*Edge won a 15-man Battle Royal. Triple H and Mr. Kennedy were drafted to "SmackDown!" from "Raw".
Of course, the draft wouldn't be complete without Vince trying to fake his own death. This year, the stage happened to collapse exactly where he was standing, which comehow magically caused a screen to fall over as well. The physics behind this is really sketchy, but I suppose I'm being more analytical than anyone would normally be with something like this. At least Million Dollar Mania is now over.
I expect Sunday's pay-per-view to have a very low buyrate, because they didn't do much to promote it tonight, and "Raw" was probably better than the pay-per-view will be anyway.
Tha Results:
^Triple H def. Mark Henry. Rey Mysterio was drafted to "Raw" from "SmackDown!".
*Finlay & Hornswoggle def. Santino Marella & Carlito. Jeff Hardy was drafted from "Raw" to "SmackDown!".
*Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes def. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely. CM Punk was drafted from ECW to "Raw".
*John Morrison & The Miz def. Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy. Matt Hardy was drafted from "SmackDown!" to ECW.
*Mickie James & Melina and Victoria & Natalya fought to a double disqualification. Jim Ross was drafted to "SmackDown!" and Michael Cole was drafted to "Raw".
*John Cena def. Edge. Batista was drafted to "Raw" from "SmackDown!".
*MVP defeated Tommy Dreamer. Umaga was drafted to "SmackDown!" from "Raw".
*JBL defeated Kofi Kingston. Kane was drafted to "Raw" from ECW.
*Edge won a 15-man Battle Royal. Triple H and Mr. Kennedy were drafted to "SmackDown!" from "Raw".
30 comments: on "Tha Raw Report: All Shook Up"
the draft was decent. was surprised by the Hardys moving to diff shows. the last pick did confuse me. and i now agree that Cena will prob win the title back on sunday to bring it back to RAW. and Edge will keep the title to leave it on Smackdown... Damn, Cena gets the title back....
i'm sort of happy, that we wont have the hardy boyz together on smackdown, because i like them as singles stars. triple h being drafted shocked me. and here's hoping that kane did a good enough job on ecw to get a decent run with the championship on raw
Vince faked his own death...bad things happen when he does that. Nice touch yelling for "Paul." Also another nice touch by having heels and faces from all brands scrambling to get the set off of him. Though Taker could be responsible for all the stuff that happened.
If Triple H retains at NoC which is possible he would go back to "Raw" so they have a world championship and to make up for that John Cena THEN goes to SmackDown. I in no way expect Triple H to be a member of the "SmackDown" roster for more than 1 or 2 weeks.
Kane went to "Raw" but that's ok.
Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion...God help us all. How about Rey Mysterio as Tag Team Champion with Hornswaggle...now that would work.
Two world champs on "SmackDown" one on "Raw" and a United States Champion on ECW, and the Women's Championship stays on "Raw" so nothing is even close to done as far as the Draft goes...at least I hope not.
Casur pulls a John Cena and absolutely no sells my favorite end to a Raw in a while. True it was very E in it's stupid explosions and random shit doing things that shouldn't technically be possible, but that's wrestling. Other than that, they made it seem legit and piqued my interest. RARELY do I get excited to see the next Raw, but I was excited to see this week's, they put out a decent show and a cliffhanger ending to make me anticipate the next one.
To bury this Raw is to bury every Raw. This is basically what we've been asking for, that "anything can happen" feel, cliffhangers, shakeups, solid matches, Miz n Morrison to come out together, Umaga to Smackdown... I honestly think that if they delivered anything more that we asked for, there'd be a naked Cherry on DJB's doorstep, naked Layla on Dan's, a year's worth of the gear on Rico's, a head booker opporitunity on Donnie's and a fried chicken farm on Casur's.
Maybe I'm coming off very pro-WWE, but I'd rather be happy with the product than unhappy. Sure Cena went over Edge, sure Batista is a retard and botched the battle royal and fucked himself up, sure Mark Henry was on the show, but ask Ethiopians it's better to be happy with a rock for a soccer ball than upset with a raggity one.
It's almost been a year to the day that the Chris Benoit tragedy struck, and the WWE decides that another "Vince is dead" angle is the right thing to do? I can't wait to hear Dan-E-O shit on this!
That being said, I though the draft went over very well. I played around with the little draft thing on WWE.com and though the picks where exactly how I'd have liked, they have a good shake-up of the main talent that should lend itself to some really good feuds in the coming months.
I fear as you do, that there's going to be some cluster-fuckish going on at the Pay Per View. It's also almost guaranteed now that Triple H is dropping the strap to Cena, and if he doesn't then we get the exact opposite and Batista beat's Edge. I know it's not going to take a rocket scientist to figure it out, but one of the two must happen to get a major title on Raw.
Yay.
I'm hoping that Edge keeps his belt so we can get the long awaited Edge/Kennedy feud over all the event's that transpired due to the signature pharmacy scandal. That means that Cena will beat Triple H though, and I'm just not sure I can deal with another year of Cena as WWE champion.
:(
I pray to god they actually use and push CM Punk now that he's on the flag-ship show. Dude has been made to look horrible these past couple months since winning the "Money In The Bank." It's time for him to get used properly, again.
That's all for now.
The draft made me think the fed was definately putting the World Title on Batista this Sunday...
and Triple H would definately retain ... the belts have switched brands before... now they're back where they started...
I thought for a minute that Big Show would have to go over Kane and get ECW belt off Raw, but then I remembered that ECW shows are now travelling with Raw - so it makes sense and I expect Kane to do double duty till he drops the strap.
Ben Boudreau says...
Triple H on "SmackDown!" shatters the glass ceiling a bit that we've all been oomplaining about for years.
Nearly all of the brand switches this year excite me. The possibilities are seemingly endless.
My initial thought during the McMahon set collapse incident was that another member of his family was tired of Vince giving away their money and sabotaged the set.
Though he's faked death before, I'm very interested in seeing where this storyline is going.
Is there a supplemental draft this year? I didn't catch mention of it on the broadcast like they usually do.
House-
Fried chicken farm? I'm not sure where that came from. I'm not that big a fan of fried chicken.
For the record, I enjoyed last night's Raw very much, and I didn't no sell the ending, per se, I'm just not putting too much stock in it. Ask yourself-where can this possibly go? The most likely answer is, nowhere. A cliffhanger is only good if there's some sort of payoff, a condition which doesn't apply here. Next week on Raw, they'll show the clip of the stage imploding, and then the commentators will have the following conversation.
Cole: "We've been told that Mr. McMahon is doing just fine, and is at home in Greenwich, Connecticut, recovering. However, as a result of the injuries Mr. McMahon sustained, he has suspended his Million Dollar Mania indefinitely."
King: "Aw, that's a shame, that money helped to change the lives of so many people! But we wish Mr. McMahon all the best in a speedy recovery."
Riveting stuff.
My initial hope was that during all that Shane would come out take a microphone and say that his dad had no right to give away all that money and now he (Shane) was running the show.
Steph isn't an option because she's about to pop out another baby and as far as character goes I like Shane better anyway.
Like I've already said it'll probably be Taker, or who knows maybe they've milked it long enough and this'll be the long awaited Benoit return angle.
Great draft. As I was watching I was calling out my "pie-in-the-sky" dream picks and I kept coming up 7.
I'm with Donnie, my gut instinct is Batista getting the big belt. Without a doubt I see the belts switching brands. It puts over the fact that "The draft shakes everything up!".
One of the best Raw's in a while overall. The theme of the night seemed to be well sold kayfabe injuries and Vince capped it off with some great selling. Having the heels and faces rush to help Vince was an awesome touch. I just hope this doesn't lead to a stupid who-dunnit story arc. I got a feeling the writers put the Vince death story in a vault and were counting down till Benoit was out of the nations collective mindset to rehash it. Either that or it's a sneaky ass way to end the "Million Dollar Mania".
I think at NOC both champions retain and cm punk uses tha money in da bank on Trips and keeps the belt on raw
When is the supplemental draft?
Who is Ted Dibiase partner gonna be?
and when is D'Lo making his return?
Best move of the night, Cole to Raw in place of JR. JR used to be traditional, but now his voice simply makes decent matches seem very boring.
I like Hardy going to SD, but if that means HHH is going with him, is Hardy gonna get his chance to be the man? The same applies to Kennedy, with HHH on the same roster, will he get to be the man? I know H is a great worker, but I feel like he's living off past glory, and in some ways, preventing alot of other guys from shining.
GREAT point!! about the CM Punk using the briefcase! forgot all about it. i agree that will happen, and CM Punk will have a short title reign, and prob drop the title to Batista, JBL, or Orton(once he returns). that would make the most out of the briefcase....
but even if both HHH and Edge dont retain... i still expect CM Punk to use the briefcase at the NoC regardless. i seriously dont see him winning the title this soon in his WWE career, but if they both retain i see no other option than Punk walkin out of NoC a new Champion....
oh yeah, and it IS Possible. Vince loves CM Punk, so i wouldnt count it out. id mark out for Punk winning the title with the A.Vice @ NoC!!! havent seen that move in a while!
Another Cena title run=BULLSHIT! Having Trips go over and having Edge drop the strap to Batista makes more sense as it sets up Edge/Trips on SD and Cena/Batista on RAW. The ECW burial was so Fucking blatant that they should have just made the entire roster bend over for a group strap on session.I'm glad to see Jeff Hardy getting a chance to shine on Smackdown but for the Love of God can the E start showing some love for the Tag Teams in the fed? I don't see VKM faking his death but i guarantee he does a wheelchair bit for the entire summer. And why don't remove the brand restrictions on the divas so they can have the women's belt actually mean something? TNA's girls are the highlight of that show every week while the E just wastes their female talent week in and week out. Overall the show blew monkey dick but i expected it to anyway.
donnie...dont say shit about vinces fake staged foolery on the blog ...i want you to bury this fucking sleeze ball and vent on tha o show with daneo.....i really think this is terrible how vince is playin with the concept of life for shock t.v.....
dudes yelling help? for vince and nobody sayin shit when owen dropped? and why was the camera on him the whole time...its so fuckin staged and it was a mocking off OWEN HART! I DONT GIVE A FUCK WHAT ANYBODY SAYS THAT WAS A MOCKING OF OWENS DEATH AND A COVER UP FOR ANY OTHER POTENTIAL ACCIDENTS TO COME IN THE RING...HES TRYING TO MAKE REAL LIFE SEEM LIKE A WORK TO NOW SO PEOPLE CAN LINGER
AND P.S.
FUCK BRET THAT RACIST PIECE OF HICK TRASH...HE CRIES MORE ABOUT HIS STARDOM FALLING THEN HE DOES ABOUT OWEN IN ALL HIS INTERVIEWS...DUDES A FUCKING MARK FOR HIS OWN ASS...HE WAS TRASJ WORKER...PSHYCOLOGY MY ASS THATS ALL HE HAD...2 PUNCHES AND PSYCHOLOGY..NO CHARISMA OR ANY OTHER RECIPES IN HIS WEAK ASS DELIVERY
Everyone is thinking Cena is going to beat Triple H to bring the WWE title back to RAW. Perhaps Batista will beat Edge and bring the World title to RAW. I heard Batista really didn't want to go back to RAW so they may give him the title.
They could have Taker show up and cost Edge the World title, thsi will piss Edge off and he iwlla sk Vickie to reinstate Taker to set up a match at Sumer Slam between them, perhaphs a hell in a cell or a buried alive match. they also could set upa three way between edge, Taker and Triple H.
This alos good set up Batista vs. HBK at Summer Slam for the World title.
Damn Markington! How upset were you when the horsemen followed Dusty to that parking lot and broke his arm? I bet you shit your huggies and had a little hissy fit.
Owen falls from a zip line to a ring post and Vince bumps down a gimmicked stage... good analogy. Owen died, everyone cried and got over it. Maybe you should get the tears out and let it go. It's not healthy to dwell on tragedy for so long.
Where you in Kansas the night of his demise? I think the attending care had more important things to say than "Help!"
I think what's worse is that a guy just fell to his death in TNA a few weeks ago, and here's Vince, staging something similar.
Bret Hart can eat a fat dick.
Exactly Casur, I was thinking the same thing, at least no one fell from the scaffolding.
This was the first Raw I have seen in months and I was just a little disappointed. Million Dollar Mania was retarded( even though I signed up, hey I need the money). They should have given this Raw a title like TNA does and called it "Fuck ECW right up their stupid wrinkled asses" . I agree that Taz did alot of bitching, but isn't that what anybody would do in that situation? Imagine this, you're a draft much like the WWE's and you're roster gets destroyed worst than Stevie Wonder in a "Where's Waldo?" contest. I'd be pissed. Plus all the other guys was happy about the picks so why not have someone on the opposite end of it. Triple H going to Smackdown just ain't gonna happen. Something will come up and he'll be on Raw in no time.
Oh yeah, and that double spear was funny as hell. As soon as Edge started running towards Batista I knew it was gonna be bad. Maybe, they'll ban the spear now. Right after they reanimate the corpse of Benoit and finish off the "Vince is dead" storyline. Hell throw Undertaker in and have an undead, Terrordome, buried un-alive, casket for good this time match at In your House: Beware of Zombies. Book it, it's gold.
I REPEAT BRETS A RACIST PEICE OF FUCKING SHIT!
I REMEMBER AN AUTOGRAPH SESSION AT WAL MART BACK IN 2005 AND THIS FUCKING RACIST PIG STRIGHT UP SAID TO ONE OF THE PEOPLE AT THE TABLE NEXT TO HIM "IS THERE A LOW INCOME HOUSING COMPLEX NEAR BY THE DEMOGRAPHIC IS SURE OUT OF THE NORM"
DUDE DIDNT GIVE A FUCK WHO HEARD HIM.....RACIST PEICE OF SHIT AND HE WAS A JERK WHILE GREETING PEOPLE...DUDES A FUCKIN CLOWN..WHITE TRASH WHO PROTECTS THE BUSINESS AND LOVES PUTTING SUBMISSIONS ON WRESTLERS SO HE CAN REALLY FEEL OUT THE BOYS IN THE BACK LITERALLY...HES A HOMO TO....WELL SECOND PARTS OBVIOUS BUT HES A BIG RACISTT TO...THEN AGAIN THE WHOLE BIZZ IS...BUT BRETS A FAG...
p.s donnie please punch that fucking john polluck fag in the mouth...that dude trys so hard to sound like a real jeournalist professional...hes just a fag
Raw did a 3.4 this week. It's first hour was a 2.78, with a 3.46 and 3.95 for the second and third respectively. In it's normal timeslot which people remember anyway they did a 3.7 WWE seems to be happy, they even did a whole press release on it.
Atleast the E is showing signs of going in the right direction and is doing a good job of getting people to talk about it in a good way, right now, which hasnt happened in a while.
There WILL be a Supplemental Draft.
Tomorrow at noon on WWE.com. At least that's what's going around.
This is from WWE.com:
Only two days after a handful of career-altering shake-ups occurred in the world of sports-entertainment, the 2008 WWE Supplemental Draft will take place right here, Wednesday at noon ET, exclusively on WWE.com.
At the WWE Draft on Raw Raw Monday night, WWE Champion Triple H, ECW Champion Kane and nine other Superstars were randomly selected from their home brands and forced to change loyalties. How many more will experience the same fate this Wednesday?
During last year's WWE Supplemental Draft, 15 Superstars and Divas found themselves on new brands, including former WWE Tag Team Champions Paul London & Brian Kendrick. Will this year's WWE Supplemental Draft bring forth similar, or even greater, changes? Could more champions find themselves in new territories? Find out right here, Wednesday at noon ET, only on WWE.com.
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