Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2013 21:19:06 GMT -5
So, after a LONG hiatus from posting anything here, I remembered the 2010 draft and how much of a letdown that turned out to be for nearly everyone. I am going to, to the best of my abilities, go through each pick and try to explain the issues that surrounded this draft...
NIGHT ONE(SMACKDOWN)
Pick number 1: Shawn Michaels from Smackdown to NXT
From a General Manager's standpoint, this was a great pick, since HBK had been so much fun on ECW the previous year. However, this completely eradicated plans that Tank and SnS had for a Michaels/Stephanie McMahon feud. Thankfully, things ended up working out swell in the long run, with the formation of Nexus and the Jericho/Michaels angle. But at the time of the pick, Tank was livid.
Pick number 2: Abraham Washington from NXT to Smackdown
This was really only a bad thing for me, since Abe had been my heel commentator for about seven months at that point. In the long run, it was great for Smackdown, and NXT recovered with Ashley Valence and Todd Grisham both filling the vacant commentary spot perfectly in their own ways.
(As an aside, the original pick was Hacksaw Duggan, who would be released immediately. I will talk about this at the end, since the "draftleases"(thanks to Tank for that term) were one of the biggest points of contention about this draft)
Pick number 3: Mark Henry from Smackdown to Raw
I'm not sure if anyone was really upset about this pick. He was one half of the Tag Team Champions with Heath Slater, meaning as long as they held the belts, the Wigsplitters weren't breaking up. However, it was the first pick to split a tag team, which is something else that will be discussed at the end.
Pick number 4: Caylen Croft from Raw to NXT
Croft was one half of the Dudebusters, who at the time, were written by Headbanger Man. Headbanger did express some discontent over this, seeing as how he enjoyed writing the team. However, he did come around to the idea of writing Trent as a singles star. Again, I'll talk about this at the end.
Pick number 5: Batista from Raw to Smackdown
This was a complete non-factor, as Iron Giant never promoed for Batista and would end up deleting his account, leading to Batista's release.
(Side-note: Hurricane Helms was drafted and immediately released...)
Pick number 6: The Great Khali from Raw to Smackdown
Pick number 7: Finlay from Smackdown to Raw
(Match was a draw)
Khali would be used as an enforcer first for Rey Mysterio, then later for Cody Rhodes. Finlay would be a non-factor until January when Super Albino made him the Fighting Irish Drunk. Nothing stellar here, but it did conclude night one.
NIGHT TWO: NXT
Pick number 8: Justin Gabriel from NXT to Raw
Gabriel moving wasn't a problem on it's own, it's where he ended up. More on this later...
Pick number 9: Chavo Guerrero from NXT to Smackdown
Not an awful pick here, since both SnS and I wanted him. By moving to Smackdown, he would become available to SnS, which was fine by me.
Pick number 10: Jamie Noble from NXT to Raw
This pick would move Armbar off of NXT and back to Raw. While it hurt, it wasn't a major hit for me. Although it did lead to me making a request that would never be fulfilled...
Pick number 11: Bryan Danielson from NXT to Smackdown
Danielson was the Intercontinental Champion, meaning that for the second year running, NXT lost a title to the draft. Although, in the long run, it turned out to be a great thing for NXT, because I got Colt Cabana and CM Punk on my show.
Pick number 12: Gail Kim from Smackdown to NXT
I know Hayden was displeased about this pick, due to him wanting Gail for the women's division. He would get to tag-rule her, but never had her as a taken.
Pick number 13: Mickie James from Smackdown to NXT
Understand that at the time, we were planning to make the Women's Championship Raw exclusive. Smackdown and NXT would be getting their own Championships, but this draft was moving people to the wrong shows. Again, I'll talk about this at the end.
(Also, Ryan Braddock was drafted and released immediately)
NIGHT THREE: RAW
Pick number 14: Heath Slater from Smackdown to NXT
Biggest problem here is that Slater's Tag Team Championship partner was drafted to Raw two nights earlier. Again, tag teams will be discussed at the end.
Pick number 15: John Morrison from Smackdown to NXT
Honestly, I was happy with this pick, as it would open up options for me on Smackdown after the Draft.
Pick number 16: MVP from Smackdown to NXT
TTS wanted MVP moved to NXT, so this pick went just fine.
Pick number 17: Katie Lea from NXT to Smackdown
Again, there were plans to move the Women's Championship to Raw. The Champion just got drafted to Smackdown...
Pick number 18: Jack Swagger from NXT to Raw
Well, on one hand, several people wanted Swagger, including Tank, Hayden, and Double H. On the other hand, Jono had Swagger tag-ruled to Santino, meaning another team was split up.
Pick number 19: Eve Torres from Smackdown to Raw
Pretty much a non-factor, since nobody did anything with her until Tank tag-ruled her to Swagger, about month before both got drafted to NXT in the 2011 draft.
(Maria was the original pick but was immediately released)
Now, there was also a supplemental draft, which I'll discuss as we go along here. Because the supplemental draft, meant to fix things, actually made things worse in some cases.
TAG TEAMS
You'll notice, several tandems were broken up by the random picks, notably the Wigsplitters and the Dudebusters. Now, as I said, Headbanger had resigned himself to pushing Barreta as a singles guy. But in the supplemental, Croft was sent back to Raw. Meanwhile, Slater was also sent to Raw. Biggest problem here was the fact that the random picks meant nothing because they were undone. Tyson Kidd would join Noble on Raw as well to reform the Pitbulls.
But what Barreta, Henry, Slater, and Noble had all gotten the chance to go solo for a while? Who knows what could have happened? Basically, instead of allowing some guys to go single and others to form new teams, we put three teams right back together for no real reason.
DRAFTLEASES
With all due respect to Above Average, some of these seemed to be completely out of spite. I know we wanted to clean up the roster, and I had no problem with losing Duggan, who was planning to drop anyway. And Braddock and Steve Lewington hadn't been long for this fed anyway.
But Hayden had been using both Maria and Helms before they were released. And Tank had been planning on a Matt Hardy/Helms tag team post-Draft. So two characters who were being used were cut from the game for no good reason.
REQUESTS
Like every year, we all had our own requests for our characters.
Tank didn't want anyone to move. Michaels was the first pick. Nobody't fault, random picks happen.
AA wanted the Women's Championship on Raw, then Katie Lea gets moved to Smackdown.
I wanted Justin Gabriel available to pick, but he moved to Raw, where I planned on taking Jillian Hall. What I was never told was that Gabriel would be going to Smackdown in the supplemental. Morrison was moved back to Smackdown and I never got to take Gabriel.
TTS wanted both MVP and Hoyt on NXT, but Hoyt was moved to Smackdown in the supplemental.
Double H wanted to take Swagger. Swagger moved to Raw in the main draft. DubH already had Natalya on Raw. But then the supplemental switched Natalya to Smackdown and H's Smackdown pick, Matt Striker, to Raw. But then H was talked into keeping Striker so Hayden could get Swagger.
Hayden wanted Gail Kim on Raw. She moved to NXT in the main draft and wasn't moved in the supplemental.
Tank wanted Kofi Kingston to stay on Raw. He was moved to Smackdown, apparently by majority rules(although nobody actually took Kofi until a month or so after the draft...)
I believe Headbanger, Mikey, and Matt all requested no switches. Chris Masters and Evan Bourne(Headbanger's Smackdown and NXT picks) swapped shows. Danielson and Punk(Mikey) swapped shows(although this was more due to the main draft moving Danielson and the IC Title to Smackdown). All of Matt's guys switched brands.
Jono didn't want Edge or Santino moved. They swapped brands.
In addition, with Edge moving, PN dropped Christian, since he only took him for the reunion. In fact, he almost quit altogether over the move.
As well, I had asked for Haas to be moved NXT, but that request was vetoed, meaning I wouldn't have Armbar on my show.
Pretty much, very few people were happy with how their requests were handled.
THE DIVAS
Honestly, I think we should've let the post-draft rosters dictate which show got which title. Because it made more sense than moving Katie Lea and Mickie James twice. After the main draft, Raw had Jillian Hall, Melina, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Maryse, Lin Lin, Ms. Cash, Serena, and Eve. Smackdown had Katie Lea, Layla, Beth Phoenix, and The Bella Twins. NXT had Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Michelle McCool, The TnT Bunnies, and Rosa Mendes.
The easy solution would've been to move Maryse, Alicia, Jillian, Melina, Natalya, Michelle, and the Bunnies to Smackdown. We could've swapped a few cruiserweights to Raw and give them the Cruiserweight Championship instead.
But instead, we had most of the picks being undone. Which, honestly, was stupid. Overall, this draft may have been worse than the previous year's due to all these issues and nobody really being satisfied.
NIGHT ONE(SMACKDOWN)
Pick number 1: Shawn Michaels from Smackdown to NXT
From a General Manager's standpoint, this was a great pick, since HBK had been so much fun on ECW the previous year. However, this completely eradicated plans that Tank and SnS had for a Michaels/Stephanie McMahon feud. Thankfully, things ended up working out swell in the long run, with the formation of Nexus and the Jericho/Michaels angle. But at the time of the pick, Tank was livid.
Pick number 2: Abraham Washington from NXT to Smackdown
This was really only a bad thing for me, since Abe had been my heel commentator for about seven months at that point. In the long run, it was great for Smackdown, and NXT recovered with Ashley Valence and Todd Grisham both filling the vacant commentary spot perfectly in their own ways.
(As an aside, the original pick was Hacksaw Duggan, who would be released immediately. I will talk about this at the end, since the "draftleases"(thanks to Tank for that term) were one of the biggest points of contention about this draft)
Pick number 3: Mark Henry from Smackdown to Raw
I'm not sure if anyone was really upset about this pick. He was one half of the Tag Team Champions with Heath Slater, meaning as long as they held the belts, the Wigsplitters weren't breaking up. However, it was the first pick to split a tag team, which is something else that will be discussed at the end.
Pick number 4: Caylen Croft from Raw to NXT
Croft was one half of the Dudebusters, who at the time, were written by Headbanger Man. Headbanger did express some discontent over this, seeing as how he enjoyed writing the team. However, he did come around to the idea of writing Trent as a singles star. Again, I'll talk about this at the end.
Pick number 5: Batista from Raw to Smackdown
This was a complete non-factor, as Iron Giant never promoed for Batista and would end up deleting his account, leading to Batista's release.
(Side-note: Hurricane Helms was drafted and immediately released...)
Pick number 6: The Great Khali from Raw to Smackdown
Pick number 7: Finlay from Smackdown to Raw
(Match was a draw)
Khali would be used as an enforcer first for Rey Mysterio, then later for Cody Rhodes. Finlay would be a non-factor until January when Super Albino made him the Fighting Irish Drunk. Nothing stellar here, but it did conclude night one.
NIGHT TWO: NXT
Pick number 8: Justin Gabriel from NXT to Raw
Gabriel moving wasn't a problem on it's own, it's where he ended up. More on this later...
Pick number 9: Chavo Guerrero from NXT to Smackdown
Not an awful pick here, since both SnS and I wanted him. By moving to Smackdown, he would become available to SnS, which was fine by me.
Pick number 10: Jamie Noble from NXT to Raw
This pick would move Armbar off of NXT and back to Raw. While it hurt, it wasn't a major hit for me. Although it did lead to me making a request that would never be fulfilled...
Pick number 11: Bryan Danielson from NXT to Smackdown
Danielson was the Intercontinental Champion, meaning that for the second year running, NXT lost a title to the draft. Although, in the long run, it turned out to be a great thing for NXT, because I got Colt Cabana and CM Punk on my show.
Pick number 12: Gail Kim from Smackdown to NXT
I know Hayden was displeased about this pick, due to him wanting Gail for the women's division. He would get to tag-rule her, but never had her as a taken.
Pick number 13: Mickie James from Smackdown to NXT
Understand that at the time, we were planning to make the Women's Championship Raw exclusive. Smackdown and NXT would be getting their own Championships, but this draft was moving people to the wrong shows. Again, I'll talk about this at the end.
(Also, Ryan Braddock was drafted and released immediately)
NIGHT THREE: RAW
Pick number 14: Heath Slater from Smackdown to NXT
Biggest problem here is that Slater's Tag Team Championship partner was drafted to Raw two nights earlier. Again, tag teams will be discussed at the end.
Pick number 15: John Morrison from Smackdown to NXT
Honestly, I was happy with this pick, as it would open up options for me on Smackdown after the Draft.
Pick number 16: MVP from Smackdown to NXT
TTS wanted MVP moved to NXT, so this pick went just fine.
Pick number 17: Katie Lea from NXT to Smackdown
Again, there were plans to move the Women's Championship to Raw. The Champion just got drafted to Smackdown...
Pick number 18: Jack Swagger from NXT to Raw
Well, on one hand, several people wanted Swagger, including Tank, Hayden, and Double H. On the other hand, Jono had Swagger tag-ruled to Santino, meaning another team was split up.
Pick number 19: Eve Torres from Smackdown to Raw
Pretty much a non-factor, since nobody did anything with her until Tank tag-ruled her to Swagger, about month before both got drafted to NXT in the 2011 draft.
(Maria was the original pick but was immediately released)
Now, there was also a supplemental draft, which I'll discuss as we go along here. Because the supplemental draft, meant to fix things, actually made things worse in some cases.
TAG TEAMS
You'll notice, several tandems were broken up by the random picks, notably the Wigsplitters and the Dudebusters. Now, as I said, Headbanger had resigned himself to pushing Barreta as a singles guy. But in the supplemental, Croft was sent back to Raw. Meanwhile, Slater was also sent to Raw. Biggest problem here was the fact that the random picks meant nothing because they were undone. Tyson Kidd would join Noble on Raw as well to reform the Pitbulls.
But what Barreta, Henry, Slater, and Noble had all gotten the chance to go solo for a while? Who knows what could have happened? Basically, instead of allowing some guys to go single and others to form new teams, we put three teams right back together for no real reason.
DRAFTLEASES
With all due respect to Above Average, some of these seemed to be completely out of spite. I know we wanted to clean up the roster, and I had no problem with losing Duggan, who was planning to drop anyway. And Braddock and Steve Lewington hadn't been long for this fed anyway.
But Hayden had been using both Maria and Helms before they were released. And Tank had been planning on a Matt Hardy/Helms tag team post-Draft. So two characters who were being used were cut from the game for no good reason.
REQUESTS
Like every year, we all had our own requests for our characters.
Tank didn't want anyone to move. Michaels was the first pick. Nobody't fault, random picks happen.
AA wanted the Women's Championship on Raw, then Katie Lea gets moved to Smackdown.
I wanted Justin Gabriel available to pick, but he moved to Raw, where I planned on taking Jillian Hall. What I was never told was that Gabriel would be going to Smackdown in the supplemental. Morrison was moved back to Smackdown and I never got to take Gabriel.
TTS wanted both MVP and Hoyt on NXT, but Hoyt was moved to Smackdown in the supplemental.
Double H wanted to take Swagger. Swagger moved to Raw in the main draft. DubH already had Natalya on Raw. But then the supplemental switched Natalya to Smackdown and H's Smackdown pick, Matt Striker, to Raw. But then H was talked into keeping Striker so Hayden could get Swagger.
Hayden wanted Gail Kim on Raw. She moved to NXT in the main draft and wasn't moved in the supplemental.
Tank wanted Kofi Kingston to stay on Raw. He was moved to Smackdown, apparently by majority rules(although nobody actually took Kofi until a month or so after the draft...)
I believe Headbanger, Mikey, and Matt all requested no switches. Chris Masters and Evan Bourne(Headbanger's Smackdown and NXT picks) swapped shows. Danielson and Punk(Mikey) swapped shows(although this was more due to the main draft moving Danielson and the IC Title to Smackdown). All of Matt's guys switched brands.
Jono didn't want Edge or Santino moved. They swapped brands.
In addition, with Edge moving, PN dropped Christian, since he only took him for the reunion. In fact, he almost quit altogether over the move.
As well, I had asked for Haas to be moved NXT, but that request was vetoed, meaning I wouldn't have Armbar on my show.
Pretty much, very few people were happy with how their requests were handled.
THE DIVAS
Honestly, I think we should've let the post-draft rosters dictate which show got which title. Because it made more sense than moving Katie Lea and Mickie James twice. After the main draft, Raw had Jillian Hall, Melina, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Maryse, Lin Lin, Ms. Cash, Serena, and Eve. Smackdown had Katie Lea, Layla, Beth Phoenix, and The Bella Twins. NXT had Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Michelle McCool, The TnT Bunnies, and Rosa Mendes.
The easy solution would've been to move Maryse, Alicia, Jillian, Melina, Natalya, Michelle, and the Bunnies to Smackdown. We could've swapped a few cruiserweights to Raw and give them the Cruiserweight Championship instead.
But instead, we had most of the picks being undone. Which, honestly, was stupid. Overall, this draft may have been worse than the previous year's due to all these issues and nobody really being satisfied.
