Due to the length of today’s post, I have edited it to better suit the front page. The draft picks will be listed here by brand at the top of the post, and the in-depth analysis will be found after the jump.
RAW
Jamie Noble
Deuce
Chuck Palumbo
Matt Striker
Layla
Kofi Kingston
SmackDown
Trevor Murdoch
Big Daddy V
DH Smith
Brian Kendrick
Maria
Shelton Benjamin
Carlito
ECW
Mark Henry
Hornswoggle
Super Crazy
Finlay
Full analysis of the 2008 supplemental draft picks, after the jump! (more…)
Well, the WWE Draft was last night. ECW lost a couple guys to RAW, and gained one from SmackDown. The first superstar on tonight’s show was the newest member of ECW, Matt Hardy. His tag team partner for the night, one of the newest RAW superstars, former ECW superstar CM Punk. The main event for the night featured SmackDown superstar Mark Henry taking on ECW Champion and current RAW superstar, Kane. Why bother with the draft and the brand extension if you’re going to have the guys wrestle on different brands anyway – especially RAW draftees going back to wrestle on ECW. Does that mean JR can work RAW next Monday in Oklahoma City? Speaking of the draft, I know this is the ECW post, but there is going to be a supplemental draft today at noon on WWE.com – we’ll have LIVE coverage here on BWF – unless of course I fall asleep.
Obviously, if you saw the draft edition of WWE RAW last night, you probably know what happened to Mr. McMahon at the end of the show, and you’re probably finding this site through some search such as “Is Mr. McMahon ok” or “Tower falls on Mr. McMahon.” Was it real? In a word, no. My suspension of belief suspended itself during the segment – because it conveniently happened at 11:03PM Eastern Time, right after Mr. McMahon gave away $500,000. Not to mention that it was painfully obvious that he didn’t get hurt at all, even with the Million Dollar Mania sign “falling on him.” So I’m not going to waste any more time on it, but I am interested to see where they go with it. By the way, if you don’t remember, at the end of last year’s draft edition of RAW, Mr. McMahon blew up in his limo.
Anyways, I made my predictions in yesterday’s post, and I actually got three right – including the night’s first pick, Rey Mysterio coming to Monday Night RAW! If you told me yesterday though, that Triple H and Jim Ross would be making their way over to SmackDown, I would’ve told you that you’re crazy. Mr. McMahon said it was time to shake things up again, and how right he was. Other big names switching shows last night include the ECW Champion Kane heading to RAW, and US Champion Matt Hardy heading over to ECW just after his brother came to SmackDown.
The rest of the draft choices, and the matches that got them there, after the jump! (more…)
Well, I figure, what kind of a sports-entertainment blog would this be without a prediction article for tonight’s WWE Draft? Since we don’t know the format of the draft at this time, I’m going to give you five picks for each brand and a reason behind my pick. However, first, we’re going to talk about a rumor going around…
Rumor has it that John Cena might end up back on SmackDown after the draft. I will tell you that I think it’s a good idea, if it’s true. I know I mentioned in my audio the other day that Cena feuding with Edge will still not be the feud the brand needs at the top of it’s card, but I also think that RAW’s title picture needs a change of scenery. Obviously we have HHH taking on Cena at Night of Champions for the WWE Championship, which is a rivalry that’s become pretty stale. The match could benefit from a major twist – that being that Cena gets drafted away from RAW to SmackDown tonight, and then the match at Night of Champions becomes about more than Triple H and John Cena. It becomes about RAW fighting to keep the WWE Championship and prevent it from going to SmackDown with Cena. It would put some life back into the Cena-Hunter storyline, and would also mark the end of it.
Since the show this week is kicking off with the entrance of Hornswoggle, l think I’ll start by building on a thought I had this past Friday night in my SmackDown review. Hornswoggle and his “father” Finlay are in line for a WWE Tag Team Title match against The Miz and John Morrison. It was made official on last night’s show, as ECW General Manager Teddy Long gave the family from Ireland official contracts for a title match at Night of Champions. Here’s what I want to know – why does the ECW General Manager have the authority to book a match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships? Granted, the champions are ECW superstars, but still, wouldn’t the WWE Tag Team Titles be under the jurisdiction of SmackDown General Manager Vicki Guerrero? If anything, she should be the one who made the match, with the story being that she wants SmackDown’s titles around the waist of SmackDown superstars. In any event, the match is official, Finlay and Hornswoggle take on The Miz and Morrison at Night of Champions.
Other thoughts on WWECDub, after the jump! (more…)
Call me crazy (or, if you prefer, “Jamaican Me Crazy”), but I actually enjoy ECW on Sci-Fi, even in this post-Joey Styles era. As long as Kelly Kelly and Layla aren’t having some stupid dance-off. I’m watching an hour long wrestling program, not Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance?” Anyhow, tonight’s edition was pretty good. One thing that absolutely bugs me though, and TNA did this with Angelina Love and Velvet Sky when they debuted, is when a wrestler debuts on a program then shows up next week with a different name. Goodbye, Matt Sydal, hello Evan Bourne. My theory is that the WWE wanted to avoid what they got with CM Punk – a well known indy star with a built-in fan base. That might sound crazy, but WWE creative want their big stars to be homegrown. Somebody like CM Punk wasn’t supposed to climb the ladder of success so fast. When he was brought to the company they had a plan for him, and because of his indy success, they had to throw it out the window and push him whether they wanted to or not. To this day, you can still see by his recent win-loss record that creative is trying to sabotage him. Matt Sydal is a name familiar to internet wrestling fans who keep up with the major independent promotions through the country, and as such, they’ve changed his name so that the name recognition disappears and they can build his character the way they want to. It’s also a good excuse for Mike Adamle to make references to the Bourne movie series. He did just that on tonight’s edition of ECW.
Other thoughts on tonight’s show, after the jump! (more…)
