WWE Draft Analysis

Is there any doubt that RAW is treated like the top show? The results of last night's WWE Draft even made it seem like Smackdown is now third behind ECW.

Just take a look at this wrestlingmag.com analysis of who went where...

Chris Benoit
A move to ECW makes sense on a lot of levels. There had been some discussion of moving Benoit to RAW, but if you think about it, a move to ECW makes more sense. After spending way too long stuck in a midcard rut, Benoit now has the chance to do two things in ECW. Firstly, he gets to be one of the top guys on the brand, and it’s quite likely we’d imagine that Benoit is wearing the ECW Title in the very near future. Secondly, he has the chance to make several of the ECW roster stars. You only need to look at the recent feud with MVP on Smackdown to see how Benoit can help make somebody. The likes of Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von will benefit greatly from working with him, plus a program down the line with CM Punk already sounds good to me.

The Boogeyman
Seems an obvious choice really. His character fits in with the whole Sci Fi side of things, even if the guy is extremely (no pun intended) limited in the ring. He had nothing to do on Smackdown, so if WWE are to continue using him, this is a move that makes sense.

SnitskyAgain, he’s limited in the ring, and once a program with Cena is done and dusted, it’s hard to see where Snitsky will fit in, both on RAW, or in WWE at all.

Bobby Lashley
A trade from ECW to RAW isn’t a huge deal at all since Lashley has been on RAW pretty much most weeks since WrestleMania. That made the announcement that he had to drop the ECW belt seem pretty dumb, but that was nothing compared to Lashley’s reaction to having to drop the belt. If he didn’t care about it, why did he spend all that time chasing the damn thing from Vince?

The pick does show that it’s impossible to become a star if you’re stuck on the ECW roster though. His promos and soft spoken nature work against him, and he’s still relatively green in the ring. That said, he had what was possibly his best match in a WWE ring last night. You can thank a certain Mr. Benoit for that.

The Great Khali
Please, please, please do not put this guy in a feud with Kane or Batista. That would just be awful. The ridiculous thing about the entire draft process is that Khali is a guy who jumped from Smackdown to RAW without any explanation whatsoever. If that starts happening again over the next few months, last night’s show will have been a bigger waste of time than it already was. It’s hard to see who they’ll throw Khali in the ring with on Smackdown. Kane or Batista do seem like the two front runners for that “honor", but we're wondering whether poor Rey Mysterio will return to action and wish he’d stayed in San Diego for a few months more.

Torrie Wilson
While JBL may have thought Torrie heading to Smackdown was the greatest thing ever, does anybody really care? She could have shown up on this week’s edition of Smackdown without being drafted, and nobody would have noticed anything different. Another piece of eye candy for the show, and nothing more.

Chris Masters
Well, I guess there’s only so many weeks in a row you can lose to Santino Morella. We're expecting nothing from Masters that we haven’t seen before on RAW, and for him to be stuck in the midcard for some time. If I had to have a guess, I’d say his first program on Smackdown will be with Matt Hardy.

Ric Flair
Every cloud has a silver lining, and the big, black cloud that is Smackdown has been brightened up by the draft of Naitch. Flair has never been on Smackdown, which means we have a lot of fresh matches in the pipeline. In his role of putting over the young guys, we can look forward to what should be some decent matches with the likes of MVP, plus looking at things behind the scenes, having Flair around backstage should really help the younger guys on the roster. We wouldn’t be against seeing another Flair-Edge match take place after the success of their TLC match from RAW back at the start of 2006, plus the reaction we saw from Batista suggests we could see those two teaming up. Other possibilities include some potentially very good matches with the likes of Finlay and William Regal. Given that JBL has upped his game recently and does an awesome job of telling viewers about the history of the wrestlers who are in the ring, having him call Flair’s matches on Friday’s nights could be good also.

King Booker
We’ve loved the King Booker character, and it’s great to see him back. But will a character who was given a lot of TV time on Smackdown (both in the ring and also on commentary) at the top end of the card be given a chance to shine? We really hope Booker isn’t only there to put Cena (and possibly down the line Triple H) over, as he’s been one of the better wrestlers and characters on WWE over the past year or so.

Mr. Kennedy
Again, further proof that RAW is the ‘A’ show, and Smackdown is the ‘B’ show. WWE will of course deny that, and if you recall the most recent shareholders meeting, Linda McMahon made comments (I forget her exact words) denying that RAW was seen as the superior show. Last night’s draft picks confirmed that as being utter tosh, and no further proof is needed than the draft of Kennedy, who when he returns from injury had a ready-made feud with Edge on the cards. A massive loss for a Smackdown brand that is looking considerably weak compared to RAW