WWE Draft 2008

Raw rolled out a three-hour special last Monday to present it's 2008 Draft of all the stars from Raw, Smackdown, and ECW.
Mr. McMahon also continued his Million Dollar Mania giveaway as he bestowed his money upon several lucky viewers.
Since most of the show remained unchanged, I will concentrate mainly on the picks themselves.
For those who didn't get to see the show the formula was as such: all the matches for the night were interpromotional bouts (meaning each brand faced opponents from a different brand) with the winner(s) giving their brand the next draft pick, meaning that whichever Superstar was randomly selected would be drafted to the brand that won the match.
This was a nice formula that put together some intriguing matchups and also gave the matches themselves some real consequences. The other nice thing about this is that for every draft pick, there MUST be a match, and therefore, the quantity of matches for the night was increased from the average of four to about ten. Granted, this was with an extra hour, but that still boils down to three or four matches an HOUR rather than four or five matches over two hours.
So let's take these matches (and draft picks) in order, shall we?

RAW VS. SMACKDOWN
WWE Champion Triple H vs. "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry

I thought this was a very intriguing matchup, though I wondered just how much Triple H would give to make Henry look good. It was a descent match, but of course, no one expected Henry to win. The crowd was firmly behind Triple H the whole time, and in the end, despite Henry's VERY impressive counter to the Pedigree (he actually picked The Game up to reverse it...) Triple gets the win and thus secures the first draft pick for Raw.

DRAFT PICK 1: Rey Mysterio is drafted to Monday Night Raw

I think this is a good choice, though it would not have been my first. Rey has been working very hard over at Smackdown and his popularity continues to rise with each year, especially following his reign as World Champion. He definitely deserves a spot on the flagship broadcast, but I wonder how far he will get with so many stars cluttering up the main event.

RAW VS. SMACKDOWN
TAG TEAM MATCH
Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Carlito & Santino Marella

Finlay and Hornswoggle pull out the win here in a fun little match. Santino's charisma and ridiculous temper made this more entertaining than it should've been. It was nice to see Smackdown go over Raw for a change, lending some credibility to a struggling brand. So Smackdown gets the next draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 2: Jeff Hardy is drafted to Friday Night Smackdown

I am infuriated by this decision.
Jeff Hardy has worked so hard on Raw, and has only grown more popular despite being suspended for his Wellness Program violation. Even after missing Wrestlemania 24 due to this suspension, he comes back with more crowd support than ever, and it's clear they want to see him in the main event vying for the top title. Then WWE buries him in a 1 Contender's match with John Cena, and suddenly his hope of being an even bigger star in this business is dashed.
My original theory was that he was drafted to Smackdown because they knew if he stayed on Raw they would eventually have to put him over Triple H, which would be blasphemy at this point, so they threw him onto the B-show where he would be able to thrive without any Triple H-sized roadblocks. Justify it however you will, Hardy belongs on Raw.

RAW VS. ECW
TAG TEAM MATCH
World Tag Team Champions Bob Holly & Cody Rhodes vs. Bam Neeley and Chavo Guerrero

At last ECW gets a chance to claim some new stars of it's own.
But they won't. They're up against guys from Raw. The Tag Champs, no less.
Never mind then.
ECW gets buried, of course, giving Raw it's second draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 3: C.M. Punk is drafted to Monday Night Raw

This was pretty much a given, but it's nice to see WWE doing something smart. Punk has been a great hand on ECW, and though his reign as Champion on that brand never quite brought him the stardom it should have, there is little more he can accomplish there. He belongs on Raw where his popularity can continue to rise. Being Mr. Money-in-the-Bank for 2008, it's clear he will be slotted against the Champion at some point, but I would rather see him work up to it, maybe feuding with Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship first. That would be a great program with some terrific wrestling for fans to enjoy. In any case, Punk is where he should've been a long time ago: he's now on the A-show of WWE.

ECW VS. SMACKDOWN
TAG TEAM MATCH
WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison vs. The Hardys

I'm not exactly sure what Vickie Guerrero's purpose here was. Usually she comes out to announce something that will piss the fans off, but today she actually grants them a gift. She told the WWE Tag Champs that it was originally scheduled to be Miz & Morrison vs. Hawkins & Ryder, but that she has changed that and selected new opponents. Matt Hardy's music hits, and the crowd goes crazy, and when Jeff emerges from behind the TitanTron, the roof comes off.
Anyway, I guess they figured since the brothers are on the same brand now (Jeff having been drafted to Smackdown two matches earlier) they can reform their infamous tag team relationship. Unfortunately it's to no avail. A good tag match sees the WWE Tag Team Champions go over the brothers of extreme, granting ECW it's first draft pick of the night.

DRAFT PICK 4: Matt Hardy is drafted to ECW

I'm not exactly sure what the big deal is here. In the first place, Smackdown and ECW share talent anyway, so drafting men between the two shows doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense.
What this DOES establish is that champions drafted to other brands also bring their titles with them. So the United States Championship is now property of ECW. I'm still not sure what the big deal is. I suspect Smackdown wrestlers will still be able to compete for the title thanks to the sharing of talent.
This seems to be a direct contradiction in the philosophy behind Jeff Hardy's drafting to Smackdown. Whereas Jeff needed Smackdown to get out from under other stars' shadows (specifically Triple H), Matt was already flourishing on Smackdown and had gotten infinitely more popular thanks to the long-awaited defeated of his arch-rival, MVP for the United States Championship. Throwing Matt to ECW won't really change anything because the same stars appear on either show. The only place that really would've reshaped Matt's future is Raw, where of course, he would've suffered the same fate as his brother no matter how good he was.

RAW VS. SMACKDOWN-ANNOUNCERS ONLY DRAFTED
TAG TEAM MATCH
Women's Champion Mickie James & Melina vs. Victoria & Natalya

This match means that ONLY the announcers would be drafted between brands. The match itself was cut short when Melina was knocked off the ring apron and seriously sprained her ankle taking the fall. It is a genuine injury, as you could hear Mickie ask Melina if she was hurt, to wich the latter replied "Yes". The match fell apart as Mickie sought to attend to Melina rather than get back into the ring. You could hear Melina say "I'm sorry" several times to her tag team partner. Eventually Mickie was ambushed by Victoria and Natalya, resulting in, of all things, a double disqualification. While I'm sure the result was inentional, the match itself clearly fell apart. Melina, in tears, was carried from ringside by two men after the conclusion of the match.
As a result of the Double-DQ (I'm still not exactly sure what anyone did WRONG...a double countout may have been better suited here...) both brands were granted a draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 5: "Good Ol' J.R." Jim Ross is drafted to Friday Night Smackdown

DRAFT PICK 6: Michael Cole is drafted to Monday Night Raw

No one is happy with this arrangement. Jerry "The King" Lawler looked absolutely astounded, and J.R. was visibly upset as he took his place over at the Smackdown announce table. Meanwhile, Michael Cole reluctantly took his place next to "The King", who continued to look across the floor to his longtime partner as if waiting for someone to jump out and say, "Gotcha!"
This is the most ridiculous decision of the night.
Even Mick Foley later acknowledged that Jim Ross was "an institution" on Monday Night Raw.
So why the hell is he being drafted to Smackdown?
Michael Cole stated that while he was honored to be a part of Raw (a statement that did more harm to Smackdown than anything...) he felt awkward taking J.R.'s place.
This is a ludicrous decision that will eventually be reversed. While I don't think moving J.R. will impact anyone's ratings, fans will cry out at the sheer blasphemy of moving him to Smackdown. All due respect to Michael Cole (who certainly deserves a spot on Raw), his promotion should not have come at the expense of Raw's legendary annouce team being split up.

RAW VS. SMACKDOWN
John Cena vs. World Heavyweight Champion Edge

This is the "main event", but presented 2/3 of the way through the program. Vince announced this match prior to one of his giveaways.
It was certainly a very entertaining match that saw solid spots by both men. Eventually, John Cena picked up the win, giving Raw yet another draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 7: Batista is drafted to Monday Night Raw

Again, I'm not sure what good this does for Batista. He has become something of an institution himself over on Smackdown and done a great job of holding the main event picture together. Drafting him to Raw will only further confound their main event canvas. Still, it's a nice change of pace. It's been three years since Batista was a full-time member of the Raw roster, but what good is his arrival if he only seeks to run through everyone in the locker room?

SMACKDOWN VS. ECW
Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Tommy Deamer

By now, Tazz has made it very clear that he's frustrated by the fact that ECW has had only one draft pick the whole night. This is the seventh match of the night, and only the third featuring ECW. Meanwhile, Raw has had five mathces resulting in four draft picks. This is Smackdown's sixth match, and they have won themselves two draft picks. Tazz banks on Dreamer to win a second draft pick (and some respect) for ECW, but is sorely disappointed when MVP picks up the win and Smackdown's third draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 8: Umaga is drafted to Friday Night Smackdown

This is another smart move. Umaga is a real force in WWE, but has suffered a few too many losses on Raw. Putting him on Smackdown will help revamp his character and give him fresh opponents. Great decision here.

RAW VS. ECW
John "Bradshaw" Layfield vs. Kofi Kingston

Again, Tazz's frustration with his brand shines through in this match. Despite an excellent showing by Kofi Kingston, he is of course buried when JBL hits the Clothesline from Hell out of nowhere to pick up the win, giving Raw it's fifth draft pick.

DRAFT PICK 9: Kane is drafted to Monday Night Raw

This is in the same vein as the Matt Hardy draft. Kane was only recently drafted to ECW, and then only recently crowned with their Championship just three months ago. Assuming that he will drop the ECW World Championship (which until Sunday is property of Raw) at Night of Champions, Kane is already very familiar with most of the men in the Raw locker room. Kane is a good worker that was becoming a staple of ECW. Now all that will be for nothing as he is once again lost in the crowded Raw roster.

RAW VS. SMACKDOWN VS. ECW
15-MAN TRI-BRAND BATTLE ROYAL
(WINNING BRAND RECEIVES TWO DRAFT PICKS)
Team Raw: ECW World Champion Kane, WWE Champion Triple H, Batista, John Cena, and C.M. Punk
vs.
Team Smackdown: World Heavyweight Champion Edge, The Big Show, The Great Khali, Montel Vontavious Porter, and Jeff Hardy
vs.
Team ECW: WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison, United States Champion Matt Hardy, Chavo Guerrero, and Shelton Benjamin

So the rules are that whichever team wins gets two draft picks. This is, of course, Tazz's dream come true as ECW has a chance to play catch up to Raw and Smackdown. Smackdown's team is the most formidable with both Big Show and Khali there. ECW looked small by comparisson. Raw had the most star power, which was unfortunate to see so bluntly presented.
The match had some interesting moments; particularly when the Hardys stared each other down in the middle of the ring before Jeff began to beat on his brother. Khali was eliminated almost instantly by all the members of Raw and ECW. Big Show then proceeded to beat down those men single-handedly. Similarly, Edge speared almost everyone in the ring at one point.
Tazz's frustration peaked here as Matt Hardy was left to stand for ECW in a sea of Raw and Smackdown stars. After his elimination, Tazz said,
"I guess I'll let you guys call this match now, I'm done."
Another injury occured when both Edge and Batista attempted to spear each other. This seemed to be a matter of miscommunication as Batista and Edge both have the same finisher. They ended up cracking skulls in the middle of the ring. Batista was left alone in the corner while he started to bleed profusely. He looked dazed, as though he wasn't quite sure what had happened. When he stood he was wobbly, and it was clear that he probably had some sort of concussion. He ended up being eliminated shortly after.
The last three men in the ring were Cena, HHH, and Edge. After eliminating Big Show, Cena and HHH were standing by each other when Edge knocked Cena, who pushed HHH over the top rope. Edge then threw Cena over the rope to win his brand two draft picks.

DRAFT PICK 10: Mr. Kennedy is drafted to Friday Night Smackdown

DRAFT PICK 11: Triple H is drafted to Friday Night Smackdown

I'll start with Kennedy.
This man has already spent plenty of time in Smackdown territory. There's no reason for him to go back. He should be the WWE Champion, and moving him to Smackdown will do nothing for his momentum.

The biggest bombshell, of course, is Triple H being drafted to Smackdown.
This throws everything I said about the Jeff Hardy draft and most of the others out the window. I think this is a great move for Smackdown and gives them a chance to regain some of the prestige they had when men like Kurt Angle, The Rock, and the Undertaker were fixtures of that show. Triple H lends the brand some real star power, and that should help tremendously while also freeing up the Raw roster to bring us some new championship blood.

Other highlights of the night include a promo by Chris Jericho that was answered by Shawn Michaels. When he came down to the ring, Y2J attacked HBK and they spilled outside the ring. Jericho gave HBK a drop toehold and HBK took a nasty dive on the corner of an announce table. It appeared the corner of the table went directly into HBK's eye. It was hard to tell if it was a work or a shoot, as the action quickly halted and EMT's rushed to ringside. Jericho only looked on and headed up the ramp.
And finally, Vince McMahon, of course, had the last laugh. After giving away a grand prize of $500,000, there was an explosion on the stage. After getting to the floor, a pice of the set (the sign with the giant McMahon dollar bill) "blew up" and "collapsed" onto Vince, who was under the stage. The wrestlers in the ring (who had just finished their battle royal) rushed to the scene and tried to move the sign off of McMahon. EMT's and staff came out and tried to move Vince out from under the sign. Triple H could be heard conferring with the staff as to what to do and that he was afraid more of the stage would break if they tried to move the sign any more. McMahon was eventually recovered from under the stage using a stretchboard and a neckbrace.
Moments later, WWE.com reported that due to the night's "tragic incident", McMahon's Million Dollar Mania has been suspended indefinitely.
Of course, who cares about the Chairman of the Board's condition?
And with that, what should've been one of the best Raw's in recent memory came to an agonizing close.

Overall, I think the moves of the draft were smart. Triple H going to Smackdown is going to help both shows tremendously. Smackdown got the best of night, and I think they will be a better product as a result.
ECW of course, was buried. With only one victory in the night (resulting in one draft pick) they looked weak and out of place with Raw and Smackdown. Moving Kane is not going to do anything for either show, but losing their championship will mean the show lacks purpose.
The other result is that one can almost guess what will happen at Night of Champions.
The Intercontinental Championship has not been announced to be defended at that PPV.
However, Smackdown now has posession of both titles, so we know one of them must move to Raw. That means that Edge will most likely lose the World Heavyweight Championship to Batista. Big Show will beat Kane and bring the ECW title back to the ECW brand. None of the other matches present much consequence for the company, but the fact that they chose to have this brand draft before the PPV will not necessarily help buy rates.

But I did enjoy Raw thoroughly this week, even if I am outraged at the absence of Jim Ross from now until WWE realizes what a mistake they've made.
I give it a 7/10. One point is deducted for J.R.'s draft, another for the Million Dollar Giveaway (which I was able to fast forward through thanks to the magic of DVR) and yet another for the terrible angle they've created as an excuse to put Vince back in the spotlight and stop giving away money (which was a mistake to begin with).