The Reality of Wrestling: The Draft

Columns

A sad, but fun week

I’d like to begin this week’s column by taking a moment to honor the memory of George Carlin who died this past weekend. For a person who was so inspirational to me and my writing, this is truly a loss worth noting. In the stand-up world, truly the master has exited the stage for the final time. Even as a write this I find the word hard to reach me as truly articulating this man’s worth to me from his comedy to his social commentary is anything but easy. What I will say is that it will be a long time before we get another voice, mind, and point of view like his; that fact may be even sadder than his passing.

Ever since the initial brand extension in 2002, the draft has become something of a yearly thing that is Vince’s way to “shake things up a bit” on his three shows. However, this year did need some tweaking as inter-brand appearances have become more common than rare and because of that nobody really buys the brand extension anymore (nobody really has since around ’04 or ’05) and calls to bring the brands back together have been made. This isn’t going to happen and because of that we got the random (literally) draft that was the last episode of RAW. However, the interesting thing is that the randomness—I’m hoping The E didn’t Battlebowl us and have it be even random to them—of it all did create an overall good draft where the acquisitions seemed more important than past years’.

P.C. Says: SmackDown! made out the best in this year’s draft

SmackDown! has always been the B-show for The E ever since its inception. It has been used as a place for new potential stars to make their first impacts—John Cena, Randy Orton anyone—before eventually being moved to RAW, it has been a place for wrestlers floundering due to RAW’s overcrowded atmosphere to get a shot to shine on their own, and it has always been #2 in viewers and overall appreciation. However, this year’s draft may have given the show a few months of good, good stuff.

SmackDown!’s draft picks include HHH, Umaga, Jim Ross, Mr. Kennedy, and Jeff Hardy. At first you may think that the list isn’t so impressive. However, what these men bring to just the show they’ve been drafted to shows their importance. Umaga is a big man who actually has some speed and athletic ability to him; not too many of those on SmackDown! and Taker is only around for 2-3 months out of the year. Jim Ross gives the announce team a good shot in the arm as RAW will survive with Michael Cole, but SmackDown! did need someone of Ross’ reputation and stature in the business, and having Mick Foley as his color commentator is already something I want to hear next to a match. Mr. Kennedy adds something to the midcard—where he’ll likely be at first—and gives SmackDown another marketable star (always a good thing) who’s already been semi-feuding with Edge and could be SmackDown!’s title challenger during the last parts of the year. Jeff Hardy also brings fans with, but what he also brings is an uncanny ability to have great T.V. matches while blowing it at the PPV’s, and since we’re talking about SmackDown! the T.V. show, this is an absolute plus. Not to mention the fact that Hardy and Umaga have had great chemistry together (big man/little man formula remember) on T.V. over the last few months, and this could provide SmackDown! with some real quality matches that they’ve been missing as of late. And finally, “The Game.” We all know why he’s going to help SmackDown!: his very presence means The E will have to care about the show. So this was definitely a calculated move with RAW being as overcrowded as it gets with star power, it is a good thing to throw your other show a bone and give over some of that star power. SmackDown! has needed it and now they have the tools to possibly put on as good a show as RAW has been this year.

However, don’t misunderstand, RAW still is #1 in the world of Titan. In fact, a few of RAW’s draft picks will likely ensure their continued status as #1. My talk about SmackDown! was that they got what they’ve sorely needed to put on a great show and because of that, they made out the best. However, RAW didn’t do too shabby either. Batista is a nice pickup as the long awaited Batista/Cena pay-per-view showdown now is within reach, not to mention the fact that the Michaels/Jericho/Batista feud may become the threeway feud it started as if only for a month. Getting Mysterio means they get his in-ring return, which could pop a good number as Mysterio still is revered within the wrestling community and is one of the bigger stars in the last few years that The E has. However, you look at RAW getting Mysterio, Punk, and Batista, and the wrestling quality of the show will possibly even go up, something I’m liking as I haven’t enjoyed RAW’s actual in-ring product this much in years. Let’s review: RAW still has Cena, Orton, Michaels/Jericho, everything that’s good in the women’s division, and now have two highly marketable stars, and Mr. Money in the Bank. Like I said, they’re still #1.

And yes Matt Hardy was actually a really good pickup for ECW as he could turn out a ton of great matches with guys like The Miz, Morrison, Kofi Kingston, and Shelton Benjamin waiting. All that matters is how they decide to use Hardy in the Land of Extreme. I’d be for pushing him as the big star of the promotion as you’d get a better overall product than you are with three plodding big men at the top. However, they could maximize the positives of everyone involved if Hardy goes on a giant killing tour ala Rey Mysterio in WCW on his way to the belt. I think that would be the best way to go because Hardy—a former member of one of the two shows that matters—rubbing elbows with all these young guys in the ring could mean good things for them down the line as well. On the other hand, as a personal note to Shelton Benjamin, I’d just like him to remember that TNA is always looking for former E talent. Just saying.

The Reality is…they are three pieces of one puzzle; that puzzle being the empire known as The E. What the brand extension has been all about since the beginning was creating separate identities for the separate shows. For a while this was what happened and it worked really well as SmackDown! supplied all the wrestling from 2002 through 2003 and RAW was finally able to catch up by 2005. However, around that time SmackDown! began to be more RAW-like and has stayed that way ever since going with shorter matches and more gimmicky, sports-entertainment inspired ideas and angles. But RAW has now passed SmackDown! on the in-ring side of things by far and the time has come for the boys in blue t-shirts to retake what was originally theirs, the moniker of being the “wrestling show.” Am I saying it will happen? Probably not, but if they can move their show to a more happy medium of wrestling and soap opera, cartoonish, S.E. crap, then that’s all people will want. RAW has done it, now it’s SmackDown!’s turn. To Vince and HHH and the others who actually have a say over things, please make it happen.