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Is there a draft in here?

Chairshots
3-26-02

The Draft
About a month ago in the Ross Report, J.R. talked about how much time and planning was going in to the roster split and the preceding draft. Last night we got to see the first step in the plan and I can only say that I was underwhelmed. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I'm not a big sports fan but I do know that a little more goes in to a draft than putting a podium at the top of the Raw set.

I did like the little stats graphics they showed every time a wrestler was drafted. I've been wanting the WWF to do something like that for a while now, but also with their win-loss record included. It would make run-ins and disqualifications much more interesting.

"Who was I going to pick next?" "I don't know."

Before I say a few bad things about the draft itself, I want to say a few bad things about the draft concept. It's totally out of character for McMahon and Flair to draft certain wrestlers. Flair would never draft guys like Undertaker and the NWO (they sure proved us wrong though, didn't they) and McMahon would never draft guys like Rock and Rikishi. Just makes no sense from a character standpoint. Second, a draft basically ranks your wrestlers in order of importance. The WWF basically told fans last night that Mark Henry is more important than Tajiri and Jeff Hardy. That can't be good for backstage egos. A lottery for the entire roster would have been a better idea and had a little more drama. Some would argue that McMahon was just fulfilling his XFL dreams last night with the draft but I just think it was an idea they really didn't put enough thought in to.

Moving right along, let's look at the final rosters for each show starting with Vince McMahon's Smackdown:
1. The Rock
2. Kurt Angle
3. Chris Benoit
4. Hulk Hogan
5. Billy & Chuck
6. Edge
7. Rikishi
8. D-Von Dudley
9. Mark Henry
10. Maven
11. Billy Kidman
12. Yoshihiro Tajiri
13. Chris Jericho
14. Ivory
15. Albert
16. Hurricane Helms
17. Al Snow
18. Lance Storm
19. Diamond Dallas Page
20. Torrie Wilson
21. Scotty 2 Hotty
22. Stacy Keibler
23. Christian
24. Test
25. Faarooq
26. Tazz
27. Hardcore Holly
28. Val Venis
29. Perry Saturn

Poor Perry Saturn was drafted dead last. What a shame.

Looking at the Smackdown roster a few things are obvious. They have split the Dudley Boyz and they have split the APA. I like the idea of splitting the Dudley Boyz because their act has gotten a little stale, but I think the APA work better as a solid unit. I would have rather split the Hardy Boyz and give Jeff and Matt another shot at singles stardom. On the really bad news side of things, it looks as if Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert will be able to remain a team. Billy Kidman, Tajiri, Lance Storm and Christian all ended up on the Smackdown roster, which I think puts to bed those rumors that Smackdown would be less of a wrestling show and more of a Sports Entertainment show.

I'm all for making Chris Benoit a high draft pick, but given his history with Flair it would have made more sense for Flair to draft him. Too often last night, Flair and McMahon picked wrestlers to spite the other one. That got old quickly. I think the first trade Flair needs to make is Booker T for Benoit.

On to the Raw roster:
1. The Undertaker
2. The NWO
3. Kane
4. Rob Van Dam
5. Booker T
6. Big Show
7. Bubba Ray Dudley
8. Brock Lesnar
9. William Regal
10. Lita
11. Bradshaw
12. Steven Richards
13. Matt Hardy
14. Raven
15. Jeff Hardy
16. Mr. Perfect
17. Spike Dudley
18. D'Lo Brown
19. Shawn Stasiak
20. Terri
21. Jacqueline
22. Goldust
23. Trish Stratus
24. Justin Credible
25. Big Boss Man
26. Tommy Dreamer
27. Crash Holly
28. Mighty Molly

Why would they need to be drafted in the first place? They are Outsiders.

Ric Flair screwed himself. He chose the NWO to spite Vince McMahon and ended up with a roster full of heels. I can see Kane and Rob Van Dam in the main event against the NWO and Undertaker, but unless they are going to turn Booker T face, do we really want to see an NWO vs. Big Boss Man and Goldust feud? I presume that Austin will join the Raw roster and that Triple H will "float" in to an NWO feud to compensate. The Hardy Boyz and Lita all remain together so there won't be a shortage of mystery solving wrestlers on Raw. The Hurricane and Mighty Molly have been split up. Can't say that I'm going to lose sleep over that decision.

It looks as if Raw is going to be really dull or it's going to be a lot of work for Raw to fill two hours of programming. Guys like Shawn Stasiak, Justin Credible, Big Boss Man and D'Lo Brown haven't been on television for quite a while and it's not going to be easy for the Raw writing staff to get them over.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions. Weren't the announce teams going to be drafted? Who controls the secondary shows like Heat, Excess, Metal and Jakked? Why were the Big Boss Man and Mark Henry drafted and wrestlers that have been on television recently like The Godfather and Funaki not? What about guys like Kanyon, Rhyno, or Mike Awesome who have been injured? Are they now "free agents?" Here are the wrestlers who were not drafted: Godfather, Funaki, Chavo Guerrero, Hugh Morrus, Shawn O'Haire, Chris Kanyon, Mike Awesome, Steve Blackman, Taka Michinoku, Bull Buchanan, David Flair, Nidia, Haku and over a dozen WCW refugees and WWF developmental prospects. Overall the roster split and draft look as if they were booked on the fly rather than given months of preparation and planning. Maybe I'm just being premature here and the WWF has some big master plan that I just can't see yet. You have no idea how much I hope that's true.

The Rest of Raw
But wait, there's more. In between the drafting last night there were some matches. Some were good and some were excellent reasons to start laying off wrestlers.

Kudos to Kurt Angle for his contribution last night. I'm continually amazed at how good Kurt is at doing backstage skits with Vince McMahon and then putting on a great wrestling match with Rob Van Dam. I loved the booking logic behind the match with Kurt going after the Intercontinental championship for Vince and the match itself was solid work. The converse of that was the poorly worked, poorly received match of Tazz vs. Mr. Perfect. Watching these two wrestle is like watching old people screw. They really should have cut that match and given more time to RVD and Angle. It was just a really sour note to start off a show that was supposed to be history in the making.

Speaking of bad matches, Triple H and Chris Jericho had more missed spots and bad timing than the infamous Kennel in the Cell match. Since they have had nothing but good matches in the past we can safely blame this one on Stephanie McMahon. Nonetheless, it served its purpose and Stephanie McMahon has to leave the WWF forever, again. The best thing she can do for her career right now is stay off television for a year and do a Playboy shoot.

Make over by Rico.

X-Punk
I don't usually like to report backstage gossip because as Shawn Michaels pointed out recently whenever you see "the wrestlers backstage are saying…" in a news report, it's usually just 2 or 3 guys. However I think X-Pac sucks, so I'm going to print the latest gossip about him. Apparently he's starting to get involved in backstage politics again. He no-showed at a scheduled appearance at WWF Fan Axxess the night before Wrestlemania and wasn't punished for it. Instead he returned 4 days later on Smackdown to join his old friends in the NWO. Are the friends of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall getting preferential treatment over the other wrestlers? You be the judge. Personally, I think the WWF is punishing X-Pac by making him wear those sassy new trunks. I expect X-Pac to leave the NWO and join Chuck & Billy before the end of Spring. He's total blow pop material, if you know what I mean.

On a related note, how stupid is it that the WWF announcers (yes, you Jim Ross and Michael Cole) are "surprised" and "shocked" to see X-Pac join the NWO? Since the WWF has acknowledged that the NWO existed before they joined the WWF, why can't they recognize the fact the X-Pac was a founding member? I give this the official Fanboy Planet stamp of LAME.

Problems with Austin
Speaking of backstage gossip, Steve Austin and the WWF are not happy with each other right now. In the weeks before Wrestlemania, I reported on a backstage argument Austin had with McMahon. Rumor was that the argument had to do with the direction of Austin's character, his placement on the Wrestlemania card (3rd main event) and the future of his storylines. Evidence is telling us more and more that Austin is seriously pissed off about the subject, as he hasn't been seen since Wrestlemania. The reported finish of his Wrestlemania match was changed from a disqualification due to interference from Kevin Nash to Austin pinning Scott Hall cleanly (I predicted the DQ finish in my prediction so I'm giving myself half credit on that one.) The WWF covered for Austin's absence at Raw last night by saying that Austin had a no draft clause in his contract and didn't need to participate. With Rock going exclusively to Smackdown the WWF is counting on Austin to be the top baby face for Raw. Keep your eyes peeled for Austin on WWF programming and I'll keep you updated with anything I find out.

Will he be with or without mask?

Mysterio to WWF!
Former WCW cruiserweight star Rey Mysterio Jr., who has been wrestling in Tijuana, is telling other wrestlers that he is on his way to the WWF. Konnan also told fans at a recent indie show that his friend Rey Jr. was going to the WWF. The WWF will let Rey fulfill any indie dates he already has booked and they will probably debut him some time in the next three weeks. I'm so excited!

Ratings
WWF Smackdown finished with a 4.3 rating last week. That is up from the previous week. WWF Tough Enough 2 did its usual 1.6 rating.

Quickies

Linda McMahon will be on the "O'Reilly Factor" this Thursday on FOX News.

Hulk Hogan will be on "Live w/ Regis & Kelly" this Friday.

Lita will be on the season finale of "Dark Angel." That airs Friday, May 3, on FOX

Chris Benoit should be cleared to return around mid to late May. He will report to the HWA for training on April 1st.

Mike Awesome should be cleared to return in early April.

Rhyno is still about three months away from a return.

Maven is working despite a sore elbow and chronic left knee pain.

Kanyon should return in about 6 weeks.

That's it for today. Join me again on Friday.

Michael Goodson