Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[[Q]]

I hope those writers turn SmackDown into a cult fan favorite like nxt and just blow Raw out of the water. Maybe that will bring some real change.

[Andrew]

Live Draft coverage on WNW: http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/live- ... aft-picks/

[Lean]

I'm hoping that Smackdown gets rid of the Raw recap segments now that they are live.

[[Q]]

balor club reforming on raw??!!

Club turns on AJ at battleground?

[Lean]

NO BAYLEY?!?

[JaoSming]

So for Raw
Men
Seth Rollins
Finn Balor
Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar
Sami Zayn
Chris Jericho
Rusev w/ Lana (WWE United States Champion)
Kevin Owens
Big Show
Neville
Cesaro
Sheamus
Titus O'Neil
Darren Young
Sin Cara
Jack Swagger
Mark Henry
Braun Strowman
Bo Dallas
Curtis Axel



Tag Teams
The New Day [Xavier Woods, Big E, Kofi Kingston] (WWE Tag Team Champions)
Enzo Amore & Big Cass
The Club (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)
Golden Truth
The Dudley Boys
The Shining Stars


Women
Charlotte (WWE Womens Champion)
Sasha Banks
Nia Jax
Paige
Summer Rae
Alicia Fox
Dana Brooke



Cruiserweights??
Finn Balor
Sami Zayn
Chris Jericho
Neville
Sin Cara
Bo Dallas





And Smackdown
Men
Dean Ambrose (WWE Champion)
AJ Styles
John Cena
Randy Orton
Bray Wyatt
Dolph Ziggler
The Miz w/ Maryse (WWE Intercontinental Champion)
Baron Corbin
Alberto Del Rio
Kane
Kalisto
Zack Ryder
Apollo Crews
Erick Rowan
Mojo Rawley


Tag Teams
American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan)
The Uso Brothers
The Ascension
Breezeango
The Vaudevillans
Hype Bros??


Women
Becky Lynch
Natalya
Naomi
Alexa Bliss
Eva Marie
Carmella




I'm game for Smackdown creating a Women's and Tag Team championship, same for Raw making a new World champion. Everything is definitely slimmed down, but everyone might actually have a role in their brand, and there is always new wrestlers ready for all divisions if needed.

...I really wish they split Sami & KO though.

[Lean]

But that imminent Balor Club though...

[[Q]]

I was shocked by no Bayley. My guess is that she'll feud with Asuka and lose and then get called up. OORRRRRR SECRET PARTNER!!!

Wasn't too shocked by Carmella, but I thought they would put her with Enzo & Cass
Mojo was a bit of a surprise, but he had run his course in NXT and teaming him up with Zack for Hype Bros will help.

Looking at both rosters, Tag division looks a bit weak on Smackdown and I could see AA getting hotshotted to the top
I completely forgot about the Cruiserweight aspect of the draft, and I could see Finn dominating the cruiserweights.
I also LOVE Becky Lynch being the top women's pick for Smackdown. Ive been waiting for her to reach the top in NXt and the main roster and now she should not have anything standing in her way now.

[JaoSming]

The new announce teams for WWE’s New Era will feature Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton Monday nights on Raw,

while Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga handle the commentary for SmackDown Live every Tuesday night.

Fucking, NOOOOOOOOO. I really wanted Mauro with Graves... JBL has been trash for too long.

[Andrew]

The way the commentary is directed these days, I don't think it matters. It's going to be subpar compared to the sweet aural we received in past eras.

[Lean]

And hopefully these cruiserweights would get a shot at a world title.

As for the commentary team: I would have put Graves on Smackdown with Mauro Ranallo. Then Saxton and Otunga on Main Event because I hate three people on commentary. Saxton for example, gets overshadowed by the nonsense Cole and JBL spews out.

[[Q]]

NO COREY GRAVES, STAY OFF MY TV
Can we get some more Tom Phillips?

At least King is gone but we still have to deal with JBL who still refuses to call Kevin Owens' cannonball by the right name

[Andrew]

Although he hasn't been at the top of his game for a while, it's a shame not to have King. He's one of the last holdovers of a better era, though he just hasn't been the same without JR.

[Lean]

Cesaro on the Draft, Dave Meltzer says it's a shoot.

phpBB [video]

[Andrew]

"We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours", probably, at some point, because that's how WWE rolls.

[[Q]]

Cesaro on the Draft, Dave Meltzer says it's a shoot.

phpBB [video]

That was my thought when i saw that the other day. he's probably just as upset as the cesaro section as guys like him and kevin owens seemed to have lost in this draft. All this talk of change and "New Era" and we see the same BS: part-timer brock lesnar gets picked before full-time guys that are simply better than him, somehow Big Show, Kane, and Mark Henry still have jobs, and these perpetual upper mid-card guys that could totally be main eventing like KO, Cesaro, Ziggler will continue to rotate and fight each other for nothing each week which does not give me hope for main-event talent coming up from NXT. I just simply can't see them putting the belt on Finn, Nakamura, Kevin Owens, etc. hell, even if Joe came up he'd probably get stuck there too

Watched episode 2 of CWC. I watched last week because I was curious about Kota Ibushi but wasn't sure about this week. MAN they put on some pretty good matches. Was awesome to see Tajiri and the Tarantula return, and the match of the night was TJ Perkins vs Da Mack who put on a great show. Mustafa Ali and dorado were a very close second

[[Q]]

Some are even pointing out that Nikki Bella will be Sasha's tag partner. DANG I HOPE NOT.[/spoiler].

Now that the draft is over, i think it's more and more looking like this will happen.

[Lean]

Watching episode 2 of CWC and now I find it weird for Daniel Bryan to be the color commentator and the Smackdown GM and NOT have the Cruiserweight division on his show. It doesn't make sense.

[Lean]

HUGE OVATION FOR BAYLEY!!!

[JaoSming]

and it was amazing, great reaction


a lot of rough bumps tonight. Zayn and KO stole the show

[Lean]

Agreed on that. That was the match of the night for me.

[[Q]]

Really curious to see how they use Finn and the cruiserweights tonight. Hope they don't mess it up like they usually do

[Andrew]

I'm assuming we'll see a new world title created, too.

I'd prefer if they went the route they were originally going to take with the brand split back in 2002, where the world champion appeared on both shows, and the two midcard belts were on separate shows.

[JaoSming]

New set is neat, and I love the moving shots from the announcers to the ring/entrances.


Hopefully Smackdown looks as well-produced as this is seeming.

[Lean]

The new title for Raw is called Universal Championship. Not sure how I feel about that name, though. I'm assuming they'll go for Rollins vs. Balor so that Balor would debut the demon gimmick on that PPV. I don't see Balor being buried as his demon gimmick is pretty marketable.

EDIT: Still not sold on the new logos for Raw and Smackdown.