Draft Thoughts, part 2

Tri-Brand draft part 2: Friday Night Smackdown!

We’re looking at the draft again today, this time we’re looking at RAW’s broadcast network little sister, Smackdown.

Smackdown loses:

The Boogeyman, King Booker & Queen Sharmell, Chris Benoit, Ken Kennedy, Paul London & Brian Kendrick, The Miz, Daivari, William Regal, Jillian Hall

One brands gain is another brands loss. Specifically, Raw’s gain is Smackdown’s loss. The Friday night CW offering loses a large amount of talent in this year’s draft. Whereas I could actually say good things about some of the talent leaving Raw, I can’t say that about Smackdown. The move that will hurt the most is “The fastest rising star in Sports Entertainment” Ken Kennedy. Kennedy is money in the bank, and I’m not talking about his Wrestlemania win. The guy oozes charisma, and is one of the few stars that bleeds desire the way a young Stone Cold Steve Austin once did. That’s not even considering the built in Main Event feud with Edge that was waiting on a silver platter when Kennedy was healed up.
Losing Kennedy was bad enough, but Smackdown also lost 3 strong veterans that helped form the backbone of the brand. King Booker is a powerful loss that helps RAW, but provided plenty of entertainment with his faux British accent. Chris Benoit proved a valuable asset that could help the most mediocre talent look good. William Regal was the consistent heel who could provide any young up and comer someone to play off of. Any company or brand is lucky to have any one of these, and until recently Smackdown was lucky to have all three. With their departure, the job of seasoning the young talent falls more heavily on Finlay, Dave Taylor, and Chavo Guerrero.
Smackdown loses three talented cruiserweights in Paul London, Brian Kendrick, and Daivari. While Daivari has yet to find his place after giving up as the mouthpiece for Muhammed Hassan or the Great Khali, he could more than hold his own in the ring with any other cruiserweights. London & Kendrick, though, are the loss that will be felt the most on Smackdown. They’ve double teamed their way to the top of Smackdown’s tag division. With their departure, along with that of William Regal, Smackdown’s tag team roster basically consists of Deuce & Domino and the newly acquired Major’s Brothers.
Smackdown has also lost many of the characters which separated it from the other brands. With the departure of The Miz and The Boogeyman to ECW on top of Kennedy’s move to RAW, Smackdown seems short on over the top personalities. Throw in the departure of Brooke Hogan wannabe Jillian Hall, and it will be interesting who gets to showcase their character over the next year.

Smackdown gains:

The Great Khali, Torrie Wilson, Chris Masters, Ric Flair, Kenny Dykstra, Hardcore Holly, Brett & Brian Majors, Victoria, Eugene

What does Smackdown get in return for their 3 Upper Mid-card veteran talents? Well, if you ask me, not much. I’m not saying that there isn’t potential with the arrival of Kenny, Chris Masters & Hardcore Holly. I’m just saying it’s not really a fair trade off. If Hardcore Holly continues on the path he was heading down during his stay in ECW, he’s got a chance to fill in as a main event level foil for Batista or Kane, or as an elevater lifting Matt Hardy above mid-card. Masters could have the chance to grow, but there are so many heel talents working Smackdown right now, I don’t see any place for him to truly go. He could feud with Matt Hardy or Kane, and possibly a babyface Hardcore Holly, but I’m just not seeing it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him slapping the Masterlock on a debuting star and starting a feud out that way. As for Dykstra, he’s pretty much in the same boat. Although I’d really enjoy a Dykstra/Hardy feud, but I’m afraid we’ll see a renewal of the Spirit Squad/Eugene feud.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a feud between Batista and the Great Khali. It sounds like a disaster to me, but it’s fairly obvious that WWE would love to see the two big men go at it. Regardless of who Big Dave takes on, expect the Nature Boy to follow him. Flair’s not got much left in the tank in ring, but his managerial career could just be starting.
The Majors Brothers got an interesting start in ECW, but look for them to take on a more serious role in Smackdown’s now damaged tag team scene. If I were in charge, I’d be calling every tag team wrestler in the WWE system looking for some help with that group, but we’re more than likely to see the random pairings than the legit teams right now.
That leaves us with Eugene and Victoria. What I would love to see is Eugene start chasing Hornswaggle around. Something could easily come from that. But don’t expect it, as Finlay is one of the major stepping stones on the Friday night roster. What Eugene needs, though, is a sympathetic member of the Smackdown crew to take him under his wing and work with him. Make a team of the two. The question to ask in that situation is who would be that sympathetic to the mentally handicapped superstar? Victoria? I don’t see her doing much else, outside of the occasional women’s match. But Smackdown’s women’s roster isn’t as strong as Raw’s, and she’ll need something to do.

Smackdown, in my opinion, needs to make sure that next years draft has nothing to do with computers. The randomness of the brand’s acquisitions seems likely to hurt the brand for a while. The way it’s been going, though, I’m sure Smackdown, with what is possibly the best commentary team in wrestling right now, will come out ahead in the end.

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