I take one of three things from the Draft RAW tonight. One, they caught wind of the Internet speculation that Randy Orton and Sheamus were going to Smackdown and pulled a Vince Russo to try and swerve the 'Net. Two, they really don't have any faith that Smackdown's numbers will improve on SyFy and are just preparing to go through the motions while having their big guns roll on Mondays. Three, they're trying to get the most mileage out of their remaining network TV time and trying to build main eventers on Smackdown before pulling a trade to get Orton, etc. over there when the SyFy move comes.
Normally, this is where I would go into some profanity laced tirade about how the WWE doesn't know what they're doing, but since I'm on such a high after King of Trios weekend (recap coming tomorrow, I swear.... SUPER busy today), I'm gonna give the WWE a pass here and actually just sit back and see where they're going. I mean, a show whose biggest names are Christian, Jack SWAGGAH~!, Kofi Kingston and CM Punk is like crack for a fan like me who enjoys those guys more by and large over the Cenas, Batistas and Triple Hs of the world (Which isn't to say I don't enjoy them... it's just I enjoy Punk and Christian more). So hey, who knows at this point. I sure know that I don't.
As for the show itself, well, RAW was kinda just there. It started off really strong with a pretty decent Unified Tag Team Championship match where a real-live, honest-to-God tag team in the Hart Dynasty won the belts. As much as I like ShoMiz (and boy, did they telegraph Show moving to Smackdown with that breakup), I'm glad to see that a real tag team has the straps now and that maybe, just maybe, they'll move back to having an honest-to-God tag division. Then after that, it kinda just flatlined. I mean, it wasn't terrible, but it was boring. Usually, they bring their A-games for the three hour shows, and last year's draft show seemed so much better both right after it happened and in retrospect. There wasn't a Cena/Swagger to anchor the card. I think this is where not having ECW hurt the most, because now, it's just pingponging guys back and forth between two shows, and the matches become either predictable or frustrating.
Oh well. But hey, if this means we get a World Championship program between CM Punk and Christian before long, sign me up. Tonight's show may not have been all that exciting, and the future for Smackdown may not be good for business, but really, I'm just along for the ride at this point.
Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!
Banner by K. Sawyer Paul
