DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu #235 – Uninfluenced Draft Analysis
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 2:25 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #235

Welcome one and all to the 235th edition of ‘The Wrestling Menu’, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

I initially had an apology of sorts placed here due to the fact that I was going to post my column late on Wednesday night (North American time). The reason for that should be rather obvious; Something that the WWE called the “Supplemental Draft”. I thought I was in luck when the WWE announced that their Supplemental draft would be held at noon on Wednesday. “Perfect timing for my column” I thought. But then, probably because the WWE are still deciding who they want to move where, comes the announcement that the Supplemental Draft has now been postponed until Sunday! Oh well, not much I can do about that!

What it will unfortunately result in is that today’s column will be shorter than usual, as I have been caught off guard a little… I actually didn’t realize that the Supplemental Draft had been postponed until about an hour before posting this column. It didn’t really give me the opportunity to add another topic or anything like that, so apologies for that. But when you think about it, my column will now most probably be shortened to the length of most others anyway!

I am actually attempting something different with this column, although I doubt it will result in anything too different or astounding. I have basically shut my eyes & ears to the wrestling world for 2 days so as to deliver my immediate, unadulterated & uninfluenced thoughts on all roster moves made by the WWE this week. That means I have yet to see Raw, I have not looked at reader emails or other columns for 2 days & I haven’t even jumped into the wrestling portions of the LOP Forums! The only thing I did was click on the Raw recap.

So if I miss some obvious future match-ups, reasons for some wrestlers moving, or anything else that appears to be a mistake on my behalf, put it all down to the little bit of experimentation that I am showing with this column. I hope it turns out well & something a little refreshing. With that said, it’s on with the drafting…..

Actually, before I get into it, if anyone has yet to read my Draft Lottery predictions/wants from last week (where I did fairly well if you ask me), you may still do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007/articles/1181105498.php


APPETIZERS – ECW Drafts…..

THE BOOGEYMAN: Bing Bing with my prediction on this roster move. It just makes all sorts of sense to me. Well, firing the silly bugger would make just as much sense, but this is the WWE & Old Man Boogey is that “bad” you hear about in the phrase “You have to take the bad with the good”.

In amongst an injury layoff or two, the WWE have actually done well to stretch out Boogey’s tenure on SmackDown to this long. But all ideas have been well & truly exhausted now & it’s time to move on. And what better place to move to for such a freak than the Sci-Fi network. As The Boogeyman can hardly wrestle a match that lasts longer than 5 minutes, the shorter 1 hour duration of the ECW weekly television show fits in better for the wrestler, as well as the character. The more I think about this move, the more it is a no-brainer & I am surprised that he didn’t just wander (read: crawl) over to ECW earlier in the year.

CHRIS BENOIT: Bing Bing #2… & probably my best prediction from last week since it was apparently a lock that Benoit was moving to Raw. But huge kudos to the WWE for making this move, which can definitely be seen as a rather large risk. For the same reason that The Boogeyman fits in so well on ECW, it is a risk that Benoit could be wasted on the brand. But I am going to make a comment that not many will probably agree with me on: The duration of Benoit’s matches on ECW will be similar to what they would have been on Raw!

I really mean that last comment as I believe that the booking of Raw & SmackDown (in terms of match duration & quality) is worlds apart. In Benoit, the ECW brand now has a legitimate wrestler that can win over a niche audience that the brand is technically aimed at to a large extent. At the very least, ECW will hopefully receive a short-term boost in ratings from Benoit’s move & it is then up to the bookers to make the most of such a move. And if that means one less match on the show now due to Benoit’s match length, then so be it. I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if Benoit immediately fits into the slot as ECW World Champion! This is indeed a risky move, but a brave one that should be commended.


MAIN – Raw Drafts…..

KING BOOKER (With Queen Sharmell): Bing Bing #3… Holy Cow… I had 3 of the first 4 draft picks exactly correct! This move makes sufficient sense for a couple of reasons & because of them, I believe this to be another wise roster switch by the WWE. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Booker had exhausted all feud options on SmackDown, he had been through the majority of possibilities. Furthermore, with the heel Edge looking as if he may be a long-term champion, that basically rules Booker out of World HeavyWeight Title contention until next year. On Raw, he can be a more than useful challenger to John Cena’s WWE Championship while also eventually feuding with the likes of Triple H & HBK for some freshness. Not to mention that there is sure to be some “king” shenanigans with Jerry Lawler!

Just as importantly though is the way in which this roster switch could keep the King Booker character fresh. Once more, I wouldn’t say the King character had run its course on Friday nights, but it was sort of feeling as if it was heading that way. While switching to Raw may seem rather insignificant for an actual gimmicked character, I don’t think it should be under-estimated how much it could give it an extra lease of life. In fact, if anything, such a character should fit better on the more sports-oriented Raw brand.

BOBBY LASHLEY: While this move had been discussed in the weeks leading up to the draft lottery, I didn’t think it would actually occur for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Lashley being involved in many matches on Raw of late actually had me feeling as if it would be less advantageous to move him there as it would mean that the freshness aspect of the switch would be dampened. Secondly, I felt keeping him on ECW would add more legitimacy to the brand, especially since he is their current World Champion.

But now that he has officially moved to Raw, I find the move quite interesting. Does it mean a de-push to the Raw midcard (if that is a de-push)…??? Or does that mean we can expect a changing of the guard with regards to the WWE Championship for the remainder of the year…??? I am actually leaning towards the latter & at the very least, that delivers us some intriguing possibilities for the next year or so. And it all starts with the multi-man title match at Vengeance (sorry, I couldn’t avoid that announcement while reading the Raw recap) where I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Lashley emerges victorious! At the very least, this roster switch will make a large impact in the short-term. If the WWE can adequately cover his loss on ECW, then I will be more than happy with this draft move.

SNITSKY: In my Draft Lottery Predictions column I wrote last week, I admitted that Snitsky was the “most obvious” choice of a heel moving from ECW to Raw. And I do feel that one did have to move for the sake of balance (I eventually chose Marcus Corvon hesitantly). One of the reasons why I chose to leave him on the ECW brand was because he had been groomed to challenge Lashley. What I didn’t know at the time was that Lashley was going to move to Raw himself. So that definitely reduces one negative regarding this move.

My other main issue with the move still stands though. That is, that it wasn’t all that long ago that Snitsky was on Raw & had been reduced to nothing more than a handy jobber. While he has been decently built back up on ECW, how long will it take for all that to come crashing down on the stacked Raw brand. I actually foresee Snitsky to have a fair bit of short-term impact in feuds against the likes of Cena & Lashley, possibly even challenging for the WWE Championship. But I do fear that in 6 months time when Booker, Triple H, Kennedy & HBK have returned from injury, that Snitsky will merely fade into oblivion once more & resume his role as a handy jobber. The only thing I will say is that he wasn’t built up so much on ECW to make it a total waste.

KEN KENNEDY: Apart from Benoit, I knew that SmackDown was going to lose someone significant to Raw. With Benoit actually going to ECW that fact was even more crystal clear & Kennedy is indeed that wrestler. The good thing for SmackDown is that Kennedy is the only man (so far) to move across to Raw. For that reason, I can put up with this move.

While the roster switch does likely rob us (at least in the short-term) of a feud between Edge & Kennedy that not only would write itself, but also be very good, there are sufficient positives to more than negate this. Most importantly, I have carried on to anyone who would listen that it is integral that Kennedy should be kept a heel as long as possible. Yes, he will make a great face one day, but that will be accentuated if he stays a heel for as long as possible. Moving to Raw where there is a face WWE Champion could mean that he does indeed remain a heel. And boy, does he throw another possibility into the WWE Championship scene!


DESSERT – SmackDown Drafts…..

THE GREAT KHALI (With Translator): Khali has done the rounds of all 3 brands over the past year or so & the merry-go-round has continued with him returning to Friday nights from now on. What the WWE are basically saying with this move is that there are only so many opponents that Khali can wrestle & now that he is well & truly done with John Cena, then he has to move on. Personally, I wouldn't have minded seeing Triple H try to carry the big oaf around, but that may have been more for curiosity purposes than anything else!

So back to SmackDown he goes & I presume he will soon be thrust into a feud with Batista. That's not exactly a match that is going to set the world on fire, but I suppose it will kill some time & help to put Batista over if he is the one chosen to emerge from the feud victorious. The bottom line here is that this move is much of a muchness, but I suppose it's a positive as long as they don't have him destroy the likes of Matt Hardy & Rey Mysterio.

TORRIE WILSON: Similarly to Khali's move, this is another move that has practically nil negatives, but very few positives. Her character & wrestling ability does suit the SmackDown brand more than the wrestling-oriented Women's Division of Raw, so in that sense it makes sense. But it isn't anything startling in any way, unless there is an angle that the WWE have in mind. If there is, I definitely don't see it... Then again, I couldn't really be bothered thinking about it either. Maybe something to do with London & Kendrick since Ashley seems to be ignoring them of late.

CHRIS MASTERS: The move of Masters to SmackDown is an interesting one. I definitely considered it for my predictions column last week, but decided against it as I didn't feel he was quite ready to wrestle the type of style that is booked on Friday nights. There was no doubt that a move from the deep Raw midcard was necessary in order for his career to progress, but I personally felt that the ECW brand with it's shorter matches may have suited Masters better. Furthermore, I thought he may have been a good fit in a heel stable such as The New Breed.

So what his move to SmackDown effectively means to me is a huge turning point in his career. While he was going nowhere on Raw, at least he was being given the time to learn the ropes & improve. I don't feel that Masters will have that luxury on SmackDown as he will most likely be thrown into the midcard spotlight upon arrival. What that means is that we will probably see whether 'The Masterpiece' sinks or swims. In most similar cases, that could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing, and the answer will most likely be determined by Masters himself. While it is another brave move on behalf of the WWE, I fear it may eventually backfire with a lack of midcard faces on teh SmackDown roster... There are only so many opponents the likes of Matt Hardy & Rey Mysterio can wrestle!

RIC FLAIR: I must say that this move surprised me a little, but it is not necessarily an unpleasant surprise. I had a few readers predict Flair would head to SmackDown last week (kudos to you guys) & without being rude, I basically discounted it quickly. Without really thinking about it, I think the main reason I did was because I felt Flair (along with Triple H & Shawn Michaels) would simply prefer to remain on the WWE's flagship show. But maybe I am over-estimating Flair's decision-making powers these days!

When all is said & done though, I like the move. Not because there is specifically a spot there for him to fill (even though there actually is as a midcard face), but because it should provide him with some freshness & variety that has clearly been lacking over the past year or so. I mean, Flair couldn't even make it on to the WrestleMania 23 card for goodness sake & that should have told us something then & there! I don't think Flair is going to be super influential on SmackDown... He is not going to set the world on fire or genuinely threaten winning the World HeavyWeight Title. But in wrestling the likes of MVP, Finlay, The Miz, etc..., he is going to be doing something a little newer which, to an unknown extent, will make him a little more relevant.


COFFEE – Conclusion

While many fans could be negative towards the roster switches made during this draft, I am thankfully not. I can see 2 potential reasons for negativity & I will address both…

Firstly, some people may feel that the moves were all a little bit ho-hum. Fair enough I suppose, but I am of the old-school & rather conservative, so I would personally prefer that the rosters weren’t shaken up all over the place with moves by the likes of Triple H, Cena, HBK, Edge, Batista, etc… If that was going to occur, then the WWE may as well start at the very beginning & just reset the 3 (or 2) brands once more. And no, I don’t want to touch on scrapping the brand extension at the moment, as I don’t see that happening any time soon.

The 2nd potential negative that I can see some fans being concerned about is the Raw brand very much getting the better of the moves over ECW & SmackDown. While I clearly cannot argue this fact, I had practically conditioned my thoughts to expect this. Hell, it’s happened in the previous 2 drafts, so why would anyone expect anything different now? In fact, it was even more of a chance to occur this time around as it was the Raw brand that was lacking main-event depth. So, as far as I was concerned, it was just a matter as to the degree of how well Raw did out of this draft & I personally don’t feel that it is over the top!

As many would have known from my Draft Predictions column last week, my main concern was that SmackDown was going to be robbed of too many of its important wrestlers. Apart from Benoit, I knew that the Friday night brand was going to lose another of what I consider the 6 integral SmackDown wrestlers (Benoit, Hardy, Mysterio, MVP, Edge & Kennedy). What I didn’t want was to have (a) more than 2 of those wrestlers switch brands, and (b) the wrestlers be moved to the same brand. And, for now, neither of those things has occurred, so I am pleased.

While SmackDown’s losses clearly outweigh their additions in terms of quality, I don’t believe they have been (for want of a better word) raped. Their product over the past couple of months has been very good & that has been without Booker & Kennedy already. Losing Benoit will hurt, but this will hopefully give further opportunities to the likes of Matt Hardy & MVP to step up. And that’s not even mentioning the cumulative positives that Flair & Masters (& Khali) may add.

Over on Raw, the WWE Championship scene is now extremely interesting. I wouldn’t say it’s too crowded at present (although that may occur later in the year when Triple H & Shawn Michaels return), but for now, I am intrigued with which way the WWE will go as it concerns the WWE Championship. Booker & Kennedy will clearly be involved, as will Lashley who is my choice as the most interesting & possibly controversial move of the entire draft. The bottom line is that following John Cena defending his title against the likes of Umaga, HBK & Khali for most of this year, we now have some genuine freshness in the WWE Championship scene. This should not only be great for us viewers, but also for Cena himself (no matter how long he survives with his title).

ECW is the question mark of the draft, but I think it is a work in progress & it is tough to comment on at this stage. The main reason for this is that I get the feeling that they may be topped up decently with the supplemental draft. I’m still torn on the Lashley move, but it was either him or Punk that was going to leave, so it may have been much of a muchness anyway. Finally, I really believe that Benoit’s move may be under-estimated at present. As I said earlier, Benoit has a niche fan-base & if they can move over to the ECW brand with him, then he may be as valuable to them as basically any WWE wrestler on any brand!


Ok, that’s #235 done & dusted. As it turned out, that was not much shorter of a column at all… I am hopeless! I hope you all enjoyed my uninfluenced look at the 2007 WWE Draft. I just know that I will already have a stack of emails waiting for me in my Inbox concerning the matter, but don’t let that stop you from sharing your opinion with me. I’d especially be interested if you strongly agree or disagree with any of my opinions above. You can do this by emailing me on DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. Although if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=6. I should be able to reply to all feedback, but I may not be as timely as usual.

And while you are on the LOP Forums, why don't you check out my weekly contributions to the Album Review thread. So far, I have reviewed 2 albums each by groups such as My Chemical Romance, Muse, Rise Against, Razorlight, The Killers & Kasabian. Just click on the following link & scroll down: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=99&page=2.

Once more, the content of next Wednesday’s column will be heavily determined by what occurs during the Supplemental Draft. For all I know, there could be only 2 moves. Then again, there could be 22! Who the hell knows? Maybe even the WWE doesn’t know at this point in time! Either way, I will comment on the wrestlers drafted to switch brands. Furthermore, at the very least, I will have my predictions for the ‘Vengeance’ pay-per-view which has rolled around quickly. As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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***DIRECT LINK*** Must See! MICKIE JAMES High-Def & UP-CLOSE! Amazing!!

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