The one and only DRAFT 2004 prediction thread

[justcoz 0]

A TRUE creative team could have booked the GM/brand rivalry and at least created an illusion of the intensity being as it was with the Monday night wars. The GM's going all out to screw over the other show by stealing talent they felt would make their show better. Little twists along the way could have freshened up each show when things got tired and created new matchups. Something like another lottery wouldn't be necessary had creative been creative. 

 

 

But creative wasn't there, and they are running out of options...

 

I am really suprised they never really played up wrestlers having contracts per brand, and contracts expiring/renewing.

 

Wrestler A: My contract expires in 7 days, Im going to Smackdown

Bischoff: Renew your contract for another year, and I'll give you a Title Match next week on RAW!

Wrester A: Deal!

 

Or even crap where a GM would offer a wrestler a title shot to sign with their brand when their contract expires.

 

EXACTLY!!!! If creative had any idea what they were doing it wouldn't be necessary to hit the "reset" button on the brand extension with another draft/lottery. You could freshen up the product with STORYLINES and it would be relatively easy to do with fictional contract expirations, trades, match stipulations like loser leaves Raw or Smackdown matches, firings, etc.

 

So Raw needs a spark at some point? Go back to the Nitro days and have Bischoff walk out on the show with Kurt Angle and announce that Kurt's contract just expired and Paul Heyman was too busy on his knees trying to get Brock Lesnar to stay with the company that he forgot all about an Olympic gold medalist and former champion.

 

Have a furious Heyman retaliate by bringing out the RAW tag team champions, RVD and Booker T and having them throw the championships in the garbage on Smackdown - then being booked into WWE and U.S title matches with Eddie and Cena on the next pay per view.

 

I'm all for shaking things up but they might as well just end the brand extension if creative can't work within it to keep the product fresh. Even when they've had people switch brands like Matt Hardy, creative offered nothing in terms of good explanations, buildup and a debut with impact. The Smackdown announcers could have speculated for weeks that Hardy's contract with the brand was expiring and he has yet to come to terms on a new agreement and his future with the company wasn't certain.

 

There is so much that could be done beyond starting from scratch like they are.

 

Listen to the Pittsburgh music scene on Live 365

[haVoc 0]

I didn't realize this until they re-aired the promo last night. Vince said even his family is in the lottery. Will the long awaited Stephanie return finally happen due to this thing?

 

Then again, she was "fired" so she shouldn't be part of either brand, right?

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I didn't realize this until they re-aired the promo last night. Vince said even his family is in the lottery. Will the long awaited Stephanie return finally happen due to this thing?

 

Then again, she was "fired" so she shouldn't be part of either brand, right?

Vince is technically on the Smackdown roster still.

 

Shane was on the RAW roster for the time with his time with Kane.

 

Stephanie probably was on the Smackdown roster as the GM.

[haVoc 0]

The latest on the WWE lottery...

 

The general feeling backstage is that WWE won't make a huge amount of roster changes on Monday, just select changes to balance out the rosters. One possible change is sending Steve Austin to Smackdown. In the past, Austin has made it known that he wants to work on a live show, but it appears that he will make the move if WWE decides that they want to do that. Interestingly enough, while most agree that RAW is WWE's #1 brand, most wrestlers want to go to Smackdown because of the feeling that their lockerroom is more relaxed.

 

Credit: Torch Powell Report/411

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Yeah!

 

Austin to Smackdown!

 

He could be The Sherrif of Smackdown and feud with Heyman! New and fresh, baby! Yeah!

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Yeah, there's really too much of that wrestling stuff happening on SD. We need Austin driving his ATV all over the show and beating up guys to balance it out.

 

Although, if that means no Steph, I may have to rethink my position. Hmmm.....

[Guest Brian]

I assume they get rid of Heyman if that's the case. Try to focus on getting a rivalry between Bischoff and Austin in their respective brands. Then build Heyman as the outsider. Almost the exact same dynamics as the original monday night wars.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Austin as GM of Smackdown?

 

No fucking thank you.

[Zack Malibu 0]

What if McMahon shifts Bischoff to Smackdown, and has Austin remain the GM on RAW? Then Bischoff doesn't have any of his yes men (unless a few get shifted over as well). They could even do a promo with Eddie and Bischoff where Eddie mentions that 6 years ago he walked out on Bischoff (remember that angle on Nitro in summer of '98?), and now here he is, walking in his office as champion.

 

I also say that they do a title shift, and Orton takes himself and the IC to Smackdown for Cena and the US, but that's only if Michaels kicks into full heel mode in the next few weeks, otherwise RAW would be too face heavy (Benoit, Michaels, Edge, Jericho and Cena as major faces, plus RVD and Booker as the most over of the midcarders).

[King Cucaracha 0]

Wait, if Austin's going to Smackdown...

 

 

 

OMG ECW IS COMIN' BACK DOOODZZZ~!

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Austin as GM of Raw wouldn't work because it would basically be history repeating itself (Austin drinks beer and stuns heels, heels get annoyed because the GM doesn't like them). That's one storyline I don't need rehashed. Unless they change the Austin character itself, which we all know ain't happening.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Wait, if Austin's going to Smackdown...

 

 

 

OMG ECW IS COMIN' BACK DOOODZZZ~!

Who would be in ECW, besides the obvious though? They can't expect it to survive on a roster of The Dudleys, RVD, Dreamer and Rhyno, as most of the ex-ECW crew are stale and or positioned as nothing more than fodder. They'd need a few new faces, and one or two highly over guys to make it work.

[Guest Brian]

You start bringing in the new talent, which was always the strength of the show. Then have each company raid until Heyman is forced to go on the offensive. What if Tazz quit on the air, wouldn't that be quite the move? At least if they're going to head that direction, which I'm not totally fond of, they can make it worth something and help to enhance the competitiveness of the whole thing. Especially if Heyman plays off both guys.

[Zack Malibu 0]

I wouldn't mind seeing a few of the lesser cruisers shifted to ECW to fit in with the (hopefully) more high-impact style.

 

Paul London vs. RVD could get over very well IMO, especially amongst smarks.

 

If WGTT gets broken up, I could see Charlie Haas trying to be the moral majority of ECW. Almost in Angle-like fashion, he could be like "You need to use weapons to beat each other, all I need is my God-given ability".

[Guest Brian]

They could pull it off very well, and if they play up the "I brought you in and exposed you to this audience" type of thing ECW fans really like to point toward in regards to Eddie and Benoit, they could get a lot of exposure and interest, as well as some legitimacy, for that third show. I wouldn't move the cruoserweight division unless things turn out well, because they need some of that exposure on Smackdown. I say they should pull whomever's ready in the developments and sign some people up, replenish the ranks.

[Guest MikeSC]

If ECW was to get, say, LINDA MCMAHON, they could write their own check.

 

She is a goldmine of heat.

-=Mike

[Zack Malibu 0]

They could pull it off very well, and if they play up the "I brought you in and exposed you to this audience" type of thing ECW fans really like to point toward in regards to Eddie and Benoit, they could get a lot of exposure and interest, as well as some legitimacy, for that third show. I wouldn't move the cruoserweight division unless things turn out well, because they need some of that exposure on Smackdown. I say they should pull whomever's ready in the developments and sign some people up, replenish the ranks.

Nova would most likely be the first one to get the call.

 

And I'm not saying move ALL the cruisers to ECW. Just the ones that need something to do. I'm talking more along the lines of London or Shannon Moore, with Nunzio thrown in due to his ECW ties. Then that would allow for Palumbo and Stamboli to be used in more of a brawling setting, something they might actually be worthwhile in.

[Guest Brian]

I was thinking Spanky because he could really shine.

[Zack Malibu 0]

I was thinking Spanky because he could really shine.

Spanky quit though, and I don't think he'll want to go back anytime soon.

[Guest Brian]

Did he? Fuck, I've been out of it for a while.

[Zack Malibu 0]

He quit at the beginning of January, at the Smackdown that was from the Mohegan Sun Casino in CT. He's already been working Japan and some indies, and will most likely wind up in TNA in a few weeks, as he's talked with them about appearing once his no compete runs out.

[Guest Coffey]

Alright, well I took my shot at trying to break down the rosters. I put all the Cruiserweights on Smackdown and the majority of the women on Raw. All the tag teams are on Raw as well. I put a lot of ideas and shit following the lists, and who knows how many times I will come back and edit this list as I think of more things between now and Monday. I guess it doesn't really matter since the majority of this won't come to fruition, but I can dream/pretend, right?

 

 

RAW

1. Sable
2. Jazz
3. Gail Kim
4. Ivory
5. Shaniqua
6. Lita
7. Stacy Kiebler
8. Victoria
9. Trish Stratus
10. Miss Jackie
11. Molly Holly
12. Nidia
13. A-Train
14. Christian
15. Chris Jericho
16. Chris Benoit
17. Shawn Michaels
18. Triple H
19. Orlando Jordan
20. Kurt Angle
21. Mick Foley
22. Randy Orton
23. Rosey
24. Rikishi
25. D-Von Dudley
26. Bubba Ray Dudley
27. Charlie Haas
28. Shelton Benjamin
29. Rene Dupree
30. Sylvan Grenier
31. Mark Jindrak
32. Garrison Cade
33. Doug Basham
34. Danny Basham
35. Chuck Palumbo
36. Johnny Stamboli
37. Rodney Mack
38. Mark Henry
39. Teddy Long
40. Edge
41. Bradshaw
42. Billy Gunn

Smackdown

1. Billy Kidman
2. Torrie Wilson
3. Scotty 2 Hotty
4. Nunzio
5. Jamie Noble
6. Shannon Moore
7. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
8. Rey Mysterio Jr.
9. Ultimo Dragon
10. Paul London
11. Tajiri
12. Akio
13. Sakoda
14. Matt Hardy
15. The Hurricane
16. Funaki
17. Eddie Guerrero
18. Val Venis
19. Rico
20. Lance Storm
21. Dawn Marie
22. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
23. The Undertaker
24. Scott Steiner
25. Kane
26. Batista
27. Rhyno
28. Rob Conway
29. The Rock
30. John Cena
31. Kurt Angle
32. Rob Van Dam
33. Booker T.
34. Steven Richards
35. Tommy Dreamer
36. Test
37. Ric Flair
38. Spike Dudley
39. Maven
40. Hardcore Holly
41. The Big Show
42. Sean O'Haire

Didn't use

Al Snow

Chris Nowinski

Eric Bischoff

Jon Heidenreich

Jerry Lawler

Jim Ross

Jonathan Coachman

Lilian Garcia

Terri

William Regal

Bill DeMott

Michael Cole

Mr. McMahon

Paul Bearer

Paul Heyman

Tazz

 

I actually did try to put a lot of thought into my selections.

 

The way I set it up, the only people that would have to drop their belts would be the randomly put together tag teams. Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty are on different shows, and Booker T. & Rob Van Dam wouldn't have a tag team division to compete in. Randy Orton could keep his Intercontinental title on Raw and try to get that division going over there. Foley is still there to finish his feud with him as well. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit neither one would have to drop their straps. Benoit would still have HHH & HBK around so that he can go ahead and do whatever WWE currently had planned. Afterwards Kurt Angle could possibly be around for him to challenge. If Angle is out on injury again, then Benoit could become the "fighting champion" and defend the title against random people like A-Train, Bradshaw & Billy Gunn until he can get a feud with Edge or something along those lines. Yeah, that doesn't sound pretty, but you know how WWE is.

 

Eddie Guerrero could feud with people like The Big Show, Rob Van Dam, Booker T., and the like. John Cena would have people like Val Venis, Lance Storm, Rhyno & Tommy Dreamer around. Some elevation, obviously, would need to take place to have a middle division outside of the Cruiserweights. I suggest that Cena's U.S. Title become a Television title and he has to defend it on every Smackdown & Velocity, possibly with him dropping the title on a Velocity so people would start to think the "B" shows mattered again. Same with Randy Orton and his Intercontinental Title on Sunday Night Heat.

 

I tried to keep a lot of things together so that it wasn't a complete start from scratch. Christian/Jericho/Trish are all still together for example. Kane & Undertaker are as well. Most tag teams still have their partners around. I wanted to keep Dawn Marie around with Lance Storm just so the possibility is there if it needs to come up. The FBI split so that Nunzio can pursue the Cruiserweight title whereas Palumbo & Stamboli can go after tag team gold.

 

I still have The World's Greatest Tag Team together because I think they can help re-establish the tag team scene on Raw after this new lottery. I did put Rob Conway on Smackdown away from the rest of La Résistance however. He should've never been put in the group, and I can see him becoming a solo star. Perhaps he could start out small with feuds against people like Bob Holly, Maven and Sean O'Haire until moving on to the US/TV title scene.

 

Rosey & The Hurricane are now split, as are Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty like I mentioned earlier. I figured Scotty & The Hurricane could become Cruiserweight contenders while Rikishi & Rosey could become a heel tag team on Raw because of their Samoan heritage. Put some new clothes on Rikishi and book them like 3MW should've been. Maybe even bring back someone like Afa to manage them. Is he still alive? Anyway, all the tag teams would need tag team names and tag team finishers. Just the way it should be.

 

Matt Hardy & Lita are seperated again, which I don't know if it's a good idea or not. I kept Kidman & Torrie together though. It's not like Torrie is a contender to the women's title, whereas Kidman pretty much has to follow the Cruiserweight scene, despite his body frame getting bigger lately.

 

Ric Flair on Smackdown would be interesting. Maybe Batista could turn on Flair since now he has a shot to make it on his own and instead of Flair trying to get revenge himself in the ring, he could become the manager for some new up-and-comer. Teach them how to be "the dirtiest player in the game" or something like that. Teach them the how to "master the Figurefour Leglock" and try to re-establish basic moves like that, the Piledriver, Superplex & DDT. It could work with a variety of people. Like Val Venis if he was looking for a gimmick make-over...because the porn*star shit has got to go. I thought they were on to something with Chief Morley, but they should've just called him Sean. If not Morley, maybe someone else like Maven, Conway or Matt Hardy.

 

Steven Richards & Victoria are no longer together anymore either. WWE seem to have pulled the plug on that "relationship" since Victoria turned face and won the title. It's a shame too, because Richards will do pretty much whatever you ask of him, and make it entertaining and believable at the same time.

 

Notice how on Raw, Triple H is there but not a lot of people whom could suffer the "Triple H effect." It's women, tag teams and people he's currently involved with. The majority of people that need to start growing solo are on the Smackdown side. The only glaring names that are still around HHH are Christian and Jericho...but they have their own current thing going right now. Besides, I wanted to keep them around Trish and she has to be around the Women's division.

 

Alright, I think that's enough ideas for now. I'll probably come back later if I think of anything else.

[Guest I Got Banned for Sucking]

Coffey, you did put a lot of effort into that - nice work.

 

Royal Rumbles won't be quite the same for a while...

[Guest Brian]

What they could do (and I know this is repetitive but they have a drought of tag teams) is condense the division on one show and unify the titles.

[Astro7x 0]

I posted this somewhere else, so this is copy and pasted.....

--------------

Alright, so if they are going to make this "random" I figured that everything would be mixed up 50/50, so that's what I did. My idea I would like the Roaming Tag Belts at the very least, but either way it will be fine. I moved the Women's division to SD, and the Cruiser division to RAW. Didn't split up too many teams. Evolution is half and half, split up La Resistance a bit, and kept the announcers the same. Each division also has the same amount of wrestlers. And though I do have a "Tag Team" part, that doesn't mean other people in the noraml roster couldn't tag, it just means those guys are mainly tag teams. Main Eventer means that any of those guys could be put into a believable World Title Feud on PPV... and so on

 

RAW

GMs:

ERIC BISCHOFF

 

Announcers:

JIM ROSS

JERRY LAWLER

JONATHAN COACHMAN

AL SNOW

LILIAN GARCIA

 

Women (T&A Division):

DAWN MARIE

NIDIA

SABLE

TORRIE WILSON

MISS JACKIE

STACY KEIBLER

GAIL KIM

 

Main Eventers:

CHRIS JERICHO

CHRIS BENOIT

KANE

BOOKER T

UNDERTAKER

JOHN CENA

BIG SHOW

 

Wrestlers:

CHRISTIAN

BATISTA

MATT HARDY

RIC FLAIR

SCOTT STEINER

THE HURRICANE

TEST

SPIKE DUDLEY

BRADSHAW

BILLY GUNN

SEAN O'HAIRE

 

Heat/Jobbers:

STEVEN RICHARDS

TOMMY DREAMER

ROSEY

A-TRAIN

MATT MORGAN

 

Cruisers:

PAUL LONDON

BILLY KIDMAN

FUNAKI

NUNZIO

SHANNON MOORE

ULTIMO DRAGON

 

 

Tag Teams:

RENE DUPREE

SYLVAN GRENIER

RIKISHI

SCOTTY 2 HOTTY

DANNY BASHAM

DOUG BASHAM

 

Managers/Other:

N/A

 

Part Time Wrestlers/Injured:

THE ROCK

CHRIS NOWINSKI

 

 

SD

GMs:

PAUL HEYMAN

 

Announcers:

BILL DeMOTT

MICHAEL COLE

TAZZ

RUE

TERRI

 

Women (Wrestling Division):

IVORY

JACQUELINE

JAZZ

LITA

TRISH STRATUS

VICTORIA

MOLLY HOLLY

SHANIQUA

 

Main Eventers:

KURT ANGLE

EDDIE GUERRERO

EDGE

SHAWN MICHAELS

ROB VAN DAM

GOLDBERG

TRIPLE H

 

Wrestlers:

TAJIRI

REY MYSTERIO

CHAVO GUERRERO

RHYNO

HARDCORE HOLLY

JAMIE NOBLE

RANDY ORTON

ROB CONWAY

LANCE STORM

MARK HENRY

RODNEY MACK

 

Velocity/Jobbers:

RICO

JON HEIDENREICH

JOHNNY STAMBOLI

CHUCK PALUMBO

ORLANDO JORDAN

 

Cruisers:

N/A

 

Tag Teams:

SHELTON BENJAMIN

CHARLIE HAAS

AKIO

SAKODA

GARRISON CADE

MARK JINDRAK

BUBBA RAY DUDLEY

D-VON DUDLEY

 

Managers/Other:

STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN

THEODORE LONG

 

Part Time Wrestlers/Injured:

MICK FOLEY

WILLIAM REGAL

MAVEN

 

Some things to note... while the Cruiserweight lost Chavo, Rey and Tajiri, they also gained Hurricane, Christian, Spike and Matt Hardy. Those guys could go between Cruiser/IC just like how Chavo and the rest could go between US and the Cruiser title on SD (if booked properly that is)

 

Stone Cold goes to SD to feud with Paul just like how he did to Bischoff, while Bischoff loses all his heel buddys like Orton and HHH. Foley Follows Orton to SD, and Rock stays on RAW as well.

 

Main event wise, it's really balanced, but it is considering that Goldberg is still around, and Angle continues to wrestle. Otherweise, it would be mixed up and a guy from RAW would need to go to SD... whoever it may be.

 

And with Benoit on RAW anyway, that leaves us with new feuds like.

RAW

Benoit vs. Jericho/Booker/Cena

Cena vs. Booker/Jericho/Benoit

Etc.

 

SD

Eddie vs RVD/HHH/Edge/HBK

Edge vs. HBK/RVD/Eddie/HHH

Angle vs. RVD/HBK/Goldberg/HHH

etc.

 

 

The Tag Team Division opens us to some new feuds that could be good

TWGTT vs. The Dudleys/Cade&Jindrak

Dudleys vs. Akio & Sakoda/TWGTT

La Resistance vs. The Bashems/Too Cool 2

 

and then the Midcarder feuds are endless, since those are random anyway to begin with. I think it looks really good for figuring it out. Good division of Superstars making it about 50/50, and lots of new Main Event level feuds.

 

Notable Midcarder Moves

-Rob Conway gets a singles push on SD

-Tajiri/Rey/Chavo moved out of Cruiser Division to the IC Title Division (Orton goes to SD with the title)

-Lance Storm to SD, Feuds with Tajiri/Chavo/Mysterio and IC Title

-Cena to RAW with the US Title, is an Upper Midcarder, floats between both World Title and US Title matches

-Cena feuds with wrestlers like Matt Hardy, Chrisitan, Batista, Test, Etc.

-Sean O'Haire gets TV time, and goes back to his cool gimmick with the promos

-Rikishi/Scotty go between single and Tag wrestlers. Scotty can go for the Cruiser Title, and Rikishi for the US Title

-----------------------------

I realized I left off Venis and Johny Spade or whatever his name is now. So lets just say... Venis to SD, and Johny goes to RAW

 

Edit: Just so you know, Jobbers doesn't mean actual jobbers, just kind of how they are seen now for comparison

[SuperJerk 0]

My wish list:

 

Booker T to Smackdown.

HBK as the top heel on Raw.

HHH and Edge in another promotion altogether.