MR. TITO: Good, Bad, & Ugly of the WWE Draft Submitted by Mr. Tito on 10/14/2020 at 11:58 PM
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NODQ.com PROGRAMMING NOTE: This Saturday (10/17) at 10pm EST, for the very first time, I shall be appearing on camera for the "Great Debate" show with fellow NoDQ contributor Virtue on NoDQ's YouTube Channel. The show will be airing LIVE at 10pm but will likely be made On Demand afterward. If you've followed myself and/or Virtue for the past 5 years or so, you'd know that we get hot and personal when it comes to debating wrestling topics. Things have been said, tempers have flared, and we'd go weeks without speaking... Now, you get to see it, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, on live streaming video. FULL DISCLAIMER, I shall be appearing in costume for this show...
If all things go well, that should be a Pro Wrestling based show that you don't want to miss. It seems that we'll be debating such topics as Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt/Fiend, and Paul Heyman vs. Vince Russo. Our boss and man with the plan, Aaron Rift, will be the moderator.
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Bookmark NoDQ's YouTube Channel, smash that Subscribe button, and get your popcorn out for Saturday, October 17th, at 10pm EST. The "Great Debate" with Virtue vs. Mr. Tito for the first time ever on video!
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So, the WWE had yet another DRAFT this past week... Sigh. Since the WWE roster split in 2/3 (RAW) and 1/3 (Smackdown) during mid 2016, we have had 3 Superstar Shake-ups where wrestlers were magically shifted over to each brand... Those happened just after the Wrestlemania events in attempt to spice up the Spring/Summer months. Then, we had 2 Drafts during 2019 and 2020.
Maybe it's just me, but if you want to maintain the credibility of 2 completely separate wrestling fans... Wouldn't you want to avoid cross pollinating them?
The thing that baffles me is WHY do we need to do this? If you go back to the very first Superstar Shake-up of 2017, both rosters were starting to hit their strides and were developing good chemistry among the wrestlers. Smackdown, especially, as Dean Ambrose was being used well, AJ Styles was red hot, Women's division was thin but chemistry was perfect, and the Miz was finally fixed after that "Talking Smack" promo on Daniel Bryan. And then the Shake-up thrashed all of that...
I have been heavily in favor of NOT reshuffling the RAW and Smackdown rosters BUT having a DRAFT of NXT Call-ups and other prospects. Each year after Wrestlemania, that can be when the NXT guys are hyped like College athletes entering the NFL Draft and their selections are made into a really big deal. I would also force both brands to have a Salary Cap and create roster implications for signing new wrestlers. Keeping RAW and Smackdown separate, you could encourage trades between the rosters and maybe use future Draft picks as collateral to trade for a superstar now.
Instead, we just shuffle the RAW and Smackdown rosters to confuse everyone. Got it?
For today, since I'm really out of creative ideas or time to produce my usual type of column, I'm just going to flat out review WWE Draft in the column style of "The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly".
I'm only going to discuss wrestlers who actually moved from one roster to another. Keep that in mind, please...
THE GOOD - WWE DRAFT
Seth Rollins to Smackdown This guy just needs a fresh start, a reset button. He has all of the in-ring talent in the world but his character, storylines, and personality are just way off. The "Monday Night Messiah" was a failure and we just need to move on. Now, he joins a roster with former Shield mate Roman Reigns and they'll eventually class. That's cool because this is a different Roman that Seth has ever encountered.
Bianca Bellair to Smackdown She appeared on RAW after Wrestlemania and then barely showed up after that. What a waste, as she was not injured at all. RAW is just a 3 hour bloated mess and now she joins a show with better production values and announcers to hype who she is. Tremendous athlete. If Smackdown appeals to the same Network audience that UPN used to obtain for Smackdown over 15 years ago, Bianca could be a huge hit. Moving Naomi, Mandy Rose, and Lacey Evans to RAW is a blessing for Bianca, as this will much needed space for opportunities.
New Day to RAW Not so much New Day getting a fresh start on RAW, but now there are no excuses on pushing Big E as a singles wrestler. For his first few singles outings, he seems a bit too serious. He needs to inject the charisma learned from his New Day times into his matches.
Kevin Owens to Smackdown He just seemed so stale and bored on the RAW roster for the past year... He just needs a fresh start. My only worry is that he'll just hang out or feud with Sami Zayn, again...
Apollo Crews to Smackdown It's a good fresh start after finally getting used on RAW. He just couldn't overcome the numbers game with Hurt Business and now he's away from that group. Now, he can start working on maybe being a top babyface opponent for someone...
Riott Squad to Smackdown Ruby is a good in-ring talent but I like the fresh start for Live Morgan. Lots of ability and beauty in that one to push. Just move her off RAW to erase what happened there late last year with Lana for good.
*****
THE BAD - WWE DRAFT
AJ Styles back to RAW So AJ moved to Smackdown after being upset at Paul Heyman for reportedly suggesting Gallows and Anderson be terminated and now that Paul Heyman is on the Smackdown roster with Roman Reigns, he's pushed back to RAW... In a single year. Just stupid and lacks continuity for his character. I won't go "ugly" here because the 3 hour show presents opportunities for AJ Styles to work longer matches.
Miz & John Morrison to RAW Here we go once again, the Miz shifts brands again. He's the tennis ball between brands. Only reason that I have it as just "BAD" and not "UGLY" is because John Morrison could use a fresh start and might do well once he's split from the Miz. Still some good talent there.
Bray Wyatt/Fiend to RAW It just wasn't working on Smackdown... He was a weak champion and then the stuff with Braun Strowman was completely cringeworthy. WWE has to utilize the longer time on RAW to figure out how to make this character effective. Hey, I have an idea... STOP THE VIDEO EDITING... He needs single camera, live shots... Cut the over-produced non-sense and just make him a psychopathic arse kicker!
Rey & Dominik Mysterio I'm a big fan of Rey-Rey, so I just can't put this in the "ugly" category. If I were the WWE, I would use the last few years of Rey Mysterio's career to be a tag team partner to Dominik. Push them like the Guerreros during 2002. I believe there is potential, as Dominik could be the "face in peril" and Rey Mysterio would explode on the hot tag. WITH TIME, that dynamic can switch up and that's when Dominik can start growing as a wrestler. He needs experience and tagging with daddy regularly in the Tag Division is the way to go. Pushing Dominik too hard as a singles wrestler, initially, would be a mistake.
Jeff Hardy to RAW Honestly, this is good for Smackdown... Overall, I like Jeff Hardy but at age 43 and with many miles accumulated, how relevant can he be? I just don't see much value left in Hardy for the WWE and honestly wish that they'd let him out of his contract so that he could join Matt in AEW as a tag team. Both Matt and Jeff together could easily get another 5 years out of themselves as a tag team somewhere. I just don't buy the same old Jeff as a singles wrestler.
Alexa Bliss to RAW I guess she is just following Bray and Braun to RAW, eh? The value of Alexa as a great personality for the Women's Division is long gone. She was red hot from 2016 through 2018 and then the injuries caught up to her. Alexa just doesn't have the edge on the microphone that she once had and she's wrestling much more carefully thanks to the injury concerns. Sadly, she rejoins a roster with Nia Jax on it...
Aleister Black Could someone help this guy dress up before entering an area? What's with the suit and the makeshift eye patch? Guy has size, real toughness, and is good inside the ring. Just push him as a badass who either rides motorcycles and/or gets in bar fights often. Done. He's lacking an identity on the WWE roster and moving him to another brand doesn't help that.
Naomi to RAW I personally like Naomi and root for her... But we need more than just that entrance. She'll be doing the same dance moves for her entrance with the unique colors of her entrance and then it's back to square one when her in-ring matches all look the same. She needs to inject more of that charisma that we see in the entrance into her matches.
*****
THE UGLY - WWE DRAFT
Trading Tag Titles I feel bad for anyone who tracks Title Reigns these days... Yikes. How humiliating was that to have both Tag Team Champions switch brands and then backstage, they trade titles. The draft itself devalued the Tag Team division of both brands but to completely crap on the credibility of the titles too? FINGER OF SHAME to you, WWE, for this crap!
Street Profits to Smackdown I loved these guys in NXT but what they brought to the RAW roster by participating in over-produced cinematic crap has left me scarred. They had NINJAS attacking them in a match! Both guys need to work hard in that ring to overcome that bad viewing experience for me.
Matt Riddle to RAW Debuts on Smackdown this year and is immediately shipped to RAW. Huh? Makes zero sense and it oddly follows up the quote of Seth Rollins saying that he refuses to work with Riddle. Just messy public stuff happening with Riddle and that's a shame because his unique style could have been an asset for the WWE.
Braun Strowman to RAW Personally, I would keep Braun Strowman the hell away from Bray Wyatt/Fiend. Instead, he follows Wyatt to the RAW roster. ARGH. I would have kept him on Smackdown, repackaged him as a babyface, and then hype him up to have matches with Roman Reigns. Some of Roman's very best work was with Braun Strowman and Braun owes part of his early success to Roman. Now, he'll go to RAW and underwhelm.
Lacey Evans to RAW She's certainly not ugly, but her career has been. Remember when she was pushed immediately as a threat to Becky Lynch after Becky defeated BOTH Ronda Rousey and Charlotte in a Wrestlemania main event? Now, she's just another warm body on that thick roster of RAW. Good luck.
Elias to RAW Honestly, I forgot which roster this guy was on during the night... What happened to this guy? He was supposed to be the next big singles act as he had character, charisma, and his matches were decent. Now, he's just another warm body trading places. What a shame. So what is he going to do on RAW? Sing a song and then get jumped afterward?
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode More roster tennis, back and forth. Time is running out on Dolphy here and switching rosters so often hurts his credibility. I've never really bought Roode on the WWE main roster. He seemed like a better fit with NXT.
Natalya to Smackdown Damn it... I was cheering Naomi, Lacey Evans, and Mandy Rose moving to RAW and we bring this veteran back to Smackdown? And you just know that they'll try to push her hard, once again, to help establish that she's a veteran and a member of the Hart family... You know, like we've seen this before.
Lars Sullivan to Smackdown Let me establish this first... I'm not going to judge anyone for their own preferences and non-law breaking mistakes of their past. For Lars, I'll judge him based on how badly he struggled on the main WWE roster after appearing to have promise on NXT. I just wonder if Pro Wrestling is made for this guy, long term, as it is not an easy business to handle and those WWE lights shine bright. Just don't overpush the guy based on his size, Vince... Show patience. Remember what failed when you tried to push many other thick hosses to the moon.
*****
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So just chill... Until the next episode!
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