The Hardcore Revolution: Raw, Smackdown, And The Brand Overall Grades

Column #9

The WWE Draft has come and gone.  Like the Winter quickly turned into a hot Spring so will the WWE Universe turn into a hot bed of action.

It seems that the Single’s division is among one of those hot beds.  The WWE and World Heavyweight Titles have competitors and many, many more laying in wait.

Let us not forget to mention though the overall changed outlook of both brands after this 2010 Draft.  With it comes a new rank of players to Smackdown and Raw starts to take shape of the most heavily supported superstar cast since the early 2000’s.

To fully understand the well being of this great product we place our blood sweat and tears into, we will take a look at both brands and see how each Title Division will come into play as well as what rivalries we could see blossom.

(These rankings are based on the wrestlers work ethic and overall star power)

RAW

WWE Champion – John Cena (#1 Title Contenders)
#1 Contender – Batista
United States Champion – The Miz (#1 Mid Champion)

Chris Jericho
Randy Orton
Edge
Ted Dibiase
Goldust
John Morrison
William Regal
Sheamus
R-Truth
Evan Bourne
Yoshi Tatsu
Zach Ryder
Carlito
Vladimit Kozlov
Primo
Mark Henry
Santino Marella
The Great Khali w/Ranjin Singh
Ezekiel Jackson (Injured)

Unified WWE Tag Team Champions – The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith/Tyson Kid)

Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu
Morrison & R-Truth
Carlito & Primo (Possibility)

WWE Divas Champion – Eve

Natalya
Gail Kim
Maryse
Melina
Jillian
Alicia Fox
Nikki Bella & Brie Bella

General Manager (#1 GM Depending on the Host)
 - (Guest Hosts)

Announce Team
- Jerry Lawler
- Michael Cole

Justin Roberts
(Mr. McMahon)

Overall Grade : 3 out of 6 #1’s = B-

SMACKDOWN

World Heavyweight Champion – Jack Swagger (#1 Champion)
#1 Contender – Big Show
Intercontinental Champion – Drew McIntyre

Undertaker
CM Punk
Christian
Kane
Chavo Guerrero
Rey Mysterio
Dolph Ziggler
Cody Rhodes
Kofi Kingston
Matt Hardy
Luke Gallows
MVP
(Masked Man *SES*)
Chris Masters
Shad
Trent Barreta
Shad
Caylan Croft
Vance Archer
Tyler Reks
Finlay (Absent From TV since last year)
Hornswoggle

Smackdown Tag Teams

Straight Edge Society (CM Punk/Luke Gallows)
The Dudebusters (Trent Barreta/Caylan Croft)

WWE Women’s Champion – Beth Phoenix (#1 Divas)

Michelle McCool
Tiffany
Serena
Kelly Kelly
Layla
Rosa Mendes
Vickie Guerrero

General Manager
 - Teddy Long

Announce Team (#1 Announce Team)
- Matt Striker
- Todd Grisham

 Tony Chimel
(Jim Ross)

Overall Grade : 3 out of 6 #1’s = Solid C

(It is difficult to say which Brand is technically better.  Raw has more "Popular" talent with Edge, Jericho, and Orton, but Smackdown has the best heel group the WWE has seen in the last 6 years.  The Smackdown Brand's Championship Contenders are ok and consist of a good arrangement of big men to small men.

Smackdown has a better writing team, when it comes to how Storylines for the main male players have played out since WrestleMania.  Raw on the other hand is struggling to come up with legitimate Characters to get behind. (The main characters we are behind have priorly been built.)

The Diva's divisions on both brands need a good amount of development with their in ring skills.  The storylines for that brand need to improve greatly.  Team laycool is an awesome pairing and a great idea, but the way the writing had gone about with "piggy james and making Beth Phoenix out to be a women, etc" needs to change.

It looks as if the Raw brand is the prieminate brand for now as Smackdown in going through their transition from MyNetwork TV to SyFy.

I can not wait to see what happens in the midcard divisions on either brand and I really hope to see some new blood come into the rosters soon.

The Mystery Man on Smackdown will be fantastic once he is revealed.

Really the biggest problem the WWE has right now is to find a decent Tag Team to go up against The Hart Dynasty.  I hope they find one soon, that is more than just one thrown together.  If not, at least it should be a higher quality of talent.

Overall the Draft was at least a C at most a C+, but was quite lack luster.  It should be noted that the Brands are set up well enough to create a decent product and I believe these Characters will make themselves a mainstay on each program.)

As Always

Let the Revolution be known and Long Live The Extreme