WWE Draft Preview And Predictions

I don't think that I've ever been as excited about RAW as I am now. WWE has the real opportunity to get their programming on the right track and return to being an integral part of pop culture with this draft.

Firstly, I want to say what I think the format of the draft will be like. Most likely, we will see each brand get a certain number of random picks, as was done in the 2004 draft. Smackdown will be robbed of its talent and it doesn't make sense that they would let this happen if they were doing the picking.

Let's get to it...with the realization that predicting the WWE Draft is more of a crapshoot than anything. Everything depends on which direction WWE wants to go in.

To RAW:

Batista - If RAW needs some more star power, then this is certainly a good way to go. Batista will lose his "Do or Die" match against Edge at Vengeance and move permanently to RAW. This would set up for a fantastic feud with John Cena later this summer.


Chris Benoit - It's been reported for a long time now that Benoit has already been told he's moving to RAW, which makes this an easy pick. I would think the ideal feud for him would be with Randy Orton.

William Regal - Never underestimate the strength of HHH's backstage politics. It's well-known that Regal is good friends with HHH and that he has requested a move and a heel push on RAW. He'll get it.

To Smackdown!:

CM Punk - He is one of the best pure wrestlers in the company (if not for Benoit, he might be THE best) and he is also a great entertainer. He will "move up" to Smackdown in order to put him on a bigger stage. Intuition seems to be telling everybody that he'll feud with MVP for the U.S. belt, and I think that's correct.


Matt Hardy - He's already on Smackdown, right? The point of this is to split up the Hardys as a tag team and make them singles wrestlers again. McMahon has always liked them better as singles.

Kevin Thorn - They've been putting him over on ECW the past few weeks with some squash matches, but who are they preparing him to feud with? With seemingly nobody on ECW that comes to mind, I say he moves to Smackdown.

To ECW:
Rey Mysterio - He'll add top-tier talent to the show and replace CM Punk as the reason to watch ECW. Also, he'll be feuding with none other than Mr. McMahon by the end of the summer, so look for him to warm up on some of the ECW heels.


Shelton Benjamin - His singles push gets a restart on ECW and Charlie Haas gets dropped. Benjamin is one of the most talented athletes in the company and needs to be utilized. Quit wasting space with him on RAW!

Super Crazy - His singles push on RAW has all but diminished. We haven't seen him in weeks even though he has reportedly recovered from his injury. ECW is a perfect fit for this guy, and he would be a great wrestler to put over some of the up-and-coming heels.

If the draft were to take place as I see it, Smackdown would clearly be raided of its talent and ECW would become a very watchable show. I have one problem with my predictions: there's nothing shocking about them! No title switches between brands, etc. I think a great move by WWE would be to swap MVP and Santino (and their belts) between RAW and Smackdown. But we'll see.

How do you see the upcoming draft? Post your responses.

Drew Arnold, writing for The Irish Whip