Thursday Morning Backlash on WWE’s Post Draft Mistakes

Columns, Top Story

The 2011 WWE Draft is nary 10 days old, and already the WWE has shit the bed in a number of areas on both shows. Brad and I will be switching shows this week, so I’ll cover Raw and he’ll take Smackdown.

Raw, by Jake Ziegler

Before getting to all the mistakes Raw is making, I want to mention that the John Morrison versus R-Truth feud has been terrific so far and I really look forward to the matches they’re going to have. And having Kharma on the roster makes me extremely happy and I can’t wait to see what she can do.

Unfortunately, this has been tempered with a number of mistakes. Putting the WWE Championship back on John Cena is a huge waste of a potentially months-long storyline. Cena had stated that he wanted to win the title on his way to facing The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Why not turn this into a big chase storyline, with Cena overcoming multiple obstacles on the way to achieving his goal. This could have gone on at least until Survivor Series. The Miz had some steam left in his reign, and with a heel heavy roster including Miz, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, and CM Punk with the New Nexus. In fact, Brad had the idea of Punk making it his mission to personally screw Cena out of the title, and sending the goons (mostly Mason Ryan, who is the scariest) after him. Hell, have the whole heel roster unite to try and keep Cena away from the title. The point is that almost anything would be more interesting than just giving Cena the belt.

Also, looking at some of the feuds (besides Morrison versus Truth) that are continuing or being set up doesn’t fill me with a great deal of confidence. Does anyone want to see Kane and Big Show feud with the New Nexus? And just how long do they plan to stretch out Michael Cole versus Jerry Lawler feud before doing something else with Jack Swagger? Why is Dolph Ziggler persona non-grata again all of a sudden? Are Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio just going to start feuding with each other again for no good reason? And why did they separate Mysterio and Sin Cara, a match that most people would want to see? Will Drew McIntyre get the push he deserves?

Smackdown, by Brad Garoon

I don’t know what to say that the rest of the IWC who have read the Smackdown spoilers already haven’t already said, but I like the sound of my own voice (view of my own text?) so here I go anyway. So if you want to read on, be aware I’m spoiling tomorrow night’s results. Christian will lose the title to Randy Orton. This makes sense on zero levels. Zero. For one thing, Christian is more over now as a singles wrestler than he’s ever been, and given the treatment he’ll be receiving on air tomorrow its likely that he’ll never be as over again. He’ll likely not feud with Orton because both are babyfaces. So what could happen now?

Christian could turn heel, but who wants to see that right now? Yes Christian has been a good heel for WWE in the past, but he’s doing fantastic as a babyface now. Orton could turn heel and Christian could chase. This is probably the best place they could go from here. Orton is boring as a babyface anyway. Christian could chase for a few months and get the title back the hard way. Everyone loves a babyface chase. Sadly, I have a sinking suspicion Christian is going to be dropped down to the upper mid-card to feud with Mark Henry or some other nonsense. Look for Orton to feud with Sheamus for the title, or in a slightly less mind-numbing scenario, maybe with the new and improved heel Cody Rhodes.

Can you imagine how much more fun Smackdown would have been with Christian as champion feuding with the imposing Sheamus (much less imposing to Orton) or against Rhodes? Orton against these guys just feels stale as all hell. Sigh.

I grew up and now I write for Inside Pulse. Oh, and one time I saw a blimp!