"WWE RAW" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Since co-owners Ric Flair and Vince McMahon split the World Wrestling Federation into RAW and SmackDown! rosters on March 25, 2002, the WWE has gone through a constant evolution. Championships have changed hands and changed shows, tag teams have been split up and then reunited, general managers have been hired (and fired) and a new brand was launched.

From The Undertaker screaming at Vince McMahon that he promised 'Flair would not pick him!' to Triple H's draft to SmackDown! and next day trade back to RAW to the switching of the Heavyweight Champions and the end of Muhammad Hassan; the Draft Lotteries of March 25, 2002; March 22, 2004 and the month of June 2005 have always "shaken things up." What will happen tonight? It's a three hour event, live at 8 p.m. ET on USA!

RAW. SmackDown. ECW. Everything is about to change.


http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/3883682/4861048The WWE Draft
June 11, 2007

It's a Raw so big, it will start one hour early at 8/7 CT on the USA Network.

Monday night, on a special three-hour edition of Raw, the entire WWE roster will converge in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for the fourth-ever WWE Draft. The show will begin with a match between old rivals WWE Champion John Cena and World Heavyweight Champion Edge. The battle between Cena and Edge will set the tone for the night. Each match on Raw will be interpromotional and will affect the Draft.

In professional sports, draft day is always special for a young athlete. No one knows where they will be going as they get their official start in the professional ranks.

On Monday, the Superstars of WWE will all be nervous for a very similar reason. Until their name is (or isn't) called, none of the Superstars will know if the brand they currently call home will still be theirs come Tuesday morning. Whose names will be called at the podium to bring their talent to a new brand?

The three-hour special edition of Raw will be made even more special, as it will also be “Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night,” ordered by the WWE Chairman of the Board himself.

WWE.com has learned that several celebrities, Legends and WWE Hall of Famers, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Bret Hart, will be offering their comments of appreciation for the boss. Read more on who will be appearing... (http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/articles/4413908/speakers)

What other festivities will take place to honor the former ECW World Champion? And will McMahon’s mental state be more stable than it was last week, as he wreaked havoc in the locker room as a maniacal matchmaker?

Monday will also be uncertain for the new World Tag Team Champions, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, who beat a weakened Matt & Jeff Hardy for their titles last week. Will the draft split the pair just as they reach the pinnacle of their profession?

Don’t miss all the action on the special three-hour WWE Draft edition of Raw, Monday night at a special time, 8/7 CT on USA Network.


WWE Draft trivia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_draft
*Daivari has gone through the most roster changes of all WWE alumni (6): RAW (2), SmackDown! (3), and ECW (1)
*The following wrestlers are the only ones to have been on all three brands: Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, The Big Show, The Great Khali, Daivari, René Duprée, Sylvan Grenier, Danny Basham, Stevie Richards, Test and Al Snow.
*Ric Flair, Funaki and Victoria are the only currently hired superstars in WWE to have been with their brand since the beginning without changing rosters or being released.
*Rob Van Dam is the only wrestler to have been traded in every official draft or draft lottery. During the March 2002 Brand Extension draft, he was drafted to RAW; during the March 2004 Draft Lottery, he was drafted to SmackDown!; during the June 2005 Draft Lottery, he was drafted again to RAW; and he was drafted to ECW during the 2006 ECW draft.

[VCXZX]

I'm diggin the game show music and random feel to the draft. I wasn't expectin Kahli to be honest. He already served a stint in Smackdown. But regardless, so far, so good.

Jesse Ventura looks like crap. I liked the 1990 reference (year Ventura left the WWE)

Yup our fears are true, the Jackass crew is headlining Smackdown.

The Boogeyman?? Well another unexpected pick. I guess he feuds with Thorn and the New Breed.

[BigEclipse]

Oh god, Boogey Man on ECW? Can anyone say "Nail in the Coffin"? Of cousre you can...

[EinBebop]

Aww, crap. 411 usually does a play-by-play, but apparently not tonight-- the first night that's actually mattered in awhile.


Oh god, Boogey Man on ECW? Can anyone say "Nail in the Coffin"? Of cousre you can...So you think he'll be feuding with Thorn, also? :D

Little Thorn.

[VCXZX]

Interesting concept this former champion challenging John Cena match. I see some sort of swerve though. I can't see the likes of Mick Foley wrestling Cena. Perhaps someone like Kane (if he's drafted) or Chris Benoit (if he's drafted.)

The Good King gets drafted!! I like that a lot. He should've cut a promo, though.

Michael Cole is no JR when it comes to the Skittles promos.

WOW, I though fer sure Benoit would go on RAW but I guess I was proven wrong. A huge upgrade for ECW.

I don't know why but the Donald's promo was the best one so far tonight. It was oddly refreshing to see him again.

[BigEclipse]

Chris Benoit on ECW!!!! I can go to sleep a happy man!!!!

[Red]

Aww, crap. 411 usually does a play-by-play, but apparently not tonight-- the first night that's actually mattered in awhile.

So you think he'll be feuding with Thorn, also? :D

Little Thorn.

They still are at http://411mania.com/wrestling/livecoverage/

Great Khali - Oh lord, just fire him
Boogeyman - Same
King Booker - RAW feels a little more royal now, maybe he'll feud with Cena now?
Chris Benoit - Awesome, another real main eventer on ECW.

[Rolling Cloud]

This is disgusting!! :shrug:

[EinBebop]

They still are at http://411mania.com/wrestling/livecoverage/Oh, awesome, they just didn't advertise it on the main page. Thanks!

[VCXZX]

:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:(:(:(:(:mad::mad::mad: Whoever thought of that last segment should be tarred and feathered.

[JShaggy]

Why, oh why, oh why must they continue to torture us with those two old fossils, Moolah and Mae Young, I may never know. :ack: :ack:

[EinBebop]

:: wonders how many people will be drafted, and what Penguin will do with the poll if there's more than ten ::

[VCXZX]

http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif At Iron Sheik appearing. Perhaps he could get a regular segment on RAW. His unique opinions have been a hit on Youtube.

Torrie is the next pick. I guess its safe to say Smackdown has the worst draft so far. I wonder if CHLOE got picked too.

Up Next: A classic segment for sure.

[Icer]

Smackdown is getting hosed

[Rolling Cloud]

Torrie to smackdown...whatev! :shrug:

Transfer a wrestler, I'll actually miss.

[The Penguin]

:: wonders how many people will be drafted, and what Penguin will do with the poll if there's more than ten ::Oh I can have as many options as I want. :D The first Taboo Tuesday we had all 20 I-C opponents in the poll for Chris Jericho.

[VCXZX]

Great to see Bret make an unexpected appearance on RAW. I thought the HOF would've been the last time we see Bret on WWE TV but I guess I was proven wrong.

Masters. The not-so-good draft of Smackdown continues.

Great to see the Brain show up as well.

[Rolling Cloud]

Smackdown is trapped in the Master's lock!!! :evil:

[JShaggy]

The Miz got jobbed, and SmackDown gets the Masterpiece.

Give him a title push, and he'll be just fine over there.

[EinBebop]

Smackdown is getting hosedNo kidding. Boogeyman, Booker, and Benoit... traded for Torrie Wilson, Chris Masters, and Khali?

[VCXZX]

Bobby Lindsey on RAW. Well that's not that big of a shock considering he's been on RAW a lot lately. I guess we have a tournament to determine the ECW champ now,.

[Anthony C.]

Bobby Lashley drafted to Raw..wait a second I thought that he was already on RAW I mean he wrestles on Raw every week. He just got stripped of the ECW Title and he basically said that he is pretty much going to "prove to be the champion" on Raw. I guess that sets up the obvious: Cena versus Lashley.

I guess that means that Benoit is going to win the ECW title now.

[JShaggy]

Bobby Lindsey on RAW. Well that's not that big of a shock considering he's been on RAW a lot lately. I guess we have a tournament to determine the ECW champ now.
... and chances are one of the New Breed members is going to win it.

[/sarcasm]

So yeah, I think Cena's days are numbered on this one.

[RedNinja84]

Well with Lashley gone, ECW gets some new blood for the title. I can imagine that there will be a tournament and Benoit will win his third world title.

[EinBebop]

I'd like to get my hopes up about ECW's future...

but I think Snitsky's your next champion. Or some other crapbag that gets drafted in tonight.

[VCXZX]

http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.62.23/html/emoticons/laugh.gif at JBL saying "OVW" Great stuff.

So Ric Flair finally leaves RAW and switches brands. Interesting pick for Smackdown.

Also interesting that Wednesday at Noon is a supplemental draft. I guess the C-D list of WWE wrestlers will be drafted then. Similar to 2004 and 2002.

Looks like the Snitsky/Cena feud will happen now.

I'm surprised about Mr Kennedy though. I thought he was going to feud with Edge since that was ready-made. Smackdown really lost tonight.

[RedNinja84]

Kennedy coming to Raw!! and it looks like we get Snitsky as the next monster for Cena.

[James Bester]

Well, Smackdown! is officially screwed.

[JShaggy]

I guess we can officially call RAW the big winner this evening now that they have landed Snitsky and Misterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr KENNEDY!!!!

... and SmackDown comes out the big loser in all of this. Time will tell.

[bigddan11]

Well only two of the people I picked actually moved, and they were the last two: Snitsky and Mr. Kennedy. RAW will have a great amount of champion fighters now with King Booker, Mr. Kennedy, and Bobby Lashley going over to RAW.

Expect Chris Benoit, an ECW Original, to be the next ECW Champion. I guess the New Breed feud will continue though seeing as that none of them were moved, and the originals will now be back up to three with Benoit (unless they decide to make Balls Mahoney a full-time competitor for the Originals).

SmackDown! truly was hosed this draft. The only worthwhile person they got was Ric Flair.

[PTurkey]

I hate this draft so much. In a single night, the best wrestling show on TV has been completely ruined. Not to mention the friggin' Kennedy-Edge fued they set up and that I was anticipating.

[Matt Hazuda]

Best Raw Ending Ever!!!!!

[Anthony C.]

Holy CRAP!!!!!!!!!

[EinBebop]

Next week we'll see the extended version of his soul rising from the car, promising to return.

[RedNinja84]

Oh great, now we get "Who ran over Stone Cold?" all over again. I hope this doesn't drag on too long.

[JShaggy]

Granted, the exploding limousine was saving grace for the whole evening.

[SonGoku V3]

Tell me I wasn't the only one who just laughed at that ending! :eek::sweat:

[VCXZX]

Wow!! What a crazy ending. Very entertaining. I wonder who is going to be responsible for it. Perhaps they can do like the "Who Shot Mr Burns" episode of the Simpsons and do the investigation like that episode. http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif

Overall, a very entertaining RAW.

[mammy2shoesfan]

What the hell was that. That was just plain stupid.

[EinBebop]

Perhaps they can do like the "Who Shot Mr Burns" episode of the Simpsons and do the investigation like that episode.Leslie Nielson found the Undertaker; he can solve this.

[SirLemming]

Wow, what an ending. I'm just not sure what to say about that.




As for the rest of the show, questionable draft picks aside (although the arbitrary do-whatever-we-want draft, or whatever they want to call it, can fix that up)... I thought it was actually above average. Basically just a bunch of matches interspersed with good, brief talking segments by guys I mostly care about. And the Iron Sheik was classic.

[Vidfreak]

I wonder what they are going to do with the Limo blowing up at the end , what does this mean? Is it keyfabe for Vince having a little vacation for a while or is he going to alter his character next week?

[VCXZX]

http://www.wwe.com/

http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif http://209.85.12.231/html/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Jude Santos]

Did the WWE forget that the last time we saw King Booker, he was left alone by Sharmell due to not being protected by him? I guess they smoothed it out off camera...(unless I missed an episode of SD! and missed the resolution)

Oh yea, nice ending :D

[PTurkey]

The Draft was terrible. But that ending was OMG AWESOMEST EVER. I feel I should be hating WWE, but then they done killed Mr. McMahon crazily, which I love. SO CONFLICTED

But if he comes back next week like Triple H did when he was in that car that dropped from that crane years back, I will be so pissed.

[EinBebop]

God bless the Wikiped-ites. They've already reported his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_mcmahon

"Vince passed away on Monday, June 11, 2007 after his limo exploded at the end of the WWE Raw. Coincidently, this Raw was Mr. McMahon Appreciation night."

[Chris Johnston]

I really don't know whether to laugh, cry, or something else....but:


WTF?????

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[zmanjz]

The hell was that?!?!?!

:eek:

[TnAdct1]

Got to hand it to Vince: I wasn't expecting his limo to blow up at the end of the episode (Heck, I was chanting "Holy ****" when that happened).

In fact, after seeing those two guys in the background as he was leaving the arena, I thought that those two would come from behind and put Vince in the ambulance that would take him to the nuthouse.

[mammy2shoesfan]

WWE's own website is no better either.

[dtemplar]

To quote Joey Styles about the end of Raw:

"Oh My GOD!"

[matta2fatta]

this is exactly how the sopranos should of ended

[Damien]

So the finale turned out to be like the rest of the episode: a roast.
Eh, I called the ending before he climbed in. Still, it's interesting enough. Maybe the culprit will be the only guy not interviewed: Hulk Hogan.

Not too excited about any of the drafting. Still just a few guys I like scattered between Raw and Smackdown.

First match was the best match-up, although, of course, we were kind of cheated. At least Edge's win was legite, though.

What happened to The Brain?

[TnAdct1]

The YTMND community is definitely having a field day with this event.

http://itsthebestdayeverforvincemcmahon.ytmnd.com/
http://vinceblownup.ytmnd.com/
http://limobewm.ytmnd.com/
http://atleastvincegotanending.ytmnd.com/

[Supernovametalstar]

A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about what people would have to say about Vince when he really did pass away. That last segment just seemed so vile and tasteless to me. Pretending that someone died in that manner just doesn't fly with me.

So now they're going to have weeks or maybe even months of "who killed Mr. McMahon." I'm just about done with WWE again.

[dtemplar]

What happened to The Brain?

Bobby Heenan was diagnosed with throat cancer.

[PhatMan]

OK WTF is going on. I mean SD gets Screwed and they blow up Vince in a limo. Of course I know Vince isn't really dead but still WTF is going on.

[langden alger]

What happened to The Brain?

in remisssion from throat cancer, tragic..all things considered he's actually looking pretty good.

as far as i could tell the sheik stated that 'he loved playing kickball with great athlete kennedy mcmahon.'

so let's see:

bret

austin

foley

ventura

mean gene

piper

dusty

.....dead vince

best raw ever? hell yeah.

[langden alger]

Oh great, now we get "Who ran over Stone Cold?" all over again. I hope this doesn't drag on too long.

with foley back as well...so he can interigate the whole roster again until he finds out 'who dunnit?'' until it's revealed to be rikishi again. oh silly kishi when will you learn??

[Majin_Megabyte]

We should add Paul London to the list with his goofy smile, when Vince walked past him.

[EinBebop]

You are all so insensitive. A man just died.

[Sigma]

Vince McGriddle getting blown up was so bad it was insanely funny. It's going to be interesting to see where this goes. I just hope it doesn't lead to Stephanie taking over Vince's on screen role as the WWE's CEO.

It's also great to see Mr. Kennedy head to RAW where he belongs. Now we can only pray that he gets his promised title run on RAW, finally ending Cena's century long reign as champion.

[mammy2shoesfan]

This is the reason why I go with out watching WWE for months at a time. Please let this story ark be over quick.

[Ahiru-kun]

Hart's appearance more than made up for the lack of Hogan.

Smackdown really got the short end of the stick with this draft.

That's just great. Cena's going to feud with a man with the least personality of any hoss we've ever seen.

I suspected Kennedy would go to Raw. He and Orton would make a great team.

Best Raw ending ever. The way it was drug out had me constantly thinking, "What's going to happen." With that said, I'm guessing we'll never see Vince again or at least for a few years. It was truly the best way for him to go out.

[Chris Johnston]

Somebody get CSI, we have a mystery on our hands. ;)

EDIT:
Was this evening an eerie prophecy fulfilled for Mr. McMahon, given his recent premonitions? Or was it simply a fateful execution of coincidence? The ominous reality is that what was brushed off as incoherent ramblings of a broken man and former ECW (http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/) World Champion actually may have proven to be an exercising of a recently discovered sixth sense.

LOL

[bigddan11]

Does anyone else think Vince himself staged his death since he was going crazy? This means that Coachman will be the new man in charge at all times for RAW though.

The draft continues Wednesdat at 12 PM ET. I wonder what other twists they'll throw us there.

[hobbyfan]

I'm officially numb. Instead of being sent away in a straitjacket, Vince decides to top "The Sopranos" and kill himself off. Now, if we see him at Christmas in Iraq, well......!;)

I just checked over the picks I made in my column on 2xzone.com. I had Booker & Kennedy going to Raw, Torrie to Smackdown, and Benoit to ECW, the latter after it'd been leaked he'd be going to Raw. Maybe the supplemental draft will do something to shake up the lower half of the card.

No tag matches tonight. Bumma!

Chairman Wackjob drafted Lashley to Raw so he could take the ECW title away from him. So, with Vince "dead", suspicion will fall on Lashley and anyone else who had issues with him. Shane will return, and one must presume Stephiekins will return as well in the short term.

As Batman (Adam West) put it 41 years ago, "What a way to go-go!".

Torrie best be watching herself. JBL called her, "The next Mrs. Layfield". He said the same thing about Maryse & Michelle McCool, too.

Now, how do you top tonight?

[bigddan11]

My early picks:
To RAW:
Matt Hardy
Mr. Kennedy
Rey Mysterio
Snitsky
Kevin Thorn

To SmackDown!:
CM Punk
Marcus Cor Von
Elijah Burke
Kenny Dykstra
Johnny Nitro

To ECW:
Santino Marella
Garrison Cade
Trevor Murdoch
Chris Benoit
Mark Henry

Actual results:
To RAW:
King Booker (& Queen Sharmell)
Mr. Kennedy
Bobby Lashley
Snitsky

To SmackDown:
The Great Khali (& Runjin Singh)
Torrie Wilson
Chris Masters
Ric Flair

To ECW:
The Boogeyman
Chris Benoit

I did manage to get 3 of them correct, but it looks clear from these results that they are making RAW the top show again, and it looks like SmackDown! will actually be the worst show now.

[Jude Santos]

Does anyone else think Vince himself staged his death since he was going crazy? This means that Coachman will be the new man in charge at all times for RAW though.


that's what I've been thinking. if anyone actually watched SD, ECW last week showed Vince as a little out of it. Add that to the fact that he was a little hesitant going into the limo (he looked back twice on the way to the limo.) Also, he left the door open with his leg propped out. if you ask me, vince committed suicide. (call me an over analyzer)

regardless, i think rikishi did it again, except this time, for Umaga instead of the rock. [/kidding]

[EinBebop]

BTW, it really sucks that Lashley didn't get beat for the title. They had the perfect opportunity to have Benoit win the title tonight, but they had to protect their golden child.

[The Penguin]

I don’t know if I was just in a good mood tonight, but I really enjoyed the show. Three hours was great, each match felt important with the clever idea of putting the draft picks on the line and Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night took a better format that I could have possibly imagined.

I loved Vince reading his opening statement. Never has someone telling you they’re in full control of their faculties been less convincing. :lol:

By count-out was probably the only way they would let Edge beat John Cena. It was still a big step having the Rated-R Superstar beat The Champ though. I never though we’d see that again regardless of how it happened.

And The Great Khali moves rosters again. The giant Indian has moved around a whole heckuva lot since he arrived on the scene. Now he’s back where he started after his quick ECW-RAW shuffle. I love how Edge looked all freaked out and Cena had a “good luck, buddy” look on his face. :evil:

Right off the bat with the video of how Vince became an announcer I was really impressed. I assume that is off the McMahon DVD? I’ll probably have to get that eventually. Jesse Ventura comments were about what one would expect from the former governor. What was up with that hair though? :eek:

Carlito should have left Punk lay on the outside of the ring. Punk might have slipped back in, he might not have, but if he had made it back in, Carlito could have just jumped him the second he got back in the ring. The cool one was too anxious for a win.

The Boogeyman will probably fit in pretty well in ECW. Not a big win for the guys on Sci-Fi, but a logicial move.

I’ll put Snoop Dogg and Steve-O together seeing as how I didn’t care about either (other than my fear of the Jackass guys at SummerSlam).

The evil/firing Vince video was pretty good too. Nice seeing Mick Foley in the arena. The list of people who said ‘no thanks’ was a nice addition to the show. It would have been interesting to hear from them of them, but making them a part of the show by saying they weren’t a part of the show worked nicely.

Oh man, I just started laughing when Umaga was on his way out to face Balls. :lol: There was no doubt who was going to win that match. So sad.

King Booker was one of the more surprising picks of the night for me. He’d carved such a good spot for himself on SmackDown! over the past several years, I just hope they have a plan for him. Joey Styles sounded like an idiot to me when he was disappointed that ECW missed out on King Booker by Balls losing. If that had been ECW’s pick the computer would have had the RAW and SmackDown! roster up there giving it a different set of variables then it had with the SmackDown! and ECW rosters. ECW could have ended up with Eugene.

I was kind of hoping for the irony of somone losing their match and then being drafted off their brand as a result. I was hoping for a heel that would be upset though rather than someone like Chris Benoit. I hope this will be a good move for the Wolverine and this will make him the big dog again.

Trump’s ‘dedication’ was a great follow-up to WrestleMania… That’s all I got.

So if Ashley is suspended, what the heck is she doing appearing on RAW in any capacity? To top it all off, wherever she was sure looked a lot like the backstage GM office with the leather couches. ;) I’d rather not talk about Mae and Moolah.

Jimmy Snuka & the Iron Sheik were great. As usual, you could barely understand what Sheik had to say. :lol:

I was so happy to see MVP beat Santino Marella. It would have been an embarassment to Porter, SmackDown! and the United States Championship if he had lost to that scrub. Show me you’re worthy Gorilla’s name!

After being upset with how things had gone to that point I was surprised at how happy JBL was to see Torrie Wilson rejoin the blue crew. I will pretend that she and Kidman have made up and he is about to be rehired because that makes me feel better about it.

Seeing Bret Hart appear again made me once again keep some hope that he will once again take his proper place in the WWE family. Time may still heal all wounds. I was once again a little disappointed with what one of my all-time favorite wrestlers had to say. When Bret brandished his fists I flashed to Anchorman and I felt like the Hit Man was offering “Jack Johnson and Tom O’Leary” to the chairman. :(

I felt like whoever booked the Miz-Snitsky match clearly has not see all the great work that both Mike Mizanin and the SmackDown! writing team have been doing over the past several weeks. Miz did officially win the match though so I guess that’s something.

Chris Masters may not seem like a win for SmackDown! to many of you, but at the very least it is a win for The Masterpiece. Masters hasn’t had a lot going for him on RAW and a change of scenery should be great for him.

It’s always nice to see Bobby Heenan and even though is voice isn’t the same, that trademark Brain wit is still very much intact.

Good to see Roddy Piper back on his feet and making fun of Vince McMahon since there are no DX guys to present DX picking on him.

Mark Cuban should be RKOed and not heard.

Now tonight was a real opportunity for Candice to show how far she has come. To this point it was possible that Melina and Victoria were helping carry her, but the boot was on the other foot in her match with Kristal. Great job Candice! :)

:confused: I thought Bobby Lashley was already on RAW? This pick was no surprise although I assumed they would keep him over on ECW with the title. Every word Coach said had “please don’t hurt me” heavily implied. And then we got another lackluster Lashley promo. He is not top-tier RAW material and I hope some figures that out.

While I found Bob Costas’s desire to have Mean Gene’s job to be a bit insincere, he was a good one to have appear and his referencing his confrontation with McMahon on his HBO show was a cool piece of fairly recent history.

I didn’t find the triple thread match to be very exciting. It wasn’t a bad match or anything, but it wasn’t exciting as I thought it would be. I suppose a little bit smaller SmackDown guy would have made things more interesting.

Ric Flair is quite a shocking pick to me. Especially when the trivia I found indicated that he is (or rather was) one of only three that has served continuously on his original brand.

I love Captain Lou, but it felt like the legendary manager did everything he could to make himself sound like a cliché machine and I don’t think he was doing it in a funny or ironic way either.

Some really pretty impressive props from Dusty Rhodes to Vince McMahon. With the general tone coming from the legends up this point I was not expecting that. Shocking.

Vince fired Mean Gene?!! :eek: I always assumed he jumped ship to WCW while the getting was good for so many WWF guys. I had never heard this before—I’m really confused.

The battle royal was a neat way to cap off the show with more on the line. The RAW team got the short end of the stick by having Eugene on their team. I loved how Nitro had his shirt cut to still show off his abs—it was very much in character. I wanted to see Marcus Cor Von display his talents by winning a singles match, but last in for ECW works too. I was really pulling for Orton to get the victory, but once he did I was kind of let down.

Snitsky worked fine in ECW for me and I would rather he stay there. I guess he’ll be taking aim at Cena despite doing just about nothing in ECW except beating up RVD once. Ken Kennedy I was really mad about. SmackDown! made him what he is and they can’t just shift all the big guys over to RAW. They did it to Cena and now with Kennedy. I wanted Orton to win to get Matt Hardy, not steal Mr. Kennedy.

The ending was very surreal with Vince McMahon coming out to the ring and then just leaving. Most of the WWE roster watching him as he silently walked out of the arena added to the scene (personally I was happy to see Sylvan and Shannon Moore back there). I was just shocked at the limo exploding. I still just don’t know what to say.

If you've made it this far, thanks very much for reading, I wrote a lot.


Expect Chris Benoit, an ECW Original, to be the next ECW Champion. I guess the New Breed feud will continue though seeing as that none of them were moved, and the originals will now be back up to three with Benoit (unless they decide to make Balls Mahoney a full-time competitor for the Originals).I don't know about anyone else, but I don't really consider Benoit an "Original." I can grant that in some definitions he is, but I see the Originals as people who helped define the brand and are closely associated with ECW. It may be where he got it start, but I don't think Chris Benoit fits either of those two criteria. He was a big part of WCW, he's been World Champion; I have a hard time putting him in the same class as Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman.


Oh great, now we get "Who ran over Stone Cold?" all over again. I hope this doesn't drag on too long.I don't expect we'll get many answers just this next week. Hopefully it will be a well-developed story rather than a dragging one.


Leslie Nielson found the Undertaker; he can solve this.I think that's exactly what we need.


Did the WWE forget that the last time we saw King Booker, he was left alone by Sharmell due to not being protected by him? I guess they smoothed it out off camera...(unless I missed an episode of SD! and missed the resolution)As I recall, the resolution happened moments later when Taker Tombstoned him on the announce table. At that point she was out there concerned about her king.


I did manage to get 3 of them correct, but it looks clear from these results that they are making RAW the top show again, and it looks like SmackDown! will actually be the worst show now.I wouldn't count SmackDown out just yet. SmackDown became regarded as the best show by many fans in spite of RAW raiding its to talent in various ways to bring them to the 'A' show. Whether it was new talent or built up old talent, SmackDown will weather this and will apparently surprise a lot of you at the same time.

[SirLemming]

Jack Bauer isn't taking it too well:

http://jackvince.ytmnd.com

[The Penguin]

God bless the Wikiped-ites. They've already reported his death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_mcmahon

"Vince passed away on Monday, June 11, 2007 after his limo exploded at the end of the WWE Raw. Coincidently, this Raw was Mr. McMahon Appreciation night."And the page is now locked for two weeks.

[EinBebop]

And the page is now locked for two weeks.From the discussion page:

I say we put him as presumed dead. It may be "fake" but we can't prove it. Until WWE puts out a press release or something. Then we'll label it as a hoax in the future.

[The Penguin]

From the discussion page:

I say we put him as presumed dead. It may be "fake" but we can't prove it. Until WWE puts out a press release or something. Then we'll label it as a hoax in the future.:lol:100,000,000

[SirLemming]

Wow, someone at Wikipedia with a sense of humor.



Who wants to bet tomorrow is the highest-rated ECW ever?

[Hyper Shadow X]

Benoit should have went to Raw.

[email2003]

Hot damn! What A RAW!!!!

RAW gets:

King Booker - He was on Raw since 2002 before being moved to SmackDown!
Queen Sharmell - Just another Diva being added to Raw. Can she wrestle!?
Mr. Kennedy - The real winner in my book! I never thought he would go to Raw! Watch out Cena!
Bobby Lashley - This one was a shocker just as Mr. Kennedy!
Snitsky - He was on Raw since 2004 before being moved to ECW!SmackDown gets:

The Great Khali - From SmackDown! to ECW to Raw and to SmackDown yet again! Yawn!:yawn:
Torrie Wilson - Just another useless diva who returns back to the brand she first started.
Chris Masters - What can I say!? Nothing but a bum.
Ric Flair - Does anybody care about him!?:shrug:ECW (PG-13) gets:

The Boogeyman - Another useless bum.
Chris Benoit - Boooooo! How could they send a great wrestler to a bum ass show like ECW!?I say Raw came out a winner tonight! I thought Raw was gonna get screwed but they came up top. SmackDown! got screwed! SmackDown! got nothing but bums on their show. As for ECW, well, why get more than 2 picks when the blasted show is only a freakin' hour long!?

But the draft is not over I hear!? So some more minor picks will be delt with on Wednesday. Hmmmmmm...........

LOL! Stone Cold was going off on Vince on that video! That made me laugh as much as Bret Hart calling Vince an *******.

WTF!? How could the WWE put such a lame ass match for the PPV with Cena VS. Foley VS. Lashley VS. Orton VS. King Booker. I mean, WTF does Foley have to do with the title match anyways!? I think Cena will not be the champ after this one.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Snap! WTF!? Vince's limo blew up!? I had the thought something like that would happen before it did but I said to myself, nah, WWE is too smart for that stunt. Guess not. I laughed and, well, thought it was stupid and unreal at the same time.:shrug:

[email2003]

Did the WWE forget that the last time we saw King Booker, he was left alone by Sharmell due to not being protected by him? I guess they smoothed it out off camera...(unless I missed an episode of SD! and missed the resolution)

Oh yea, nice ending :D
And you know what King Booker been doing since that off period!? He's been doing a radio wrestling show here in Houston on 790 A.M. on Saturday from 12-2.

[The Penguin]

I did some "draft tracking" which I wanted to share with the group. I opted not to include Runjin Singh and Queen Sharmell as they were not officially drafted and in essence, cancel each other out.

Opportunities to earn a pick (battle royal counts as one)
RAW: 7
SmackDown: 7
ECW: 6

Lost Superstars
RAW: -4
The Great Khali, Torrie Wilson, Chris Masters, Ric Flair
SmackDown: -4
The Boogeyman, King Booker, Chris Benoit, Ken Kennedy
ECW: -2
Bobby Lashley, Snitsky

Gained Superstars
RAW: +4
King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Snitsky, Ken Kennedy
SmackDown: +4
The Great Khali, Torrie Wilson, Chris Masters, Ric Flair
ECW: +2
The Boogeyman, Chris Benoit

Net Loss/Gain
RAW: 0
SmackDown: 0
ECW: 0

Observations
All of SmackDown's picks came from RAW.
RAW took both ECW draftees.
This is the first time a champion has been stripped because of the draft. Previously the title went to the brand with current champion.


:shrug: When you lay the numbers out, it turns out to be less interesting than I thought. Well, off to bed... :yawn:

[ShadowGUN]

Now that how the Sopranos should have ended with a huge explosion.

Anyway back to Raw. As for my picks I only got two right:

From RAW and ECW to Smackdown
-Victoria
-Randy Orton
-Kenny Dykstra
-Val Venis
-Torrie
-Viscera

From ECW and Smackdown to RAW
-CM Punk
-Kevin Thorn
-Undertaker
-Jillian Hall
-Elijah Burke
-Layla El

From Smackdown and RAW to ECW
-Boogeyman
-MVP
-Rey Mysterio
-King Booker
-Finlay
-MVP
-Kane

I was surprised that Smackdown got the worse of it. I thought it would be ECW.
Here hoping Benoit can turn ECW around.

[RedKnight]

My reaction when I first read about Vince was, basically:

" ... ... ... WHAT?!"

I, too, am really conflicted. On the one hand, I feel like wrestling shoudln't deal with death in its storylines. The lines between characters and actual personsare too blurry, and real-life tragedies tragedies like that of Eddie Guerrero cast cast this storyline in a bad light from the get-go. On the other hand, I cannot remember the last time I was excited about WWE programming. The sky's the limit right now. Besides, as tasteless as the angle may be, you got to hand it to Vince: He didn't order someone else's death. He "died" himself.

[SirLemming]

Yeah, I mean, it's just so over-the-top that it's hard not to enjoy. And there's also a certain unique aspect to this that makes it fascinating. If this happened on any other TV show it would be a shock, but it wouldn't be quite as fun as it is here. It's like, the way WWE blends fiction and reality, you don't expect them to bother with something as obviously fictional as this, but when they do, it's fun to see how far they go to make it seem real. It's especially enjoyable precisely because it crosses that fine line.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Wow, SmackDown was really screwed over tonight. They lose 3 top guys as well as an attraction and in turn get a worthless giant, a no talent bodybuilder, a good for nothing diva, and a legend who has been reduced to being a jobber. At least with guys like Finlay and Matt Hardy still on the brand they'll be able to cover for all the crap that was drafted.

So Raw gets King Bookah and Mr. Kennedy, as well as Snitsky and Bobby Lashley. And I'm sure each of those guys will be fed to Cena until Hunter returns. Hopefully Kennedy goes back to SmackDown before Wrestlemania 24 because there's still no resolution between his loss to Edge.

ECW gets Benoit and Boogeyman. If Benoit doesn't get the ECW Championship then celarly it's not just Michael Hayes that doesn't like him backstage.

Vince's limo explosion was a weird way to end the show, but hopefully this means he's going to be off my TV for a long long time.

And that Summerslam commercial ft. the Jackass crew just screams Gooker Award.

[SirLemming]

As much as Smackdown did indeed get screwed, I think they'll be able to withstand it. They've still got a lot of great wrestlers (including some currently underdeveloped guys who could be made into something more), as well as the best commentator in the business. And let's not forget that they recently got Edge -- that's like an unofficial draft pick for them.
ECW is the brand that most needed this draft, and they benefited quite a bit from it. Hopefully they'll get their stuff together.

Plus, the brands are starting to mean less and less. And I guess there's still the secondary draft -- which I assume will be where something goes down with the whole Teddy Long thing...

Which reminds me -- it's funny how Sharmell got to go along with Booker even though they made this big deal about how ANYONE can get separated from their partner.

[bigddan11]

My favorite part of the show was when Joey Styles said something like "Just what we need in ECW, more freaks." Honestly Sci-Fi and The Boogeyman do fiteach other pretty well. Tonight is probably the first ECW on Sci-Fi I'm looking forward to in a while since Boogey is coming over and they'll have to do something about what happened to Mr. McMahon. I think that was the longest they've shown the chairman as being speechless though.

Ironically they did have it where Mr. Kennedy had requested to be traded to RAW a while back, and now he got his wish. I will say though that I wasn't expecting King Booker to be back for Vengeance.

[sag_2002]

So, I didn't watch RAW last night, but apparently the E went and offed Mr. McMahon. Pretty good timing, what with The Sopranos' cliffhanger ending the night before. WWE did what HBO didn't: kill off one of its star characters.

Of course, given how HHH and the Rock have survived similar situations, I expect Vince to no-sell the explosion and come back next week, none the worse for the wear.

If, however, Vince does disappear for an extended period of time, this has the potential of becoming a "Dallas" situation (Lots of possible suspects will be named, and it eventually turns out to be a dream, with Steph waking up and seeing her dad in the shower.)

[SirLemming]

with Steph waking up and seeing her dad in the shower.

Please, don't give him any ideas. It's become quite clear that Vince McMahon will do anything to get his butt on television.

[Fifi Fanatic]

*Four kids and a dog suddenly pull up in a psychadelic van* "We've got a mystery on our hands!" :anime:

Well, WWE must have heard that I had abandoned them and decided to pull out all the stops to lure me back.... and I guess it worked.

Now, it's entirely possible that Vince decided to write himself out permantly and stay behind the scenes from now on. Time will tell. In the meantime, we get an intriguing whodunit angle. I hope it was Paul Heyman. :evil:


And yes, Smackdown got the worst of the draft. :(

And I will be greatly shocked if Benoit does not become ECW Champion....

[VCXZX]

http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/supplementaldraft

So apprently due to last night's events, the supplemental draft has been delayed. Makes sens since the Smackdown tapings are tonight, and people going there would be confused at seeing the lower-card wrestlers changing brands. Makes sense for the most part.

[dtemplar]

I found this article that really tells the rest of the story:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/breakingnews/20070612_12wwe_breaking.html

[Anthony C.]

ECW gets Benoit and Boogeyman. If Benoit doesn't get the ECW Championship then celarly it's not just Michael Hayes that doesn't like him backstage.


This whole situation with Hayes is another thing that pisses me off especially if you look at Lashley. Lashley can't cut a promo to save his life, but he is constantly pushed including being put in a rivalry with the McMahons which ranks up there with Hulk Hogan vs. the Dungeon of Doom as one of the worst rivalries in history. We all know why this happens: because he has the "look", he's a big guy, though his heat with the fans is limited as it comes. The fans at least like Benoit because we know we are going to get an asskicking match. Remember the night he received the standing ovation after the Royal Rumble match with Angle? Remember the standing Ovation he got after Wrestlemania XX? It all happened because fans recognize that he is up there with Flair, Hart, Michaels, and Liger as one of the greatest in Ring performers of all-time. Yet WWE brass can't recognize this fact, and now he is getting shuffled to ECW. Now hopefully he can win the title there and make ECW a hit, and fued with CM PUNK for the title. If he doesn't well I don't know what else to say then.

[Tapout]

ECW really made out like bandits. Boogeyman's silliness will work just as well (if not better) on Tuesdays as it does on Fridays, and they pick up Benoit, which is huge. They also dump the dead weight that is Snitsky and lose Lashley, who I honestly haven't given up on yet but he's a terrible fit for ECW. He'll be much better off on Raw.

[bigddan11]

I agree that ECW is better off with the two superstars they picked up. Of course they would be even better had they not fired Sabu and basically let go of RVD, but since they already have done that then they still have a pretty good roster with the following:

Balls Mahoney
Boogeyman
Brett Major
Brian Major
Chris Benoit
CM Punk
Elijah Burke
Hardcore Holly
Kevin Thorn
Little Guido Marintino
Marcus Cor Von
Matt Striker
Mike Knox
Rob Van Dam (we know he's gone, but he is still listed on the roster)
Sandman
Stevie Richards
Tommy Dreamer

Divas:
Brooke
Kelly Kelly
Layla
Trinity

Announcers:
Joey Styles
Tazz

Ironically Sylvan isn't listed as a superstar on any roster since Rene Dupree is in drug rehab once more.

[bigddan11]

Did anyone else catch the goff last night? They had Dusty Rhodes read a list of people who had been invited but declined. On that list was Bob Costas. Then they went and showed Costas' comments. I wonder if anyone's going to be fired for that slip up.

[The Penguin]

Ironically Sylvan isn't listed as a superstar on any roster since Rene Dupree is in drug rehab once more.I wouldn't be surprised if Sylvan is just shifted back to SmackDown! unless he goes somewhere in the supplemental draft. It's also possible that despite his appearance backstage that he'll just stay of TV until Duprée returns. I prefer the original, but they should have just kept Rob Conway.



Did anyone else catch the goff last night? They had Dusty Rhodes read a list of people who had been invited but declined. On that list was Bob Costas. Then they went and showed Costas' comments. I wonder if anyone's going to be fired for that slip up.I doubt it. People don't get fired for something like that unless it was a last straw. And it was Mick Foley that read the list. He said Dick Ebersole, but I don't remember Costas.

[hobbyfan]

I wouldn't be surprised if Sylvan is just shifted back to SmackDown! unless he goes somewhere in the supplemental draft. It's also possible that despite his appearance backstage that he'll just stay of TV until Duprée returns. I prefer the original, but they should have just kept Rob Conway.


I doubt it. People don't get fired for something like that unless it was a last straw. And it was Mick Foley that read the list. He said Dick Ebersole, but I don't remember Costas.

Foley mentioned Ebersol, but not Costas.

[The Myst]

Please, don't give him any ideas.

He already had that idea.


On the McMahon DVD, Stephanie comments that she had to nix a potential incest angle. According to her, Vince was to reveal himself as the father of her baby; when she said no, he pushed for Shane to be the father, but she turned that idea down as well. She also nixed Vince's idea that her wedding to Triple H be aired live on PPV and said that the only reason Vince ever hired Eric Bischoff was to be able to say that his longtime nemesis once worked for him.

[VCXZX]

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/3883682/4885394

Check out the guy whose back is to the camera. He has a very familiar figure.

[Frank Castle]

Looks like not even Vince McMahon is safe from Randy Orton and his rampage across the roster. That looked like Orton walking out the door.

[VCXZX]

Not exactly. If its who I think it is, then that image would be contradictory to the angle in question.