RAW, Smackdown, John Cena & The Rock: Surprising Twists and Turns in the WWE World
By Kevin Nelson
This week’s edition of RAW took place in Raleigh, North Carolina and with the news that the annual RAW/Smackdown draft would be taking place.
The first match was a 20 man RAW vs. Smackdown battle with the winner getting the first pick. Smackdown would win and get John Cena as their pick.
R Truth explained to the WWE Universe that he was tired of trying to please them. As evidenced last week when he assaulted John Morrison, R Truth has truly changed. Morrison would seek revenge and return the attack.
The following match featured Smackdown’s Koffi Kingston facing Sheamus in a non title bout. The match would end with Kingston victorious and the result of that would be Randy Orton being drafted to Smackdown.
The next match was Eve defeating Layla after Michelle McCool inexplicably distracted her friend, allowing Eve to be victorious. The draft pick coming to RAW is Rey Mysterio.
Michael Cole vs. Jim Ross was next, and Jack Swagger attacked JR, causing a DQ. The match would be a victory for Ross, but Cole would beat JR with a strap after it was over. Jerry Lawler would come in to help his friend, and Swagger and Cole would escape.
The anonymous RAW GM would announce the match would be a strap match at Extreme Rules. The following match was Randy Orton defeating Dolph Ziggler and following his victory, Smackdown gained Mark Henry and Sin Cara.
The next match was newly acquired RAW member Rey Mysterio facing intercontinental champion and Smackdown member Wade Barrett with the stipulation that whoever wins the match would get two draft picks to their brand.
Mysterio would defeat Barrett and gain two members: The Big Show and Alberto Del Rio.
The first match of the evening was a Team RAW/Team Smackdown six man tag team match. Team RAW consisted of The Miz, CM Punk and newly drafted RAW member Alberto Del Rio facing Team Smackdown which consisted of Christian, and Smackdown’s newest members Mark Henry and John Cena.
The team of RAW won when Mark Henry betrayed his teammates and helped them win. As RAW won it was announced that John Cena would be returning to raw.
Raw Aftermath
The idea of doing a draft is a good idea but one that needs to be every two years or so. The WWE screwed up years ago when they did not keep WCW and build up a feud. The idea of doing a draft and having two distinct shows Smackdown and RAW with a draft created excitement but when the WWE started doing a draft twice a year it just further confused the casual viewer in trying to figure out who was on what show.
Now it needs to be done every a couple of years, with two different PPVs, with Wrestlemania and Summerslam being the only two shows that have both brands.