The Amazing Rando

Looking over the current Raw and Smackdown rosters (barring a few exceptions) there seems to be holes on both sides of the field, though some are alot more noticable than others. So with that in mind, here is a quick listing of what it SEEMS each championship division looks like. RAW General Manager: Eric Bischoff Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Al Snow, The Coach World Heavweight Championship Current Champion: Chris Benoit Contenders: Triple H Chris Jericho Edge Kane Shawn Michaels Intercontinental Championship Current Champion: Randy Orton Contenders: Chris Jericho Edge Matt Hardy Christian w/Tyson Tomko Shelton Benjamin World Tag Team Championship Current Champions: La Resistance Contenders: The Superheroes Rhyno/Tajiri Evolution (Batista/Flair) Women's Championship Current Champion: Trish Stratus Contenders: Nidia Victoria Gail Kim Molly Holly Ivory Jazz Lita Other Eugene Dinsmore A-Train Chuck Palumbo Garrison Cade Mark Henry Stevie Richards Val Venis William Regal Stacy Keibler Maven Now, in these lists there are a few oddities (Ivory) and guesses (Rhyno/Tajiri) and a few hopes or things that MAY work (Christian and Matt Hardy in the IC division, Jericho in the World), and the list of "Other" wrestlers with no real defining division is staggering, though some of them are used in other storylines for other reasons (Eugene, Regal, Tomko, Richards) and some of the people listed are injured or in OVW or whathaveyou. Smackdown General Manager: Kurt Angle Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz, Bill DeMott, Josh Matthews WWE Championship Current Champion: JBL Contenders: Eddie Guerrero The Undertaker Booker T Rob Van Dam Big Show Kurt Angle United States Championship Current Champion: John Cena Contenders: Rob Van Dam Rene Dupree Booker T Charlie Haas Mark Jindrak w/Teddy Long Luther Reigns Rey Mysterio WWE Tag Team Championship Current Champions: The Dudley Boyz Contenders: Rey Mysterio/Rob Van Dam Akio/Sakoda The FBI Billy Kidman/Paul London Rico/Charlie Haas w/ Miss Jackie The Basham Brothers Hardcore Holly/Billy Gunn Too Cool Cruiserweight Championship Current Champion: Rey Mysterio Contenders: Chavo Guerrero Shannon Moore Paul London Billy Kidman Spike Dudley Funaki Jamie Noble Other Dawn Marie Orlando Jordan For Smackdown, the WWE Championship Division is horrendously small compared to the Raw side due to injures, and so I included Booker and RVD in the hopes that they could soon be elevated, though I don't see it happening any time soon. Conversely, the tag division is HUGE, and they barely ever use any of the teams. Sure, the Bashams and Hardcore Ass aren't any good and Rico is injured along seemingly with Too Cool...but I also think that Rey/RVD could be a nice change of pace and add that extra flavor to the tag division if it ever needs it, and it could also get Rey out of the CW division to let others shine. Overall, the rosters have their balanced points as well as having their strengths and weaknesses. It's just that the writers/bookers need to start looking toward exposing the strengths and helping the weaknesses. Here is a quick list... Raw: Strengths: World Heavyweight Neither: IC, Women's Weaknesses: Tag Team Smackdown: Strengths: United States, Cruiserweight Balanced: Tag (due to injuries and such) Weakness: WWE Championship (due to lack of active and healthy stars in ME positions). It is very easy to fix the weakness and even push the more balanced sections up on each side. Raw needs a deeper tag division for sure, and Smackdown just needs to keep it's best stars healthy and in the spotlight. In a month or two, once the Big Show and Kurt Angle find their ways back into the roster...it could lead to a resurgance on the Smackdown side. Raw has bigger problems with their tag division, with the task of bringing in more teams looking very difficult, even with the deep roster of those doing NOTHING or very little. The sad part is, Raw is able to hide that fact by using their divisional roster to the best of their ability, stringing together storylines that weave together and help keep match-ups interesting. And since I mentioned that... here's a quick look at current storylines for each brand... RAW: Evolution vs. Benoit/Edge/Jericho La Rez vs. Rhyno (?) Matt Hardy vs. Kane Trish vs. The Women Eugene vs. Himself SMACKDOWN: Eddie vs. JBL Eddie vs. Angle Heyman/Dudleys vs. The Undertaker The entire US Division is one big clusterfuck Rey vs. Chavo Haas vs. Reigns There are more than enough storylines to go around for the top guys and even enough to take up 6 hours of television a week, but even so...those without storylines are left to flounder and die Velocity/Heat deaths, where they barely make any kind of impact...but when it happens, we'll be sure to know about it on Raw or Smackdown if we are lucky. I can only conclude by saying both shows have huge potential hidden in them and neither is at it's peak, though that can go without saying for Smackdown. I would not be surprised to look at both shows around Survivor Series time and see them more balanced in terms of which brand is better than the other. Or at least I can dream, right?

Rhyno/Tajiri would be a pretty good team, power and speed is always fun to work with, and seeing a guy come out of the Tarantula and get Gored = OUCH.

It turned into RED vs. BLUE at the end...that's all I can remember about it.

he wasn't impartial at all... look at what he did to Edge and Christian! sure, they tried everything they could to cheat, but that didn't make Foley any less partial when he was booking them against the Undertaker and Kane or whatever else he could figure out.

Hmmm... they could do it as "the first 10,000 people" to send in proof of purchase of SD/RAW PPV recieves a __certain month__ house show DVD!" or some other silly shit. Or they could sell them for really cheap at Shopzone. like 10 bucks for an SD one, 10 bucks for a Raw one...or 15 for both. But it would also mean they would have to have more important matches at house shows.

I think it would be different if Angle came back to the ring to get Eddie, but stayed in the GM Spot. He could start out saying that he has come back JUST for Eddie, and then maybe after it he can book himself in a WWE Title Match, only for VINCE to appear and say that active wrestlers can't be GMs, and then either: a) give Heyman his job back b) give it to Shane c) have decisions go through him OFF SCREEN. © sounds like it could work, as the announcers could just say "well, Vince McMahon has been watching and saw that _____ and _____ have been at each other's throats...and it's coming to a head tonight!" The farthest I'd like to see them go with him being ON the screen would be to show his office door with his name on it and that's it, or to maybe have him come out for BIG announcements, but other than that...just kep him impartial and off screen.

He only loses bodily function control if Mikey Whipwreck picks up a victory. That was very rude....but I commend you for it. GOOD SHOW~

That's how they've been for years. They edit to their liking. Realism is what they need the most. Right now things are so fake it's absurd. The things I've always wondered is what kind of presence would the Undertaker character have backstage. I mean, in kayfabe, he came back from the dead and has multiple times (or however they want to spin it). If i was a wrestler and saw THAT GUY walking around, I'd be freaked out. Same with Mordecai, Kane, etc. It's the little things that could mean the most in the long run and get characters more over. The interactions Eugene has had so far have gotten him over. What interactions did Mordecai have? None. He just defeated random guys. Stupid booking. JBL is even getting heat for the things he's done the past few weeks. He is so over-the-top it works to see him backstage, smile on his face, standing with the wrestlers around him or when he yells at the limo driver or whatever...it just works for his character. Doing things like that with Kenzo or even Kidman/London could get them really over. I could see K/L having a good "fan connection" relationship...ala DDP in WCW... coming out of the crowd or going into the crowd after a win or something....... or going so far as to hang out in the crowd for interviews... maybe have them being interviewed by Josh Matthews only for them to walk and talk their way to the crowd and spend a commercial break up there just having fun. Sure, Kidman isn't the most charismatic guy in the world, but if done right the fans would still react to them in a good way.

As I stated during the Raw Thread... next week there should be TWISTER or Chutes And Ladders

Sometimes things that happen on TV don't even really happen. That's a big logic gap right there, is that the announcers can discuss, say, Lita talking with Stacy about the pregnancy, but somehow Matt doesn't find out until Lita tells him. Same thing with all the Eugene stuff. There is a week between shows, and we KNOW they tour, what would be stopping Benoit or any other good face from approaching Eugene with a video tape, unless Eugene is supposedly ALWAYS with Evolution now, meaning like a travel buddy...and if we are supposed to believe that...then by next week Ric Flair should be back in a mental home based on his delirium on Monday. He is trying too hard to make it into a SHOW and less like a SPORT. Sure, it's rigged...but it could be very convincing, to me at least, to see it taken as a touring sport. If something happens backstage and there isn't a microphone around, then there had better be a GOOD reason for a camera to be there. That way, at least that big logic gap would be closed. If they want to show Evolution scheming, it would be better if they ALLUDED to it, rather than did a five minute peice with them all talking. Example: Todd Grisham stands backstage, interviewing Matt Hardy for an upcoming match. Just as the interview gets going, Randy Orton and Batista pass through, say a few words to Matt... and then head to their lockerroom that is only a few feet down the hall. The camera momentarily follows, and the fans can hear Flair and HHH from inside the room being all "what took you guys! We have work to do tonight!" and then back to Matt to finish his interview... Sure, it may take away a little from Matt in the process, but it adds to the LIVE - ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN nature of the show. Then later the announcers can say "this must be the "work" Evolution was overheard talking about earlier!" as they attack Benoit and Edge or something.

They should definitely not lose house shows. Should they cut back on house shows? ~ Maybe, but the best way for guys to train and get better is to have that time in the ring, especially when going against opponents they aren't familiar with. I've always been an advocate of them taping small segments at every house show for airing on SD/Raw right before commercial breaks (or something) to show off the house shows and while maybe not airing results...it would make the shows seem that much more important and could definitely increase revenue.

Technically it's not, a straight jump is only a few feet and guys have gotten more distance off the corners into the ring... using the middle of the ropes as a springboard, any cruiserweight could do it. Sure, it would hurt like hell to land it, but the actual effort of doing the jump isn't as much as people think it is.

YNA's going to wet himself.

It seems all of Smackdown this week is showing off the "weird" vibe

Yes, it would be Yuck... I apologize... but they won't give that belt to Haas. He might come close, but he won't get it.

Haas vs. Reigns Cena vs. Jindrak Kenzo vs. RVD Dupree vs. Gunn (?) Cena vs. Reigns RVD vs. Dupree RVD vs. Reigns ...RVD wins with help from Cena Cena would then get the first title shot, but would fail due to Angle/Reigns, RVD could then feud with Booker/Dupree/Kenzo

It looks good enough to me. I'll be watching. The Cruisers get a good enough showing, and the Eddie/JBL stuff takes a nice little turn as a short comedic segment that puts JBL over as the usual cowardly heel and Eddie as the guy that would do ANYTHING to win his championship back, which will probably be seen next week. The Dudleys also lose their titles, and unless they are going to become the Ric Flair of the WWE/F Tag Team Championships, hopefully they will get passed around a bit. It kinda sucks that the Bashams lose, though...I would have put them over Gunn/Holly, myself.

Holy Shit... In the Summerslam thread, I *nearly* posted RVD, Booker, Cena, and Dupree doing a "US Title Tourny" style thing kinda like the first Undisputed Championship Tournament thingie, with RVD facing Booker and Cena facing Dupree, ending with RVD vs. Dupree or Cena vs. Booker for the title. Still...I was actually hoping the US Title would be vacated before Summerslam.

I think you mean a 6 Match Card, or is this some new form of insider lingo that will get Flair mad at us?

hey, it's not like what I say goes in the WWE... there will be a match there though, probably not that long...hopefully.

Hey, I wouldn't want to sit through it either...but I bet it happens, or some version of it. They will give Nidia something since she was made to look like a fool after defeating two top women in the division (even though it WAS a pole match which is a joke by itself).

Benoit vs. HHH - 35 minutes Edge vs. Orton - 20 minutes Jericho vs. Batista - 20 minutes La Rez vs. Flair/Eugene - 15 minutes Kane vs. Matt Hardy - 15 minutes Victoria vs. Molly vs. Nidia vs. Gail Kim - Elimination - 15 minutes Cade/Coach vs. Tajiri - 10 minutes Raw Diva Search Segment - 10 minutes Backstage Skits - 10 minutes total Heat: Regal/Richards or Maven/Palumbo done LIVE or something.

a heel Cena could do wonders with RVD... but then the US division would need more faces... Cue: Rey Mysterio & Charlie Haas

They could have buyed into him if he would have started small and worked his way up, even if he would have gotten the US championship first for a good reign. JBL vs. Cena has some potential, and I bet after Summerslam we just might see it while Eddie deals with Taker. The match wouldn't be pretty, but I could really see it happening.

BookDust had a storyline hidden beneath it all. The idea of Booker putting up with Goldust constantly and slowly getting won over by him. It's almost the same thing that has gone on with Regal and Eugene. Eugene should have definitely not been shoved down our throats as fast as he was, but he makes for a good catalyst in this main event storyline because of his ease to be manipulated and his reluctance to be a heel (as witnessed last night with the chair). Eugene is a good soul at heart, but since he would do ANYTHING to help his "best friend", it shields his conscience. That is a great storyline. Everyone knows sooner or later Eugene is going to find out what is going on, but sadly it won't lead to him getting a win over HHH unless it's like Hurricane vs. Rock where nobody cares two weeks later. The way it's being used, I'd *LOVE* to see Eugene's "special" nature be nothing but a ploy to get himself a wrestling contract and his "friendship" with HHH being nothing but a way to get to him. It would get him over even more as a face because he would have fucked with two big heels on Raw (Bisch and HHH) and could lead to him being a respected member of the IC division. I have come to the decision that the "Eugene" character could be a great thing for Nick Dinsmore once he loses it. In kayfabe, it could be used against him as a way for heels to make fun of him, but he could also Foley it up a bit, coming to the ring for a match doing the whole smile/wave thing and then just go right into completely dismantling the guy (okay...so maybe that's more like a Waylon Mercy).