[Official] 2009 General Draft Discussion Thread

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Thought of another.

MVP to RAW

I called this one last year, because I thought he should have. He's exhausted all of the talent on SD!, and he needs somewhere new. He can easily freshen up the IC Title scene for a few months, before moving on to the WWE Title/WHC (depending if the title moves shows). Either way, this one HAS to be a dead certainty. It needs to be done otherwise MVP could find himself lost in the shuffle on SD!

Not necessarily. The rest of the draft is what determines each draft choice, basically. MVP over at Smackdown now has no main event slot for him, but if the rumors of Smackdown being "demoted" and losing some top stars to help boost the Raw power are true, they could end up having Smackdown as a show where the younger guys are given some main event spots. Some people when they predict the draft end up making the mistake of saying that people should switch to the other show to "shake things up", but the other drafts are so similar that they're effectively moving the Smackdown roster to Raw and the Raw roster to Smackdown. If you move Cena, Kane, Jericho, and CM Punk over to Smackdown, you've got half the Raw roster feuding with each other again. So if MVP moves over to Raw, he's not necessarily going to be in a better position if they were to move HHH and Jeff Hardy to Raw at the same time, you know?

Still, though, I think MVP's section of the draft is dependent solely on 2 factors: Money in the Bank and his feud with Shelton over the US title. If MVP wins the US title, he's staying on Smackdown and I think his chances of winning the MITB are over, making it either Christian or Shelton (more likely than Christian in that scenario since Christian can move to another brand and start fresh while Shelton would be losing a push just to gain another, better push - MITB - a week or so later). If MVP loses his US title opportunity, then I think its safe to say that Shelton stays on Smackdown, MVP moves, and his chances of winning the MITB go from 33% to 51%, giving him the edge over Christian in the match. And if MVP were to win the Money in the Bank and be drafted to another show, I think it'd be Raw, not ECW, since on ECW he'd already be the top star and it would be sort of odd to have your Money in the Bank holder ALSO as your ECW champion. I still think that "top ECW guy" spot is going to Kennedy instead.

 

[supersayian]

Raw Well This Is Pretty Well Set In Stone And Done. 1 Undertaker Needs To Get Off Smackdown He Deserves To Finish On Raw
2 Hhh Given With The Orton Feud
3 Shelton Something Tells Me He Is Winning Money In The Bank And Going To Where His Career Took Off.\
4 Christan If He Wins Money In The Bank
5 Edge Pretty Much Lock To Been On Smackdown For Almost 3 Years Now.
6 Jeff Hardy And Matt Hardy Not Sure But Could Be For Tag Team Sake.

Smackdown 1 Y2j Need Someone Huge On Smackdown Why Not The Best Heel In The Buissness Today.
2 Batista Given He Will Be Back On Smackdown Where His Career Is Made.
3 Rey Rey Because Of Mexican Viewers And Does Not Fit On Raw.
4 Dark Horse Cena Not Going To Happen Though With Cena Being The Highest On The Ladder.
5 Swagger Needs To Move Before He Becomes Stale On Ecw\
6 Bourne To Form Tag Team With Rey Rey

 

[The Palace of Wisdom]

ECW:
1) ECW Championship = Obvious enough.
2) Divas Championship = As you'll see in my new rosters...This is a good place to train divas before stepping up to the big show in competition.
3) Cruiserweight Championship = Yep...I brought this back. I think since WWE has decided to go strictly the PG-13 route now, ECW's old "Hardcore/Extreme" mantra has pretty much gone down the crapper. So why not replace it with high-flying, risk-taking, fast-paced matches with some really great Cruiserweights?

I absolutely LOVE the Cruiserweight title idea, and ECW is a brilliant place for it. Giving guys like The Brian Kendrick, Hurricane Helms, Jamie Noble, Tyson Kidd, Rey, Bourne all a title to feud with would produce some tremendous matches, without them just having the great matches, it puts something on the line.

Plus, I want Kendrick to get some gold.

 

[SquareSix]

Raw:
Edge
Orton (w/ Priceless)
HHH
Cena
John Morrison
MVP or the Hardy's not sure which choice for sure

SD:
Chris Jericho
Undertaker
Rey Mysterio
Shawn Michaels
Christian
Batista when he returns

ECW:
Jack Swagger
The Miz
Kofi Kingston
Big Show
Shelton Benjamin
Evan Bourne

The people listed on each show would be in contention for that show's main title (WWE, World Heavyweight, ECW). Some may need a push with the right story, but I think all could be serious contendors for that show's title at some point.

 

[Carlito's-Way]

RAW:

Edge: His time on Smackdown! is over. Since debuting on the brand he's feuded with the same people over and over again (Batista, Rey Mysterio, Undertaker, HHH, Jeff Hardy). Needs a change of scenery and RAW is the best place for him.
Shelton Benjamin: With the "Golden Standard" gimmick finally buying over with the fans he can once again be put in the IC title picture. Could also form a tag team with Goldust like the Goldust/Booker T tag team from the early 2000's.
Triple H: The move to Smackdown! didn't work as well as they had hoped. His feud with Ortan is the beginning of another Edge/Cena feud.
Christian: His time in ECW has done him well and now is ready to move back up to a bigger brand.

Smackdown!:

CM Punk 3 useless title reigns on RAW, Punk needs new compitition. Would fit in nicely in a feud with Big Show.
Mickie James: Hasn't been in the Women's Title picture for quite zome time. Make her Diva's Champion to give the belt some awareness.
Jack Swagger: Another superstar that fits in perfectly with the US Title picture. His nickname is The All American.
John Morrison: After two years in ECW Morrison went from soon to be released to Main Eventer. Smackdown! is a good place for him to estalbish himself as a WHC or WWE contender.

ECW:

Rey Mysterio: His move to RAW was very unsuccessful and is in need of brushing up his in ring performance. Is also an ``ECW Original`` and could form a tag team with Dreamer.
DH Smith: Gives this guy a place so he can finally wrestle more then one match. Tag Team with Tyson Kidd and Natalia is predictable.
Natalia: Valet should be on the same brand as their partner.
The Brian Kendrick: A place where he can prove he can carry a brand and hold a singles championship.

 

[afromania]

I am going to call it right now. The US title and the IC title are going to switch brands. There has been a lot of talk on wrestlezone lately of how they are going to put more main event guys on raw and stack it. If this is the case, then what better place for the US title then on raw. I mean if your going to have a show stacked with main event guys then the midcard title isn't going to be featured that much and considering the US title has less value than the IC title, it should be moved to raw.

It seems to me like they have already taken steps to do this move. There has been talk of how Mysterio helps the hispanic demographic on smackdown, so I can see him moving back to smackdown. He faces JBL at Mania for the IC title, so I think he will win at mania and then be drafted to Smackdown with the IC title and MVP will be moved to raw with the US title.

This way the IC title can be featured a lot more on smackdown than it ever could be on raw. Also considering the fact smackdown will be the show with more mid-card talent, the IC title will have lots of good fueds and may even get more PPV matches.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

I am going to call it right now. The US title and the IC title are going to switch brands. There has been a lot of talk on wrestlezone lately of how they are going to put more main event guys on raw and stack it. If this is the case, then what better place for the US title then on raw. I mean if your going to have a show stacked with main event guys then the midcard title isn't going to be featured that much and considering the US title has less value than the IC title, it should be moved to raw.

It seems to me like they have already taken steps to do this move. There has been talk of how Mysterio helps the hispanic demographic on smackdown, so I can see him moving back to smackdown. He faces JBL at Mania for the IC title, so I think he will win at mania and then be drafted to Smackdown with the IC title and MVP will be moved to raw with the US title.

This way the IC title can be featured a lot more on smackdown than it ever could be on raw. Also considering the fact smackdown will be the show with more mid-card talent, the IC title will have lots of good fueds and may even get more PPV matches.

You know, I've been thinking about that myself. As you said, with Mysterio challenging JBL at WrestleMania and almost assuredly moving to Smackdown, and MVP having already been on Smackdown for so long and just winning the US title, I could definitely see them switching.

Now, I'm not a big fan of the idea of the IC title being on Smackdown, cause to me, the Raw titles should be the more "official" ones (WWE, IC, World Tag Team, Women's) and Smackdown should be the B-titles (WHC, US, WWE Tag...well, not anymore...and Divas). But I can definitely see it happening. It'd be a pretty lackluster way for JBL to retire by having a crappy midcard match that he loses his title in...but its just JBL, I don't care about him lol. And Rey as the IC champion makes a lot of sense.

There's a problem with that if that happens, though. If MVP moves over to Raw and they do in fact stack Raw with lots of main event talent, he could very well be lost in the shuffle and the draft will mean nothing to him (or even less). They need to be careful about that and actually consider him a sort of top guy. For instance, they can't overload Raw with 10 main event guys and expect MVP to move up the ladder. In that case, I would hope for his sake that he stays on Smackdown as one of the lower main event guys similar to Rey's role on Raw since he was drafted over there.

 

[Kennedy316]

Given that MyNetwork TV is an epic fail in waiting at this point:

Rey Mysterio - SD - helps to reestablish the hispanic demographic back to Smackdown that it once had and gives them a chance to do something with it before the network dies it's slow, horrible death.

JBL - SD - the height of his career is there and he made a great counter to Rey-Rey. They'll move him back and have his last run on there.

Big Show - Raw - They'll break up this whole Edge/Vicky/Big Show thing after WM, leaving Edge with Vicky. This will break Show and Vicky up and establish Edge as a face when he divorces Vicky. Which brings me to...

Christian - SD - Obvious choice is wherever Edge goes. Everyone wants the feud, everyone wants to relive the glory days of the Attitude era. Hopefully, they'll do it.

MVP - Raw - although he's been on Smackdown his entire career with the WWE, Mr Porter is due a move to the A show

Trips - Raw - they moved him to pull ratings for the MNTV debut. Now that it's over, SD will continue to remain the highest rated show on the network until MNTV folds. They don't need Trips anymore.

Taker - staying put on SD - What can I say, the man just doesn't wanna work Mondays anymore...

Mr Kennedy - ECW - I agree above, it's a good test run to see if he can stay healthy for a while. Start a stable of blond people with Jack Swagger and have Finlay turn heel...or some shit, and then have him turn on Swagger for the title.

Legacy - SD - they need a good feud with the Undertaker.

Kane - SD - see Legacy. If Taker is winding down his career, they'll put him in one last run with his "brother" both in tag and feud form.

Huwwicane - wherever the Hardys land - see the Hardys

Matt Hardy - see Jeff Hardy

Jeff Hardy - I imagine that they would want to put Matt and Jeff back together on one show, because I don't see the story ending at WM25. This also means that wherever they go, Helms will follow. He'll play the role of intermediary and try to get the two of them to make up. I would honestly imagine Raw, but SD is a possibility as well. It would make more sense for Raw, though.

Miz and Morrison - where they go, and if they are still a team, will be determined by the outcome of the unification match I would imagine. But SD should be the show with the tag team focus, so I would say there.

Announce teams - JR and the King back together, Stryker and Cole for ECW, Grisham and Tazz for SD

There are a few more, but these were the big ones I could think of right now. I really think they need to do away with this draft and do it like they are doing now, with anyone able to come and go as they please. It would increase ratings if you never know who is going to show up at any show.

 

[Daly1888]

I am very interested in the upcoming WWE Draft and here is my opinions on the draft.

Moving to Raw!
1. MVP time on Smackdown is definetly up and he will take the US Title to Raw, plus this is a guy with a lot of talent and it is about time he shows us his ability on the 'A' Show.

2. Triple H will return to the 'A' Show afterall he never wanted to leave Raw in the first place, he does say however that Smackdown is a good schedule for him but he will always prefer to be on Raw and that is what will happen.

3. Edge will go back to Raw and this will disband his relationship with Vicki Guerrero, Edge is always due a hot feud with Randy Orton, so i see that on the cards very soon also.

As much as i want to see Undertaker make the move to Raw that is not going to happen.

Moving to Smackdown:
John Cena, last draft it was a toss up who was going to Smackdown between Cena and Triple H, Trips made the move and now in turn Cena will jump ship and return home this April.

Rey Mysterio will take the IC Title to Smackdown and bring in the hispanic viewers that Smackdown has been missing since his departure.

Batista the animal will jump ship along with John Cena as this feud has never really even begun yet.

Random draft pics.
CM Punk to Smackdown
Christian to Raw
Kozlov to ECW
Kennedy to Raw
Matt Hardy to Raw

 

[Y2M]

1 Y2J to ECW- Since he a ECW Original and since ECW need a Heel to carry the show why not

2 Mark Henry Raw Its time to Henry to win the Big one its time for him to be WWE champion

3 Edge to Raw- Edge belong on Raw it fits him better

4 Randy Orton Smackdown- I think it safe to say that Legacy is a failure and so is randy orton

5 HHH to Raw HHH and the WWE title just feels right on Raw

 

[matt_indiana25]

I have a question if anyone knows or not. I have heard that after Wrestlemania they are doing a draft or something. Has WWE said what kind of draft it is? Is it an actual draft where both GM's get to pick different people like when McMahon and Flair were the GM's and we would be tlaking about complete overhauls of all the rosters, Or is it a Lottery like they did earlier in the year where the the winning brand of the match gets a pick and that way only a handful of people will be switching brands?

 

[Y2M]

It will most likely be like it been for the last two year a wrestler win a match for his brand and get a wrestler

 

[SAMBOLIEWWE]

Ya it will be the same as the last few years. only this year,,,,, anything that looks like it will be good, is all going to RAW .

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Cena will be WHC. He's going to win this match, and have a long title reign. Orton will be WWE champ because I don't see WWE stopping his momentum now. Orton needs this win to add to his legacy. At WM 24 he won the match, but that's not what stands out at mania 24. Mania 24 is rembered as Flair's retirement match (I hope), and Taker going 16-0.

 

[cityofrain]

You may see the GM's get involved in this draft. Considering both are in storylines right now. Vickie trading Edge to RAW for Cena (wins the title). Orton then beating HHH. That puts the belts back where they came from. Things like that. Give the GM title a little more meaning. And add a little more excitment with the different storylines you could produce from some personal picks/trades by the GM's. Rather than the supposed "randomness" of a draft lottery. But more than likely the draft will stay as it has for the last couple years. Winner of the matches that night gets a draft selection for their brand.

 

[SeanMysterio20]

What would be cool is if they restarted from scratch and had no more ecw just two brands smackdown and raw. They would draft a superstar one by one and could pick whoever they wanted. that would be cool but i no it is not going to happen.

i have a feeling its gonna be like the last few years where if a wrestler on raw wins the match they earn a draft pick.

 

[Joup7]

I would be interested in combining both the randomness and the GM:
you have it like the last few years where the winner of the match gets a pick for his brand. Then the GM is randomly given the name of a wrestler from each of the other 2 brands. He then picks whichever one he wants.

 

[healyz84]

There has been talks of the draft this year being a little different, i've heard some rumors that its going to be a complete overhaul. There has been much interpretation from that, but what I hope it means is the rosters get emptied and they have a complete draft. I think that its the time for a draft such as this. And there has been the talks of ecw going through a format change, so they might lose there whole roster and become fcw??? Or something else, like possibly gaining some main event talent (the least likely scenario). So we shall see.

 

[Ronin]

I really do hope they do a complete reset, but then again, just switching some faces will have roughly the same result. I just hope we get to see something new. It seems most of the top guys have already faced each other a number of times. There is only so many times you can see X vs X, before it gets boring. Unless they actually come up with a great angle of course. Which is why I'd personally love to see ECW get some REAL talent, now I know most people won't be too happy about that, as they see ECW as a breeding ground rather than an equal, but I think it will spread the main eventers pretty good. Then we might get some new main eventers.

 

[WATSONationWWE]

i think wwe needs to be shaken up. so this is what i say should happen in draft.. RAW GET...morrison. bourne. edge. badass taker. swagger. SMACKDOWN GET...christian. cena. kane. miz. mike knox. ECW GET...jeff hardy. big show. shelton benjamin. jericho. william regal.
I BELEIVE THAT WOULD SHAKE THINGS UP A BIT. I HOPE TO SEE SOMETHING SIMILAR. ITS UNLIKELY EACH SHOW GETS 5 PICKS EACH BUT I DO HOPE THEY RESHAPE RAW WITH ATHLETES NOT TALKERS.I ALSO HOPE ECW GETS BIG IN RATINGS AND IT BECOMES 2 HOUR SHOW TO COMPETE WITH TNA. I BELEIVE BATISTA WILL ALSO BE INVOLVED IN THE DRAFT HOPEFULLY BACK TO SMACKDOWN

 

[The Real Macho Man]

To Raw

MVP - He's grown stale on SmackDown! and I think he might take the U.S. Title to Raw with him.
Shelton Benjamin - I always found him more entertaining as a face on Raw and he made a great I.C Champ. He's an ideal candidate to restore some prestige back to the title.
Triple H - It seems that RAW will be becoming the flagship show again and the Game has already gone through every one on SmackDown! And his fued with Orton should continue
Edge - If his marriage to Vickie is done, then he needs a fresh start away from her.

To Smackdown!

Kofi Kingston - He's got a lot of talent and he might get lost in the mid card shuffle on RAW. Smackdown! would be the best place to build him up to see how far he can go.
Jack Swagger - He has proved that he can survive in the WWE and now he deserves a shot in the big leagues now. By the end of the year, he could be challenging for the big one.
Christian - A guy as established as him shouldn't be stuck in what is a glorified developmental territory.
Rey Mysterio - This is a dead certainty I.M.O because he brings in the hispanic fans Vince has lost since he went to RAW.

To ECW

The Brian Kendrick - Build him up with an ECW title reign since his push just dissapeared when he was really impressing
Dolph Ziggler - Give the guy a decent push. He has a hell of a lot of talent and ECW will give him some exposure

 

[realblackhart]

Well the whole thing has got to change and I don't know what means for ECW. The current product you get on ECW on Sci-fi is close to what you will see on Superstars for WGN. That probably means ECW will be a little better and turn into 2 hours. I don't mind that as long as they put a quality show every Tuesday night.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

Well if ECW is to go 2 hours, it would have to get at least somebody good during the draft otherwise itll flop. Whether we like it or not, ECW sucks

 

[theeffinman]

Raw
1. Triple H- is there one more presumable
2. R-Truth- Could see him geting the push for the IC Against JBL
3. Morrison and Miz- Tag team division is due for a push and they're the best so they should lead on the Flagship show
4. Undertaker-not excited about this one as he'll never be champ with everyone else here, especially HHH.
5. Gail Kim- if raw is loading up then they need the best female wrestler too. and tell me a fued with beth wouldn't be awesome.

SMACKDOWN
1. John Cena-i know raw is loading up, but with trips and orton, he needs to be here for a title.
2. C.M. Punk-First a fued with Shelton for the U.S. title, then a Fued with edge for the World title.
3. Jack Swagger. He can't be the next big thing on ECW
4.Rey Mysterio Jr.-The only thing he's good at anymore is meeting the latino demographic and getting them to watch smackdown.
5. Matt Striker-will go Great with Good ol' J.R., second comming of "the brain"

ECW
1. Dolph Zigggerler- he would fit in nicely and could make a run for the title with swagger gone
2. the rest will come via the supplemental draft.

 

[TheGreenEagle]

They don't need to move around the top guys as much as they do the midcarders. Word already going is that Triple H will move to RAW to contiune fueding with Orton. Does that mean Cena will go to Smackdown? Anyway this is what I'm hoping for.

RAW - MVP, Morrison/Miz or Carlito and Primo (whoever ends up winning the tag titles), Jim Ross (needs to be back on RAW), Edge, and Christian

Smackdown - Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Santino and Beth Phenoix, Mike Knox

ECW- Doesn't really matter because they'll end up using them on whatever show they feel like it plus ECW so it doesn't really matter.

As far as who should end up doing Commentary on Smackdown I'd Put Dusty Rhodes or Ric Flair with Michael Cole