Okay, I got a little bit to talk about. First of all, I am incredibly glad I did not shell out the money to buy “ECW – One Night Stand”. Why? Because I should have known the so-called “turbo release” would hold some sort of catch. ECW: One Night Stand was meant to be special. A one shot deal. So, why must WWE tinker with it? I was extremely disappointed to find out that all cursing was censored. It’s EC-F’n-W!! They should have made it a special DVD with it being uncut and uncensored. I may have tolerated that, since that’s how the PPV was, but they apparently let Sandman’s “E-C-F*cking-W!!” go uncensored at the end. Why? Why was that any different, because it sounded spontaneous? It declared ECW’s “house-cleaning” of the WWE talent? Come on now.
To make a bad situation even worse (something WWE has a fun time doing), they completely cut The Sandman’s entrance to hell. No, it’s not cut in time or length, but the music is alterred. Before, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” played, and rightfully so. Now, it’s apparently a generic theme, I guess just like Tommy Dreamer’s theme song which was only the basic sound of “Man in the Box”, rather than the real deal. Couldn’t WWE at least spend the extra bit of money to leave the song in? I know real songs that WWE doesn’t own cost money to put on a DVD, but they should have left it in, paid the extra money, and made fans happy. Not only that, the crowd is muted so we don’t hear them singing along to “Enter Sandman”. Two bad moves on WWE’s part, which has forced me to pass on this otherwise extraordinary PPV, in hopes that they actually release an uncut, uncensored, un-turbo version of ECW: One Night Stand.
On to another topic, Brock Lesnar. The big guy finally got some sense, and has turned from a big baby to a big boy. Sing along, everyone! “He’s a big kid now!”. I have no sympathy for him. He talked down about people like you and me, the internet community, and left a job because he felt the stress of it. He wanted to pursue football. Hey, I wasn’t going to complain! He might be better suited for it. Then, when that fails, he wants to be a wrestler again. Oops… not till 2010, Brock. So, Brock got pissed off, realized he was screwed either way, and sued WWE. Now, he apparently wants that settled, since he realizes how stupid he looks, and he wants to go back to the WWE, since he basically has nothing else until 2010. Trust me, he didn’t grow up and realize his mistakes. He’s just realizing that when you kick all those little people on the way up the ladder, you have to face those exact same people on the way back down.
The Big Picture: My Final Draft Overview - The Draft Lottery for 2005 is finished, and it was one doozy of a draft. After last year’s poor excuse of a draft lottery, this year, WWE pulled out all the stops and only traded the top names in WWE. Right now, I’m going to take a look at all 10 draft switches, and hope to come to a conclusion on which draft switches will benefit, and which will only dig the wrestler’s grave.
John Cena: Drafted from Smackdown to Raw on June 6th - Makes sense, doesn’t it? Cena is big. He’s got a wrestling career, a music career, and soon a movie career (with his movie debut, WWE’s own “The Marine). Trade him to the live show, and watch him sell out arenas all over the world. This is beneficial right now, but I see a huge problem in Cena’s future: the fans. What makes Cena different from the last guys who tried to make it to the top, besides Batista? Nothing. He seems to be following the same, doomed road as Randy Orton and Eugene. Soon, the fans are going to boo him. Yes, they are. Not all fans, no, it’s going to be like Orton and Eugene. You’ll hear the boos faintly, and eventually, he’ll have to turn heel again. Know why? He’s got the appeal right now. Most are loving him, his little rapping schtick, everything. But, soon, when people realize it’s the same thing and the same deal, they’re going to turn on him. The second-to-last nail in the coffin will be that damn movie. And the final nail? Playing to the crowds. The crowd eats up everything he dishes out? His raps, his matches, his “The Champ is here!” catchphrase. But, playing to the crowd only ends up hurting in the long run.
And something else that is hurting him is acting as though he’s “for the people”. He’s voicing our opinions, and acting as though he’s on our side. He’s just like us. He’s just a normal guy. Just come out and say it, you’re the people’s champ! Now, Linda Robin wrote an excellent column today on John Cena’s similarities to The Rock, so I won’t go down that road, but I do want to say that once people let it click in that Cena is getting rich fast, with three separate careers on the horizon, they’re going to start the “You sold out!” chants. This might take a while to happen, but it will. I do like Cena. A lot, actually. But, he’s going to lose the crowd soon. Grade: A+ (Hey, did anyone see this coming? As much as I got to say about him, it was the start of an awesome draft lottery.)
Chris Benoit: Drafted to Smackdown From Raw on June 9th - Tough call. On the one hand, new blood for Benoit is the best thing for him, and his chances for a title shot are greater on Smackdown (at least, before they got the World Champion). On the other, he could just as easily settle into the same situation. Wrestling the same people, doing the same routine every week, and not doing much for himself or for the WWE. Here’s hoping the former is right. Grade: B+
Kurt Angle: Drafted to Raw from Smackdown on June 13th - Finally! It’s about damn time. Angle is muchly appreciated for Raw, and it really is the start of NEW blood for Raw. Without the incredibly bad storyline with Booker T and Sharmell, hopefully Angle will go back to his roots and be that damn good. It’s true, oh it’s true. And hey, now without Batista to screw around, and hopefully with Cena tied up with Edge soon, maybe Triple H and Kurt Angle can have a feud. That would be great, and I would personally love to see Triple H in a feud that doesn’t involve the World title. Grade: A+
Randy Orton: Drafted to Smackdown from Raw on June 16th - Tough call again. If Orton was 100%, this would be great. But he isn’t. He’s a few weeks, maybe months, from returning to the ring. This gets somewhat balanced by a future Raw trade, but right now, he’s not beneficial to Smackdown. In August or September, whenever Orton returns, he could have been traded by Eric to Smackdown for whatever reason, and a different trade could have been made. Smackdown needs talent NOW, not later. But, when he comes back, he’ll be a huge star. Orton is going to be a huge heel, and hopefully he’ll take that role and run with it. Grade (later): A
Carlito: Drafted to Raw from Smackdown on June 20th - Carlito is going to be a huge star down the road. A huge babyface star. It’s in his cards, whether he likes it or not. That’s helped by the fact that on his debut match, he became the US Champion on Smackdown, defeating John Cena, and again when he became IC Champion on Raw during his Raw debut, defeating Shelton and ending his 8-month title reign. Plus, without the dead weight of Matt Morgan p-p-pulling him down, he’s going to only get better. Grade: A
Muhammed Hassan and Khosrow Daivari: Drafted to Smackdown from Raw (in a special package, I guess) on June 23rd - Seems weird that they included Daivari with Hassan. Almost as though they tweaked the rules, knowing one can’t be without the other. Daivari should have either went himself or stayed on Raw. It goes against what we thought were the rules. Matt Morgan didn’t go with Carlito. Tyson Tomko didn’t go with Christian. Not to mention that on Hassan’s last Raw match, he lost to John Cena, and apparently that is no longer counted on Hassan’s record, as he continues to lie about being undefeated. He was still going strong on Raw, so I see this as a waste of a draft pick. He very, VERY easily could have went into a feud with John Cena, too. Grade: C
The Big Show: Drafted to Raw from Smackdown on June 27th - Three words (three Paul Heyman-style words, that is): A big freakin’ mistake. Snitsky is such a bland, bland character, so Big Show will not benefit from a feud with him. He had a pretty nice spot on Smackdown, but I feel he’ll fall into the same hole that he was in when he was on Raw a few years back. Grade: D
Rob Van Dam: Drafted to Raw from Smackdown on June 27th - This is a bigger problem for me than Orton. Now, if RVD sticks around, doing more in-ring mic work, and generally being a strong voice, he will be huge until his in-ring return. Heck, I would love to see RVD become the co-general manager for Raw, until he can wrestle. I think it would be great. But, he’s apparently out for AT LEAST six months, and maybe a year. So, unless he takes a strong, short-term role in WWE, he’s basically another wasted trade. But, I have hope that the big picture means that RVD is going to be on the show a lot, in a non-wrestling role. Grade, if he’s a strong part of Raw: A… Grade if he’s only a guest every few months until his in-ring return: C (even two or three appearances from RVD would be great)
Christian: Drafted to Smackdown from Raw on June 30th - Much like the Chris Benoit move, this can go either way. He can start a feud with Batista (which Benoit can’t do, unless he becomes a heel), or he can be the same mid-carder on Smackdown, and possibly stay in the US title picture instead of the World Title picture. I really think he was better suited for Raw with John Cena. We were treated to this huge, on-going feud between the two for a while, but it never got going until Cena made it to Raw on the 6th of June, and suddenly it was over, with just one simple match? A triple threat match, at that! This seems like a last-minute move on WWE’s part, because that Cena/Christian feud could have lead to a huge match at Summerslam. More cons than pros for the trade. Grade: B-
Batista: Drafted to Smackdown from Raw on June 30th - The biggest of all trades. The most popular guy in WWE is gone to Smackdown. Need evidence of that? Smackdown is needing something big for Friday nights on UPN, and Batista is obviously a better choice to anchor Smackdown than Raw. My biggest problem is I loved Batista on Raw. He was the best part, and now I have to watch Smackdown on a regular basis again after the draft. He has JBL, Eddie Guerrero, Christian, and Muhammed Hassan to look forward to in the feud future. The immediate future? Headlining The Great American Bash with JBL. Batista just might save Smackdown from failing. WWE basically has hooked me, normally someone who won’t watch Smackdown, and got me to start watching it just for him! Best move of the draft. Grade: A+
Eleven other guys were traded between shows. The guys who would have been traded last year on the Raw telecast of the Draft Lottery. Nothing big at all. I hope for some more changes in the coming weeks. Either way, my time is up for now. Thanks to the great response to my last column! I am still answering a few e-mails. It was really nice to get a lot of responses for it, and I want that for every column. So, even if you only want to say Hi, e-mail me. But, better yet, e-mail me some feedback on my column! It’s always welcome. Until next time, where I will unveil the 2nd Ever Fan Participation questions list, I’m Mr. X. Buh-bye.
(All feedback is welcome and encouraged. Please send any thoughts on this column to
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