Tonight is the WWE 2008 Draft (see photo of Draft Horses) and it couldn’t have come at a better time. RAW and SmackDown have descended into a long period of stagnation. Every week we get the same matches, the same winners, and the same losers. Things are changing tonight with a special three hour RAW. There have been no telling spoilers regarding the event and it seems not even the wrestlers themselves no if they are changing brands or not.

We’re not going to make any predictions but we are going to make a list of ten changes we would like to see happen at the draft. Please comment below with your own thoughts or hopes. Not sure who is in which brand? The WWE.com has a fun flash game where you can move your favorite superstars from brand to brand. Just click to http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/wwedraft2008/fantasydraft/.

1. No more JBL vs. John Cena matches. Everyone is sick of boring matches these two give us what seem to be every week. The best way to stop them would be to move JBL to ECW purgatory.
2. Stop Umaga’s descent into a high-level jobber. When exactly was the last time Umaga won? Move him to SmackDown and throw him into the Big Show-Mark Henry-Kane big man brawl.
3. Give Natalya a good rival and competitor in the SmackDown Women’s Title hunt. Who better than Beth Phoenix? She’s lost far too many times to Mickie James to still be a viable RAW entity. She moves to SmackDown and she’s back to claim her rightly throne again.
4. Give MVP his wish and let him leave SmackDown. If you send him to RAW he’ll run into the same outside rut he’s in at SmackDown. Move him to ECW and let MVP be the big fish in a small pond.
5. Move Shelton Benjamin away from ECW. He’s been the Pro Wrestling Observer’s Most Underrated wrestler for three years running now. He’s not going to be facing Kane for the ECW title anytime soon. Move him back to RAW. He’s big and strong enough to fight their top level guys -John Cena, the Randy Orton, and Triple H – and if given another chance he could up his game.
6. Let some perennial losers have a chance to lose elsewhere. I guess this is the point of the draft, actually. Shuffle Snitsky, Chuck Palumbo, and Paul London.
7. Reunite the Hardy Boyz. Bring Jeff over to SmackDown. Let the magic happen again. The rainbow-haired warrior is much better suited to Friday nights anyway.
8. More high flyers to SmackDown just in time for the return of Rey Mysterio. If Jeff Hardy is coming over why not bring Kofi Kingston and/or Evan Bourne along with him?
9. Give RAW another Big Dog. Why not Batista? he hasn’t been there since 2005 and would give Triple H or Cena a great adversary. We haven’t seen those matches in a while.
10. More rough and tumble brawlers to RAW. We like the pair of the tested Finlay and the untested Bam Neely. How that would effect Hornswaggle and La Familia would be hard to tell but it would be fun.
BONUS Send Mike Adamle away. Far, far away.

That would leave the following influx:
To RAW: Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Bam Neely, and Chuck Palumbo
To SmackDown: Jeff Hardy, Umaga, Kofi Kingston, Beth Phoenix, and Paul London
To ECW: JBL, MVP, and Snitsky

Your thoughts or wishes? Comment below!

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

WWE 2008 Draft Tonight! Our Wish List and Preview

Opening Segment
Vicki Guerrero gets booed a lot. When Batista signs a contract to fight Edge at Night of Champions (if he beats the Great Kali) she adds a clause saying if he doesn’t beat the Indian then he will be banished from the WWE.
Comment: Yawn. I like the major heel hate Vickie receives but the “win or your banished” route is getting pretty tired.

Morrison def. Finlay
Comment: I really enjoy Finlay’s brawling but I last week thought his and Hornswaggle’s feud with Miz and Morrison was a little silly. Finlay brings the best out of everyone and Mick Foley’s insults of The Miz are terrific. This match was surprisingly entertaining and the best bout in a horrifically bad night of SmackDown. If Vince McMahon is wondering why ratings are falling he only needs to re-watch this night’s putrid display.

Mark Henry def. Tommy Dreamer
Comment: Mark Henry is the last person I want to see sweaty, glistening, and wearing a skin tight outfit. He’s such a ridiculously boring wrestler and an unconvincing bad guy.

Cherry def. Maryse
Comment: Why can’t this feud just end?

MVP def. CM Punk
Comment: I know CM Punk is straight edge but he always looks so old, weathered, and in need of sleep. Which is why I catch a few zzzzs during this match. I wake up to yet another headlock and fall back asleep. Wake up. Arm bar. More sleep. Wake up. Commercial. I’m happy because I assume the match is over. It isn’t. The match mercifully ends when the ref catches Punk holding the Money in the Bank briefcase and wrongly assumes Punk used it to knock out MVP. Horrible horrible match.

Matt Hardy def. Chuck Palumbo
Comment: Chavo Guerrero announces he’s fighting Hardy for the U.S. Championship and that Chuck Palumbo is customizing a motorcycle for him. Hardy easily defeats the under- utilized Palumbo.

Jesse and Festus def. Deuce and Domino
Comment: Deuce hits Jesse with a poorly placed boot and open up a nasty cut on the little guy’s forehead showing just how violent these moves can be if they’re missed by the smallest of margins. I don’t understand why Jesse doesn’t let Festus open the matches since the same Jesse-is-beat-up-horribly-until-he-can-tag-Festus plot occurs in every one of the fights. He gets the tag and Festus predictably goes wild and quickly pins Domino. Deuce and Domino brawl after the match and it seems like these two might be breaking up. Not like I care either way.

Batista def. Great Khali
Comment: It’s hard to expect much when only one of the two participants can actually move. Edge and a wheelchaired Vickie Guerrero watch the bout from the entrance area. We feel bad that they have to witness Khali’s trademark boring mix of leg drops, elbow slams, and head butts. Khali hits an impressive Khali Bomb and Batista promptly sues the Punjabi giant for copyright infringement. Actually, the Animal spears the huge Indian and pins him thus saving his career and ending a miserably bad SmackDown.

Post from: EveryJoe

SmackDown 6/13 Results

HOUR ONE RESULTS
Finlay def. Chuck Palumbo
The Great Khali def. Deuce and Domino

INTRO
La Familia begins the night drinking champagne in the center of the ring celebrating Edge’s World Heavyweight Championship and banishment of The Undertaker. This extended segment is highlight by a fake light’s out Undertaker intro, an extended continental kiss between Edge and Vickie Guerrero, and Vickie’s shocking return to her wheelchair. The crowd is especially hostile to Vickie. They reign profuse boos on her when she announces that she plans to marry Edge on July 11’s SmackDown. Batista interrupts their fun and is now scheduled to face La Familia in tonight’s main event.

MATCH #1
The Finlay – Chuck Palumbo feud continues with a no-DQ “Belfast Brawl” contest. Finlay wins after popping Palumbo with Chuck’s motorcycle chain. Palumbo is predictably distracted by Hornswaggle, this time by a vicious uppercut to the privates. I like the rough and tumble brawls these two are involved in but Finlay’s now won all three matches and I’m guessing their run is over. That’s a shame. Judging from the camera work Finlay’s next feud will involve M.V.P.

INTERLUDE
Big Show comes out showing off his gruesome eye injury. Mark Henry appears and his far too sweaty to look at. He’s challenging Big Show to a fight and their forced dialogue is painfully slow. These two won’t be joining the debate club anytime soon. This is a natural feud. Who else can these behemoths face? But it doesn’t get me that excited.

MATCH #2
The Great Khali is back and looking as awkward as ever. He easily defeats Deuce and Domino in a handicap match while managing to stay in the center of the ring for the match’s entire 90 seconds. Evidently the less movement the better for the Punjabi giant. In honor of The Great Khali’s homeland the accompanying picture is a yawning Bengal Tiger.

INTERLUDE
After showing off her engagement ring to seven WWE divas Vickie Guerrero invokes the late great Fabulous Moolah before announcing a new SmackDown women’s title as well as a Diva’s Challenge. This is a great idea and should add some needed excitement to the weekly SmackDown WWE Divas match.

Hour one of an uneventful SmackDown is over where we saw a grand total of two matches, one of which was over before it began.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

WWE SmackDown 6/7 Hour One: All Talk and No Action

Friday Night SmackDown, May 30, 2008

Match Two
Finley def. Chuck Palumbo by DQ

It’s a rematch of last week’s fun match where Hornswaggle sneakily sprayed Palumbo with the mysterious Green Irish Mist. Paulmbo was “burned physically and emotionally” last week. After Hornswaggle takes his customary refuge under the ring Palumbo rides in on his Harley sporting a Slash-style hat. That’s Slash to your right, not Palumbo, although their weights seem to be nearing each other.

Mick Foley makes a Slash-related hat joke. We already had our comment written and the picture downloaded. Great minds think alike. Me and the guy with the sock puppet.

Palumbo has come out like a house on fire hitting Finlay with some violent fights and eager anger. This feud is holding a lot more of our interest than expected with these two clever brawlers.

Palumbo gets Finlay with a devastating boot to the head and looks to put him away with a top rope leap. Finlay gets out of the way and the match moves outside the ring, near the Harley and near the hiding Hornswaggle.

It’s getting good now. Palumbo pulls Hornswaggle out from under the apron but the evil leprechaun is able to escape. Chuck then takes the chain off his Harley and proceeds to clock Finlay in the face with it and is DQd. We want him to dive under the ring and get Hornswaggle. He doesn’t but we’re at least interested as he drives away on his hog. This won’t be the last time these two meet.

Segment Grade: B

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

SmackDown 5/30 Part Two: Is That Slash?

Deuce, Domino and Maryse def. Jesse, Festus and Cherry
Finlay def. Chuck Palumbo
Batista def. M.V.P.
Vladimir Kozlov def. Nunzio
Matt Hardy and Kofi Kingston def. Shelton Benjamin and Elijah Burke
The Undertaker def. Chavo Guerrero

Friday night’s SmackDown concluded what has been an entertaining week of wrestling matches.

The hard-fought epic M.V.P.-Batista battle which saw terrific give-and-take, lots of powerful moves, and a successful building of an interesting feud.

My favorite bout of the night was surprisingly the Finlay-Chuck Palumbo match. The two sparred for a good ten minutes providing good action and compelling drama. All of this was emphasized by the fact that Hornswaggle spent most of the match under the canvas. But when the little guy emerged the fun began. The first time he disrupted a sure Palumbo pin by splattering the journeyman with a Super Soaker.

Hornswaggle’s second appearance included an even more dastardly liquid projectile. While Finlay rolled around in pain, Hornswaggle hoped to distract Palumbo from making the pin. It worked but the evil leprechaun looked to be in serious physical danger. Chuck pulled him into the ring and looked poised to attack. Instead, Hornswaggle spat the seemingly poisonous green Irish Mist into the bigger man’s face.

Palumbo staggered blindly and Finlay connected his shillelagh incapacitated his opponent. An easy pin soon followed with Finlay carefully hiding Palumbo’s green-smeared face and body from the referee’s view.

I’ll talk more on The Undertaker-Vickie Guerrero-Edge-Chavo Guerrero incident later.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Post from: EveryJoe

WWE SmackDown: The Night of the Irish Mist

Post from: EveryJoe

SmackDown Results (April 11, 2008)

Post from: EveryJoe

Wrestlemania 24 Match Lineup

Mark Henry defeated Kane, The Great Khali, and Chuck Palumbo in an over-the-top-rope challenge leading up to their participation in the 24 man battle royal tomorrow.

In a squash Batista defeated Snitsky and will face Umaga on Sunday for brand supremacy.

CM Punk hit the go to sleep on John Morrison in a Money in the Bank preview match to pick up much needed momentum ahead of tomorrow ladder match.

Kofi Kingston teamed with Jesse and Festus on SmackDown against Cade and Murdoch and The Miz. Kingston got the win for his team with a pin of Miz.

Stop back tomorrow for extensive coverage of Wrestlemania 24.

Post from: EveryJoe

SmackDown Recap (March 28, 2008)

Here is a complete list of wrestlers participating in the tri-branded match:

Elijah Burke, Lance Cade, Deuce, Domino, Tommy Dreamer, Jim Duggan, Festus, The Great Khali, Mark Henry, Hardcore Holly, Jesse, Kane, Brian Kendrick, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Shannon Moore, Trevor Murdoch, Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Cody Rhodes, Snitsky, Matt Striker, Val Venis and Jimmy Wang Yang.

Post from: EveryJoe

Pre-Wrestlemania 24 Man Battle Royal

Post from: EveryJoe

SmackDown Recap (March 21, 2008)