Thoughts On The Draft

So the Draft has come and gone and that means it’s time for the fun part: looking at the picks and deciding how dumb WWE is this year. There were a lot of picks and a good many of them don’t mean much, so I’m going to stick with the big ones instead of looking at a bunch of picks where the reaction will be some form of “uh, ok?”. We’ll go in chronological order, starting with Smackdown.

1. Drew McIntyre/Roman Reigns Stay

Yeah there wasn’t much doubt in this. Why change something that is working out well? Reigns needs to stay FAR away from the mess that Raw has become and dominate in short, easy fashion. Also the Smackdown viewership has been going up steadily since he came back so I don’t think FOX would have allowed a move like that. McIntyre is in a good spot on Raw so moving him would have been a bad idea as well. No complaints here.

2. Seth Rollins/Murphy/Mysterios To Smackdown

This was REALLY needed and I’m not even going to bother talking about what it could mean because they managed to screw it up later on. Rollins/Murphy vs. the Mysterios has been pretty poorly received over the last five months and now there is no indication to suggest that it is going to end anytime soon. It’s a big mess at the moment and this just made it go on even longer, despite no one I’ve seen really wanting to see that be the case. What’s the point in switching them if they’re all going together?

3. AJ Styles to Raw

Probably needs the change of scenery, though his feud with Heyman driving him away is kind of funny.

4. Naomi/Bianca Belair Switch

The Smackdown women’s division is dying for some fresh blood and Belair could be a nice addition. Naomi needs a new start too and she could be slotted in as a medium strength challenger to Asuka.

5. Miz/John Morrison To Raw

The tradition continues!!! Yeah fine, as just like the women’s division the tag….well actually not just like it because the women’s divisions actually exist.

6. New Day Splits

And here’s the bombshell. I don’t tend to get emotional about much in wrestling but Woods screaming “SAY E! SAY E!” after he and Kofi were announced was almost heartbreaking. The split is probably overdue but….IT’S NEW DAY! It’s a make change and Big E. has more potential than he knows what to do with, but man alive I can’t get my head around this one and it’s as risky of a move as they have made in a long time.

7. Otis Stays

They’re really splitting up Heavy Machinery? Of all the teams they have, they pick that one to split? Are they really still that gung ho on Otis? I know he still has his fans and fair enough, but it would be the most wedged in MITB moment ever. It made a lot more sense at the time, but with Reigns as champion, it might be time to cut bait for now. That isn’t a knock on Otis, but this isn’t the right time.

8. Bray Wyatt To Raw

If Fiend is staying heel, there is no reason to keep him on Smackdown in Reigns World. Throw in the Alexa Bliss deal and it could be interesting.

9. Street Profits To Smackdown

The most obvious move of the Draft after New Day moved so it’s not like this is much of a change.

10. Braun Strowman To Raw.

He was dead in the water on Smackdown so fine.

11. Matt Riddle/Jeff Hardy To Raw, Kevin Owens To Smackdown

The annual midcard switch, which doesn’t mean much when so many people are moved from the same show to the other.

12. Retribution Stays

Kayfabe wise, why would you sign them? Fear? And weren’t they supposed to have a big speech on Raw?

13. Dabba-Kato To Raw

Well thank goodness we got that cleared up.

14. Titus O’Neil To Raw

Does WWE have a Mr. Irrelevant?

So all in all, it’s a pretty standard Draft with New Day being the major story. As always, it’s a case of depending on what happens what we get to the new creative, which will probably go on for about six weeks before we actually get anywhere because WWE probably made these picks in the span of fifteen minutes.

PDFPrint