Looking Back: The WWE Draft - Part Two of Three
Yesterday we took a quick look at the 2004 WWE draft. Today, I’ll be examining what the WWE was trying to achieve in the draft, and whether they succeeded or not, and looking at how the individual wrestlers fared over the last year or so.
Let’s take a look at where each of the wrestlers is now, and give a brief recap of their last year.
RAW:
Shelton Benjamin: Feuded with Evolution for months until he hurt his hand in a match with Garrison Cade. Eventually won the IC Title and held it for 8 months, losing it to Carlito Caribbean Cool (a 2005 draft pick). As of right now, Shelton is on the cusp of being a main-eventer on RAW. He still needs work on his mic skills, but his in-ring ability and charisma are undeniable. As bizarre as this sounds, he was pushed far better prior to winning the IC belt, and hopefully his loss of it to Carlito will result in his being pushed to the moon once again.
Nidia: She did very well for herself on Smackdown, where her in-ring abilities (while not stellar) helped her stand out from the cheesecake divas. RAW, however, was a different story. At the time, the Women’s Division was quite healthy and Nidia simply got lost in the shuffle.
Rhyno: Another wrestler that simply got lost in the shuffle. WWE never put his “hoss” talents to any kind of real use, and he was a perennial Heat wrestler for months. He was put into a tag team with Tajiri for a time, but eventually a nasty fight with his wife in a hotel lobby prompted WWE to let him go.
Edge: Edge was brought back in after months of injury as a smarmy main-event babyface, which the fans simply weren’t buying. Eventually WWE saw the writing on the wall and turned him heel, which he used to great effect. Since then he’s won a stipulation match that will allow him to wrestle for the title whenever he chooses, and feuded with Kane over Lita in a “real-life turned wrestling” storyline. Edge is a solid main-eventer on RAW.
Tajiri: Ever popular with fans, Tajiri has been used relatively well. He never “disappeared” like Nidia and Rhyno seemed to do and was eventually made a tag team champion with William Regal.
Paul Heyman: Character-wise he quit WWE briefly, but rapidly made his return to Smackdown as a “VIP Guest”. He managed Heidenreich for a while, but has been used sparingly. In the last year his biggest “push” has been as what he was, Commander-in-Chief of ECW.
A-Train: Worked only two matches on television, one on Heat (loss to Val Venis) and one on Raw (loss to Chris Jericho). Completely wasted by and eventually released.
Chuck Palumbo: Became a perennial wrestler on Heat for a time, and was one of the 15 candidates for the IC Title match at Taboo Tuesday but was eventually released by WWE.
So, RAW got one solid mid-carder and two main-eventers out of the lottery.
Smackdown:
Rene Dupree: Was brought in with a similar gimmick (stuffy Frenchman) and immediately began a feud with rising-star US Champion John Cena. He had his own interview segment for a while. Unlike Shelton Benjamin, he was never really able to get over and eventually settled into a role as a mid-carder. These days he’s using a much exaggerated version of his Frenchman gimmick and has been traded back to RAW.
Mark Jindrak: Jindrak initially was Teddy Long’s protégé, in a complete ripoff of Lex Luger’s “Narcissist” gimmick. Eventually he became a part of the second version of Team Angle. These days he’s a midcarder but has very little chance of ever advancing beyond that.
Triple H: Was traded back to RAW immediately, and remains the premiere heel on RAW. No description really necessary methinks.
Rob van Dam: Feuded with Booker T, his former tag partner, upon arrival on Smackdown. He was actively involved in the US Title scene, but never actually won it. He eventually won the tag titles with Rey Misterio until he was injured and dropped the tag titles to the Bashams. Van Dam was always a solid upper midcarder on the roster, but was never really pushed to the levels he could achieve, given his popularity.
Theodore Long: Became the manager of Mark Jindrak during Jindrak’s “Narcissist” gimmick. Eventually became the GM of Smackdown, a position he retains today.
Spike Dudley: Spike initially feuded with Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Chavo’s father “Chavo Classic” over the Cruiserweight belt. Eventually he won the CW belt from Rey Misterio, Jr. Spike then established himself as the tyrannical overseer of the Dudley Boys until the Dudleys were taken off TV for “development”. Since then he’s been little more than a jobber.
Booker T: Booker was brought in with an “I Hate Smackdown” gimmick and feuded with RVD. He got involved in the US Title scene and eventually won the Title in an 8-man Battle Royale and then dropped it back to John Cena following a “Best of 5” series. Booker T then proceeded to feud with JBL for the WWE Championship. Booker remains a part of the Smackdown Title scene, but he seems to have passed the days when he could really be considered a viable contender.
The Dudley Boys: Were essentially useless on Smackdown. By March 2004 their gimmick had become so stale that fans no longer cared. In June they won the Tag Titles and promptly lost them to Paul London and Billy Kidman. They were in a gimmick where Spike Dudley was their leader for a while, but eventually they were taken off television to be repackaged.
Looking over the draft now, from the perspective of a year ago, we can surmise a few things. First of all, they wanted to send some names that carried a little weight to the Smackdown roster, which was at the time considered to be very weak versus RAW (sound familiar?). Booker T, RVD and the Dudley Boys were all big-name guys on RAW and sending them to Smackdown should have afforded them opportunities that they simply were not going to get on RAW. Instead, Booker and RVD fell into the same familiar groove that they were in on RAW – contenders but never champions. The Dudley Boys' gimmick had become so stale that WWE felt it was finally time to pull them off TV and did so. Dupree and Jindrak were both given chances to get over and pretty much failed, due as much to lousy gimmicks as to lack of ability. Dupree especially has the look, charisma and mic skills to get over if he ever is given a serious push, preferably without an over-the-top gimmick.
On RAW, the idea was clearly to re-establish Edge as a superstar after a long hiatus and, hopefully, create a few new talents as well. They succeeded admirably with Shelton Benjamin, but failed miserably where Rhyno, especially, was concerned. Nidia’s misfortune was that she was shifted to the brand she should have been on from the get-go far too late for her to have any impact on the Women’s Division at all. As for Palumbo and A-Train, they seemed to be completely random choices and were booked as such making their subsequent firings completely unsurprising.
If we judge the draft based on the establishment of new talent, it was clearly a failure. Of the new blood expected to succeed – Shelton, Rhyno, Benjamin and Dupree – only Shelton has gotten significantly over. If we judge it based on the establishment of well-known Superstars on Smackdown, then it mildly succeeded. RVD and Booker especially were used to some effect in the main event, but neither one made any real, lasting impact on the brand. Instead, JBL and John Cena, two men that were already on the roster, became the premiere main eventers on Smackdown.
Tomorrow: Stefan Damian and I discuss this year’s draft and where we think they’ll be a year from now.
Let’s take a look at where each of the wrestlers is now, and give a brief recap of their last year.
RAW:
Shelton Benjamin: Feuded with Evolution for months until he hurt his hand in a match with Garrison Cade. Eventually won the IC Title and held it for 8 months, losing it to Carlito Caribbean Cool (a 2005 draft pick). As of right now, Shelton is on the cusp of being a main-eventer on RAW. He still needs work on his mic skills, but his in-ring ability and charisma are undeniable. As bizarre as this sounds, he was pushed far better prior to winning the IC belt, and hopefully his loss of it to Carlito will result in his being pushed to the moon once again.
Nidia: She did very well for herself on Smackdown, where her in-ring abilities (while not stellar) helped her stand out from the cheesecake divas. RAW, however, was a different story. At the time, the Women’s Division was quite healthy and Nidia simply got lost in the shuffle.
Rhyno: Another wrestler that simply got lost in the shuffle. WWE never put his “hoss” talents to any kind of real use, and he was a perennial Heat wrestler for months. He was put into a tag team with Tajiri for a time, but eventually a nasty fight with his wife in a hotel lobby prompted WWE to let him go.
Edge: Edge was brought back in after months of injury as a smarmy main-event babyface, which the fans simply weren’t buying. Eventually WWE saw the writing on the wall and turned him heel, which he used to great effect. Since then he’s won a stipulation match that will allow him to wrestle for the title whenever he chooses, and feuded with Kane over Lita in a “real-life turned wrestling” storyline. Edge is a solid main-eventer on RAW.
Tajiri: Ever popular with fans, Tajiri has been used relatively well. He never “disappeared” like Nidia and Rhyno seemed to do and was eventually made a tag team champion with William Regal.
Paul Heyman: Character-wise he quit WWE briefly, but rapidly made his return to Smackdown as a “VIP Guest”. He managed Heidenreich for a while, but has been used sparingly. In the last year his biggest “push” has been as what he was, Commander-in-Chief of ECW.
A-Train: Worked only two matches on television, one on Heat (loss to Val Venis) and one on Raw (loss to Chris Jericho). Completely wasted by and eventually released.
Chuck Palumbo: Became a perennial wrestler on Heat for a time, and was one of the 15 candidates for the IC Title match at Taboo Tuesday but was eventually released by WWE.
So, RAW got one solid mid-carder and two main-eventers out of the lottery.
Smackdown:
Rene Dupree: Was brought in with a similar gimmick (stuffy Frenchman) and immediately began a feud with rising-star US Champion John Cena. He had his own interview segment for a while. Unlike Shelton Benjamin, he was never really able to get over and eventually settled into a role as a mid-carder. These days he’s using a much exaggerated version of his Frenchman gimmick and has been traded back to RAW.
Mark Jindrak: Jindrak initially was Teddy Long’s protégé, in a complete ripoff of Lex Luger’s “Narcissist” gimmick. Eventually he became a part of the second version of Team Angle. These days he’s a midcarder but has very little chance of ever advancing beyond that.
Triple H: Was traded back to RAW immediately, and remains the premiere heel on RAW. No description really necessary methinks.
Rob van Dam: Feuded with Booker T, his former tag partner, upon arrival on Smackdown. He was actively involved in the US Title scene, but never actually won it. He eventually won the tag titles with Rey Misterio until he was injured and dropped the tag titles to the Bashams. Van Dam was always a solid upper midcarder on the roster, but was never really pushed to the levels he could achieve, given his popularity.
Theodore Long: Became the manager of Mark Jindrak during Jindrak’s “Narcissist” gimmick. Eventually became the GM of Smackdown, a position he retains today.
Spike Dudley: Spike initially feuded with Chavo Guerrero, Jr. and Chavo’s father “Chavo Classic” over the Cruiserweight belt. Eventually he won the CW belt from Rey Misterio, Jr. Spike then established himself as the tyrannical overseer of the Dudley Boys until the Dudleys were taken off TV for “development”. Since then he’s been little more than a jobber.
Booker T: Booker was brought in with an “I Hate Smackdown” gimmick and feuded with RVD. He got involved in the US Title scene and eventually won the Title in an 8-man Battle Royale and then dropped it back to John Cena following a “Best of 5” series. Booker T then proceeded to feud with JBL for the WWE Championship. Booker remains a part of the Smackdown Title scene, but he seems to have passed the days when he could really be considered a viable contender.
The Dudley Boys: Were essentially useless on Smackdown. By March 2004 their gimmick had become so stale that fans no longer cared. In June they won the Tag Titles and promptly lost them to Paul London and Billy Kidman. They were in a gimmick where Spike Dudley was their leader for a while, but eventually they were taken off television to be repackaged.
Looking over the draft now, from the perspective of a year ago, we can surmise a few things. First of all, they wanted to send some names that carried a little weight to the Smackdown roster, which was at the time considered to be very weak versus RAW (sound familiar?). Booker T, RVD and the Dudley Boys were all big-name guys on RAW and sending them to Smackdown should have afforded them opportunities that they simply were not going to get on RAW. Instead, Booker and RVD fell into the same familiar groove that they were in on RAW – contenders but never champions. The Dudley Boys' gimmick had become so stale that WWE felt it was finally time to pull them off TV and did so. Dupree and Jindrak were both given chances to get over and pretty much failed, due as much to lousy gimmicks as to lack of ability. Dupree especially has the look, charisma and mic skills to get over if he ever is given a serious push, preferably without an over-the-top gimmick.
On RAW, the idea was clearly to re-establish Edge as a superstar after a long hiatus and, hopefully, create a few new talents as well. They succeeded admirably with Shelton Benjamin, but failed miserably where Rhyno, especially, was concerned. Nidia’s misfortune was that she was shifted to the brand she should have been on from the get-go far too late for her to have any impact on the Women’s Division at all. As for Palumbo and A-Train, they seemed to be completely random choices and were booked as such making their subsequent firings completely unsurprising.
If we judge the draft based on the establishment of new talent, it was clearly a failure. Of the new blood expected to succeed – Shelton, Rhyno, Benjamin and Dupree – only Shelton has gotten significantly over. If we judge it based on the establishment of well-known Superstars on Smackdown, then it mildly succeeded. RVD and Booker especially were used to some effect in the main event, but neither one made any real, lasting impact on the brand. Instead, JBL and John Cena, two men that were already on the roster, became the premiere main eventers on Smackdown.
Tomorrow: Stefan Damian and I discuss this year’s draft and where we think they’ll be a year from now.
posted by James Ray at 4:58 PM
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