Monday's Draft

So it's been a busy week, I haven't posted as much as I'd have liked to and yesterday's post was short - but I have a bit of time now so I'd like to discuss probably the biggest thing going on in the wrestling world (or at least WWE land) these days: the Draft. Think of this like any other sports draft - Raw, Smackdown, and ECW are teams. They earn the right to draft members of their competitions' rosters, over to theirs. It's always a fun source of prediction, and one that isn't quite as 'spoiler-ish' as others tend to be because the WWE tends to stay fairly tight-lipped about it. So here are some of my predictions as to who will be working where as the dust settles Monday night.

Please know I'm going to focus on wrestling talents here, not divas, announcers, GMs or refs - although one or two might slip in as I think of it, I just don't pay attention quite as much to those aspects of things. And on the 'GM' note I do hope a new Raw GM is chosen this week to replace the sorely missing William Regal. I'm also going by last year, where 10 names were drafted on TV, and 8 were drafted later on. I'm not focusing on the midcard draft that may happen mid-week (if last year was any indication) - I'm focusing on the televised draft, and will comment on any further mid-week switches when I find out of that will be happening.

UMAGA to SMACKDOWN
This is a fairly obvious one, as it's the one WWE head honcho Vince McMahon hasn't been so incredibly tight-lipped about. He mentioned this as a likelihood at a shareholders meeting a few weeks ago. Now, I'm not sure if the likelihood has gone down, as the main purpose I see to Umaga's transfer would be to feud with the Undertaker, as one of the major feuds they haven't yet had, and UT is currently 'retired'. But he would have the opportunity to feud with Batista, Matt Hardy for the U.S. title, an MVP who will have turned face if he sticks around ... plus Smackdown's association with ECW will create opportunities for him to work again with former handler Armando Alejandro Estrada (although I think I've read around the internet that ECW is about to start touring with the Raw brand, so perhaps not?).

MVP to RAW
This isn't so much a prediction - they're giving him a face-ish push against the World Heavyweight Champ on Smackdown, he's mid-storyline, which would indicate he's probably staying put - but given that his storyline is soft, and I think there are still way way WAY too many places for his heel character to go, I think heading over Raw-side to feud with WWE Champ Triple H (and/or Cena - whoever comes out on top next Sunday is still a face champion) would give this guy the opportunity he deserves to shine on the Big Show, while remaining a heel. Like Edge and Randy Orton before him, I think he's a much better heel character than he'd be as a face and I think the mileage left in that tank should be used before pulling the trigger. See what happened to John Cena when a salty, trashtalking heel/tweener goes face too soon because the WWE suits don't think fans can wait for a good thing.

KEN KENNEDY to ECW
He's spinning his heels on Raw - with three top faces (Cena, Triple H, Michaels) AND - if my prediction about MVP is right, three top heels (Chris Jericho, MVP, eventually Randy Orton again), their main event scene is crowded. Good for fans, bad for upper midcard talent trying to crash through the glass ceiling without breaking their heads on it (see Copeland, Adam and Van Dam, Rob from circa 2004/05). He'd be a decent fit on Smackdown too, but if my next prediction is correct, they're going to be getting pretty top-heavy too (Umaga, Edge, Batista, Undertaker and Rey Mysterio upon their returns, and the next guy ...). What does ECW have, meantime? Miz and Morrison? Kane? Let's send Kennedy somewhere he can really shine.

CM PUNK to SMACKDOWN
Here's a guy with a Money in the Bank briefcase who I don't think has won a match since winning it. He's accomplished everything, beaten everyone on ECW except their current face champ (I think), and really the ECW title is perceived as his for the asking anyway - he doesn't need the MITB for that, and the briefcase is supposed to elevate the person holding it to levels they might not have gotten to otherwise (see Copeland, Adam and Van Dam, Rob ... oh, Deja Vu!). However I think CM Punk would get horribly lost in the shuffle on Raw, and his talents would not be best served there. Smackdown, meanwhile, in its current state, is face-bereft. Yes they have UT and Mysterio, but they're on the DL and I'm unsure as to their return times. So unless WWE is keeping under wraps either of their immediately imminent returns, where does Edge go after Batista, who he's already beaten? Yup - the guy who holds the position he originated, Mr. Money in the Bank himself, CM Punk.

BATISTA to RAW
Batista has exhausted all his feasible options on Smackdown. Yes, he and Umaga could have a good feud and THAT would be new, but Batista just got out of a grudge feud while really - even though I think his days as a real serious World Champ are over - he should be at least chasing the belt or supporting those who do. All his strongest work has been associated with the Raw brand of late - feuding with Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels, hinting at an Evolution reunion with Randy Orton - and there would be plenty of opportunity for either fresh feuds, or to revisit feuds of yesteryear which would SEEM fresh (see H, Triple). Short-term this would hurt Sunday's PPV due to making the outcome of him vs. Edge obvious, but perhaps not even too badly as last month's offering showed 'anything can happen' still in the WWE, and they might have earned some goodwill on unpredictability from that.

BIG SHOW or FINLAY to ECW
Don't have a whole lot to say here - I think these two guys are being badly misused where they are, and could serve a better purpose over on ECW. Personally I don't think Big Show vs. Edge would be a bad watch, or Finlay vs. Matt Hardy for the US title, but WWE doesn't seem to want to give us that anytime soon - let's get some of the younger guys over to ECW (thinking Kendrick and/or London, thinking Kenny Dykstra, these guys who aren't getting anywhere), but let's keep some strong, salty, veteran hands who fit what ECW has become to help mould them.

SANTINO MARELLA to SMACKDOWN
I think Raw has enough good promo men (Y2J, Shawn Michaels, even the King of Kings himself) to justify sending this guy over to SD, where the best promos of late have been delivered by (!) Vicki flippin' Guerrero. He's a solid midcard hand, could have some entertaining feuds with MVP if he stays over there, or Matt Hardy, etc. ... I think this could be good times. Especially since, quite frankly, I don't think his tag team partner is much longer for the WWE world.

NATALYA NEIDHART to RAW
OK I know I said I wasn't going to spend too much time on the ladies, and I'm not. And I hate to make this prediction, as Smackdown has a real lack of women who can actually wrestle, while having a new women's title there to boot. But then trade over one of the wrestling girls from Raw (Mickie, Beth, Melina) - the reason this makes sense to me is there's been some serious buzz about building a second-generation 'young guns' stable (featuring people in the category of Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase Jr., Harry Smith), and Nattie certainly fits that bill.

JBL to ECW or SMACKDOWN
This is NOT hedging my bets, by the way. This is what will probably be done, vs. what should be done. If it were me, I'd ship JBL to ECW. I think he - coupled with Kane and with Finlay or Show - could make a real 'Old Guard of WWE' invading the hip, young, talented edgy promotion featuring the stars of the future. Especially of interest, since JBL HATES the ECW concept. However, here's where the reality sets in. He genuinely DOES hate the concept - that's the real John Layfield, not just his onscreen character - and has long expressed regret that his in-ring return occurred on Raw and not Smackdown. He has Vince's ear, so reality check time - he's going to Smackdown. If this DOES happen, look for him to return to commentating duties while wrestling part-time (see Lawler, Jerry, albeit more active), and perhaps replace one of these picks with Mick Foley replacing Mike frickin' Adamle on ECW (come on ... him and Tazz? OK ... maybe not ... maybe that's just too much personality).

CHARLIE HAAS or LANCE CADE to ECW or SMACKDOWN
Yes - here I AM hedging. But hear me out. The ECW or SD waffle isn't so much waffling as to say that whichever JBL DOESN'T go to, the other will. And I'm waffling on which one will go because both are young guys who've gotten a push in recent weeks, who have people in the company quite high on them, but aren't quite going to make it in the big shark tank that is Raw yet. So send them off to less visible, but higher-on-the-card, spots to hone their skills, and bring them back to rock the Raw casbah in a year or two.