So tonight is the WWE Draft, an event that has become synonymous with crushing momentum, prematurely ending careers, and very rarely, causing for some good feuds. Not to say that every single move in the draft is a bad one, but for the most part, the major trades have resulted in the previously mentioned negative things. We saw Jim Ross go from being the voice of WWE’s flagship programming to miserably calling Smackdown for a handful of months. Not to mention the Draft acts as a precursor to layoffs, which have been discussed for a long while. Here are my thoughts on the Draft, some obvious, some less so.
Smackdown obviously needs a major face with a lot of charisma and one who is not accident prone. Randy Orton obviously tops that list, as the WWE clearly won’t move John Cena off of Raw. But will they take that risk with moving Orton, another big ratings draw that has a good reputation among fans of all ages and genders? Smackdown is not short on face main event players, but they are certainly lacking that one guy who can carry them like Edge was and like Cena and Batista were in the past. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to start building Kofi Kingston as a legitimate main event player, or perhaps move John Morrison over and do something with him. WWE is failing at pushing young talents properly, and taking a risk of making JoMo or Kofi the posterboy for Smackdown is certainly a risk, it’s one that could yield long terms results, not to mention WWE fans won’t stop watching WWE because one aspect of the two hour show isn’t to their liking. I mean, I’ve lasted this long.
Another thing that I think this draft needs to do is re-evaluate the main event scene for both shows. The lines are so blurry, it’s confusing as to who is a legitimate threat and who is just being pushed to the upper mid-card just to hang there for a long time. The definite main eventers are clear, Cena, Orton, Mysterio, Undertaker, The Miz, and Aberto Del Rio (also Triple H, who is being less and less active). However, it’s the grey area guys that need to be defined. And that is a larger list of people who have held major titles or been contenders for a long time. People like CM Punk, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, Christian, R-Truth, Wade Barrett, Kane and The Big Show, all ride this constant purgatory of being pushed to the main event and getting title shots and then winding up in mindless feuds that never result in anything. A year ago Jack Swagger was the World Heavyweight Champion, now he’s Michael Cole’s lackey. For the entire second half of last year Kane was dominating a feud with the Undertaker, a well deserved bone being thrown his way after years of having no credibility, but now he struts around the ring doing the trombone thing with Santino. And the most annoying of all of these de-pushes (why isn’t the term PULL used more often?) are two of the best guys on the roster, Sheamus and Wade Barrett. Sheamus is a 2 time WWE champion and Barrett spent most of last year in a massive angle with John Cena, now both of them wear defining mid-card titles. I think if both of these guys dropped their belts and switched brands they would both benefit.
"We'll both be irrelevant in a matter of months."
You could have Sheamus drop the belt to Daniel Bryan in a good match, and move him to Smackdown and have him challenge the likes of Christian and Mysterio. Then you can have Barrett drop the title to someone along the lines of Chavo Guerrero, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins or one of the hundred other wrestlers who have nothing going for them. Then Barrett could go back to Raw, where he has beef with literally everyone from Cena to Orton to the Nexus to former Nexus members who are still around...no disrespect is meant to The Corre, but we all know that both Nexus and Corre have overstayed their welcome. You could even have Barrett go to Raw and leave the Corre behind, just to have the New Nexus jump him and have the Corre invade to make the save, which could culminate in one last feud for both groups with the Corre as faces and the Nexus as heels. It’d make the whole thing go full circle and could help establish the individual members of these groups rather than just Punk and Barrett, their leaders.
I also think strong tag teams need to be formed or cultivated in this draft. There are only really four functioning tag teams in the entire WWE, the champs Kane and Big Show (wait didn’t I bring their names up before?), Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, The Uso’s and Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. WWE is certainly undermining the potential of their tag team division. Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, John Morrison, The Miz, Triple H and countless others are all products of TAG TEAMS, so to package young, unused talents as credible tag teams could easily jet them to fame. Trent Barreta and Curt Hawkins are already essentially a tag team, give them matching tights and push them as another incarnation of the Dudebusters, bring back the Hart Dynasty (why did they even break them up?), make David Otunga and Mike McGilligutty a legitimate team, and have Yoshi Tatsu and Evan Bourne team up to be a new Rockers sort of team and you have some potential to have great matches! That way all of that wasted talent would no longer be wasted!
Also, the announcing situation has to be addressed. Good things have come of the recent Jerry Lawler/Michael Cole feud, and also several bad things have as well. The good, the best in fact, is that Jim Ross is back announcing. Ross is a god, the voice of the WWE, and having him around is a pleasure, and I pray that McMahon can understand that while he is aging, it’s better to have Ross wind down his career doing what he’s best at, than having him sit at home and squander his talent posting on Twitter. No offense is meant to Michael Cole of course, the man has a lot of talent and has been doing his thing for a long time, it’s just since NXT started and he became more of a heel, he’s been taking his toll on me as well as a whole bunch of loyal fans. If he were put on just one of WWE’s shows that’d be fine. Also Booker T is bad. Either Vince isn’t letting him be himself or he is honestly terrible at announcing. He has a few decent quips here and there, but his voice is so tolling and he just babbles. Isn’t Nash on the WWE’s payroll? Bring him in to replace Booker T.
This will give Jenna Morasca vs. Queen Sharmell a run for its money.
As far as cuts are concerned, I think a bunch of them are obvious if creative hasn’t come up with some plans behind the backs of viewers. Curt Hawkins, JTG, Trent Barreta, Tyson Kidd, D.H. Smith, Husky Harris, The Uso’s, and Tyler Reks have been doing absolutely nothing for the past few months. Not to mention Youtube sensation Zack Ryder hasn’t been given anything despite his amazing charisma and eagerness to perform (I do recommend those interested check out Z True Long Island Story if you are a fan of WWE, Ryder is funny and he really shows he should be used more prominently). Not to mention, the guys in the back have started confiscating Ryder signs for some strange reason. You think confiscating signs will make people stop wishing for more Zack Ryder? Come on...
If only he had the production budget of Raw or Smackdown, he would have more than a home made poster to stand in front of.
So that’s it. Tonight has potential to change things for the better in WWE, but will they take advantage of the opportunity or will they continue to disrespect their longtime fans with this poor quality programming.
