It's Little Besse here, and the WWE Draft is tonight.
Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the company has been coasting to the finish line of this current era ever since the announcement of the brand split. Raw has had good storylines, but it gets boring at times. And I'm talking more than the usual boringness that's caused by running the show for 3 hours every week. So I for one cannot wait for this draft to kick off. It seems like this is a huge page turn for the company and we will be getting the exciting brand rivalry that we had at the peak of my childhood wrestling fandom.
Obviously, when the company says they're doing a brand draft, there's more to it than just making picks like it's a fantasy league. The company has probably had at least a rough idea of who is going to what brand for weeks if not months now so they can schedule promotions, traveling, booking, etc... But at The Sports Brief we aren't afraid to go there. We aren't afraid to ask those, "What IF?" questions. So we decided to do our own fake life fantasy draft instead, completed with our own personal Road To Summerslam booking for each brand.
Here are the rules for the WWE Draft:
But we didn't use those cuz we didn't know they existed until last night. So we just kept it simple. I took Raw and the first pick while Kennedy took Smackdown and we alternated picks. We kept it to 15 rounds because we figured it was just enough for us each to build a card for Summerslam. I'm not out here trying to draft Mark Henry just so he can retire on my show. But here's a quick look at how the rosters came out.
We could go pick by pick and explain our thought process behind them all, but sounds like content more fit for a wrestling podcast (cc: Rich Keefe). So instead, let's take a look at what our fantasy Summerslam card's will be looking like.
Raw (Besse):
Since Ambrose went to Smackdown, that leaves us without a head champion. So the first order of business would be to bring back the old World Heavyweight Championship (or something of the sort). While cutting my promo about the new belt, various wrestlers will come out claiming the belt as theirs and that's just nonsense that I'd put an end to. But how? Easy. With a brand wide tournament to determine the two contenders for the top prize. But when the Final Four comes down to Rollins vs. Reigns and Cena vs. Styles and both matches turn into DQ blood baths, I decide to make it into a Fatal Four Way in Brooklyn for the belt. Now I'll get back to this match in a bit.
Now tell me, what's an episode of Raw without a New Day promo? Shit. That's what it is. So I'll send my 3 unicorns out there to warm the crowd and welcome them to the new era of Raw. They'll do their thing but soon be interrupted by The Revival who are still NXT Tag Team champs at the moment. The teams will exchange words and that will set up a program between the two for Summerslam. Champs vs. Champs, think of it as Owens vs. Cena in tag team form. Except The Revival doesn't want to wait until Summerslam, they want that match now, and they get it. Sadly, the unreal match is disrupted by The Club (currently just Styles, Gallows, and Anderson) and The Club/Revival start beating up the New Day who are then saved by Enzo & Cass. Since we're sharing a PPV with Smackdown I can only fit so many matches on the card and I really see some potential in this. Fatal Four Way tag team match for the belts at Summerslam. Boom. Did it.
Next, we have The Miz, who I basically drafted so I could take the belt off of him and push somebody else. Thanks bud. I actually do appreciate you as a heel champion but now you're gunna go back to helping put others over.
As The Miz's title reign continues to grow, so does his overwhelming ego. To the point where he KNOWS he can beat anyone. After losing to one of the main players in the Championship Tournament, he will begin holding open challenges for the Intercontinental belt, channeling his inner Cena. And much like Cena held his open challenge at Hell In a Cell to bring back Del Rio, The Miz will hold one at Summerslam to DEBUT.. wait for it....... FINN BALOR. The crowd will POP when Balor makes his first televised appearance in Brooklyn but they'll be booing him 15 minutes later when he stands tall as the Intercontinental Champion after receiving help from The Club and officially joining forces with them. But that's just the beginning of it.
Soon after comes the Tag Team Championship match in which The Club uses their strength in power and newfound strength in numbers to snake a win for those championships and become 2 for 2 on the night. Do you see where I'm going with this?
In between all of this drama we will be easily entertained by a match between Orton and Jericho that sprouted up some time during the tournament as well as the Women's Championship match between Charlotte and Bayley (who feels slighted by her former Four Horsewomen mates).
And then the Raw Main Event comes. And it's unreal. I mean Cena, Styles, Rollins, and Reigns will put on an absolute show. But it's a shame that Gallows, Anderson, and Balor will come out to help AJ Styles win and solidify The Club as the ultimate power heels as they stand tall at the end of the night holding 4 championship belts.
FIN
Smackdown (Kennedy):
Smackdown's theme is going to reach back into the WCW lexicon, and will be henceforth known as "Where the Big Boys Play." Our roster features mostly men who are large enough that they'd have to buy two seats in coach on any airplane. Not that you'd want to sit next to Brock, Owens, Joe, Bray, Rusev inside of a small tube for several hours, but I think we're going to give the road crew a heads up to reinforce the ring on Tuesday nights.
Now, this draft may have taken place before Brock's USADA failed test was announced, but I'm still happy to go with him as my first pick. Ambrose was important because I wanted Smackdown to have the title belt on our show. Step one is to build an an over the top heel version of Brock Lesnar. Cut promos every week saying he'll do whatever it takes to win, cut corners wherever he needs to, get paid and walk away from UFC without feeling one iota of guilt about it. If Daniel Bryan can take one last bump, I'd have Lesnar drop him on that stack of dimes he calls a neck to really push the heat to nuclear levels, BROTHER. Lesnar's going to put Ambrose out of action for a few months at SummerSlam and walk out new champion.
On Tuesday nights running up to Summerslam, I'd run the inaugural Big Hoss Tournament to declare a number 1 contender. Owens vs Bray, Samoa Joe vs Rusev. Owens over Bray and Samoa Joe over Rusev in the first round with Samoa Joe eventually winning the number 1 contender spot and entering a long program with Brock after SummerSlam, unless someone from the Raw Brand wants to challenge Samoa Joe at SummerSlam for that slot. AJ Styles and Joe did some nice work in TNA last decade, I'm sure they'd love to try it again in a normal 4 sided ring with actual fans in attendance.
In the interest of leaving enough room on the Summerslam card for Raw matches, I'd put Nakamura, Neville, Cesaro and Sami Zayn into a four way dance. Nice little spot-fest that doesn't need a ton of "psychology" or build behind it.
Long term - I think it'd be a fireable offense if I didn't put Nakamura and Kevin Owens against each other at some point. Neville and Cesaro could also work together as a tag team to work against American Alpha. I'd love to see a Rusev vs Bray feud, just for the ridiculous opposing promos they'd cut on each other.
Alphas vs Ciampa and Gargano would make for a really entertaining tag match during our Summerslam. Pretty easy to put this match together with American Alpha as the "amateur wrestler/performance center/company men" vs the two indy guys who had to fight their way just to get into NXT. Sasha Banks vs Asuka is our women's showcase, if Sasha can stay uninjured for over a 3 week period of time. It's a nice luxury to have the Undertaker on the bench until WrestleMania 33 in our back pocket too.
And that's what we've got for a new product. Are you watching it?
Little Besse
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