Winners and Losers of the Draft
Well now that the dust has fully settled on the big shake up in the WWE it's time to look at who came away the winners and losers of the draft. And it's not very hard to start with who the loser was. Look no further than everyones favorite brand to hate , ECW. Could they have gutted this roster any more as they lost their champ Kane, their biggest star CM Punk and two of its most promising talents in Shelton Benjamin and Kofi Kingston. The last two will really hurt, as I wrote yesterday ECW could go extreme with high flying performers. But losing Benjamin and Kingston really hurts this possibility.
We have discussed what the move means for Matt Hardy but have yet to discuss those that came over via the supplemental draft. Finlay brings some much needed toughness to ECW, so perhaps we can have some extreme rules matches with the man that loves to fight. Unfortunately Hornswoggle comes with him so there will still be the comedy angle. Mark Henry will still fail to find any popularity here, but could end up carrying the gold as he is the only one of the Kane, Big Show, Henry rivalry on the roster. I really like the addition of Super Crazy as he can offset the lose of Benjamin and Kingston with his dare devil antics. Just watch the first One Night Stand for his moonsault off the balcony to see what this guy brings. Plus he has cred from spending time in the old ECW.
Smack Down saw a huge initial infusion of talent with Triple H, Jeff Hardy and Jim Ross among the big names that came over in an attempt to bolster the profile of the show as it is looking towards its switch to My Network TV. Can't really say they lost much as the swap of the Hardy's was for the better Hardy. Losing Mysterio as its biggest name was not much of a loss either as you look what they gained. On top of those listed above they get Umaga who is one of the WWE's best workers and Kennedy who has plenty of unfinished business as he is trying to regain his popularity.
As for those who came over in the supplemental draft there really wasn't much to talk about. Maria has lost her momentum now that we have seen her nude. Big Daddy V will be lost in the shuffle, were I felt he could have been a solid ECW champ, but he just doesn't have the ability to be a big name on a major brand. Brian Kendrik and Trevor Murdoch will suffer from being separated from their former tag partners as that is really all I feel these guys have in them. We shall see if DH Smith can make a name for himself as it did not work out on Raw. The interesting additions were Benjamin and Carlito. I could see Carlito going face again and ending up in program really soon with Benjamin. Both of these guys are most likely at their last attempt at bat. They both could be great US champs as they have the personalities and the moves. Hopefully for both of them it finally works out.
Raw did lose Triple H but they still have the ever electric John Cena. Love him or hate him you cannot deny Cena is the second biggest name in the industry and always gets some kind of reaction out of the crowd. They did lose plenty of big names, but look at who stayed. You still kept Cena, Jericho, Orton and HBK. Not bad, not bad at all. They also gained Batista, Mysterio and a still serviceable Kane.
The supplemental draft really didn't bring much more as Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Deuce, Matt Striker and Layla join the crew. Look for Layla to fill the evil bitch role vacated by Melina, and she should do a great job as she has some decent moves. There have been rumblings they want to push Deuce so we will have to see how he develops. As for Striker, Palumbo and Noble don't expect much out of them, though look for Kane and Palumbo to go at it soon.
We have discussed what the move means for Matt Hardy but have yet to discuss those that came over via the supplemental draft. Finlay brings some much needed toughness to ECW, so perhaps we can have some extreme rules matches with the man that loves to fight. Unfortunately Hornswoggle comes with him so there will still be the comedy angle. Mark Henry will still fail to find any popularity here, but could end up carrying the gold as he is the only one of the Kane, Big Show, Henry rivalry on the roster. I really like the addition of Super Crazy as he can offset the lose of Benjamin and Kingston with his dare devil antics. Just watch the first One Night Stand for his moonsault off the balcony to see what this guy brings. Plus he has cred from spending time in the old ECW.
Smack Down saw a huge initial infusion of talent with Triple H, Jeff Hardy and Jim Ross among the big names that came over in an attempt to bolster the profile of the show as it is looking towards its switch to My Network TV. Can't really say they lost much as the swap of the Hardy's was for the better Hardy. Losing Mysterio as its biggest name was not much of a loss either as you look what they gained. On top of those listed above they get Umaga who is one of the WWE's best workers and Kennedy who has plenty of unfinished business as he is trying to regain his popularity.
As for those who came over in the supplemental draft there really wasn't much to talk about. Maria has lost her momentum now that we have seen her nude. Big Daddy V will be lost in the shuffle, were I felt he could have been a solid ECW champ, but he just doesn't have the ability to be a big name on a major brand. Brian Kendrik and Trevor Murdoch will suffer from being separated from their former tag partners as that is really all I feel these guys have in them. We shall see if DH Smith can make a name for himself as it did not work out on Raw. The interesting additions were Benjamin and Carlito. I could see Carlito going face again and ending up in program really soon with Benjamin. Both of these guys are most likely at their last attempt at bat. They both could be great US champs as they have the personalities and the moves. Hopefully for both of them it finally works out.
Raw did lose Triple H but they still have the ever electric John Cena. Love him or hate him you cannot deny Cena is the second biggest name in the industry and always gets some kind of reaction out of the crowd. They did lose plenty of big names, but look at who stayed. You still kept Cena, Jericho, Orton and HBK. Not bad, not bad at all. They also gained Batista, Mysterio and a still serviceable Kane.
The supplemental draft really didn't bring much more as Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Deuce, Matt Striker and Layla join the crew. Look for Layla to fill the evil bitch role vacated by Melina, and she should do a great job as she has some decent moves. There have been rumblings they want to push Deuce so we will have to see how he develops. As for Striker, Palumbo and Noble don't expect much out of them, though look for Kane and Palumbo to go at it soon.
