If you could Re-Do the WWE Draft 2004.

[cmedge]

Today while I was in the washroom (A place where I think lol) I thought to myself on Smackdown when Brock Lesnar left and with Big Show and Angle both being injured Smackdown was lacking star power. 2004 was a shocking year in Professional Wrestling because many of the stars left so Smackdown randomly took Bradshaw and made him main event one paperview and in his next main event paper-view he won the WWE Championship. I could honestly say that I liked JBL but what I did not like was the lack of buildup he had as a WWE Superstar there was no build up. So I was thinking the WWE Draft was basically useless on Smackdown no big star came to SD from the Raw (Despite the Triple H one night trade).

So I was thinking since the WWE in 2004 was looking for a star to be a heel on SD who would you have elected. I think that they should have built up JBL while having another heel be in the main event of SD to put over Eddie Guerrero until Bradshaw was ready to be the WWE Champion.

I'll remind you about the Draft as in who was drafted.

Rene Dupree to Smackdown
Shelton Benjamin to Raw
Mark Jindrak to Smackdown
Nidia to Raw
Triple H to Smackdown
Rhyno to Raw
Rob Van Dam to Smackdown
Tajiri to Raw
Teddy Long to Smackdown
Edge to Raw
Spike Dudley to Smackdown
Paul Heyman to Raw
(Other Picks)
-Triple H to Raw
-The Dudleys and Booker T to Smackdown
-A Train and Chuck Palumbo to Raw
-Rico and Miss Jackie to Smackdown

WWE had a few stars at the time who weren't doing much and we're guys who can easily move through the midcard to the main event pretty easily like Booker T (who was drafted) Chris Jericho, RVD (who was drafted), Kane, Edge and etc who could have all been pushed well on Smackdown until Bradshaw was ready to be champ which should have been at Summerslam.


What I would have done was draft Kane to Smackdown in 2004 and have him destroy everybody on Smackdown and say that he's after Eddie Guerrero and the WWE Championship. (Around 2003-2004 Kane was pretty hot). I would have had Kane basically have a number of matches with Eddie and have Eddie Guerrero go over Kane in the feud and then at Summerslam JBL after going over a few babyfaces (Rob Van Dam, The Undertaker, other faces on SD) could then beat Eddie for the WWE Championship.

That's how I would have booked it.

Question 1) How would you have done the WWE 2004 Draft?
Question 2) Was the draft done well?
Question 3) Did JBL have proper build up to be champ?
Question 4) What superstar would you have turned (or already was) heel to feud with Eddie until JBL was ready?
Question 5) If you had it your way would JBL ever would have been champ or who would you have wanted to be champ?

Please and thanks for reading my thread.

 

[MrAsmith97]

Only thing i have against yours is kane coming to smackdown, this was right after kane vs taker at mania so theres no way that would have worked because i could almost guarantee kane and taker would go back at it

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

^^^ probably not a bad thing. It's not like Undertaker had any meaningful feuds after WM20 (yeah that includes the JBL feud) and Kane was stuck in some really bad angles "the baby killer Snitsky" and wanting to have sex with Lita.

Besides Smackdown! was light on it's roster at the time, probably would have made some good TV feuding with Taker.

Question 1) How would you have done the WWE 2004 Draft?
Besides the suggestion of Kane to Smackdown! I probably would have moved Jericho to Smackdown! as well. Jericho was just lost in RAW at the time and filled with meaningless feuds. Add that Jericho was never going to be Champion while Triple H was in the same roster, I probably would have made this move.

RAW did fine ... Benjamin, Edge, are some cool steals. Plus they already had Benoit.

Question 2) Was the draft done well?
It was so-so, it was the first draft and, at the time, they really kept the roster apart so there was a lot of excitement to it. The only thing that pissed me off was the BS drafting of Triple H. Even worst than last year's BS Cena draft.

Question 3) Did JBL have proper build up to be champ?
No, I remember at the time people hated it. They took the title off Guerrero so that made people extra mad. But JBL build up was rushed too fast and there was no time to actually give him any heat. And People hated his matches, I read a column once and said about JBL's PPV matches that it's not a good sign when saying "it's not a total disaster" is considered a success. I probably would have had him become Champion during after he built up a ton of heat. Starting the Guerrero / JBL rivalry around after Summer Slam and maybe winning it at No Mercy.

 

[Nick Black]

I'll remind you about the Draft as in who was drafted.

Rene Dupree to Smackdown
Shelton Benjamin to Raw
Mark Jindrak to Smackdown
Nidia to Raw
Triple H to Smackdown
Rhyno to Raw
Rob Van Dam to Smackdown
Tajiri to Raw
Teddy Long to Smackdown
Edge to Raw
Spike Dudley to Smackdown
Paul Heyman to Raw
(Other Picks)
-Triple H to Raw
-The Dudleys and Booker T to Smackdown
-A Train and Chuck Palumbo to Raw
-Rico and Miss Jackie to Smackdown


Question 1) How would you have done the WWE 2004 Draft?
Question 2) Was the draft done well?
Question 3) Did JBL have proper build up to be champ?
Question 4) What superstar would you have turned (or already was) heel to feud with Eddie until JBL was ready?
Question 5) If you had it your way would JBL ever would have been champ or who would you have wanted to be champ?

1) Suprisingly, what the did seemed fine to me. The issue with me was, that Heyman was wasted as a draft pick. He quit (kayfabe) so he didn't have to work with Bischoff on RAW and worked behind the scenes, being the booker for the Triple Threat Tag Team matches for the next few months. My thing is, why waste a draft pick on him? Yes, it was cool and unexpected, but why not draft a powerhouse to RAW instead?

2) Yes. Except for the Heyman move. (Mentioned above)

3) No. He wasn't built up long enough, but either way, he made the impact that he was required to make. WWE, regardless of how soon it was, made the right move.

4) If Edge hadn't moved to RAW I would have suggested him, but I feel that Booker T would have been a nice change. Booker was in need of a decent feud at the time, and Eddie would have made Booker's output increase to make some great matches.

5) Haha. You can see from my sig that I'm a JBL mark. The man was amazing with everything. Even his goofy "immigrant hunting" segments back in the day. He was the heel that people loved to hate. Even when he was being a goober (the tranquilizer dart from Angle), he was laughed at and still hated. He was humiliated in so many ways during his tenture with WWE, and even through all of that, he remained one of the most dominant and intimidating heels of all time. He deserved to be champ, though it wasn't known until afterwards, and he excelled at that role. Even now, Alberto Del Rio is using his ring entrance, which felt like a slap in the face, personally. JBL is fantastic and he was a fantastic champion. (Sorry. Just being a bit of a mark.)

Well, that's just my opinion anyway.

 

[King Patrick Star]

The way I would have done the 2004 WWE Draft.

Instead of drafting Paul Heyman, I would have drafted WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero to Raw.

Instead of drafting Teddy Long, I would have drafted World Champion, Chris Benoit to Smackdown.

Aside from these two changes, I would have kept everything else the irrelevant same. I think the WWE should have continued to use the real-life connection between Eddie and Chris and had Eddie feuding with HHH and HBK, and have Chris feuding with Kurt Angle for a few months after WM XX. Granted this would have changed the WWE World Title scenes, but I would like to think for the better for both of them.

 

[Hardcoremayhem]

If Brock was still signed in wwe I think he would have been drafted to RAW and Most likely feud with Benoit or Evolution depending if he stayed a heel or turned face

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

I think it could have been fixed fairly easily if you kept someone like Triple H on there. It's a shame he "didn't wanna work Tuesdays", because it could have potentially helped SD! through a dark year.

I also would have kept the lower/mid card work horses like your Shelton Benjamins, Tajiris etc to maintain the Heyman ethos that worked so well prior to the slump.

--

And also, I would have normally said Edge to stay on SD, too. But you need to remember when this was - Edge wasn't the Edge we think of today. He was Edge still trying to find what works for him as a main eventer (he was close at this point, mind you). Plus, if I remember correctly, he'd been on SD for some time, and I seem to remember getting the impression that he needed a change.