Tossing Salt - Worldwide News: April 23, 2011 (The WWE Draft - Part 2)

Tossing Salt - Worldwide News
April 23, 2011
Doug Maynard
The Draft - Part II

Back again with Part II of my four-part series taking a look at the upcoming WWE 2011 Draft, which is coming up on Monday Night RAW in just a couple of days. I'm Doug and this is...

Tossing Salt Is The WWE Draft - Part 2: WWE RAW

I've broke down the RAW and Smackdown rosters into two parts each and have gone down the list of Superstars, trying to determine if they should stay where they're at or else move to the other side, if you will. Let's recap.

So far, when looking at the first half of the RAW roster, I noted that Mark Henry, John Morrison, The Uso Brothers, Jerry Lawler, Evan Bourne, Gail Kim, David Otunga, David Hart Smith, Alicia Fox and Daniel Bryan are, in my opinion, ready for a change and could be best served by a move to the WWE's blue brand. And I'd have Alex Riley, CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, The Bella Twins, Eve, Goldust, Husky Harris, Justin Roberts, John Cena, Maryse, Melina and Mason Ryan are safe and staying on RAW. Now let's move on to the second half of the WWE Raw Roster.

Michael McGillicutty

I would love to see the WWE drop the whole "McGillicutty" name and allow this talented young man to use his real name of "Hennig" and perhaps portray a modern day version of his father, a 2011 "Mr. Perfect". He's got the talent and skills. But for now, if they're going to stick with this name and character, he should stay on RAW as part of the new Nexus. No reason to change brands until they're ready to change any and every thing.

Michael Tarver

I keep forgetting that he's even a part of RAW anymore. He had his injury and then came back to stand around in the back at RAW tapings. And as of late, he doesn't even do that anymore. He's just a face in the crowd and no matter what they do, I think it'll stay that way. He stays on RAW just because no one remembers that he's there.

Natayla

I like her on RAW, so let's keep her there for now. Safe and staying on the Flagship show.

Nikki Bella

Her sister is the Diva Champion and where one sister goes, both go. Brie belongs on RAW and by association, Nikki does too. She stays on RAW.

Primo Colon

So much talent and so many moves, but so rarely used by the WWE. I'd like to see the Creative Teams find a place for Primo and give him a chance to show his stuff. But I don't think it'll happen on RAW, where he's destined to remain jobber to the stars. He needs a good move. DRAFTED.

R-Truth

I'm not a fan of Truth, but I do like the heel turn from this past week. And with that in mind, I'll give him some more time to show his stuff and stay on the flagship program. Truth staying on RAW - that's what's up!

Randy Orton

Here's where I'm going to stir some feathers. I do not care for Randy Orton's matches or character. He's popular right now, but I just don't get it. But then again, I don't get Cena either. Smackdown is weak on major-league babyfaces now that Edge is out of the picture. Christian is stepping up, but he can't be the only one. I'd send Randy to Smackdown and let him be the big face over there. He doesn't need the title so I'd let Christian and his peeps work that scene for now, but Orton could be the other "go to" guy for Smackdown. It'd be a great role for the one-time Legend Killer. He should be drafted.

Ranjin Singh

He goes where Khali goes, which is acting as a special attraction for both brands, For now though, his home remains RAW.

Santino

A RAW mainstay and I don't see any reason for that to change. He stays.

Scott Stanford

Who? I have no idea who this is, thus it matters not to me whether he's RAW, Smackdown, or whatever. Leave him where he is. He stays.

Sheamus

I love to watch the Celtic Warrior, fella. And I think he's a great talent that's going to have a big future in this business for a long time to come. But his push on RAW has been so hokey-pokey. He wins. No, he loses. He's a killer. No, he's an ass-clown. And now he's the U.S. Champion. The RAW writers can't seem to decide exactly what they want to do with the Human Jar of Mayonnaise. So let the Smackdown guys have a shot. I'd change him to the other brand. DRAFTED!

Sin Cara

He's new and exciting, but truthfully, he's an accident waiting to happen as well. Live TV is not this guys friend. Until he gets a better grasp on the WWE style and actually hitting his moves in the ring, I'd send him to Smackdown where his goofs can be fixed in editing rather than throwing him out there on live TV each week and just keeping the fingers crossed.

Skip Shefield

I'd like to see Skip go over to Smackdown. After he was injured, his "partners" in the old Nexus kind of forgot about him. It's time for he and Wade Barrett to have a reckoning. He's drafted.

Tamina

Put her back with the Uso's and send her to Smackdown. Drafted.

Ted DiBiase

This one is really hard to decide. Ted's career is falling fast, but I don't know if a change of venue is exactly what he needs or not. It worked for Cody (after a year of living in obscurity), but with Orton possibly headed over to the other brand, is there a place for Ted there as well. I think I'd leave him on RAW for the time being and just work on refreshing his character and rebuilding his career instead of trying to just pass the buck and move him. Ted says put on RAW.

Great Khali

He's a special attraction who can travel between brands anyhow, so it doesn't matter where he is. Khali stays on the RAW roster.

The Miz

The current WWE Champion stays on RAW. No if's, or's, but's, or doubts about it. Cause he's just that damn good. He's the Miz and he's... well, you know how it goes. He stays right where he's at.

Triple H

We rarely see HHH anymore, so does it matter. He stays because RAW is the big show and he's the big cheese. 'Nuff said!

Tyson Kidd

An exciting young talent who we rarely get to see perform, except for on the B-shows. I'd like to see him get a shot at attempting to rebuild his character a bit and they may as well reform the New Hart Foundation with David Hart Smith since neither has really done anything of note since their break-up as a team. So since I have Smith going to Smackdown, I think Kidd should go there as well, so they can regroup, reunite and get moving in the right direction again. Drafted!

Vickie Guerrero

Excuse me! I said excuse me! I love me some Vickie Guerrero and she's perfect exactly where she is. Vickie stays on RAW.

Vladimir Kozlov

Kozlov seems to have found a good role as Santino's partner and the muscle of the group. For now , leave it be. He stays on RAW.

William Regal

I wouldn't care where Regal is if they would actually let him wrestle more often. It looks to me as if Regal is beginning to wind down his career, doing announcing on the NXT program and possibly moving to become an agent in the next year or so. I watch RAW more than Smackdown, so I'd keep Regal on RAW just so I'd have more opportunities to see him make appearances. He stays on RAW.

Yoshi Tatsu

Yoshi seems to have become an NXT / Superstars mainstay rather than a force on the main roster, and that's a sad statement about the current shape of the WWE. RAW is too superstar heavy for a relatively younger guy to really get a push unless he has a special something about him. Yoshi just has his great wrestling skills. Thus, he'd be better off on Smackdown where the focus seems to be more about wrestling than just talking well and charisma. Yoshi has it, but Smackdown would just make a better stage for him to show it. So he gets drafted.

And there you go. I've taken the entire RAW roster, one by one, and placed them into two categories. Either going to Smackdown on Monday (or later in the supplemental draft) or else staying on RAW. Let's recap the entire list of RAW superstars and who stays and who goes.

Staying on RAW (in my opinion) are: Alex Riley, CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler, The Bella Twins, Eve, Goldust, Husky Harris, Justin Roberts, John Cena, Maryse, Melina, Mason Ryan, William Regal, Vladimir Kozlov, Vickie Guerrero, Triple H, The Miz, Great Khali, Ted DiBiase, Scott Stanford, Santino, Ranjin Singh, R-Truth, Natayla, Michael Tarver, and Michael McGillicutty.

And being drafted over to the brand that is Smackdown are: Mark Henry, John Morrison, The Uso Brothers, Jerry Lawler, Evan Bourne, Gail Kim, David Otunga, David Hart Smith, Alicia Fox, Daniel Bryan, Tyson Kidd, Tamina, Skip Shefield, Sin Cara, Sheamus, Randy Orton and Primo Colon.

And that's it for the roster of WWE RAW. I'll be back tomorrow with two more columns as I look at the talent that is Smackdown and do the same thing. Should they stay where they're at or should they head to the live, flagship program that is WWE Monday Night RAW. I can't wait to do that one.

And on that note, I'm out of here for now. I'm Doug and comments, thoughts, critiques, and dirty jokes can be sent to Doug28352@yahoo.com. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm down and I'm gone.

Ubuntu!