Analysis of Unimpressive WWE Draft

Tonight's WWE Draft left many scratching their heads. Some good things came, but a lot of bad resulted from the first live SmackDown of the new draft era. Before I begin the burial, let's talk about the great things that went down tonight.

Finn Balor. Drafting Balor in the first round was the best move WWE made all night. He was immediately presented as a star and a valuable one at that. Gallows and Anderson were also drafted to the Raw brand, leaving the door open to reunite the former Bullet Club members.

American Alpha's call-up was also positive. They've proven to have a special kind of charisma and excellent wrestling talent. They're a much needed breath of fresh air for the tag team division.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' feud looks like it isn't going to end anytime soon, and that's a great thing for fans of WWE. The two have had so many classic moments and matches from the independents to World Wrestling Entertainment. The fact that WWE made a conscious effort to keep them together is progress.

It was fantastic to see WWE value their Champion, Dean Ambrose by making him the first overall pick to the SmackDown brand. Many fans were gritting their teeth in worry that he'd lose the title by the end of the show, but luckily, he retained in a clean win over Seth Rollins (Raw's number one pick).

The overall positive thing about this draft is at the very least there is more room to push high, mid-card wrestlers more than they would within one combined roster. Guys like Kevin Owens and Cesaro now have a bigger window open to succeed at a higher level.

Now brace yourself. It's time for the negatives.

The logic of the WWE Draft has left me in a state of utter confusion. After the first round, I was lost. Think about it like this: If the draft is supposed to appear to be a shoot, then why would a team like The Ascension be selected before The Dudley Boyz? Also, if there's a limit of six NXT call-ups that can be drafted, why wouldn't you pick the champions? If that wasn't allowed, we should've been told this. Champions aside, how could a competent general manager justify drafting Nia Jax early and not selecting Shinsuke Nakamura or Bayley, or Asuka at all? It's mind boggling.

The Women's Division was the biggest victim of the draft. We now have seven women on Raw and six SmackDown. Keep in mind, there's only one belt. I'm not sure what they're thinking here. They've drastically limited their possible matchup total with this move. Not only that, but outside of Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and Carmella do not appear to be ready for the main roster. I have nothing against any of the NXT call-ups, but I can't imagine how prepared Jax and Carmella are for the spots they're about to fill. I'm hoping and rooting for these women, but the whole division was not done any favors.

I need to be explained why the Cruiserweight Division has been placed on the Raw brand. If SmackDown is supposed to be the new, hip show, wouldn't they get the revived division? That question aside, why is Kalisto on SmackDown if the cruisers are on Raw? I'm not very excited in general that the division is back. I love that style of wrestling, but WWE has proven that the cruiserweight tag more often hinders a performer than helps one. But that's an entirely separate article.

To sum up all the negatives, it's clear which brand was favored coming out of this draft. Raw's roster was going to be larger. That was expected. But as you run down the names that have moved to SmackDown, it's clear that it's still in many ways the "B" show. The top names of the women's division are on Raw. They have the cruisers. They have Rollins, Reigns, and Lesnar. Without Styles, Ambrose, and Cena, SmackDown would be in horrific shape.

It's hard to make an argument that the WWE Draft helped make both shows equal. No old names returned, either. Maybe they're saving them as "signings" to continue the storyline. We'll have to wait and see. But if the goal was to present this draft as a shoot, it was a complete failure. There were far too many illogical moments for that to be the case. As it stands right now, the draft was not a success. Obviously, we're going to have to wait a few weeks to truly understand the impact of this draft, both positive and negative. Regardless, this was an interesting first chapter to a "fresh start" for the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Full WWE Draft Results

Brady Sauvageau
The Heater

Full WWE Draft Results - SmackDown Live (7/19/16)

RAW:

1. Seth Rollins
2. Charlotte
3. Finn Balor
4. Roman Reigns
5. Brock Lesnar
6. The New Day
7. Sami Zayn
8. Sasha Banks
9. Chris Jericho
10. Rusev w/ Lana
11. Kevin Owens
12. Enzo Amore & Big Cass
13. Gallows & Anderson
14. The Big Show
15. Nia Jax
16. Neville
17. Cesaro
18. Sheamus
19. The Golden Truth
20. Titus O'Neil
21. Paige
22. Darren Young
23. Sin Cara
24. Jack Swagger
25. The Dudley Boyz
26. Summer Rae
27. Mark Henry
28. Braun Strowman
29. Bo Dallas
30. The Shining Stars
31. Alicia Fox
32. Dana Brooke
33. Curtis Axel

SmackDown:

1. Dean Ambrose
2. AJ Styles
3. John Cena
4. Randy Orton
5. Bray Wyatt
6. Becky Lynch
7. The Miz w/ Maryse
8. Baron Corbin
9. American Alpha
10. Dolph Ziggler
11. Natalya
12. Alberto Del Rio
13. The Usos
14. Kane
15. Kalisto
16. Naomi
17. The Ascension
18. Zack Ryder
19. Apollo Crews
20. Alexa Bliss
21. Breezango
22. Eva Marie
23. The Vaudevillians
24. Erick Rowan
25. Mojo Rawley
26. Carmella

WWE Raw Results, GM's Named (7/18/16)

Tonight's edition of WWE Raw had its highs and lows as we're only one night away from the 2016 Draft. The naming of the shows' general managers opened the show and essentially overshadowed everything else that took place. Straight away, let's hit the match results:

• Sami Zayn & Cesaro Over Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens
• The Club & The Wyatt Family Over John Cena, Enzo Amore, Big Cass, & The New Day
• Darren Young Over Alberto Del Rio
• Baron Corbin Over Sin Cara
• Rusev & Sheamus Over Dolph Ziggler & Zack Ryder
• Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch Over Charlotte & Dana Brooke - via DQ (Natalya interfered)
• Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Seth Rollins (Match ruled a draw after apparent double pin)

The show opened with Stephanie and Shane McMahon naming their shows' general managers. Steph introduced Mick Foley, who came out to a fine ovation. Foley cut a promo stating that he was ready to do his job to the fullest, but delivered it with a serious undertone. Foley really gave off the impression that another side of his character may emerge, certainly different than his original run as the Raw Commissioner years ago. Shane introduced his GM, the returning Daniel Bryan, to a thunderous pop. The crowd went wild for Bryan. Bryan cut a babyface promo setting up his character's role on SmackDown. 

To be completely honest, this show started off hot and slowly became less and less interesting as the night wore on. The 12-man tag match was fun and had entertaining entrances and promos. After that, we saw a lot of unimportant matches that served little purpose. Instead of burying the middle two hours of this show, let's just move on. 

One of the few important segments of the middle portion of this show was a backstage encounter between Foley and Bryan. They exchanged words expressing their respect for one another, but Foley took the tone of the conversation in a different direction. He explained to Bryan that he saw drive and determination in Stephanie and that he was ready to make Raw the best show it could be. He told Bryan that they were each representing their respective shows, and "Let the games begin." This was a well done segment and set the stage for future interactions between the two in their new roles on-screen.

The WWE Championship had some great stuff, but the crowd was dead at this point. Rollins and Ambrose turned out a solid Raw title match. The match ended after Rollins hit a superplex on Ambrose, but Ambrose hooked Rollins' leg after impact. Both were in a pinning predicament and the referee counted three. The crowd was basically silent for the finish, as many were perplexed as to what exactly happened. Stephanie declared Rollins the winner, but it was obvious that we were looking at a draw situation. It was later announced on the WWE Network that the match was ruled a draw. 

It looks as if the finish of the WWE Championship match was the company's way of creating another title for the SmackDown brand. Tonight's episode certainly wasn't the best, but it did do a decent job in setting up the brand feud and saved the big moments for tomorrow's draft. 

Expect SmackDown Live to be a much more exciting show.

-Brady Sauvageau

The Heater

Breaking Down the WWE Draft Rules

WWE has released guidelines for the draft. Let's break it down and isolate the pros and cons. First, here's the rules as written by WWE.com:

The rules for the WWE Draft are as follows:

• Raw has the first overall pick.
• Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and Raw is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, Raw will receive three picks.
• Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team.
• Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster.

In addition to the listed rules, WWE has listed a roster of singles wrestlers and tag teams, with singles wrestlers divided by gender. Absent from the singles list is the Undertaker, which opens up speculation on his future with the company. Obviously, this could be because of the fact that he wrestles the most limited schedule of any performer in the company. Brock Lesnar, however, is eligible for the draft. 

Let's hit the positives that come out of this.

Tag teams. Thank goodness there are rules that add hope that most tag teams will not be broken up. Though there is no guarantee that every tag team will remain intact, hope is there. The fear is still apparent that WWE will deem someone ready for a singles run even if that really isn't the case. I guess we'll find out.

Only six NXT wrestlers will be brought up to either Raw or SmackDown. Six call-ups somewhat insures that NXT will not become a victim of this situation. In theory, gutting NXT of most of its top talent could be bad for WWE as a whole. There are veterans at NXT that are valuable to the growth of younger talent working along side them. To bring up more than six (Possibly more depending on the number of tag teams) NXT wrestlers could make it easy for new call-ups to get lost in the shuffle on either of the two shows. Hopefully WWE has done their due diligence in determining which NXT wrestlers are truly ready for a spot on the main roster. There's another way to look at this call-up situation, though.

If WWE is presenting this draft as a shoot, then how could a general manager justify not drafting Shinsuke Nakamura or Samoa Joe? If the goal is to draft the best wrestlers possible and at least six people from NXT can be picked, you're basically obligated to draft the current champions from developmental. NXT has actually made enough signings to stay strong (Bobby Roode, Eric Young, Austin Aries, Kota Ibushi, and some of the other Cruiserweight Classic competitors). We'll have to see how the company plays this one.

Alright, time for the negatives.

I'm a bit back and forth on this one, but I'm going to discuss it anyway. I think splitting the women is a bad idea. Assuming that there's only going to be one Women's Championship (there's not enough women to justify a second belt anyway), why split such a small roster? There are only ten women listed as eligible to be drafted. One or two of the NXT selections will certainly be women, so we're looking at about five to seven women on each show. WWE is really limiting the different match-ups in its women's division. My fear is that the non-title angles will come off as unimportant compared to the main title angle that will be taking place on one show for a period of time. Cutting such a small division in half doesn't appear to be the right thing at this stage of women's wrestling in WWE. This issue speaks for the tag team division, as well.

Let's take moment away from the rules. When taking into consideration all of the booking issues that the draft could create, we must also consider the amount of WWE programming that will result. We will not be getting (in theory) five hours of important weekly content between Raw and SmackDown. We will also get pay-per-views for each show. That's a lot of extra content and an enormous amount of time that a fan will have to invest in the product. For diehard fans, this is not a problem. The issue is that WWE has ran off most of, if not all of the casual viewers. It would be hard to make an argument that the casual fan would be willing to watch both Raw and SmackDown and then watch a three-hour special event on a Sunday. WWE's creative department seems to always be under fire, so imagining quality programming on an even larger scale is a tough proposition.

WWE has an incredible challenge ahead of them. They must make SmackDown important, that's the obvious. But straight away Raw is recieving the first pick and getting more talent in terms of quantity. Yes, it's a three-hour show, so in those terms it makes sense. But for Vince McMahon to clearly state that Raw is the "flagship show" last Monday seems to illustrate the mindset that's been in the company for years. I agree, Raw is the main brand of the company. But Vince didn't need to put that out there, front and center. It's somewhat of an unspoken fact. Everyone knows it's true, don't beat the point into everyone's head, especially right before a draft that is supposedly making the two shows equal. 

With a heel Stephanie and a babyface Shane as figureheads, it feels right that their general manager selections need to both be babyfaces. Shane's will certainly be a face. Stephanie's must also be one. If Stephanie opts to pick Triple H as her GM, then what has really changed on Raw? We've seen the heel authority figure angle for years now. It's played out. Time to move on. If the draft is about shaking things up and doing something different, that's your first move. Two babyfaces underneath Stephanie and Shane. 

We're two days away from what is arguably the most important show in WWE in a considerable amount of time. Our questions will be answered over the coming weeks. This is the company's opportunity to right the mistakes they've made over the past decade, as well as learn from the ones they made in the first brand split.

There is great opportunity ahead. WWE must capitalize now, or the consequences could be severe.

Link to official rules and eligible Superstars:
WWE Draft Rules 2016

Brady Sauvageau
The Heater

Balor/Nakamura From NXT, Cruiserweight Classic, Brock Lesnar & More

This past Wednesday's WWE NXT episode certainly seemed to mark Finn Balor's final match before his impending main-roster debut. Balor battled Shinsuke Nakamura, NXT's newest, hottest commodity. Balor, once NXT's biggest star, lost to Nakamura after a hard fought performance. It seemed fitting, as Nakamura seems to have taken Finn's spot as NXT's top babyface. Nakamura is poised to face current NXT champion, Samoa Joe, at TakeOver: Back To Brooklyn later this summer. 

There's been a lot of speculation on the draft, as well as WWE's plans for Balor on Raw or Smackdown. Many have suspected that he'll meet up with his former running mates in the Club, but nothing is for sure in WWE. Plans change and nothing seems to ever be set in stone. We'll have our answers in the coming weeks. 

The Crusierweight Classic debuted this past Wednesday on the WWE Network after months of anticipation. There's a ton of reasons to love this show. First, the commentary. Mauro Ranallo and Daniel Bryan completely surpassed the main roster announce team in a single, one-hour show. Ranallo, known for his sports-like announcing style, called the action while Bryan chimed in with analysis and expertise on wrestling style and the competitors' strengths and weaknesses. The show felt fresh and organic. The overall presentation of the show was almost a glimpse of what WWE could be as a whole and in many ways demonstrated the change that the main-roster programs desperately need. 

Standouts of the tournament include Cedric Alexander, Kota Ibushi, Gran Metalik, Zack Sabre Jr., and many, many more. 

The WWE Draft takes place this Tuesday, July 19 on the first live Smackdown of the brand division. There are many interesting stories in play as it relates to the draft. Roman Reigns' suspension will almost certainly have an effect on his positioning within the company. Where will he end up? Many expect that he'll land on Raw, which is most likely still the case. Another point of speculation revolves around Brock Lesnar and his recent USADA drug test violation leading into UFC 200. There's not a lot of information out about what he tested positive for and the penalties that will follow. Regardless, penalties could result in a ban that could prevent him from participating in another MMA fight in the foreseeable future. Depending on how the situation plays out, a ban handed out by the Nevada State Athletic Commission could also prevent Lesnar from working WWE shows in specific states that still govern professional wrestling through athletic commissions. This year's Summerslam takes place in New York, which could prove to be an issue for the already billed Lesnar/ Randy Orton match (Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter).

Many positive and negative stories have dominated the month of July as it relates to WWE. The draft will prove to be crucial to the company in both storyline and business. 

The next few months should be very interesting.

Brady Sauvageau

The Heater

The Latest: Cody Rhodes, Tommy End, WWE Brand Split & More

After a hiatus, I'm back in front of the computer. Moving, spending too much money, and getting my car back after a parking incident have really set me back over the past few weeks. But the past is in the past, so let's talk some wrestling!

The past few weeks have been pretty interesting in the world of wrestling, WWE and beyond. Cody Rhodes asked for his release, Tommy End got signed, a brand split is looming, and all sorts of news. So here we go.

First up, the release of Cody Rhodes took many off guard when it happened. Cody will be using the Rhodes name, as it seems WWE is not going to fight him on it. After posting an interesting picture to Twitter illustrating his independent goals in wrestling, Rhodes hit the ground running. He's already booked to wrestle at the PWG Battle of Los Angeles with many more announcements on the way. Not to bring the Wrestling Observer into this, but I'm going to have to disagree with Alvarez and Meltzer on this one. I really believe that Cody is going to adapt to the "Indy" style well. The dude can go and will certainly be able to speed up his work. When I saw him do that moonsault off of the cage on an episode of Raw right before he became Stardust, I thought, "Wow, this dude has truly arrived." He was over for life in my book. The Stardust character allowed him to prove that he could take a strange gimmick and run with it. He made it entertaining and got over. For whatever reason, WWE apparently didn't see him as a top tier talent and made it clear that he would not be returning to the Cody Rhodes persona. This is what led him to asking for his release. Cody is betting on himself and as a fan, I'm ready to enjoy the indy ride that he's about to embark on.

Some awesome recent news comes in the form of Tommy End apparently heading to NXT. Last I heard he was getting his physical and  completing the preliminary hiring process. End is an insanely interesting character, assuming he'll keep many of the characteristics of his gimmick upon debuting in NXT. Long story short, the dude won't disappoint. Awesome signing for NXT as it's been rumored that the roster will soon be raided to fill up the rosters for WWE's upcoming brand split.

So let's talk about this brand split for a moment. Some things that worry me:

One, two world titles. I thought we were done with this. Cena and Orton unified these things, so why are we taking a step backwards? The schedule would be tough, but why not have the champion take on all comers? Have him go back and forth from feuds on both shows. I'm not saying do two feuds at once or anything, but why not have a traveling champion that appears on both Raw and Smackdown? It would be cool dynamic and throwback to the territories days.

Two, the tag-team division. Please, for the love of God, do not create another set of tag belts. The tag division has made huge strides over the past year or two and another set of championships would effectively nullify all of that progress. Keep it simple and schedule teams in a smart manner.

Three, don't screw over the women. Don't make another belt. Just don't. Feature the women's division on both shows. They could use some more television time and this is the opportunity to give it to them. This is the time to have a main angle and an opening for some sub-angles. The more women that get to work, the better.

I could get into the Intercontinental and United States Championships, but WWE has done so much to damage those belts over the past 15 years that I wonder if it's even worth it. We'll hit that topic after more details come to light.

The big question I have is this: What happens if Smackdown starts to beat Raw in the ratings? Does Vince become angry that the flagship show is getting beat? History cannot repeat itself from the past brand split. Hopefully mistakes will not be repeated, but boy is this going to be interesting to watch play out.

NXT will have to adjust. Many top performers of the brand will surely be moving up to fill the huge opening of spots for the two rosters. You know what that means? Watch out, independents because your talent pool is about to get much smaller. Don't be surprised if guys with expiring Ring of Honor contracts make the jump over the next half year.

2016 continues to get more and more interesting. The Cruiserweight Classic is coming up, along with PWG BOLA, NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, and Summerslam. Strap in people, it's getting real.

Brady Sauvageau
-The Heater

Witnessing NXT Seattle & Change In Professional Wrestling

Over the course of the past couple years, NXT has evolved from WWE's developmental territory into its own brand. NXT has showcased some of the best wrestlers in the world and changing the way many mainstream fans view WWE and "sports entertainment." Now, in 2016, NXT has become a touring force, bringing its version of sports entertainment to markets far from its origins in Orlando, Florida.

Tonight, myself and a group of friends were able to experience NXT live in person at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington.

Seattle did a fine job in living up to the enthusiasm and interaction that made the original NXT fans in Orlando so unique in the WWE world. All the matches on the show had their place, but I'm going to hit the notable ones here.

In what might have been the best match of the night, American Alpha took on The Revival for the NXT Tag-Team Championship. All of us in the audience were hanging on every false finish of this bout. With the surprise finish between Finn Balor and Samoa Joe only a couple weeks in the past, it's no wonder why we were unsure about the outcome of this one. To sum it up, American Alpha and The Revival absolutely killed it. This one had everything. High IQ tag-team wrestling, technical sequences, excellent false finishes, and excellent character showmanship. More than once during the match, we all stood up and clapped to show appreciation for the performance we were receiving. These two teams are going to make a huge impact when they finally arrive on the main roster. Chad Gable really shined. His mat wrestling was so on-point throughout. Jason Jordan tossed Dash and Dawson around on a couple occasions with suplexes that even Brock Lesnar would endorse. Alpha ended up getting the win off their finish, much to the delight of all of us. All and all, this match was incredible and a testament to the strides and progress NXT has made as a product.

Bayley took on Alexa Bliss in a good match. Bliss seems to have a solid handle on her character and has shown that she's clearly improved in the ring. But at the same time, Bayley has reached a level of overness that maybe only two or three other NXT performers have obtained. She got one of the biggest pops of the night. Bayley has become so confident in her character and her in-ring work. I'm not sure if she's capable of having a terrible match at this point in her NXT career. 

Skipping ahead to the main event, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe had a great match. Nothing over the top here, probably because the two have some tricks left in the bag saved for their title match at the next TakeOver. The crowd was split 50/50, adding so much drama and an amazing atmosphere. Joe won with the Muscle Buster.

After the match, Joe extended his hand to Balor in what appeared to be a show of respect. They shook hands, but Joe clotheslined him to continue the feud. They battled a little more and Balor ended up hitting the Coup de Grace to end the show with a bang. 

There were so many memorable moments tonight. With that being said, one really stuck out in my mind. After intermission, The Drifter came out to be interviewed by Tom Phillips. He played a song and took some shots at the crowd and the city. Then, Shinsuke Nakamura's music hit. Now, the Paramount only holds about 2,800 people. But believe me when I tell you that when Nakamura's music started to play, the place came unglued with a pop so loud that I was in awe of the moment. 

To see Nakamura live meant a lot to myself and apparently everyone in attendance. It was only six months ago that the idea of The King of Strong Style in WWE was merely a fantasy. I've said this many times and for good reason. WWE, though creatively it still needs work, is changing for the better in terms of personnel. At the same time, professional wrestling as a whole is changing. I can't see into the future, but we seem to be on the brink of something big. Never before has WWE assembled a roster this diverse. We've seen many of the top independent names make the jump to WWE and have success. We're now seeing international talent make the jump. Outside of WWE, the independents have never been better. Ring of Honor is growing. PWG has arguably become the ECW of my generation. Lucha Underground has made waves. Evolve now has somewhat of a WWE affiliation. Overseas, groups such as Progress and ICW have become legitimate promotions. New Japan Pro Wrestling has the attention of many American fans that may have never watched in years past.

The point of all this is that we as fans are recognizing the talent that exists outside of the WWE bubble. It's talent that's so undeniable, that now WWE can no longer ignore it. It's no surprise to many of us that NXT has become what it's become while showcasing talent that became stars in other promotions. Professional wrestling fans around the world have spoken and now even WWE has acknowledged what is going on around them. Will wrestling ever match the viewership of the WWF Attitude Era? Maybe not. But there's something going on. There's a movement taking place. As a fan seeing Nakamura live for the first time tonight, I'm just proud that I may have witnessed a small piece of an even bigger revolution that could be on the horizon in professional wrestling.

Brady Sauvageau

The Heater