BY WADE KELLER, PWTORCH EDITOR

I'd love WWE's creative team, led by Vince McMahon, to face a Q&A session with tough questions on this draft concept, because it makes no sense the way it's executed.

-If no one actually gets drafted by a G.M., but rather brand-switches are from a random draw, why is it called a "Draft"?

-Does anyone in WWE know what the word "draft" means?

-Why would wrestlers from Raw want to win their match and add competition to their brand or stop potential competition from leaving? Wouldn't they throw their matches in order to thin out the competition and have a better shot at titles and main events?

-What's the point of the draft if wrestlers pretty indiscriminately switch from brand to brand without explanation anyway?

Anyway, on to the Most Important Raw of the year!

-As poorly explained and executed as the annual draft is, it is newsworthy because as soft as the brand split is, most of the wrestlers on a specific brand feud with wrestlers on their own brand, even if they do appear on the other show from time to time. It also reshuffles the top tier depth charts on both brands, making room for wrestlers to rise or giving wrestlers a fresh environment to work in and perhaps get a fresh start. It's too bad they don't keep the brands apart all year because then this Raw vs. Smackdown format would really be something to look forward to.

-Michael Cole said there's a rumor he might get drafted as an announcer this year rather than an announcer because his stock has shot sky-high after beating Jerry Lawler at WrestleMania.

-The announcers talked during the battle royal about some of the biggest draft moves in history such as John Cena and The Rock being drafted or tag teams being split up.

-The battle royal came down to Evan Bourne and Mason Ryan from Raw and Big Show and Kofi Kingston from Smackdown. After watching Kofi and Bourne battle just for a minute, it made me hope one of them got drafted to the other brand as I'd watch a feud between those two.

-JOHN CENA was drafted to SMACKDOWN. Big news out of the gate, and certainly unexpected. If they stick with this, it'll test Cena's drawing power as they see if Raw ratings stay above 3.0 and whether he can boost Smackdown ratings to 2.5 or better. They showed the wrestlers backstage, each wearing t-shirts for their show, reacting with shock. Michael Cole said the computer must be broken.

-There are a lot of people with tickets to Raw next week and Raw house shows who are Cena fans who are upset. There are a lot of Smackdown ticket holders who are happy. Again, let's see if this sticks. This means no Cena next week on Raw when The Rock shows up for his Birthday Party in Miami.

-Todd Grisham interviewed John Cena backstage wearing a Smackdown t-shirt. He said Sci-Fi network is partying like it's 1999. Considering that's the debut year for Smackdown and the pre-brand-split era when every top star was on Smackdown in addition to Raw, that's a good choice of words. That Dennis Rodman reference was right out of 1999 (or 1996), too.

-He's almost 40, but that was a career-making debut heel promo. Just tremendous delivery. It was funny and entertaining, but in a way that didn't turn the crowd from booing to cheering him. They were happy to see John Morrison jump him at the end. Who else in that locker room is miscast and has that kind of heel promo in them?

-Rock turns 39 next week. WWE is throwing the biggest birthday party in TV history, they claim. Can it be the biggest birthday party in history of John Cena's not there? Will they have the discipline to sell the draft and have Cena absent?

-Eve beats Layla in a few seconds, giving Raw a draft pick.

-REY MYSTERIO drafted to RAW. Another big move. That does shake things up, as it makes it more believable that Cena will actually stay on Smackdown for a while as Rey is a good replacement on the babyface team.

-Kofi Kingston beat Sheamus, giving Smackdown another Draft Pick.

-RANDY ORTON drafted to SMACKDOWN. That's an even bigger surprise in that Cena leaving Raw was supposed to open the door for him to rise on Raw. No t-shirt for Orton, by the way. Someone threw him a Smackdown t-shirt, but he just held itup. The beard he's growing works. Maybe he just forgot his razor on the Europe tour and hasn't had time to shave. I don't think Randy means much to the ratings. He's a valuable component in the big picture, but I don't think people tune in specifically to see him. It makes me think Cena will be back on Raw after all the way they're stacking Smackdown.

-Ever the role model, Booker T said during Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton: "One thing my daddy taught me a long time ago - you've got to keep your woman in check." Just classy all the way, huh? He also said nothing about Dolph Ziggler has changed but his look. Could Booker undercut the promotion any more that he does? He even referenced his boneheaded comment from Smackdown where he said Raw was more stacked than Smackdown.

-Josh said: "Smackdown's Randy Orton - it feels good to say that!" Why does it feel good to say that? He's been announcing both shows for months and was never referenced as being "on loan from Smackdown" or anything.

•Orton beat Dolph Ziggler to earn two picks for Smackdown. There shouldn't be any shame in losing to Orton, but Ziggler is coming off a change in his look and supposedly his attitude, so this undercuts it.

•MARK HENRY and SIN CARA drafted to Smackdown. No surprise on Sin Cara given that Rey moved to Raw. They want to keep a Hispanic babface presence on both brands.

-Rey beats Wade Barrett next in about three minutes. These quick matches between main event names just does so much more harm than the powers in WWE realize. It's so hard to market matches on PPV without piling on stips (and that doesn't even work anymore) when you start sending the message to fans that Rey-Barrett, Orton-Ziggler, and Kofi-Sheamus are all 2-3 minute contests.

-BIG SHOW and ALBERTO DEL RIO get drafted from Smackdown to Raw.

-Team Raw won the six-man tag match when Mark Henry turned heel on his partner, John Cena.

-CENA drafted back to Raw. This is pretty lame. They used the technicality that apparently all names are "thrown back into the mix" after every draft, so conceivably a wrestler could be drafted to Raw, then back to Smackdown, then back to Raw, then back to Smackdown, and so on. The odds are greatly against it, but they've opened up that possibility. They've also made the pop for brand changes in all future drafts less intense because anytime a big star gets drafted, he could end up right back on the same brand by the end of the show. Yes, "anything can happen," but when that "anything" takes away the permanence of any particular draft pick in the future, it does more harm than good. Cole's laughter when Cena was drafted tells you that the whole "swerve" was for Vince McMahon's personal jollies once again. Whatever...

-So this shakes out as not much of a draft relative to what we thought just moments ago. Orton was expected to go to Smackdown. He did. Rey and Sin Cara switched places, as many thought might occur. Del Rio, the golden boy heel right now to Vince McMahon, moved to the A-show, while basically Mark Henry took his place as a top heel on Smackdown. No one is going to get worked up about Big Show either way, so that's a non-factor. So that last little move rendered a very newsworthy draft into something very ordinary and a letdown for those looking for a true big shake-up. There's always tomorrows "supplemental draft."

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