With this year’s Draft coming up in a short number of days, I decided to look at those who would be suitable for a brand move to further their careers or to remove any staleness they may have.

This is not a prediction for what will happen as I’m sure that creative will still be making their minds up on the night, but rather who SHOULD move in the draft and supplemental draft.

Without further ado, here is my list, starting with:

Triple H: Last year saw a big shock in HHH moving to Smackdown in order to ensure MyNetwork had another big name for its Smackdown launch. This year, his return won’t be such a shock. Already wrapped in a continuing feud, his return to Raw should and almost certainly will happen amidst rumours that Vince wants Raw to be stacked with big names following this draft. With a HHH move, it prevents any further brand confusion as has been the standard in the last couple of months, thus meaning that the upcoming six man tag match at Backlash contains only Raw performers and personalities. HHH is a big draw still despite his teaming up with Vince being fodder for smarks around the world to poke fun at and he leading Raw as the top face is a must given that they will lose their top face in:

John Cena: With Smackdown most likely losing HHH, they will need a top face to replace him. Jeff Hardy has taken on the mantle of #2 babyface, but isn’t quite ready for the step up yet (despite leading the brand for a short space of time), especially given his feud with his brother Matt is set to continue for a little while yet. With the Undertaker arguably in need of time off after that stunning, yet physically demanding match at ‘Mania, Smackdown needs Cena to be that guy who the fans most respond to, whether that be a face pop or a mixed reaction which he still receives on a semi-regular basis.

The advantage of his move to Smackdown though, is the possibility for the production team to filter out the booing, making Cena seem more popular to us TV viewers, as well as the ability to edit out any small mistakes, which fans love to pick up on. Would Cena’s merchandise figures go down? Perhaps slightly, but this hit will be offset by the popularity boost that MyNetwork receives, which would keep them in business. Basically, the small merchandise hit would be welcome as long as Smackdown stays on TV as the loss of channel would be devastating for WWE with other TV channels not wishing to associate themselves with “steroid abuse” as the media like to portray.

CM Punk: Well this man has certainly made some history since his move to Raw last year. Initially, I thought that it would be too early for Punk last year as I wouldn’t have expected his name to be that big with the non-Indy fans who watch Raw. Seems I was wrong and his status as one of the fastest Triple Crown winners, doing so in just 6 months is a testament to that. The opportunity to have Punk win gold on ECW, Raw and now Smackdown may be an incentive to move him there in this next draft. However, the most important reason for his move to Smackdown would be that simply, he’s getting nowhere near the main event soon despite holding that Money in the Bank case.

It would make sense in storylines for him to take out Orton to win the title, after Orton cost him the title at Unforgiven, but if Orton wins the title, then Punk will have HHH ahead of him, owing to an inevitable rematch to close off the feud. Assuming that no-one else moves, he will have Batista, Mysterio and Michaels ahead of him in the pecking order (more on two of those later though). It is hard to see who he could feud with on Raw as a midcard environment awaits him until creative is ready to have him cash in. Kane and Knox are the only real midcarders that would be suitable, whereas a move to Smackdown could see him take on other giants such as a returning Umaga and Kozlov who, arguably would boost his reputation more than contests against an ageing Kane and a still-green Knox.

Rey Mysterio: Frankly, WWE need their Latino market back for Smackdown. His effect on Raw has been arguably negligible compared to the effect he has on Smackdown and so a move back is what will be needed. The one problem with this is his IC title that he currently holds. Last year we saw the ECW title on Raw and two sets of belts on Smackdown, only for everything to return to normal after a month or so. The same could well happen here as I don’t see MVP moving to Raw, with Rey dropping the IC belt at Backlash or Judgment Day. The IC title could even be staying with Mysterio, with MVP dropping the belt to a Raw performer, so although a Rey move could be seen as having problems, they would be easily overcome at an upcoming PPV. Let’s put it this way, it will nice to not have to hear Cole’s line of “COME ON REY!”

Shawn Michaels: Now this one is unlikely to happen, but probably should. With his rumoured retirement this time next year, it would be nice to see him go out with a bang and have an excellent final year with a possible final title run. This is far more likely on Smackdown than it is on Raw, frankly and while his religious commitments would hold him back, I’m sure that he could with-hold every other week to see out his final year.

With him not performing every week anyway, it’s not as though he would be required each and every week for Smackdown and could tape a promo on Monday during the Raw shooting, in order for him to have his religious commitments as well. As well as a possible title run in his future, it would prevent any more permanent DX reunions, other than one predictable one before he retires with HHH moving to Raw, which do look a bit silly when performed by a 43 year old man. It’s not exactly the top show, so some may debate the logic in giving him a send-out on the supposed “B” show, but as mentioned, it gives him a much better chance of winning the belt and gives him a final showdown for revenge against the Undertaker. Is there any better environment for Michaels/Taker II than at Summerslam?

William Regal and Finlay/’Swoggle to swap: Another one inspired by merchandise figures. Finlay is still an excellent performer and his time as the youth trainer has been served well. However, the veteran face role will be filled soon by Tommy Dreamer who is himself possibly soon to retire, so look for him to main event ECW soon. Finlay and his sidekick get huge reaction from the kids and highlighting them on the main show, possibly at US or IC (whichever Raw ends up with) level would bring them more into focus and give the WWE another kick in merchandise which is exactly what they need to start to help avoid releasing another 10% or 20% of their workforce. Regal would fill in for Finlay in either his current heel role or if he turned.

Regal was on fire a year ago and it was only his suspension that stopped this. On ECW, he has another opportunity to head towards the top of a show again and he would make a worthy champion for another set of FCW call-ups to chase, whilst also furthering the FCW guys understanding of true, technical wrestling, which is something they need based on watching some of these Randy Orton clones in Florida.

Mr Kennedy: What can we say about this guy? He’s made of glass. He’s got a catchphrase. He’s lost almost all momentum. He’ll have probably lost a decent amount of muscle mass. ECW is needed for this guy to get back into the swing of things. His experience is not what it should be for a guy who has been on WWE rosters for 3 and a half years due to pretty much half that being on the sidelines. In ECW, he would get this and would undoubtedly be put into title contention from the start. Swagger will drop the belt soon. Will it be to Dreamer or to someone else? That remains to be seen, but Kennedy would be a contender for taking that belt from Swagger. Right now, the guy is far away from the guy who won Money in the Bank and he needs to get back to that stage. Against the smaller guys of ECW (Henry outstanding), he would reduce his chances of injury and so would ease back into WWE.

Miz/Morrison: Two of the stars of ECW. Unfortunately, they show up on Raw or Smackdown more than they do on ECW, making their statuses of ECW Superstars a farce. Now that they have lost the tag titles, they will only remain in the hunt for a short while longer. As such, they need something to do. This could be to have Morrison win midcard titles again with Miz as his mouthpiece and occasional tag partner. Some may question the intelligence in splitting them up, but we know that Vince loves to break up a good team. These guys on Raw would be more likely, again, because Vince wants that brand stacked up.

Raw would allow Morrison to once again mix with the best as we have seen excellent work from these two guys and Morrison would have to be a future main eventer, if only he could improve his mic work and become a credible heel. At present, he’s more of a goofy heel who the fans don’t respond to much as they are confused as to whether to like him or not based on his in-ring ability. Miz as his partner and an unconventional manager therefore would be his mouthpiece to allow him to get over.

Evan Bourne: The one young guy from ECW who should be taken. Many would say that Christian is wasted on ECW, but he isn’t. On ECW, he is a big fish whereas on Raw/Smackdown, he would get lost in the mix especially considering that Vince is not entirely high on him after his “betrayal” to TNA years ago. Therefore, the big name on ECW that should move is Bourne. Though just coming back from injury, his name is still big enough for him to be recognised by the Raw audience and was so when he teamed with Mysterio months ago. For an ECW guy to get big pops on Raw in only his second Raw appearance is impressive. Raw wants big names; they will have a future one in Bourne.

Mickie James: The lone diva that I think should change her brand. She’s lost momentum recently with Kelly Kelly and Melina coming ahead of her. In a brand that only features one diva match per week and with “Santina” looking to be featuring in that for the foreseeable future, Mickie is going to struggle to have air time. Over on Smackdown, she has that opportunity to be equal number one face with Gail Kim. Contests such as Mickie vs. Natalya/Maryse/McCool/Kim look appealing.

In reality, the WWE is likely to change a number of midcard performers and look out for a number of big names like HHH and Cena to move again.

In addition, we could see announcers moving considering the chaos that is WWEs announcing set up in the aftermath of Tazz’s departure. The WWE will realise that in recent months, the brand extension has been slightly missing and will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that people look forward to the coming months, heading into the usual summer lull. They could do worse than to take some of these options.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this column.

Alex Williams
alex@ifight365.com