2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

Yes, it is:

As far as the draft went, who really cares? I mean, wasn't Jericho supposed to have been banned from Raw about five times already?

And yeah, I think it was a little too early for an Edge heel turn. He seemed pretty over with the fans.

 

People on this board and a wrestling-centric board I frequent are up in arms about Raw pillaging Smackdown with the draft yet again.

Before you go off a ledge, just keep one thing in mind: Raw and Smackdown aren't equals.

WWE will never say as much (gotta be able to draw money at the gate with both brands), but it doesn't take much analysis to figure it out. Smackdown is a developmental program for Raw. Wrestlers get their feet wet on one of the two shows, go to Smackdown to be groomed for a prime spot and then get their shot on Raw. Some guys stick, others don't. And those that don't either get sent back to Smackdown for retooling or get turfed out of the company.

Sure, some a top guy or two will be sent over to do a stint on Smackdown to help develop other wrestlers, but they always come back to the big boy show on Monday nights. Recent examples of this are Triple H and, now, Chris Jericho and Edge.

Smackdown will survive. It'll focus on basic storytelling and its in-ring product, which will help younger guys develop and keep hardcore fans happy, and when those talents are ready for the more elaborate stuff on Raw (for better or worse), they'll get drafted over there next year.

 

Disagree IMHO. Edge's character/Rated R superstar (ironic on a PG show) is better suited for heeldom. The whole "spear" chants were corny.

 

Also, note that Smackdown will be moving to SyFy in a few months ... meaning it might as well have ECW status.

 

There are four guys who are much better heels than faces: Orton, Edge, Jericho and HHH. Everyone loves to hate those guys.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing. Right now, Smackdown can be seen on a channel that like, what, 15 percent of people have? The show needs to go to a legit channel and while I don't get the move to Sci-Fi (Sorry, I refuse to dignify the idiotic name change), it's better than leaving it on the equivalent of ESPNU.

 

Miz. He may not be a main-eventer, but he's the best heel in the company.

 

Supplemental draft results thus far:

SD: Chris Masters, Hornswaggle, Chavo, Cody
Raw: Ezekial Jackson, Goldust, Natalya, Khali

 

Oh, I agree. He's much better as a heel. But when you have a guy turn, he should turn for a while instead of four months, unless the fans just shit on the character. Otherwise, fans won't take the turns seriously enough.

 

How many times is this guy going to jump ship before he finally hangs it up?

 

Hey, Goldust is still shockingly entertaining - He was getting decent pops in ECW before the show ended. And also, before Sheamus went on a rampage, I believe Goldust was the last (only?) guy to beat him.

All the guys heading to Smackdown seem like "future endeavor" risks to me. (I especially hope this is true for Hornswaggle.)

 

I will second The Miz. I hope they push him into the main event picture in the next couple weeks / months, since he has been booked pretty strong lately. He strikes me as a meaner Jericho, with a little less in-ring ability, if that makes sense. It's shocking to me how much he has developed in just a couple of years.

Speaking of Jericho, I think he is equally effective as a face or heel, since his best role is as a shifting sort of tweener. Even now, when he's trying to basically play as a snotty heel, he still gets cheers and laughs because of the vocab he uses. In that ESPN interview someone linked to, I believe he said that he has to switch up his style because even now, he stills resonates strongly with the crowd.