I don't feel like things have been shaken up. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed "Raw" this week, a show 3 hours long should have this much wrestling in it. I just don't feel like the draft aspect was necessary. No real big names moved, except for one, and he shows up on both shows anyway.This year's draft, with a few exceptions, really felt like they were making moves merely for the sake of making them, as opposed to being anything strategic to either push a superstar or improve a show. To be tactful, it was a swap of midcarders. To be honest, it was a three-hour Chinese fire drill.
CM Punk moving to "SmackDown!" is, far and away, my favorite move they made. Punk was really lost in a sea of bigger stars on "Raw". Now he's on "SmackDown!", a show with a much smaller roster where he will have a chance to shine. It's the same logic I used to argue for moving Mysterio back (which also happened), except it's with a guy who actually could have a chance of sniffing the belt again.
The US/Intercontinental champion swap was necessary in order to get Mysterio back to Friday nights, a move that had been leaked quite some time ago. I guess it might be good for MVP to see a new batch of competition, but really, there's not much waiting for him in the Monday night midcard. He could feud with Kofi, but one of them would have to turn heel first. For that matter, the entire company doesn't have much of a midcard, so I don't see this being looked at as a blockbuster move.
The wrong Hardy moved. I agree with the decision to move one of the Hardy's to "Raw" to effectively end the feud, but it should have been Jeff. Jeff is the established main eventer, he can move to "Raw" and will have a spot. Matt, conversely, is in the middle of getting a fairly solid push. Moving him to "Raw" will kill that. They teased Matt Hardy and John Cena when Matt came out; you know V1 would get buried if that feud happened. On a side note, Swagger was impressive in his first Monday night match, hopefully he's got a long and bright future with the company.
Big Show and Kane both moved. Blah. They'll continue to do nothing on a different show now. Ditto for The Miz, who moved to "Raw" and now can be wished some future endeavors for all I care. The female champions switched shows. Couldn't care less. Unify the title and put it on Nattie.
Kozlov and Jericho were in danger of becoming stale, so I'm all for them having moved. Vladimir Kozlov hasn't been used much lately, and on ECW, he can be positioned as an unstoppable monster again. Jericho was too much like Orton to be able to stay on the same show and be worth keeping around. Hopefully he'll make a splash on the much smaller "SmackDown!" roster.
Triple H was drafted to "Raw". Forget that he's been on "Raw" every week for the last two months. And was on this week, in a match, teaming up with Batista and Shane McMahon (who, despite being untrained, is still a better worker than Batista) to take on Legacy. Hunter will also be on "Raw" next week, giving away for free what you paid $55 dollars for just 9 days ago. Feel like a sucker now? Well, don't, because based on this draft move, you should have already forgotten about that match. I was surprised that Cena didn't also move.
There is still the Supplemental Draft on Wednesday at noon. ECW and "SmackDown!" didn't get hosed nearly as badly as I thought they would after the first hour and 15 minutes of "Raw" last night (of the first 5 draft picks, "Raw" won 4 of them). I'm hoping that Wednesday doesn't turn into the "Let's move everybody to 'Raw' and then forget about them" festival.
The Results:
* Chris Jericho def. Tommy Dreamer
* Matt Hardy def. CM Punk
* Christian def. Shelton Benjamin
* Edge won the Tri-Branded Battle Royal
* Kofi Kingston def. The Miz
* The Great Khali def. Santino Marella
* John Cena def. Jack Swagger
* Maryse, Michelle McCool & Natalya def. Melina, Mickie James & Kelly Kelly
* Kane def. The Brian Kendrick
* Rey Mysterio def. Evan Bourne
Draft Results:
"RAW" gets:
-MVP
-Big Show
-Maryse
-Matt Hardy
-Triple H
-The Miz
ECW gets:
-Vladimir Kozlov
"SmackDown!" gets:
-CM Punk
-Melina
-Kane
-Chris Jericho
-Rey Mysterio
10 comments: on "Tha Raw Report"
A new Segment on the O
....T.....I...F...G...
TODD IS A FUHGGIN' GOOOOF!!
Doesn't Triple H moving to "Raw" with the WWE Championship and Orton already on "Raw" either going to win the WWE Championship or keep fighting for it mean that if Cena doesn't move from "Raw" in the supplemental draft that Edge will win the strap at Backcrack? Or they'll either make me go sit in a corner and pull all my hair out old-school manking style by having H and Cena stay on "Raw" adn unify the belts and go through with the tease of a "SmackDown" championship that went on in 2005when they did the draf week by week and Batista moved during the last week to "SmackDown" while he was the World Champion, and Cena moved to "Raw" as the first pick. Seriously...if that happens shoot me.
Yeah we pretty much agree about everything. Though I will say that the right Hardy moved.
Matt needed the move to "Raw." He's getting the push, Jeff's been pushed. What Matt needs is the "Raw" spotlight. The ratings aren't great, but "Raw" still has the more hardcore audience and what happens on "Raw" is really what happens in the WWE to alot, lot, lot of people. So if Matt kept getting "pushed" on "SmackDown" not that many people would notice and not that many people would care. Now on "Raw" as long as the push doesn't get thrown out he'll get a push and people will take him much more seriously. A main event against either Cena or Triple H with one of them with the belt will do a lot for him even without the win.
Rob Van Dam, Booker T and Umaga would like to respectfully disagree with your sentiment.
Cena's buried guys before. Triple H has damn sure buried guys before. Keeping Matt Hardy away from those two would be the best thing they could do to make sure his push doesn't get thrown out, but it becomes exponentially harder to do so when all three are on the same show.
yer i think the right hardy moved, now jeff could be finally free from triple h, im sure everyone can smell a cm punk heel turn soon
both belts are on raw again so the last man standing match with cena edge could be an intriging result
Do i smell an Evolution Reunion now that Triple H is a Face? Flair turned down the Smackdown GM job,maybe he would like to be reunited with his boys Triple H and Batty along with whatever newbie they feel they want to push.
I like that Matt got moved. Why is no one commenting on his better look? I'm glad he got rid of those pants. His match with Punk was good but that DQ rule needs to be modified.
I dont know what else to say until the next draft happens. I'm just pissed that Legacy is being sacrificed during this feud that should be over. Every punch that Shane gets on Rhodes or DiBiase just kills me a little more. And why did The Shaminal come back? I forgot who even put him out. I was just glad he was gone.
Smackdown:
I think Edge, Jeff Hardy, and CM PUNK make a great mix and match title chase and classic making machine... Chris Jericho is good favoring bad guy & Rey is the once in a while face threat... Undertaker is still the top dog ,and he is the only person who can rebuilt Kane (and maybe some time off and a wardrobe change)... I'm expecting Shelton to make some moves at some point this year especially vs. PUNK, could be a money feud... Natalya, Gail Kim and Melina is the womens division and should be. I Think Smackdown is the best place to do some industry changing competiting.
RAW:
Talent overload but the big dogs... (Cena, Orton, Batista & HHH) has to somehow work their way out of title picture for minute to refresh the scene without being balantly redundant. They all need to fight for their spot against less established talent or a New Star need to break up the hold they got. I think having them all on one show would be a dream for the smarks but it wont happen... CENA is moving. Kofi is a mid carder still, i doubt he will have any legs as a heel... MVP is under the US title curse and that will be his glass ceiling for another year... Corparate Evolution vs. Legacy will be around for awhile folks, but im not expecting rhodes or dibase to grow from it... Santino will continue his antics, Poor Beth will have to deal with squashin Divas, I'd like to see her trash the Butterfly title and bring back the European or Cruiserweight title, or maybe just trash the title... I am a Matt Hardy mark and always have been but this is his only chance to make some thing happen... He looks different that anyone else in the title hunt... but to be taken seriously he need a menacing Vallet or a Stable and with Legacy around the stable is out and if the brian kendrick continues his gimmick (which i dont see happening after this draft... the big guy is going to ECW)he wont have legs...[Actually TNA time would do him good] Poor Big Show, I got nothing for ya. RAW is gonna stay the RAW we saw last year more than likely with little devi
ECW:
Christian...Christian!!! at last you're on your own... Christian has ECW on Lock but I see Morrison and Christian making some instant classics... The Swagger, Finlay, & Mark Henry (maybe) add intresting dynamics to the ECW Title Picture... I really think there is something missing like another Title quality contender that wont just squash everyone but actually will make great asset to the competitivate title hunt... and Im afraid Koslov is just the antithesis of that proposal... The ECW should really be limited to 5 solid contenders with 2 or 3 swings... by limiting them the rest of the roster has no purpose thus The Tag Titles Belong in ECW. Re-create the Tag industry here... it would give ECW an identity and purpose. I like Dreamer but he need to either get behind the announcers table or behind a big star until the PG-WWE tanks... Hardcore wrestlers are so over, as in done, in the wwe. I think Carlito, Primo, and Ricky on a brand might shake something up and I don't know why. ECW and Superstars should feature Tag...
I agree, Todd messed up soooo many times on RAW it was crazy. Poor dude.
But anyway, with the WHC Title at Backlash, Cena and Edge in the last man standing...whoever wins will lose the belt anyway. Because CM Punk will cash in MiTB.
So it will either be Punk cashing in on Edge and staying face, or Cashing in on Cena and turning heel. I REALLY want Punk to turn heel, but i read that Jericho is in line for a main event feud, so thats possibly with Punk.
So my guess is Edge beats Cena in the Last Man Standing, and then Punk will cash in on Edge AGAIN, and take the belt to Smackdown and feud with Jericho and/or Edge (if Edge is still on Smackdown after the Supp. Draft)
Here's the link to the ESPN E:60 feature on Vince McMahon, for anyone interested. It's about 13 minnutes long.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4068016
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