The Shimmy 4.07.08: A Nice Tall Draft

Posted by Andy Clark on 04.07.2008

With rumors circulating about another WWE Draft, what moves need to be made? Who needs to go where? And what does Mel Kiper say about everything? All those questions (well, maybe not about Mel) are answered in this week's edition of The Shimmy!

So it seems as if it is that time of year again: the time of year when everyone is clamoring for the WWE Draft. Typically the draft has been done at one of two times, either shortly after WrestleMania (2002, 2004) or at the beginning of the summer (2005, 2006, 2007). With WrestleMania out of the way and the new wrestling year starting up I figured I'd try my hand at predicting some moves WWE might, or should, make. Don't worry, I'll try not to screw SmackDown over too bad!

Raw to SmackDown: Umaga

We'll go with the move that's been rumored since before WrestleMania. Personally I think it's a good idea. Umaga has done just about all he can on Raw. On SmackDown they could build him back up as the monster he once was. He could even go on a whole new undefeated streak as he could "undefeated on SmackDown." A clash with Undertaker, be it for the World Title or not, would be fresh, as would feuds with Rey Mysterio and Finlay. Umaga-Big Show could be an interesting program as well and I could even see Umaga doubling his time in ECW and maybe getting a shot at a World Title. Matt Strike would be a great mouthpiece for the Samoan Bulldozer, and Striker could even start up his own monster stable with the likes of Big Daddy V, The Great Khali, Umaga, and a superstar I'll be moving later on in the column.

SmackDown to Raw: Batista

Much like Umaga, Batista has done all he can do on his brand. He has been THE guy on SmackDown ever since he moved over in the 2005 draft. While it may be a bit odd to see him return to the red brand, it would be fresh. This burgeoning feud with Shawn Michaels looks very, very interesting and instead of having them blur the lines of the brand extension they should just move the big man. Maybe Triple H could get involved trying to smooth the tension between the two men. Both a partnership and/or feud with John Cena would be big money, and we never did get to see that Orton-Batista program they've wanted to do for ages. The way Orton has been running through challengers Raw could use the new blood.

Raw to SmackDown: Chris Jericho

While Jericho has done a great job since his return to Raw (despite what some overly ambitious smarks would have you believe), Jericho might fit in much better on SmackDown. It appears as if we may be headed towards a heel turn for Y2J and I won't say that it is entirely unwelcome. There are a wealth of fresh ideas for Jericho on SmackDown, feuds with Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Finlay, and Matt Hardy. If Jericho is still face when the switch is first made they could even squeeze in a good Jericho-Edge feud. I would love to see Jericho align himself with John Morrison & The Miz to form a kickass stable of awesomeness. There is also a ready made feud between Jericho and the next man on my list.

Raw to SmackDown: Jeff Hardy

I have a variety of reasons for why this is a smart play. First of all, it puts Jeff on the same brand as Matt Hardy (and Shannon Moore and Gregory Helms as well), plus they are booked by Hardy-proponent Michael Hayes. With friends and family to look after him it may be easier to help Jeff stay clean and healthy. If WWE decides that they don't want to put Jeff back into a high profile singles spot but still wants to capitalize on his popularity they could always reunite the Hardys for a tag team run. Tell me a feud between the Hardys and Miz & Morrison wouldn't rule? If WWE wanted to give him a test run with a belt to see how he handles the pressure they could try out the ECW Title on him and not be risking that much. Also, if Jeff ever earns back the trust of management to actually get to win a World Title, it would make sense to put him on the B-show on a lesser network then risk him ruling the roost on the flagship brand. Between SmackDown and ECW WWE could really experiment with how they want to handle Jeff Hardy and Jeff himself would probably have more room to move up the ladder on SmackDown then he would on Raw.

ECW to Raw: CM Punk

And the man to take Jeff Hardy's place on the Raw roster is the Straightedge Superstar himself, CM Punk. While I admit this is a risky move (because Raw has the tendency to be where promising upper midcarders go to see their pushes die), Punk's Money in the Bank victory at WrestleMania makes me think that WWE is serious about at least giving Punk a Rob Van Dam-like chance. Working with higher profile stars can only help Punk in the long run, look no further than how good he looked in the ring with Chris Jericho and how much of a star he came across as when he teamed together with DX. At the very least Punk could help carry the IC title, but the idea of Punk-Orton or even Punk-Kennedy sounds good to me.

SmackDown to Raw: Mark Henry

With Umaga moving to SmackDown and Khali and Big Daddy V still taking up residence over there someone has to move. That someone is Mark Henry. While his squashing at the hands of John Cena prior to No Way Out didn't leave me too thrilled with Mizark's future, I was impressed with how they booked him up to and during the 24 Man Battle Royal at WrestleMania. Henry could be a solid monster heel for the faces of Raw to go through and could be good hired muscle for the likes of Orton or JBL. So long as they don't have Mark Henry job to one guy a million times (like he did to Undertaker on SmackDown) he could be a good addition to the Raw roster.

Raw to ECW: Snitsky

Snitsky really should never have been drafted from ECW to Raw last year anyhow, so now it's time to rectify that situation. Over the past few months I have actually been sort of impressed with Snistky, at least in his limited role. Much like Mark Henry I was impressed with how WWE booked him at the WrestleMania Battle Royal and wouldn't mind see him getting a decent push in ECW. A feud with Kane could be surprisingly good and if worse comes to worse they could always stick him in a tag team with Mike Knox. Matt Striker could end up representing all the monsters on SmackDown and ECW.

SmackDown to ECW: Jonathan Coachman

ECW to SmackDown: Tazz

OK, this is a twofer deal. Due to the SmackDown/ECW talent exchange there really is no difference between the two brands and it would actually be kind of silly to switch people. The thing is that WWE is probably going to want to at least make it LOOK like the two brands are at least slightly separate, so a few moves need to be made. This is one, or rather two, of those moves. I can appreciate WWE's dedication to wanting to make Coach a primary announcer. Fine, let him do it on ECW. The Cole & Coach Connection has been well, awful, and their lack of chemistry seems to slowly be destroying Michael Cole's commentating ability. Put Cole back together with someone he has real chemistry with in Tazz and let Coach go hone his skills on the C-show. It's been an admirable effort on WWE's part, and really on Jonathan Coachman's as well, but it's quite obvious at this point that things are not working and that something needs to change.

Raw to ECW: Canadian Bulldog

The newly rechristened DH Smith is just going to waste away on Heat if he stays on the Raw brand. ECW has been the place where midcarders are given the chance to shine, or at least get prolonged airtime. I was tempted to give Cody Rhodes this spot, but after the way Bulldog has been treated I determined he needed it more. This is the kind of guy you could put Tommy Dreamer or Stevie Richards up against in an effort to get the guy some seasoning. He also has the recently debuted Nattie Niedhart on SmackDown to possibly pair up with.

ECW to Raw: Elijah Burke

Quite frankly I don't have that much hope for this pick, but either Burke is going to job in ECW or job on Raw. At least it would be a change of scenery. If WWE ever did want to push Burke seriously again I think he has to get away from the stench of jobberdom over on ECW. Then again I have CM Punk moving to Raw so perhaps it would be the same old story for poor Elijah. If worse comes to worse they could always just pair him up with Ron "The Truth" Killings to form a tag team.

SmackDown to ECW: Kenny Dykstra

While this move doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things due to the Talent Exchange, I think Dykstra could use the distinction of being an ECW exclusive superstar. His SmackDown run has been far from the fresh start he was looking for when coming over from Raw last year, but he looked good in his one appearance in ECW against CM Punk. Kenny could just use the rebranding to freshen up a bit and hopefully receive a bit more of a push.

Raw to SmackDown: Ashley Massaro

Trivial move that gets one of the non-wrestler Divas off the show with the Women's Title.

SmackDown to Raw: Victoria

Trivial move that gets one of the wrestling capable Divas back on the show with the Women's Title. Nattie Niedhart should be getting this spot but I doubt they would move her after she just debuted on SmackDown. Victoria should never have been moved to SmackDown in the first place, put her back where she could do some good.

So there you go, my predictions for this year's draft. This year I think WWE has a lot more room for roster movement which is a good thing. Last year I think they just had a draft for the sake of having one and it really didn't work out that well. In fact the most successful move of last year's draft was probably John Morrison and The Miz both being shipped to ECW in the Supplemental Draft on WWE.com. I think WWE is starting on the long road to WrestleMania XXV and it starts with what moves they decide to make here.

PPV in Review: WrestleMania XXIV

First of all I have to comment on the set. Ever year checking out what the arena or stadium looks like is part of the fun of the WrestleMania hoopla. I must say that this year's arena looked great and it may visually be my favorite WrestleMania. I loved the use of the fireworks and I hope the unfortunate incident at the end of the show doesn't prevent them from going all out the next time they are in an outdoor arena (perhaps as soon as 2010 if reports from Fan Axxess are to be believed).

The 24 Man Battle Royal was rather quick. They started at 6:30 and it was over by 6:45 if not sooner. I think they could have given all the participants their individual entrances and it wouldn't have hurt anything but that's a small gripe. At the end of the day it served its purpose and was still probably the best pre-WrestleMania match since the Battle Royal at WrestleMania 21. Jamie Noble staving off elimination by climbing on the backs of three other guys was a great moment.

The Belfast Brawl was a surprising opener to the show but it was good. I know some people were expecting more of a stiff-fest instead of a garbage match but I still think it delivered. I was shocked at the fact that JBL won but it wasn't as much of a downer as I would have figured.

Money in the Bank was insane. Everyone has their favorite spot of the match but I loved Shelton Benjamin walking on the top rope when Carlito tried to tip him over with that "You can't tip me over, bitch!" look on his face. Two things surprised me in this match. The first was Matt Hardy's return. I know a lot of people called it but I honestly didn't think we'd see him unless he was a last minute addition to the match. Matt came back to interfere and looked to get a great pop in doing so. Matt Hardy has a lot of momentum coming off of this week and I hope he can hold onto it. The other thing that surprised me was CM Punk winning. While I gave him an outside chance of pulling down the briefcase I didn't think WWE would actually let him do it. I'll go on record and say that I think Punk will be the first person to cash in MITB and lose (although he might win a subsequent rematch) this was still a great moment for him and no doubt the biggest match and win of his career. I do have to question having him lose to Chris Jericho on Raw. I don't mind Punk losing matches while he holds MITB but to do it the night after the biggest win of his career seemed a bit Jay Lethal-ish to me.

Batista-Umaga was highly disappointing. There really wasn't anything technically wrong with the match just that it was short and kind of cookie cutter. I was really looking forward to this match, in fact it was one of my most anticipated matches on the show, and it definitely didn't deliver.

A lot of people hated the ECW Title Match between Kane and Chavo. I didn't mind it so much. If you're going to have a short match like that I would much rather have the gimmicky quick win then watching a three minute match that they try and pass off as a legit contest. I'm interested to see what Kane does as ECW Champion and I really hope we get a Kane-Shelton Benjamin feud out of this.

What can I say about Flair-Michaels that hasn't already been said? This was tremendous storytelling and a fine match to boot. "I'm sorry, I love you" is destined to become an iconic WrestleMania moment and it not only capped off a great match but it capped off an incredible career. The emotion in this match and the post-match and the next night on Raw was off the charts and I defy you to find a more emotional match in this or any other year. Perhaps even better than the actual "I'm sorry, I love you" BANG finish was the way Flair stood up and asked for that final shot, just like a hero in the movies looking down the barrel of a gun right before he dies a noble death. I know Ric Flair said that the title matches should have been the focus on the event but this match should have definitely closed the show. While I'm at it I've got to discuss the Flair tribute on Raw. Quite frankly I don't know if it could have been any better. With the classic Benoit-Eddie "confetti" moment forever tarnished I believe Ric Flair's final farewell on Raw may be my new favorite wrestling moment. Seeing all the wrestlers paying their respects was a truly moving moment, especially the small things like the smile on Edge's face or Randy Orton wiping away a tear or John Cena's infectious grin and salute, not to mention seeing all the legends that were there to see Naitch one more time. How great is it to see all the wrestlers gathered together on the ramp and know that it isn't because someone has died? That segment NEEDS to be on the WrestleMania DVD, preferably with the off camera additions of Undertaker and Vince McMahon and the post-show dark match of Ric Flair vs. his jacket.

BunnyMania. Truth be told I kind of enjoyed it. I thought Snoop Dogg was great all night and the match itself was inoffensive. Nothing bad here.

Ah, the Triple Threat Match. It's good that I had a week to reflect on this match. Had I included my thoughts on WrestleMania in last week's column I probably would have been on quite the rant. At the time I thought it was utterly moronic to have Orton win the title. That is NOT what WrestleMania moments are made of and I didn't have the faith in WWE to make Orton's title reign mean much from here on out for the WrestleMania win to not be wasted. Plus John Cena had such a kickass entrance that it was a shame he couldn't win. Also, WWE was REALLY not ever want to do a legitimate Streak vs. Streak Match at WrestleMania seeing as how Cena not only lost but he took the pin. Good thing I'm not ranting, right? Over the course of the week I started thinking that maybe WWE made a good decision. That win really cemented Orton as one of the premiere guys in the company and so long as he doesn't lose the title for the next two months or so this may have been a big moment for him. I still think that if they didn't want Michaels-Flair to go on last that this match should have. I don't think the match would have deflated the crowd as badly as they think and seeing as how Orton won the match cleanly it would have come off as a bigger deal had he gotten to end the show. I'm not one of these IWC guys that says that WrestleMania should have heels winning at the end to spice it up because I largely feel that the faces should emerge victorious at the WrestleMania main event but I do think that it would have been a more impactful moment had it been last on the card. Hell, if would have been more satisfying then Triple H retaining in 2000.

And on to Big Show-Floyd Mayweather. First of all, rumors abound that this WrestleMania broke the PPV records they were aiming for. I know most of the credit will go to Mayweather and while I'm sure he did help those buyrates I think Flair's last match had just as much to do with it. I've seen plenty of people that said "I haven't watched wrestling in years but I wanted to see Ric Flair's last match." Most of the mainstream media people, the same mainstream media people that salivated over the possibility of seeing Trump get his head shaved last year, didn't seem too interested in promoting the Mayweather match as must see. In fact, of all the publicity that Mayweather did for the show in the final week (the real period where this promotion picked up steam) the only outlet that didn't treat it as a joke was Mike & Mike in the Morning. That being said by all account Mayweather was great to work with and WWE would like to continue the relationship. Most people seem to have really enjoyed this match. I didn't think it was nearly as good as some people are claiming but after reading all the reviews I think I may need to give the match a second viewing. Until that time I suppose I'll leave my commentary on the match at that.

And then we have the main event. I've already said that there were two other matches that deserved the last spot on the card more that this match and I think that resentment, coupled with the slow start, made this match seem a bit irrelevant early on. I was all prepared to write about how Edge-Undertaker was the new Jericho-Triple H, but as the match progressed things got more and more interesting. They ended up putting on one hell of a match and I even bit on some of Edge's nearfalls towards the end. I will say that if WWE wanted to use the gogoplata in the finish of the main event of their biggest show of the year they should have invested the 15 seconds it would have taken prior to WrestleMania to actually give it a name. You know how stupid it's going to look five years from now when we look back on this match and all Cole can say is "There's that submission maneuver Undertaker has been using!" The match ended up being very good and while I still think WWE would have been better served ending with the Triple Threat Match or Flair-Michaels this was still a suitable WrestleMania main event. May I also add one more thing about the commentary: despite all the heat Coach gets, even from me sometimes, congratulations to him for getting to call a WrestleMania main event. Joey Styles hasn't gotten to do that, neither has JBL. No matter what happens to Coach in terms of his commentary future he always has that to hang his hat on.

So before we get to the Andy Enjoyment Index I'll say that the show itself had a very good feel to it as an overall event. For that reason none of the matches are going below the enjoyment line even though some were not great. The top five matches really delivered in my eyes though, so despite the fact that I'm not separating the ten matches know that matches one through five were the real gems of this show.

Andy Enjoyment Index: WrestleMania XXIV

1) Flair-Michaels
2) Money in the Bank
3) Orton-Cena-Triple H
4) Edge-Taker
5) Finlay-JBL
6) Chavo-Kane
7) Battle Royal
8) Big Show-Mayweather
9) BunnyMania
10) Batista-Umaga
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Andy! Andy! At Last You Have Some Feedback!

Real e-mail! Hurray!

Scott Sumerton thinks I missed out on a key WrestleMania matchup for next year:

I loved your fantasy booking, for the most part there is some brilliant stuff (Austin Hall of Fame seems so obvious now, and Michaels/Undertaker also seems perfect) but I definitely want to suggest an alternate match for Cena, one versus The Rock. Its got that classic real-world build that Booker/Batista, Flair/Foley, Triple H/Goldberg etc all exploited, whether real or not, and really, Rock at the 25th Mania seems a no brainer for ONE final match. That and the promos could be legendary.

I do like the Hardy redemption story also, and Mysterio winning Money In The Bank seems perfect, unless they give him something more high profile... maybe if Cena/Rock goes down they could pull the trigger on a heel Batista and put him against Rey finally.

I LOVE the idea, I really do. In fact I've been pushing for, well, for quite a while but for at least a year. If you had seen my ideas for WrestleMania XXIV a year ago you would have seen my idea for the Battle of the Blockbusters between the two men. And up until last weekend I would have thought that there was a check big enough for Vince McMahon to write to let us see Rock-Cena at the biggest WrestleMania of all time. Unfortunately I have finally given up hope. Rock's act at the Hall of Fame ceremony really did seem like that one final good-bye and from what I understand I think many behind in the scenes in WWE feel the same way. I would love it if I were wrong but I've finally given up that one last shred of hope.

The Shimmy Likes It Raw!

What's on tap for tonight's show?

How will Randy Orton respond to JBL's demand for a title shot? And with Ric Flair's retirement out of the way will Triple H and John Cena get back in the title picture as well?

Will there be any developments in the Shawn Michaels-Batista issue? Are any other superstars siding with Batista here? And just how does HBK feel?

That'll do it for me, everybody. Until next week, don't die. Clark…out.