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The 2009 WWE Draft is in the books and WWE can return to watering down the brand split by having wrestlers appear on other brands regularly.
Okay, maybe we should all give WWE another chance to make this brand split mean something, but we know from history that WWE will inevitably start putting John Morrison and/or The Miz on all three brands...with the added regular appearance or two on WGN.
Let's just assume for the sake of making an assumption that WWE keeps the brand split alive and well this time around, re-educates the audience on who belongs to what brand, and creates some potential "dream matches" for WrestleMania 26 based on keeping the likes of Chris Jericho and Triple H separate for an entire year.
-- For Raw, the key to the Draft was bringing Triple H back over to Smackdown. Raw went from having zero World champions after the No Way Out PPV to having both World Champions after last night's Draft.
If WWE plays its card right, they could sell Summerslam on John Cena vs. Triple H in a Unification match for their respective World Titles. With the proper build-up and a U.S. economic turnaround, that could out-sell WrestleMania 25 in the domestic PPV market.
However, I don't expect WWE to take that direction, especially if John Cena needs time off for his third - and hopefully not as disastrous at the box office - movie.
Randy Orton is still the centerpiece figure of the Raw brand, as he should be. WWE could create two separate World Title feuds on the Raw brand - one involving Triple H and Randy Orton, the other involving John Cena and a fresh heel opponent.
We've seen Cena run around with the likes of Big Show (back on Raw), Edge (still on Smackdown), and Chris Jericho (moved to Smackdown) seemingly forever. Last night, we saw a fresh-of-breath-air match-up between Cena and ECW champion Jack Swagger at the top of the second hour.
It was nice to see Cena in a different element playing off a different character. WWE should be able to translate that into a fresh feud that could help sell the upcoming "off-brand" PPVs while Triple H and Randy Orton continue to drift around in the McMahon Family Hour feud.
MVP just turned babyface - well, he kind of did. There's a possible Cena vs. MVP feud that could be built on respect before MVP turns heel again to have a two-or-three month program over Cena's World Title.
Or, WWE could pull the trigger on Matt Hardy in a legit main event feud. I don't see Hardy as a consistent main-eventer at this stage of his career, but he'll tell you otherwise. Cena vs. Hardy is a fresh feud with potential, and it will be an opportunity for Hardy to put up or shut up about having what it takes to deliver main event-quality matches on WWE programming.
-- For Smackdown, the key to the Draft was Chris Jericho moving over from Raw. Jericho did everything he could on the Raw brand after having an amazingly successful 12-month stretch of storylines.
Right after WrestleMania 24, he picked up a program against Batista, then Shawn Michaels, which set the world on fire. He then did his best with the Legends program after delivering memorable talking segments with Ricky Steamboat and Roddy Piper.
Jericho on Smackdown means main event programs without needing a World Title involved. Apparently that's all Smackdown will be able to depend on for the time-being, as they currently don't have a World Title and I don't see John Cena jumping over to Smackdown during Wednesday's supplemental draft.
It makes the probability even greater that Edge will re-capture the World Title from Cena at Backlash to bring a World Title belt back to Smackdown. That would throw off everything I wrote about Cena's spring-time programs, but he could still be involved in feuds with the likes of MVP or Matt Hardy, just without a World Title at stake.
Back to Jericho, who could have a significant spring-time program against The Undertaker leading to a Summerslam match. If Jericho continues the amazing run he had on Raw, that's one of those rare "dream matches" I believe WWE has left in the bag.
The other key is Rey Mysterio coming back to Smackdown. WWE made a mistake taking him off Smackdown, where he was hugely popular with the key demographic that watches Smackdown.
Looking at Smackdown's March TV ratings, WWE desperately needs him back on Smackdown. The March numbers dropped significantly due to the NCAA tournament and lackluster WrestleMania 25 build-up.
For instance, the February 27 Smackdown averaged nearly 4.0 million viewers. Two weeks later, the March 13 episode averaged 3.1 million viewers. Ouch.
Rey brings the Intercontinental Title and some potential fresh match-ups to Smackdown. Perhaps they can re-focus on the IC Title while it's the only major singles title on the brand. Or, perhaps it will continue to be used as merely another accessory to Rey's in-ring wardrobe. I like Rey vs. Shelton Benjamin in a main event-level feud coming out of the Draft.
-- The key for the ECW brand was not getting raided. I'll take status quo, plus a few mid-card changes during tomorrow's Draft. Actually, the key was Jack Swagger in that match against John Cena last night. Excellent TV match that elevated Swagger despite him losing.
Right now, ECW has a solid four-some to build around with Swagger, Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne, and Christian.
I'm not sure how WWE can stretch out a year's worth of programs centered on those four without making some changes during the year, but hopefully WWE's developmental program will be able to produce new, fresh faces throughout the course of the next year to mix up the ECW main event scene.
If Kozlov can be productive on ECW, Mark Henry continues to be entertaining, Tommy Dreamer's quest receives proper attention, and Finlay stays fresh, WWE has a strong undercard on the ECW brand to support the young four-some at the top. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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