For my first column with Wrestlezone, I thought I would spend the time to talk about what every professional wrestling fan was looking forward to the most today: the 2016 WWE Draft.
While the show in itself wasn’t anything to be optimistic about, the hype did the trick and all of us fell for it.
There were a few questions that came over me as Draft night was completed:
- Why couldn’t the WWE have waited a few months to bring Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin over instead of having them debut after Wrestlemania and not having much for them to do?
- Why were Big Show and Mark Henry drafted?
- Why were some tag-teams split up while others were allowed to be drafted as one?
So, what ends up happening from now on is anyone’s guess; but I know that as long as you have the Creative Writers’ running both shows, it really doesn’t matter who shows up on what show, it still is going to leave you with so many holes week after week. I try not to sound so much like a negative-old man clinging to the “glory days” of the wrestling-era (in my case, that would be the Attitude Era-as I am 34 years old) when over 10 million viewers were watching professional wrestling every week. This is what it has come down to, and unfortunately the format of the show is never going to change.
If WWE wants us to view their shows as Entertainment, then let’s begin to do that. Does anyone think that tonight’s Draft shake-up is really going to shake-up the holes that are left every week on Raw and on Smackdown?
When I watch a television show, I expect stories to come together; if not the current episode, at least the following week. How would any of us feel if we watch an episode of a television show and, while we anticipate the closure to a storyline, the Creative Writers’ instead pretend that the scene never existed? That has been why today’s era of professional wrestling only draws 3 million viewers, rather than the 10 million that were watching during the Monday Night Wars.
WWE can take the momentum of tonight’s Draft show and build from it. It could have began today and continued at Battleground; but only if the company doesn’t treat the WWE Title as a filler. How many of us even cared for the title match because of the Draft? Was WWE’s main priority their coveted prize? This is what I meant when referring to the Creative Writers’ of the show; get your act together and start treating your belts and your feuds with more respect.
I am interested in seeing what happens now to Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt for Smackdown. They were the big pick-ups in my view as far as who needed to gain the most out of the split. It made sense to split Braun Strowman away from the Wyatt Family; and now we can only hope Bray and Dolph start feuding for titles instead of being buried every week.
Smackdown is now NXT 2.0, with half of its roster being former NXT stars. Smackdown should have retired tonight and just allowed NXT to be running head to head with Raw. None of us really feel as though it is much of a split since they are both under the WWE banner; but when I watch NXT, I tend to believe that it is a different brand, the way ECW was despite WWE helping to fund the company for a while too.
It isn’t a surprise any longer since we now know that Bayley will be in Sasha Banks’ corner at Battleground. She would have been the top female chosen if the stipulation for the “mystery partner” wasn’t a main interest for the show. Good for Bayley, good for the WWE to bring her up.
Who believes Dean Ambrose will remain champion after Sunday? Will there be a controversial finish to allow Seth Rollins to hold one title, and Dean Ambrose the other? How about a rematch clause? If Dean Ambrose loses clean, would he not be allowed a rematch since he’s on a separate roster than Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins? This is what I mean by lack of creativity; it screams at us that the finish will end up being a split, so that two brands can have two belts.
Is there going to be a Women’s Champion on one show and a Ladies Champion on the other? What about the Tag Team titles? Will they have two separate titles or allow the Women and Tag Teams to appear for both companies?
The Club was split up tonight; where was the uproar? Who else wished New Day would have split up tonight?
Now it is set up where a Raw Superstar (Darren Young) is facing a Smackdown Superstar (The Miz) for the Intercontinental Title, and a Raw Superstar and current United States Champion, (Rusev), will take on Smackdown Superstar (Zack Ryder); the way this is set up is Darren Young and Zack Ryder both have to win, or both have to lose because you will not see a United States and Intercontinental Title on the same show; Creative Writing genius at its finest.
The journey begins at Battleground. Are you hopeful after tonight’s hype? I’m not.
