BREAKING DOWN THE WWE DRAFT AND WHO THE WINNERS AND LOSERS WERE
By Todd Oblak on 4/20/2009 11:22 AM
Looking at the Draft:
1. SmackDown lost the most talent by far, 19 people. RAW lost 12 and ECW
lost 5. Both RAW and SmackDown gained 15 people and ECW gained 6. Looking at
those numbers, RAW is +3 stars, SmackDown is -4 stars & ECW is +1.
2. The WWE, US, Diva's & Undisputed Tag Titles all moved to RAW, the IC &
Women's titles moved to SD. I'm guessing, just like last year, CM Punk will
cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase, as early as tonight to win one of the
titles for Smackdown.....they can't seriously plan on Cena & HHH to both
wrestle on RAW and claim to be World Champion.
3. Here's an interesting one: ALL talent that ECW picked up in the draft
came from SmackDown. So anyone that was drafted from SmackDown to ECW doesn't
have to change touring groups and can (and probably will) still work SmackDown
shows.
4. Since both DH Smith & Natalya were drafted to ECW (where Tyson Kidd is),
that could mean we can bank on the new Hart Foundation teaming up soon in ECW.
5. With regards to upper card singles talent, RAW is +1, SD is even & ECW is
even. I based that on former singles champions/main event challengers.
MVP/Show/M Hardy/HHH/Kennedy for RAW is +5,
Punk/Kane/Jericho/Mysterio/Morrison for SD is +5 & Kozlov for ECW is +1.
Punk/Kane/Jericho/Mysterio from RAW is -4, MVP/Show/M Hardy/HHH/Kennedy from
SD is -5, Morrison from ECW is -1.
The end result of this is RAW always wins in the draft. They move the
guys/girls that aren't producing from RAW to SD or ECW, they take the
characters that are hot on SmackDown and move them to RAW and ECW is either
the place to dump the excess or to give someone a shot at giving their
character new life. In the cases of Jericho & Mysterio, I think their
characters are still doing great, it's just time for some new opposition.
Kane & Punk are still way over, they just need some new life and another place
to be able to shine. I actually wish Punk's first title run would've been on
SmackDown so he would have had a better chance of holding it longer and
getting involved in a program with someone. Kozlov has fallen flat and it's
time for Morrison to get back to single's action.
