SummerSlam has come and gone, and Unforgiven is coming up soon. The draft lottery was a long time ago, but the draft picks are all doing reasonably well. I thought I should write an article about what the draft picks are doing now, and just what anyone new is doing. I’ll name the draft picks in the order that they were traded.

John Cena: After receiving a huge pop when he came to RAW, John is still the WWE champ. He’s participated in matches with greats like Chris Jericho, Hulk Hogan, and Shawn Michaels. At Vengeance he defeated Christian and Chris Jericho to retain the title, And more recently on RAW he’s defeated Y2J and Carlito in matches which they cheat in to retain his title over and over. And now, after SummerSlam, he has successfully retained again. In the future, it looks like he’s taking on Kurt Angle at Unforgiven. I predict that Cena will lose the title here, and re-capture it at Survivor Series, or if not then Taboo Tuesday. Good things still to come for Cena.

Chris Benoit: Benoit has been largely underused to my disappointment, as he is the best technical wrestler on SmackDown. It’s good that he’s back as a face on SmackDown though, as he does get over very well with the crowd. He participated in a match with William Regal on Heat which was a contender for match of the year. At The Great American Bash PPV, he jobbed to Orlando Jordan who retained the U.S. Title, but won it in a mere 25 seconds via the Crossface submission at SummerSlam. Hopefully he’ll get a push with this title, as he can bring value back to it. If we’re lucky, we’ll see him stuck with someone decent enough to show a good match. Not sure who though.

Kurt Angle: Kurt Angle, the top SmackDown heel, was a good choice to come to RAW. Unfortunately, Triple H has been out since Vengeance, and Kurt has been reduced to matches with Eugene. He DID put on a good match with HBK at Vengeance in a WM 21 rematch, and even though he lost, they can always come back on this angle, and finish the now 1-all series. He lost his medal to Eugene and won it back at SummerSlam, but is now obviously going after Cena as the new #1 Contender. Like I said earlier, I see Angle winning the title, and then losing it to Cena once more. Still a good pick for RAW though.

Randy Orton: The Legend Killer has made his impact on SmackDown, and again has been a good draftee for the lower rated show. He draws his heat with the crowd (and some pops from the girls in the audience) well enough. Unfortunately, RKO was injured after Taker’s piledriver and Batista’s ramming of Orton’s shoulder into the ring post, but was fit enough to wrestle a mystery opponent who turned out to be Kamala in his comeback match. He finally “killed” the Undertaker at SummerSlam with help from his father. This marks the last rematch of WM 21 aside from the ladder match and the Christy-Trish match both of which won’t happen. I’d say he’s due for a title shot or, in a strange turn of events, he might have a feud with Rey Mysterio. I don’t know why, but it would be a good feud. Anyway, we’ll have to wait and see for this one.

Carlito Cool: Carlito has been another good pick for RAW, winning the intercontinental title from Shelton Benjamin in his first match on RAW (just like the U.S. Title on SmackDown). He didn’t defend his belt at SummerSlam, which disappoints me. However, he was involved in the Jericho-Cena feud. Now it looks as though he’s set to go for a Flair feud, which would be nice as we can see Flair as a proper face again.

Muhammad Hassan: Hassan and Daivari were set to go well until the terrorist angle happened on the same day of the London bombings, which unfortunately cost Hassan’s gimmick and his career. He supposedly was mortally injured after getting the Last Ride from Taker at the GAB, but was really sent back to OVW. He could have gone on to better things ? I think WWE was setting him up for a Heavyweight Title reign. Here’s hoping Mark Copani gets a new gimmick and comes back to SmackDown.

Big Show: We’ve seen promise from the Big Show on RAW ? he’s undefeated there as of yet. He’s squashed numerous wrestlers and tag teams such as the Heart Throbs by himself, and has promise in his future on RAW. I personally think he could take the title off Carlito and become the new Intercontinental Champ. That would be a good turn of events. But either way, Show still looks good on RAW.

Rob Van Dam: RVD is still injured, but is set to come back around October. Good luck to Mr. Monday Night when he comes back.

Christian: Christian is doing well on SmackDown. He’s feuded briefly with Booker T, and more recently, has been partnered with Booker to go after the Mexicools, even if he did leave the match. He should have had a shot at the WHC by now, but I just hope he gets a shot sometime ? he deserves a shot at it.

Batista: The Animal is undeniably the biggest star on SmackDown ? he’s still the champ 5 months after defeating Triple H at WM 21 for the title. He has enjoyed huge success as the World Heavyweight Champion, and has already defended the belt twice at the GAB and SummerSlam. He now is pen to a feud with Orton ? or possibly Eddie Guererro, which would be nice. But there are still great things in store for the champ on SmackDown ? he has a brilliant future ahead of him.

The Blockbuster Trades: First off, Kenzo Suzuki, Hiroko Suzuki and Mark Jindrak have all been fired from WWE. Dupree has had a match or two. Danny Basham hasn’t been used at all. Chavo Guerrero is now Kerwin White, All-round American. He’s played a comedy character, but looks as if he’s now going into a feud with Shelton Benjamin. On SmackDown, William Regal is feuding with Scotty 2 Hotty on Velocity. Candice has gone back to RAW via a Diva trade. Sylvain Grenier has nothing going for him. Simon Dean looked like he was going back to his Nova personality, but obviously not. He’s had matches, though. Finally, Steven Richards has had a match or two on Velocity and has turned heel.

Diva Trade: Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle have been traded to Raw, Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler have gone to SmackDown. Meh.

New Guys: Ashley won the Diva Search ? looks like she’s feuding with the newly traded Torrie Wilson. Eugene is back ? kudos for winning the Kurt Angle invitational. Rob Conway has a new persona, the Con Man. On SmackDown, the Mexicools are destroying things. Big whoop. Jillian is MNM’s new fixer. Ew. Road Warrior Animal has come back and re-made the LOD. This is a big plus, as they are as of yet undefeated. Heidenreich now gets a good push. Matt Hardy has come and got a loss at SummerSlam. What a way to destroy his new run. And finally, Hulk Hogan has made a return. Some people love him, some people hate him. I remain neutral on this issue. He draws crowds, though. He’s also helped HBK turn back into a face. HBK’s heel turn was obviously only for Hogan, then. Ah Well.

And so you can see everybody except the Blockbuster trades is doing reasonably well. Let’s hope that there are good things for their future. Feel free to post suggestions on what you think might happen to them. Catch Ya Later!

by Adam Heap--- [View Adam Heap's Column Index]....