To say it's been a tumultuous month both here at OWW and in the world of professional wrestling would be an understatement. We've had the good. We've had the bad. And believe me, we've had the ugly. Where to start, grasshoppers... where to start?

I'll begin with The Good. Very recently, Brad and I took a close look at the columns section. So wonderfully diverse, dynamic, and original. There's not one column on the site that doesn't contribute through its own unique vision. However, it must be said that there are those whose dedication to OWW have raised the bar and created a whole new standard of excellence. In recognition of this, Brad and I decided to promote these wonderful people to the position of Official OWW Columnist. Their details can now be found on our Contacts page. As an additional feature, Brad will be linking their names to their columns, so that any reader may see all articles contributed simply by clicking on the name. In the meantime, I'm personally going to give a shout out to each and every one of you, and thank you publicly for helping to make OWW the international force within the cyber-wrestling community it is today:

Dave Hanson, Rhey Higgins, Jason "XtremeFalls" Simmons, Phil T., Jacob Kuhn, Joe L., Serafin Santiago Jr., Antonio Figueroa, Bruce Chen, Jack Malone, Colm Kearns, Ben Myatt, Ray Clancy, Johnny LaRue, David Jacobs, Rohit Ramnath, Langdon Beck, Matthew Geddes, Matthew Jones, Brian Bertrand, Angel Martinez, Jasper Sha, Enrique Casteles and Joseph Huber... thank you. It is my personal honour and privilege to work with you. OWW is lucky to have you, and that's the understatement of the century.

On the subject of columns, once again the ever-diverse opinions presented on OWW have generated debate and feedback. Phil T.'s "The Best Of Times" (incidentally, one of the most entertaining pieces I've read) created a slew of opinions voicing many a differing "Golden Age." Matthew Jones likewise sparked debate with his "Most Under-Praised Legends" piece, and B. Friedman's "The Definition of Fake" had us all re-defining the boundaries of "realism" as it applies to pro-wrestling. Colm Kearns brought us Part 3 of his "History of the WWE Title"; I for one am eagerly awaiting the final chapter in this highly entertaining article. The Edge/Lita/Matt Hardy triangle generated interesting opinions from Matt S. & Aadil, and Jimmy H., while Justin B. bravely voiced his opinion on "Why WWE Is Best", generating one of the largest feedback sections I've seen.

In non-WWE articles, FC brought us "The Rise & Fall Of XPW" and Langdon Beck took us back in time with a highly interesting piece on The Sheik - and not the Iron one either.

Still on the subject of columns, I must now, with regret, move onto The Bad. Last month we posted a column about the legendary Dick "Bulldog" Brower, by someone claiming to be his son. Those of you who were sceptical of the author's identity had good cause; his second column was nothing but a vituperative rant at all those who had dared to question him, followed by slamming a Delaware promotion who had, incidentally, done nothing to incur such libel. Such a vicious outburst - followed by violent, threatening emails sent to both myself and Brad - prompted me to dig a little deeper. I had barely scratched the surface before discovering what I had suspected all along - the person calling himself Bulldog Brower Jr., and claiming to be the son of the late Dick "Bulldog" Brower, was nothing more than a fraud and an impostor. Disgusted, we removed his column, blocked his email address and now fervently hope that this brain-dead waste of space, boil-on-the-arse-of-humanity, and all-round disgrace to the Bulldog name crawls under a rock and stays there.

As unpleasant as this incident was, it pales in comparison to The Ugly. The greatest sin that any writer can commit is that of plagiarism. For the uninitiated, plagiarism occurs when a person passes off someone else's work as their own, without giving the rightful author their credit. It is a vile, under-handed, and all-round despicable act, the cardinal of all sins among literary communities. It's happened to me - my article on Bret Hart was plagiarised and posted on another website - and I can tell you from personal experience that it is upsetting and frustrating. I never, for one second, thought it possible from any contributor to the OWW site. I was mistaken.

When Brad received a highly agitated email from the owner of another pro-wrestling website, and forwarded it to me, I was horrified to discover that one of the contributors to our Columns section had plagiarised his article from the aforementioned website. No words can express my disgust that OWW has now had its impeccable image tarnished by this revolting act. Needless to say, the column was pulled immediately, along with all others by the same author, and the rightfully upset original author apologised to profusely. Circumstances have prevented us contacting the plagiarist directly; thus I will not reveal his name here, but he knows who he is, if he is reading this. I'm bringing it up now because I want to underscore the seriousness of plagiarism - something I never thought I would have to do.

It will NOT BE TOLERATED. If anyone on OWW is caught plagiarising, their columns will be deleted, no future columns will ever be considered, and I will make a public example of them. I cannot emphasise strongly enough the seriousness of this vile act, and while I have the utmost confidence in all my Official Columnists, I am nevertheless bound to state this warning in the bluntest of terms. I sincerely regret that I had to bring this up; believe me when I say that it pains me deeply that I had to mention it at all.

I know that you have been apologised to privately, but to the author of the plagiarised column, I apologise publicly on behalf of the entire OWW community. To be associated with this most disgusting of literary sins is shameful, and I do not blame you for how upset you were when you brought it to our attention. I can do no more than assure you I will do all I can to make sure it never happens again.

Let's rid our mouths of the sour taste now, and move on...

Now that the Draft Lottery and subsequent trades is over, it's time to look back over the last few weeks and see what effect the Draft has had on SmackDown! and RAW. Starting off with a bang, John Cena was drafted to RAW in a shock move that caused the international wrestling community's collective jaws to drop with a clearly audible thunk. Talk about kicking off the Draft with a bang! Despite not having any "friends" (he should have taken Heidenreich with him), Cena has battled Christian and Tyson Tomko on both the Monday night show and at Vengeance... only at Vengeance he was also forced to face a man he had thought was a friend. Alas, Chris Jericho turned out to be foe. In a heel turn that surprised no-one, Y2J attacked Cena after their victorious tag match over Tomko and Christian, setting up the Triple Threat at Vengeance. The smark in me noticed that Cena's in-ring ability has improved somewhat since coming to RAW; I had been concerned that he would have to be carried by Christian and Jericho in the Triple Threat. On the contrary, it seems Cena's spent some time in the training ring with the veterans, and at Vengeance it showed.

Cena's win was well-deserved, and the mark in me was overjoyed he's retained the WWE Championship. Continuing the theme of "what goes around comes around" Cena also demonstrated that not only does he have friends at RAW after all - but that they are friends in high places. Cena must have grown up watching Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels; to be able to work with them in a tag match must have been a helluva kick for the young champ. For the fans, it's always a blast to see the Hulkster in a cameo.

After the near-seismic impact of Cena on RAW, Chris Benoit's move to SmackDown! was somewhat watered down. Benoit has spent much of 2005 being under-used on RAW, and it seems that things on SmackDown! will be no different. As part of the latest 6-way, Benoit and Booker T treated the fans to a wonderful performance however, and all I can say is that I hope SmackDown! does not let the formidable talent of Chris Benoit go to waste.

Capitalising on the shock value, Kurt Angle was drafted to RAW the following week and all I can say is, thank god. One more week of the Sharmell/Booker T debacle and I'd have gone into orbit. Facing off against the big guns of RAW - Triple H, Batista, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair - Kurt made it clear that not taking him seriously will be to their detriment. Trips, more concerned with Batista and the up-coming Hell In A Cell, paid the Olympic champion scant attention, leaving the offense to be taken by Ric Flair. Someone else with a score to settle was Shawn Michaels, and he got his wish when Eric Bischoff declared a re-match would take place at Vengeance, delighting fans who had so enjoyed their magical WrestleMania match. They did not disappoint. At Vengeance Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels treated fans to one of the best displays of technical wrestling ever seen. There is little doubt that Angle and Michaels are sheer magic in the ring, their matches (although only two so far) akin to the legendary battles Shawn had with Bret Hart in the 1990's. Long may their feud continue; however Kurt's most recent match with Ric Flair, and Flair's subsequent super-heel behaviour seems to be indicating a face turn for Angle, which while nice to see, will also put paid to any future battles with Michaels.

After the Undertaker, making his long-awaited return to SmackDown!, popped up from under the ring to make the save for Chris Benoit as he was being thumped by the Bashams and JBL, it was a fairly hefty hint as to who their second draft would be. As SmackDown! continued, with Taz and Michael Cole carefully avoiding any reference to the absentee draft, it became clear that whoever it was would interfere in the main event. Given that the main event was Taker vs. JBL, no-one was surprised when Randy Orton sprinted to the ring to deliver a perfect RKO on Taker, leaving him primed for JBL to get the pin. Although back in the spotlight, it seems clear that Randy is still recovering from shoulder surgery, as he has no matches and was left out of the 6-way.

In one of the strangest draft picks, Carlito, complete with Cabana, was drafted to RAW the following week. Has he displaced Y2J's Highlight Reel? It certainly seems so. History repeated itself as, in his first match on RAW, Carlito took the Intercontinental Championship away from Shelton Benjamin, ending his 8 month reign. Fans such as myself, who fervently hoped to see the strap back around the waist of one of the most promising wrestlers in the WWE, were disappointed at Vengeance as Carlito retained the title... by cheating. Dat's not cool.

Meanwhile, on SmackDown!, Teddy Long gleefully teased JBL by hinting that a SmackDown! Championship had been created and that JBL may be its first recipient. Allowing JBL to make an arse of himself in the ring, Teddy let JBL dig himself in deeper and deeper as one by one, Booker T, Chris Benoit and the Big Show made their way to ringside to protest. Eventually Teddy appeared, and announced that the Championship would be decided in a 5-way that also included the Undertaker. JBL's protests were drowned out by SmackDown!'s latest draft pick - Muhammad Hassan complete with the ever-present sidekick, Daivari (can Hassan chew his food without Daivari assisting?) whereupon Teddy squashed Hassan's now very tired claims of inequality and booked him in the match for the title, making it a 6-way.

Into the midst of the Draft came Vengeance and the long-awaited Hell In A Cell between Batista and Triple H, for the World Heavyweight Championship. With the Draft shaking everything up, predictions ranged wide, with many and varying reasons given for a Batista or Trips defeat (my favourite was that WWE were finally going to kill off a main character, with Hunter meeting his maker in the Cell. The continuous "You'll have to KILL ME" promos were lending a certain amount of weight to this outlandish theory). After a brutal and bloody battle, Batista bombed Trips and retained the belt, after giving fans a display that ranks among his best. Hunter, veteran of the Cell, well and truly put his real-life good friend Dave Batista over, considering that it was his debut in the steel mesh. This for me puts paid to all those who scream "Nepotism!" about Hunter; I truly believe this man has the best interests of the product at heart. For those who disagree, I have just three words for you. WrestleMania. Backlash. Vengeance.

The first of the final draft picks for RAW was the Big Show, who made mincemeat of Snitsky in his first match. I've long held that the Big Show belongs on RAW, and while it seems he'll remain mid-card initially, I for one am hoping to see a lot more of the big man in some decent storylines. In his first RAW Cabana, Carlito sniggered and smirked about his recent Championship win, then with all the enthusiasm of a dead duck introduced RAW's final draft pick - none other than Rob Van Dam, still limping but looking better. Those of us who were hoping, after his brilliant shoot at ECW, that he would not revert to his stoned WWE character, were not disappointed. RVD put Carlito in his place, until, with his usual cowardice, Carlito pounced on RVD's injured knee, leaving him writhing in agony in the ring.

That left just one more SmackDown! and it was clear that the drafts would be big'uns. Teddy announced, just as the main event was about take place, that the Big Show would be replaced by the latest draft, and out came Christian, sans Tyson Tomko (I for one am thrilled about this; it's about time Tyson went out on his own, I want to see what he's capable of). For the first time I can think of, JBL won without cheating and without the interference of any of the Cabinet. Making the most of the blind tags, JBL pounced on Chris Benoit for a pin, then choke slammed Christian for the win. Fully expecting to have the new Championship belt around his (getting pretty pudgy) waist, JBL was disappointed almost to tears when Teddy withheld the title, announcing that there was no need for a SmackDown! title now that their latest draft was... Batista! The Animal's music hit, and looking very dapper in one of his trademark suits, Batista made his way to the ring to confront a seriously pissed off and incredulous JBL.

Needless to say, the 2005 Draft has shaken things up. I for one am not sure who there is for Batista to work with on SmackDown! - clearly he'll start with JBL, and have to contend with the Cabinet, but when that's run it's course I fear that the Beast is at risk of being under-used. John Cena on RAW is a brilliant move, and it's my hope that he gets to work with Trips - Cena vs. Hunter are matches I've always wanted to see. Despite the lure of fantastic matches with Shawn Michaels, I would have liked to see Kurt Angle working with Batista, even if it meant Angle remaining on SmackDown!. Sending RVD to RAW was an interesting move to say the least, especially given that SmackDown! has the lion's share of ECW talent and there's room to expand that brand in a more extreme direction.

But that's just me folks. And this month's Zest has gone on entirely too long; if you've made it this far, thank you for sticking with me. Catch you on the flip side.

by Kirsty Quested