2008 WWE Draft - Big Surprises

[tomalak301]

^It was more of a shock to JR, trust me. It seems they want to move some star power over to Smackdown for when it moves to MyNetworkTV.

So they are sacrificing their flagship show just to make a non-discript barely existent network happy? I wonder who thought that one up.

How is breaking up a stale commentator team (J.R. & King) and granting a husband (Triple H) some more time with his pregnant wife (Stephanie McMahon) sacrificing the flagship?

I was just talking about the announcing team, so I don't care where Triple H goes. More power to him that he gets to spend more time with his wife. Still, I look at it more from a familerarity level. Like them or not, JR and Jerry are the voice of Raw. It will really affect the show that they are not there to the point of maybe losing ratings. It's like what if NBC decided to get rid of the Al Michaels and John Madden team for Sunday Night Football. The game may still be a good game, but it just wouldn't be the same. In fact, I think a better example was when ESPN took over Monday Night Football. You have a new announce team that just isn't the same from Monday Nights in the past and it's really affecting the game. My point is stale or not, splitting up Jr and Jerry might not be a good thing for Raw in the long run.

 

[Defcon]

So they are sacrificing their flagship show just to make a non-discript barely existent network happy? I wonder who thought that one up.

How is breaking up a stale commentator team (J.R. & King) and granting a husband (Triple H) some more time with his pregnant wife (Stephanie McMahon) sacrificing the flagship?

I was just talking about the announcing team, so I don't care where Triple H goes. More power to him that he gets to spend more time with his wife. Still, I look at it more from a familerarity level. Like them or not, JR and Jerry are the voice of Raw. It will really affect the show that they are not there to the point of maybe losing ratings. It's like what if NBC decided to get rid of the Al Michaels and John Madden team for Sunday Night Football. The game may still be a good game, but it just wouldn't be the same. In fact, I think a better example was when ESPN took over Monday Night Football. You have a new announce team that just isn't the same from Monday Nights in the past and it's really affecting the game. My point is stale or not, splitting up Jr and Jerry might not be a good thing for Raw in the long run.

FWIW I'm sure if it really has any impact on the rating JR will be back on Raw faster than you can say Slobberknocker and I'm not sure if it is a long term switch anyway. Like I said above it's most likely a test how well Cole can handle the flagship while giving Smackdown the "A"-show treatment for the switch to the new network. Maybe we're back to JR & King on Raw in a few months.

 

[Hermiod]

I think people are being more than a little unfair towards Michael Cole here. I actually feel sorry for him, he's going to be in the firing line for all of John Cena's childish gay jokes now.

Never mind, as long as all the little kids and the girlies still cheer for him, it's all good.

 

[Tulin]

Hey don't forget the gays.


We LOVE him!!!!

 

[Hermiod]

^Cena ? But he insults gay people all the time ?

 

[SlyCardie]

They need to kill one of the shows already.

I agree, ever since they took over WCW they've desperately needed to trim the fat. I was such a big WCW fan back in the day, it's too bad McMahon didn't keep them as separate shows. His ego wouldn't allow it I'm sure.

 

[Hermiod]

They need to kill one of the shows already.

I agree, ever since they took over WCW they've desperately needed to trim the fat. I was such a big WCW fan back in the day, it's too bad McMahon didn't keep them as separate shows. His ego wouldn't allow it I'm sure.

No ego involved. Vince did not get WCW's TV slot when he bought them out. He tried to find a new one but nobody was interested. The brand extension was plan B.

 

[DanCPA]

They need to kill one of the shows already.

I agree, ever since they took over WCW they've desperately needed to trim the fat. I was such a big WCW fan back in the day, it's too bad McMahon didn't keep them as separate shows. His ego wouldn't allow it I'm sure.

No ego involved. Vince did not get WCW's TV slot when he bought them out. He tried to find a new one but nobody was interested. The brand extension was plan B.

Exactly... WCW was worth the couple of pennies that McMahon paid for it because it had no tv outlet. There was a much larger deal for WCW in place prior to McMahon, but it fell apart when TNT announced they would not air Nitro.

Wrestling got a "boom" from the Monday Night Wars, but was declining fast by the time WCW was sold

 

[Hermiod]

^Yes, Eric Bischoff tried to buy the "company" and was told he could have the naming rights, the logos, whatever assets the company had, the tape library and everything else except the TV slot. Once that went the business was worthless.

Vince didn't actually buy WCW, he just bought the debris. All of the wrestlers' contracted to WCW had those contracts cancelled so WWE gave them new ones with them and those are the people who showed up during the "Invasion". People like Hogan, Hall, Nash, Goldberg, Sting and Scott Steiner were on contracts with AOL Time Warner (as it was known at the time). All of them decided to pick up their money rather than cancel their contracts and sign new ones with WWE.

I would say that the most valuable piece of property Vince bought that day was the tape library. He has since bought ECW's as well, in addition to the AWA's and many other smaller but now defunct promotions.

As far as the draft goes, I would have done as Lance Storm suggested. I would have quietly moved everyone considered a Cruiserweight over to ECW and resurrected the Cruiserweight title. I would have moved Miz and Morrison to Smackdown, unified the tag team titles and made them non-brand specific.

Ironically, the Cruiserweight title is the old WCW Cruiserweight title. The WWE equivalent, the Light Heavyweight title, was allowed to quietly disappear when Sean Waltman left the company. Curiously, WWE recognises the WCW and NWA title histories of the Cruiserweight and US titles but not the World Heavyweight title. WWE considers the first World Heavyweight champion to be Triple H when it was awarded to him.

 

[percept]

Well the biggest surprise would be if BigShow wins the ECW championship and HHH and Edge retain their championships then all the championships will remain on Smack Down...hope the scriptwriters don't mess up this time...let John Cena win the Championship ,let Edge retain it and let Mark Henry win the ECW championship so that the championship stays in their respective brands...By the way is taker returning to SD on 11th July to interrupt vicky and edge's wedding????? Spoilers have already confirmed on this one.

 

[Hermiod]

^I would imagine that the Undertaker will be back at some point, yes, since he is due to feud with Umaga. Umaga was brought over to Smackdown to renew his Wrestlemania feud with Batista but plans changed.

My money is on John Cena winning the WWE title on Sunday. Mark Henry has been set up to win the ECW title. If he wasn't going to they never would have drafted him to ECW. I do not know what they are going to do with the US and Tag Team titles. The fact is that the Smackdown and ECW rosters are not going to be travelling together for much longer. I had Finlay and Hornswoggle down to win the those titles on Sunday but now they are both on ECW as well. ECW does not have room for two singles titles and the tag titles on a one hour show.

 

[FordSVT]

What the hell? Really? Why would they do that?
God, maybe it's a good thing that I don't watch wrestling anymore.

Maybe?

 

[Keith1701]

Holy shit, HHH at Smackdown? Are things so bad there?
Also, what channel did Smackdown end up moving to? USA?

I do not even watch Wresling anymore they are a poor excuse for a human being

 

[Tulin]

For some reason I find the notion of trolls who can barely construct a sentence to be just so deliciously ironic. It's like they are trying to lob a grenade at you when the wind suddenly changes and it comes flying back at THEM.

 

[Hermiod]

Okay, so the "correction" didn't really happen.

Last night's results.

Jeff Hardy beat MVP (dark match)

John Morrison and The Miz (ECW) beat Finlay and Hornswoggle (ECW) to retain

Matt Hardy (ECW) beat Chavo Guerrero (ECW) to retain

Mark Henry (ECW) beat Kane (Raw) and the Big Show (Smackdown) to win the ECW Championship

Ted DiBiase beat Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes to win the World Tag Team Titles for himself and Rhodes when Rhodes turned on Holly

Kofi Kingston beat Chris Jericho to win the Intercontinental Championship (with a little help from Mr. Michaels)

Mickie James beat Katie Lea Burchill to retain.

Edge (Smackdown) beat Batista (Raw) to retain.

Triple H (Smackdown) beat John Cena (Raw) to retain.

So, as it stands, Raw has lost the world title it did have and has not gained another. The highest ranked champion on Raw is now Kofi Kingston!

The WWE Divas Championship match did not happen. It was supposed to be Nattie Neidhart vs whoever impressed Vickie Guerrero enough but there was no sign or mention of the match.

They also did an angle at the end where it appeared Cena had re-injured the muscle he tore last year. They also teased CM Punk cashing in the contract, which I guess is how they'll get a title back to Raw.

 

[James Bond]

Since Cena isn't a champion (or is he??), will they get rid of that RIDICULOUS spinner championship belt?

 

[Hermiod]

^The spinner part of the belt is actually fixed in place now.

There was a pre-draft rumour that the jeweler that makes belts for WWE had been contracted to make a new World Heavyweight Championship belt with a spinner suggesting that John Cena was going to be drafted to Smackdown and would later win the World Heavyweight Championship.

As I said, I can see CM Punk cashing in at some point. I'd imagine he'll cash in on Edge rather than Triple H. So, perhaps this will bring the World Heavyweight Championship to Raw, and then maybe Cena will win that. However, I would object to the Big Gold Belt being replaced with some ridiculous spinning thing.

 

[Hermiod]

Okay the "correction" has happened.

Batista destroyed Edge in the opening minutes of Raw, leading to CM Punk cashing in on Edge and taking the World Heavyweight Championship to Raw.

 

[DanCPA]

Okay the "correction" has happened.

Batista destroyed Edge in the opening minutes of Raw, leading to CM Punk cashing in on Edge and taking the World Heavyweight Championship to Raw.

I was actually worried that JBL was going to be made champ again!

 

[Hermiod]

Okay the "correction" has happened.

Batista destroyed Edge in the opening minutes of Raw, leading to CM Punk cashing in on Edge and taking the World Heavyweight Championship to Raw.

I was actually worried that JBL was going to be made champ again!

The genius of choosing JBL as an opponent has been pointed out to me.

Texans and Oklahomans apparently don't get along too well. JBL is Texan, so Punk beating him will make him very popular with the local crowd.

Unfortunately, they are building on shaky foundations since cashing in on a guy who has been destroyed by someone else is a very "heelish" move. In fact, it's right out of the guy he beat's playbook, and he's the biggest heel in the company.