With the latest WWE draft occurring this Monday, I have been retrospectively looking at each of the previous talent exchanges in order to look at the impact they have had on the talent involved.
As an aside, I should note that while there was not an official draft in 2006, Paul Heyman was allowed to choose two wrestlers from RAW or Smackdown to participate in the launch of the new ECW brand. These two picks were Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle.
(i) Van Dam’s career mishaps have been documented in all …

With the 2008 WWE draft looming, I’ve decided to look at the past talent swaps, next up is 2005’s edition.
You would have thought that WWE’s creative brain trust would have learnt some lessons after some of the negative aspects that resulted from the original draft; this column will look at what did happen, and the resulting effect on both RAW and Smackdown.
(i) RAW started the process this year, and the first draftee, WWE Champion John Cena, certainly looked poised to make more of an impact than the previous year’s Shelton …

Dr. Phil Astin, Chris Benoit’s personal physician at the time he killed his family and hanged himself nearly one year ago, was charged on Thursday in a new 175-count federal indictment with conspiracy and improperly dispensing drugs.
The new indictment against Dr. Astin replaces a seven-count indictment last July and involves 17 additional patients.
As you will likely recall from events at the time of the shocking double murder-suicide, Astin was understood to have prescribed a 10-month supply of anabolic steroids to Benoit every three to four weeks for a year leading …

Benoit: Wrestling with the Horror that Destroyed a Family and Crippled a Sport
Scary but True
Cost: £9.99 UK/ $14.95 US/ $16.95 CANADA
Pages: 160
Publishers: ECW Press
Web link: ecwpress.com
The Chris Benoit murder-suicide shocked everyone associated with wrestling. The ramifications of what happened in the Atlanta home are still being felt to this day. The ‘Benoit’ book is the latest to examine the horrific case in depth nearly one year on.
Taking the unusual form of a collection of essays, it examines different aspects of the man fans and wrestlers alike all seemed to know …