Columns - Online World of Wrestling

WRESTLING COLUMNS

On The Mat: Leading To The Lottery
May 3, 2005 by Phil C.

Welcome to On The Mat. This is the first column of many that will make you want to keep reading on and will always give everyone a view of their own. This column will include the build ups, who I would like to see to go RAW and to SmackDown and my opinion of Lottery and much more. Remember if you want to leave any feedback, my e-mail is at the bottom!

When Ted Turner sold World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Federation (WWF), no one could have expected what would have happened. Vince gave Shane an angle of running WCW and Stephanie running ECW. The WWF decided to merge WCW & ECW wrestlers and start the invasion war. Wrestlers jumped ships, WWF stars gained WCW titles and WCW stars gained WWF titles. About a year later, the invasion occurred. 5 of WCW/ECW best wrestlers went against top 5 WWF wrestlers in an elimination style match. WWF won and WCW/ECW was no more. The alliance was over yet the superstars still remained on WWF programming.

After this occurred, Shane and Stephanie apparently sold their share of business to Ric Flair who became the RAW General Manager with Vince McMahon becoming the SmackDown General Manager. In order for two to avoid each other, they set up a draft lottery. Half the superstars go to RAW and the other half goes to SmackDown. Whoever became World Champion could appear on either show. This lottery went on for a year or so before RAW went against SmackDown to see who would have complete control over WWF. Would it be Vince McMahon or Ric Flair"

Vince McMahon won and he owned 100% of the WWF. Vince was getting on and didn't want as much airtime so he decided to hire two GM's, Eric Bischoff for RAW and Stephanie for SmackDown. Now just to keep to WWF storylines, Vince told us he had hired the WCW booker yet he was never mentioned with WCW/ECW alliance. Stephanie was SmackDown GM but hadn't she sold her share of WWF" Anyway a new lottery draft occurred and has done every year.

Skipping ahead a few years to 2005, the build-up to WrestleMania 21 probably set up a few things for a draft lottery. When Batista had the choice to switch to SmackDown or stay on RAW, he ran into an encounter that could possibly be a draft exposure. When Batista thought JBL tried to run him over, he went to SmackDown and went after JBL. Cena was in the ring, but Batista & Cena had a huge stir-down contest. Both are champions but if either one was drafted to other show, we could be the continuing of a so-called feud. Anyway, with the lottery approaching in 2 weeks, I'm going to give my picks on who should move from SmackDown to RAW and from RAW to SmackDown!

From RAW to SmackDown

1. Triple H: SmackDown as you notice mainly contains wrestlers who have been with WWE for a long period of time, so I think Triple H would fit into SmackDown as he sort of stands out on RAW. Also I think Ric flair should go with him and stay as manager

2. Batista: Now if both got drafted, WWE would probably continue their feud on SmackDown but I think that Batista/Cena feud could be on the cards as mentioned above

3. Christian: At Royal rumble, he had a run-in with John Cena and 2 weeks ago on RAW he more or less challenged Cena saying he could beat him. I think Christian would fit in better at SmackDown as they're working his style of wrestling

4. Christy Hemme: She won Diva Search and now Divas are jobbing to her. She should be on SmackDown and flirt with the crowd like non-wrestling divas on SmackDown

5. Kane: Now I think Kane as a heel on SmackDown would bring in good numbers for them. He bought numbers for RAW but this face alignment where he prances around the ring after a choke slam is crap!

From SmackDown to RAW

1. Kurt Angle: The SmackDown writers have nothing big planned for Kurt Angle so he beats all the OVW guys, but if on RAW, he could have new storylines to become World Heavyweight Champion

2. Heidenreich: I think he would be suited on RAW to team with Snitsky. Both are a bit weird and would work well dominating the tag team division

That's it! In my opinion they need to move five guys to SmackDown and two to RAW. You may all have your own opinions but these are mine.

No matter what WWE decide to do about this draft, you can be sure that there will still be the same crap storylines that there was before. Even if someone like Kurt Angle came to RAW, they'd lose to champ twice and never get another shot. He'd be stuck facing Kane in a six-month feud! Anyway this draft will only last 1 year before they re-draft after WrestleMania 22. They would be better merging the rosters so we can see matches like Taker/HHH and Show/Kane for example. The only time we see RAW VS. SmackDown is at Royal Rumble and the odd-match at WrestleMania. Anyway hopefully this year will be better!

by Phil C...

Douglas Gillam Jr wrote:
My conflict with your Draft Lottery picks: Batista can't go if he's champion. Christian is definatley going to SD. His "How I Roll" gimmick is sooo over with the fans. Plus he won't remain as overshadowed as he was/ is on RAW. If Christy Hemme came to SD, that would kill the whole 'RAW' Diva Search title. i would like to see Tori Wilson on RAW though. You left out Randy Orton. He's iffy. I can see him continuing to succeed on RAW or raising the bar on SD. Kane's character is too dark for SD. Your SD guesses are on the money. (Or Snitsky to SD) Allowing SD to trade another bigman......Big Show. Oh yeah, and consider the Women's wrestling title gone.

Sami Salonen wrote:
Okay i got to say that a few of these trades you would make might make both brands better but on most of them i disagree with you. I agree that HHH should be transfered because he has feuded with almost everyone on the RAW roster and now they're just putting him against the same guys again and again. I think the Batista trade would be crap even if the Cena vs Batista would happen, because i think they should keep Batista on RAW as the main face and pitch him against the future main heel Randy Orton or maybe Kane. The Christian trade would be great if you ask me. Christian might not be a solid main eventer but he would make a great U.S champ and would bring a little excitement on the midcard of SmackDown!. As you might have seen from above i'm against the Kane trade because he would be a good heel because after the HHH trade there wouldn't be any big man heel guy on RAW. The Christy trade wouldn't be any good either because at least Christy is trying to become a wrestler unlike many of the new so called divas on thw WWE. The Kurt Angle trade would be good mainly because of the same reasons as the Triple H trade. I myself don't give a crap about what happens to Heidenreich because of his terrible in ring skill but if he would develop as a wrestler the trade would be good 'cause it would be reviving factor in the tag team division because of the obvious Heidenreich/Snitsky team up. I think that the lottery will be great but i hope that with the guys i've been talking about in this reply Jerich would be traded too. He would be a reviving member in the midcard with Christian as maybe a face U.S champion and later he would be a great WWE champ.

Nick Sparrow wrote:
First of all, I want to correct you on some things!

WCW was sold to WWE in March of 2001. The Invasion began in May (2-3 months later-Not a year), when Mike Awesome, Lance Storm started to interfere in matchups. The Invasion (WWE vs. Alliance) angle ended in November of that year (6 months after the Invasion took place).

As storyline purposes, Shane and Stephanie McMahon sold their share to Ric Flair (WCW was never its own company after being bought by WWE, WWE could have shut the whole thing down anytime they wanted). Flair and Vince McMahon became Co-Owners until April 2002 (Storyline-Flair never had any control over the company), when the Brand Extension took place. There was no Draft Lottery until 2004.

McMahon ran Smackdown! with Flair running RAW, which lasted almost 3 months, when McMahon could no longer take it for not running the entire company, so he beat Flair for full ownership (Storyline). He named former WCW president Eric Bishoff as the RAW G.M., and Steph as the SD! G.M.

You mentioned about the champion, the undisputed went over to SD!, with the World reinstated on RAW in September 2002 (6 months after Brand Extension-Not a year).

Back to G.M.'s, they never did a Draft Lottery, but several superstars would jump ship, such as Triple H, UnAmericans, Jericho coming to RAW, with Undertaker, Benoit, Guerrero going to SD!.

God of Gods wrote:
Last year when the had the draft lottery, they had their favorite picks as well. And im forced to believe that SD best steal last year, is still the same this year. Last year they felt that Shawn michaels was their best steal. While i fermly believe that hbk is defenitly a raw guy, i do believe that he is their best steal. As for Heidenreich going to raw, i doubt that would happen. He came to smackdown through a loop hole in his contract when we has on raw. The did use him on screen for months, which is why he is now on SD. So I doubt he'll be returning. As for Hunter, i admitte that seeing him on SD would be interesting, but i allso feel that hes a raw guy, not SD

Lord Rosemount wrote:
Inspired by the above, here's what I'd like to see happen - a storyline that could change the WWE forever.

Batista IS drafted to Smackdown, Championship and all - bear in mind that the two titles aren't the Raw and Smackdown titles strictly speaking, but the World and WWE Championships. Eric Bischoff is in a mess; he has no idea what to do about this, because all of his top guys are fighting over, well, essentially nothing, whilst Teddy Long is beside himself with joy. Determined to make things even worse for Bischoff and confident in his boy Cena, Long - who had courted Batista previously, and developed good relations - persuades them to have a huge unification match at the next pay-per-view (which ends up increasing its buyrate by at least a third). Meanwhile, on Raw, the Intercontinental and tag team divisions are revitalised, and their championships strengthened massively, as the big names strive to find SOMETHING to fight over. So at this PPV Batista and Cena go at it and, in a shocking upset, Cena takes the match. So Cena is once again the undisputed wrestling champion of the world!

Bischoff is going literally insane, and proposes one last deal to Long: he will, some way and somehow, find his best man from the whole of Raw, who will then go against Cena at the next pay-per-view. If the Raw man wins, the championships separate and things go back to normal. If Cena wins, Raw will fold as a separate entity, and Smackdown will control 100% of the WWE. Filled with hubris, Long agrees. Now Bischoff is in a quandary: how does he select his man" He doesn't want another tournament having just gone through the Gold Rush a few months ago, and battle royals are notoriously unreliable.

Then, into his office walks Edge with the famous briefcase. He opens the case, pulls out his Wrestlemania contract and demands that he be the one to face Cena for the title. Bischoff is extremely skeptical - Edge has never held the World Championship before, and even with Lita at his side (she having turned on Kane on tonight's Raw at the Gold Rush final), he's a long shot. But the contract stipulates that Edge can have a World Title match whenever he pleases, and since the unification this has been the only opportunity, so Bischoff is legally bound to agree.

So at the next joint pay-per-view, probably Survivor Series or even the Rumble by now, the big match happens. Think of the marketing possibilities: will it be WWE Raw the following night, or WWE Smackdown Presents: Raw" So Edge and Cena go at it, and guess what" Edge comes through. Raw will live to die another day, and all the children can sleep safely in their beds. And that's the bottom line.

wrote:

If you have any comments, reactions, rebuttles or thoughts on this column, feel free to send them to the email below,
If your email is intelligently written, they will be posted underneath this messege..
We at OnlineWorldofWrestling want to promote all points of view, and that includes YOURS.