Welcome to the latest Roundtable discussion here at iFight365.com where at the end of a week where WWE have finally put into practice their recent draft moves , we’re asking the question: After twelve picks on Raw and twenty-five during WWE’s supplemental draft, how do you see each brand operating with their new roster of talent for the next year?

Phil Lowe: I’m really looking forward to seeing how Smackdown fares over the summer. After this past Friday night’s show, I felt very optimistic about the future of the ‘blue brand,’ from the guys at the top of the roster right through to the announce team. For the record, I think the Todd Grisham-Jim Ross duo is already showing signs of promise and that Ross is doing a great job of helping bring Grisham along in his new role. Chris Jericho, Edge, The Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, Umaga, CM Punk and Rey Mysterio at the top of the card will make for some awesome matches I’m sure, while it will be interesting to see how John Morrison comes along as a singles star and as a babyface. Right now, Smackdown is the #1 brand for me.

It remains to be seen how the ECW brand is treated. Personally, I’d be tempted to let them do a little more in the way of high-flying and treat the show as having two divisions. Let the young guys and the likes of Evan Bourne put on cruiserweight-style matches that are popular with seemingly everybody bar WWE management, while the Mark Henry’s, Finlay’s and Vladimir Kozlov’s of the world provide a weekly heavyweight bout. Ultimately, ECW is all about creating new stars, so hopefully over the next six months we’ll see the benefits of the draft, along with the possible additions of a name or two currently down at WWE’s developmental territory in Florida.

As for Raw, the jury is out for me right now. While I’ve become a huge fan of Randy Orton’s work, I think something fresh needs to be done with Batista and when he returns, Triple H. There’s no doubting that the latter two, along with John Cena (plus Shawn Michaels on a part-time basis) will remain at the top of the ladder, which may make it hard for the likes of MVP, Matt Hardy and Mr. Kennedy (providing he’s even fit for long enough) to break through.

Michael Campbell: The sad thing about this question is that it’s damn easy to answer. I don’t see any of the WWE brands doing anything differently in how they operate their talent rosters over the next year.

The bigger names that moved will still remain the bigger names, while the mid-carders on Smackdown are at more of an advantage than those on Raw. Raw has a cluster of big names at the top, with John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, Big Show, Batista, and Shawn Michaels. Supposedly Matt Hardy is earmarked for a big role, but I can’t see it, and guys like MVP will sink fast if they piss management off. There’s that little room for error on the red brand.

Smackdown looks likely to be “the wrestling show”; much like it was in 2002, with Angle, Benoit, Rey, Edge, and the Guererro’s (that’s a tragic list of stars there). Now it’s got CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Umaga, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, Undertaker, Edge, and of course, Chris Jericho. More importantly, whereas Raw has a cluster of big names who’ve all fought each on PPV numerous times (Triple H has no fresh opponents, bar possibly Matt Hardy- he’s fought all of those headliners before at WrestleMania, and clearly is stale), the blue brand is much more fresh.

Punk and Hardy could be a superb feud, if Punk went heel, while Hardy is now perhaps in the best position of anyone in the company (outside of HHH and Cena), and Undertaker finally has new opponents, both heel and baby face.

However, the issue that could arise from this, is will they be tempted to replicate the damaging pace that those shows seven years ago set? Guys like Benoit and Angle may have been having superb bouts every week on free television, but the fact that they were free, meant that those guys destroyed their bodies, without making money for the company. It would be wise to implement some sort of rotation on who works the longer, tougher matches on TV, to avoid the down-sides. The roster doesn’t have a great deal of depth, but it sure looks attractive on the surface, and done right, could provide a good year.

The Divas and tag situations are still worthless meanwhile, and while we’ve got Unified Tag champs, there still isn’t one proper division for them to play with. Ah well.

From where I sit, next year’s WrestleMania, barring injury, will still feature Triple H, John Cena, Edge, Randy Orton, Batista, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels in the top matches. Sure that’s great, in a sense, because Orton and Edge are two of the most over, hottest, and best talents in the entire industry, and for them to be towards the top of a Mania bill, is excellent. However, they’ve both been there before, although neither has had “their moment”, that Triple H attempted to (and failed) to manufacture for himself this time round.

But the only issue I can see there is that they’ve been to that summit before, with most of the other headliners mentioned. Michaels and Taker have been headlining off -and-on for like a combined thirty years, which is crazy, but for them to be a focal point of next year’s show could be special, because either, or both, may be retiring.

Hunter and Cena being in a world title match next year is a disgrace, given the reactions they receive, though I could stomach Cena in that position, if the other title match featured a fresh star. Cena is, after all, the company’s biggest draw, and a reliable main eventer. Batista, I can’t see in a top spot, unless he’s playing the heel, someone’s out, or there’s a multi-man match because let’s face it; they aren’t going to go with him over those other guys.

But the overall picture there is that there’s not much room at the top for fresh talent when it comes to the “big shows”. On TV, I expect Raw to continue to go through its wildly inconsistent motions, regurgitating feuds no-one cares about anymore, while Smackdown should be much better. But when it comes down to it, on the big cards, when it really matters, who do you think is going to be on the posters?

Things haven’t changed much. I foresee an interesting, at times exciting ride, but one that ends up at the same old destination.

Dan Short: On Raw, you have John Cena, Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, Big Show, and Shawn Michaels. Just below them on the card are Carlito and Primo, MVP, Matt Hardy, William Regal, and The Legacy. Mr. Kennedy would be thrown in the latter group whenever he’s healthy, which at this rate is becoming more of a rarity. I look at these names alone and wonder just how much variety we will be able to get out of them in the next year.

Made worse is the fact that the majority of programs that can come of these guys are ones we have seen in the last five years. There’s nothing new. They could consider pushing some of the lower guys like The Brian Kendrick and Kofi Kingston, or see if The Miz can really make a go on his own, but with the bunch mentioned above its quite doubtful. The underlining point of the draft may have been to strength Raw, but it ended up becoming a show I really have no interest in watching for the next year.

SmackDown! looks the most impressive to me. Literally a whole new set of guys at the top spot and could mix it up with some unique new programs over the course of a year. On one side you have Edge, Chris Jericho, and possibly John Morrison. On the other end, you have Jeff Hardy (if he returns), CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio. Throw in the occasional appearance of the Undertaker as well as some usage out of Umaga and Shelton Benjamin.

There are opportunities for guys like R-Truth and Cryme Tyme to step up. And perhaps, just perhaps, guys like Charlie Haas, Jimmy Wang Yang, and Kung Fu Naki will actually get to move up on the card. It will definitely come down to execution and the inclusion of guys like Mike Knox and Dolph Ziggler aren’t too promising, but this roster has an opportunity to really develop the superstars needed for this company to continue moving forward.

The ECW roster could be headed for disaster after losing Miz and Morrison along with Vladimir Kozlov getting added. Yet the inclusion of DH Smith and Hurricane Helms adds to the potential this roster has at developing the future stars of the business. Christian will obviously be the lead horse and Evan Bourne will continue to grow.

Finlay and Dreamer are around to work with guys who need it while Jack Swagger will remain the top heel. But most of all, as Phil mentioned during the draft, I’m really excited about getting Smith, Tyson Kidd, and Natalya together as the Stampede Bulldogs, or Hart Family v.2.0 or whatever they’ll end up being called. They’ll have some great programs with Evan and Christian. If they really wanna make me happy, they’ll bring up Kaval and pair him with Evan so they would have a glorious feud with Smith and Kidd. So in the end, ECW came out fine.

James Mustoe: Well obviously WWE has gone out to reinforce its premier brand RAW here, with HHH, Big Show, MVP et al all going to RAW. I’m sure those in charge of WWE think that they’re doing RAW a favour by drafting some of their big time power players over there. However, I believe that RAW will end up just being more of the HHH show as that’s all whatever programme he’s on generally turns into; therefore, for better or for worse we are going to get more of HHH challenging for and winning the world title, along with probable rehashes of his feuds with Batista and Orton. Matt Hardy, The Miz, and MVP could be breakout stars here, but don’t count on them getting up to the already crowded main event scene until some of the older players go away.

Smackdown, on the other hand, has real potential to bring something different to the table on Friday nights. Guys like CM Punk, Johnny Nitro and even Chris Jericho now have a real chance to break out as legitimate main event stars (or really establish themselves in Jericho’s case), free from the over shadowing of the older main eventers. Coupled with the fact that apart from the part time Undertaker, the two most established stars on Smackdown are Jeff Hardy and Edge, and you get a comparatively young Smackdown with great potential for fresh feuds that can make stars.

As far as ECW goes, I’m glad that Bourne, Kidd and Finlay remained on the extreme brand, as I like seeing the longer matches that this show allows them to be in, and guys like Hurricane Helms should also be given the opportunity to shine in longer matches which will be good news for ECW.

In closing then, for 2010 we’ve potentially got same old stuff for RAW, same good stuff for ECW, and maybe a great new scene for Smackdown.