Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Who Will Move in the WWE Draft?

As Shane McMahon announced last night, WWE will hold a tri-branded draft on RAW in two weeks. The probable reason for this is that the recent spike of main-event injuries within the WWE makes a redistribution of talent necessary. So who will go where? Here are some preliminary predictions, but keep in mind that we still don't know how many wrestlers will be taken by each brand.

RAW receives:
Chris Benoit - This has been rumored for a long time, so it's about time that it happens. It especially makes sense since Benoit is just coming off a feud with MVP.
William Regal - It has also been reported that Regal has requested a switch to RAW for a big heel push. It finally happens.

Smackdown receives:
Carlito - Smackdown is a little heavy on heels already, but I think Carlito is on the move.
Cryme Tyme - They're going nowhere on RAW...why not move them?

ECW receives:
World's Greatest Tag Team - One Night Stand will be a preview of Haas and Benjamin in ECW.
Super Crazy - An ECW original, his push on RAW has all but disappeared. He would be great on ECW.

Ok...if the purpose of this draft is to move more star power to RAW, then why is it that the only big star they are receiving is Chris Benoit? It may not be the case - it all depends on what direction WWE wants to take with ECW. They have guys that would be great on RAW: Bobby Lashley, CM Punk, and Elijah Burke. One possibility is that Lashley goes to RAW while Punk feuds with Snitsky for the ECW championship.

Of course, these predictions are not official (those will come later), but it's a general direction that I think WWE will take. It also starts a discussion on what roster changes would be best for the company...give me your thoughts!

- Drew Arnold, writing for The Irish Whip

1 Comment:

Benjamin Zeidler said...

Again, I apologize for randomly inserting retro WWE logos into posts. I think I'm just nostalgic for the time when Viscera was King Mabel and Umaga was just The Rock's fat cousin.

Either way, this is a great list and it all seems to make sense. You sort of mentioned it as a possibility, but don't you think it's probable that Burke or Cor Von or BOTH could move from ECW. Neither are "extreme" wrestlers (although no one really is anymore on ECW), but I really think they'd excel under main rosters. Burke to RAW and Cor Von to SMACKDOWN seems to make the most sense, but they'd also be a great tag team to feud with Cryme Tyme on SMACKDOWN (if you are right about this switch).