Woof

Kalisto to Smackdown. What happened to the cruiserweights being "exclusive to Raw"?

There's been a lot of that tonight. Guys are getting real.

Aaaaand you get your wish.

They still have to draft some more from NXT before it's over though. Yeah. Pickings are thin. Rumor is Carmella will be one. I can see them giving Dillinger a shot. And if they're insane, the grab Mojo to team with Zack. I wouldn't be *shocked* to see one of the big 4 left (or The Revival), but it just feels like they want to keep those guys down there for the star power.

Well if she's really Sasha's surprise partner there was no need to draft her tonight I guess. Network When? right after SD!? It's on now. They're running a Draft Special on the Network in conjunction with Smackdown. It's gonna continue to run after Smackdown ends to cover the rest of the picks.

In the six month run leading into Wrestlemania I could only conclude a lot of people backstage hate Seamus and want to destroy his career. Like a good soldier he took every awful idea they had and tried his hardest to make it work. They completely killed him and I came out with way more respect for him. Yeah. He is one of their best overall workers and they have no clue what to do with him anymore. Ziggler is crushing it on the Network show right now. The interviews have been excellent because guys aren't cutting promos. They're talking like athletes who are hungry for success. So refreshing.

It's clear they're not bringing up anybody from NXT who has a match set up for Brooklyn. Joe, Nak, Asuka, Bayley. None of them are coming up until that show has come and gone.

Ziggler over Cesaro is unbelievable. Hell, Ziggler over Sheamus is ridiculous.

Welcome, Balor Club.

Not Raw's fault that SD is avoiding all tag teams. Hopefully they take Alpha, Vaudvillians and Club to balance things out a bit. Well yes, but this is a work. They're booking this like a squash in the main event.

Raw now has 15 guys to Smackdown's 8. This is too lopsided, extra hour be damned.

Corbin before Cesaro? Daniel Bryan is a horrible GM.

Grimmas, you okay? You need to lie down?

They're having a draft party at the Performance Center. Tremendous.

I could totally see that. Meanwhile, the Network Draft Center Live special is a much better show right now than Smackdown. The more they treat the product like a sport, the more interesting it is to me.

Styles and Balor being separated actually adds a little intrigue to where Anderson & Gallows go.

Ambrose was their first pick.... Right. But 3 of their top 4 are getting up there. Quality guys, but they're gonna need some serious youth.

Cena, Orton, Styles... Smackdown is old at the top.

Shocked they put Balor that high. Balor before Cena sends a message that they plan on using him in a high profile position.

Seems like all the guys you're looking for are into MMA now. WWE needs to find a Nick Diaz.

Because I'm bored... I have no desire to try and predict how the draft will go pick-by-pick, since I expect plenty of curveballs as is WWE's want. However after scrolling through the roster enough times I figured I'd at least try and separate the eligibiles into tiers. I'm basing these on how the characters are currently being booked combined with any realistic future potential to be anything of note for the company. TIER A - Main Eventers AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins If these guys don't go in the top 6, I'll be shocked. Clearly the names the company sees at its top stars. TIER B - Upper Card Alberto Del Rio, Becky Lynch, Big Cass, Big E, Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Charlotte, Chris Jericho, Enzo Amore, Karl Anderson, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Luke Gallows, The Miz, Randy Orton, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Sheamus, Xavier Woods All of these folks are still in a position where they could be used as main event players even if only for a brief spurt. You have vets like Jericho and Orton who have been there before and could be bumped up again if needed to fill a brief hole, or young people who haven't been burned out yet. I don't see much left for Del Rio or Sheamus, but I wouldn't rule out WWE giving either guy another run at the top if they felt they had the right situation. I also don't really view Amore, Anderson, Kingston, Gallows, or Woods as "main event" guys, but given where they are right now they are clearly a class above the other mid-card fodder. TIER C - Mid Card w/ potential Aiden English, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, Bubba Dudley, Dana Brooke, Darren Young, Dolph Ziggler, Eva Marie, Kalisto, Neville, Paige, Simon Gotch, Titus O'Neil, Tyler Breeze, Zack Ryder Everybody here is still young enough and new enough that even though they haven't shown much as of yet, could still break out, although they're pretty far away at this point. I included a few (Paige, Ryder, Ziggler) who have had shots near the top because I get the sense WWE may still try and get something out of them before all is said and done. I doubt most of the people will ever scratch the true main event, but a couple of them (Crews for instance) might slip in if their circumstances somehow change. Jury is still out. TIER D - Mid Card washouts Alicia Fox, Big Show, Demon Kane, D-Von Dudley, Epico, Erick Rowan, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Mark Henry, Natalya, Primo, Summer Rae Whatever value these folks had is probably gone at this point, though that won't stop them from dusting somebody like Big Show off for one last run at some point. In terms of draft value though they have pretty much no upside. They're like long relievers in baseball - they can give you a few good innings, but if you're using them the game is probably already out of hand. TIER E - Under card fodder Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Fandango, Goldust, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, Konnor, Naomi, R-Truth, Sin Cara, Viktor Lucky to still have a job and have pretty much zero prospect of being anything other than jobbers. It pains me to put Bo Dallas here as he was never really given much of a chance, but the way they're using him now pretty much seals his fate. I more or less expect the draft to go in these basic tiers, with the obvious surprises of whatever NXT guys they pick being sprinkiled in along with the inevitable drafting of somebody like Big Show way above is his actual value. Anyway, that killed a good half-hour, now what?

Does anybody else feel like they kind of missed a golden opportunity to run the draft on the Network rather than Smackdown? I know *why* they're doing it this way, because they want to get eyeballs on that debut live episode, but in a world not driven by USA's need for WWE to sustain them a show dedicated totally to the draft NFL-style would be a great Network special. You get your panel of experts to discuss each pick for a couple of minutes after it's made, maybe toss in some interviews with guys after they get drafted. You could fill a good four hours on something like that and it'd draw, because sports nerds who are also wrestling nerds eat that shit up. Instead we're gonna get picks sandwiched around meaningless matches and backstage skits like we did 14 years ago. There's a real opportunity here to do something cool and they're probably gonna drop the ball in terms of how they present it. I'm looking forward to seeing who winds up where, but I really feel like the draft itself could be special and it's not likely to be.

I love that you guys are gonna start covering CWF-MA. Hopefully this will force me to keep current on it instead of letting a couple of weeks backlog leading to binge catch-up. It's such a breezy little show. I sort of stumbled upon it a little over a year ago when I was looking for a weekly indy to get into that had an old-school feel (I had tried OVW but their in-ring product was just woeful). Took me awhile to get a feel for CWF-MA (they have too many titles floating around) but I feel like I've been rewarded for sticking with it, as their match quality this year has been tremendous. You guys hit it on the head when talking about how some of the guys come off as "trying to be a wrestler", and not in a bad way. It's a promotion that knows what it is: a starting point for young performers who dream of bigger things, or a place where guys who are probably never gonna be big names can still get a chance to do what they love. By accepting that and not acting like the world outside of their building doesn't exist, it lends an air of respectibility to their product. It's nice to see them starting to get some recognition.

Seems more likely they'd be adding him to commentary team, seeing as how Byron Saxton will have to be taken off of either Raw or Smackdown. They probably used the CWC tapings as a trial run, liked his chemistry with Mauro, and will need a more wrestling-oriented color guy to play off Lawler's shenanigans. In a perfect world they'd completely revamp both commentary teams, but well all know that's not gonna happen, Maggle!

And there it is. The Final Deletion, WWE style. Holy hell this company is shameless. Yes, your production values are better, but just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should. This Wyatts-New Day "segment" is so grossly out of step with the regular WWE product. Lucha Underground can get away with it because that's been their thing from the start and they aren't pretending to present a sport. TNA can get away with it because they're on the brink of extinction and need to try anything, but WWE? No need. Ridiculous.