Reader draft
“Hey Scott
Regular Reader and occasional poster. You posted something for me a short
while back, the UK doc about WCW and the power plant.
Anyways, ive been thinking about the draft and came up with my own. Its in
the attached document with a full explanation. Dont worry, its only a word
text document.
Its a bit geeky but im good friends with my inner geek so im fine with it.
If you could post it in your blog to start a discussion, that would be
great.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Pure Dynamite.”
And away we go…
Draft 2007
The three main champions have been kept to their own brands to head up the brand. I’ve ignored all the other championships, because lets face it, if WWE don’t care, why should I? I’ve also ignored injuries. Women have also been ignored because they are shite.
The first thing I wanted to do was split the wrestlers in to groups, in order of stature within the company. Therefore, the first two groups consist of former world champions, because like Scott says, once you’ve been there, you’re there for life. Well almost anyway. That’s why I’ve split this section in to two. Section 1 deals with those in the world title picture, or who might expect to be so over the next 12 months. The second section deals with those who are unlikely to wear the big belts in the next year, but who are still big enough names that they can occasionally enter the title picture.
Below that, I looked at the upper mid card – generally guys who haven’t had a world title but who you would either expect to reach the top in the next year or two (Punk, Cor Von, Kennedy) or can step in to the main event either through an ability to have great matches (Finlay/Hardyz) or just be a monster (Umaga/Khali/Henry).
That leaves us with the also rans, aka the mid card, and the never ran, never wills, aka the lower card.
Im sure that several of the positions are arguable and a matter of personal choice, but we can discuss that. Basically, the mid carders are people who regularly get on TV, while the lower card the ones who are lucky to get beat on Heat.
Former World Champs with a chance of winning in next 12 months:
HHH, HBK, Batista, Undertaker, Booker T
Former World Champs with no chance in next 12 months:
Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Kane, Rob Van Dam
Upper Mid Card
Mr Kennedy, CM Punk, Umaga, Marcus Cor Von, Finlay, Mark Henry, Hardy Boys, Great Khali, MVP
Mid Card
Carlito, Cade & Murdoch, WGTT, Kenny, Nitro, Cryme Tyme, Santino Marella, Chris Masters, Deuce & Domino, London & Kendrick, Chavo Guerrero, The Miz, Regal & Taylor, Gregory Helms, Elijah Burke, The Sandman, Jimmy Wang Yang, Tommy Dreamer, Kevin Thorn, Matt Striker, Hardcore Holly
Undercard
Jim Duggan, Eugene, The Highlanders, Val Venis, Viscera, Super Crazy, The Boogeyman, Daivari, Funaki, Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble, Balls Mahoney, Brett Major & Brian Major, Nunzio, Stevie Richards, Snitsky
After that, its time to split each group evenly between the three shows, although I admit that I’ve favoured Raw and SD! For numbers simply because ECW only gets an hour a week and therefore doesn’t need as much name talent. However, I do feel that the Cruiserweight guys would benefit from being showcased on ECW, instead of Extreme Expose’.
Whilst this is generally what I would prefer to happen, I’ve also been realistic. For example, I would love it if HHH went to SD!, but it aint gonna happen. Ive also tried to keep the ECW originals where they are, and ive kept tag teams together.
So here goes:
Raw
Cena
HHH
Batista
Chris Benoit
Mr Kennedy
Umaga
MVP
Carlito
Cade & Murdoch
Cryme Tyme
Regal & Taylor
Santino Marella
The Miz
Kevin Thorn
Matt Striker
Jim Duggan
Val Venis
Viscera
Smackdown!
Edge
Shawn Michaels
Undertaker
Rey Mysterio
Ric Flair
Kane
CM Punk
Marcus Cor Von
Mark Henry
Hardy Boyz
Worlds Greatest Tag Team
Elijah Burke
Kenny Dykstra
Chris Masters
Deuce & Domino
London & Kendrick
The Highlanders
Eugene
Boogeyman
Snitsky
ECW
Bobby Lashley
King Booker
Randy Orton
Rob Van Dam
Finlay
Great Khali
Johnny Nitro
The Sandman
Balls Mahoney
Tommy Dreamer
Chavo Guerrero
Gregory Helms
Jimmy Wang Yang
Super Crazy
Daivari
Funaki
Shannon Moore
Jamie Noble
Nunzio
Stevie Richards
Hardcore Holly
The Majors
Isn’t RVD done with the E?
The Hardy Boyz vs. London & Kendrick could be an interesting series. I also like the possibility of Finlay beating a good match out of Lashley.
Chuck the WGTT in there two and we could have a really exciting series of tag matches, with the possibility of turning WGTT and L&K in to Bona Fide superstars like the Hards themselves in 99/2000. Also, the rosters as above, or something like that, would provide a whole load of fresh matchups that we haven’t yet seen. For example, Kenndy v HHH, Nitro v Punk, and so on
You have the US and IC champ on the same brand.
Alright Smartarse!! Well I guess Marella could drop it to Masters tomorrow?
They need to kill off ECW, sending over or whatever isn’t going to change anything. If they move a few big names over, that takes away from RAW and Smackdown’s uppercard which are both pretty thin as it is.
What I’d do is just shift the entire Cruiserweight division from Smackdown to ECW. That way each brand has two singles titles and it gives ECW some more talent (Noble, Chavo, Helms, Yang, Daivari), then send over a few more like Kane (who could be turned heel), Viscera, and the Highlanders.