ECW Draft Results: wins and losses

Well, the WWE draft is over for the year of 2009. The results are in, and I can tell you, ECW didn't really get the best draws in the world. In fact, they lost a few key talents that made ECW big or were made to be big on the show. In my honest opinion, the results of the draft have Raw as the "sports-entertainment"-driven show with lots of stars that play along those lines, Smackdown as the wrestling-driven show with many stars that are stars that like to wrestle with innovative moves, and ECW as, well, the dog that gets the scraps. The scraps here include a handful of wrestlers with failed pushes and runs that have or have not occurred last year. Why the moves? What does this mean? Well, for us to have an idea, let's see who came and left ECW. So, here's who is gone:

-Hornswoggle: Does this mean what I think it means? The fighting Irishman, Finlay, will go back to, well, fighting? YES!!!! Well, at least I hope so. Hornswoggle is such an annoyance to watch. It makes me have to suspend a lot of logic to watch him do stuff, which, wouldn't well happen in a logical situation. His disappearance from ECW must mean that they want Finlay to be taken seriously again. It may also mean that Hornswoggle will add more entertainment to Raw for the younger fans. I just hope they don't make the same mistake twice and give him a title.

-The Miz and Morrison: These were two guys, whom I said that if they disappeared, ECW would suffer for it. Upon seeing who is drafted to ECW, I don't think they have found the most viable replacements for this duo. But, let's just focus on these two. Not only did they draft these guys off of ECW, as we all expected, but they put the Miz on Raw as part of the actual draft, while they drafted Morrison supplementally, as they did Hornswoggle. To many people, this might have been the dumbest move the WWE could make, putting the less-talented one on the A show, while the more talented one is on the B show. In truth, it can be seen as a huge negative, or a bit of a positive. If my theory is correct about the shows, Miz is fine where he is, while Morrison is fine where he is. The problem is this: the Miz might not make it out of the midcard due to the heavy-hitting players above him, like HHH, Cena, Orton, Batista, or even HBK, to name a few. Morrison has room to grow as a top heel as SD is rather understaffed with established heels. They have 2 in Jericho and Edge. They can use more. Lastly, Morrison had a run on Raw which was a bit of a letdown as well as a success. It was a mixed bag. Let's hope all goes well for him on SD. Too bad for ECW, though, as they lost out on the two top stars they needed to keep the show fresh, well, next to Christian and Evan Bourne, that is.

-Alicia Fox: She went from Edge's wedding planner, to D.J. Gabriel's dancing associate, to an independent Smackdown diva. Watch out for this one. She has potential to do much damage as a diva. She's got energy, flexibility, and some nice moves off of the dance floor. Two questions come up though. Will she fall into the same trap and end up with Edge again? Also, what does this mean for D.J. Gabriel? For the first question, I think anything is possible. For the second, well, it looks like Gabriel will be looking for work elsewhere.

Now, here's who ECW gained:

-Vladimir Kozlov: This was ECW's big draw and first pick on the live show. In fact, it was their only pick on the live show. The big, Russian bear is heading to ECW to fix whatever problems he had with his career, in the sense that, he's getting a refreshed push. He was undefeated, he fought for the WWE championship, and he made a big impression. Then, he lost his first match, and many since, and fell out of title contention. Now, he's on a smaller brand, with big dreams of championship gold. I think he can get it done on ECW, especially since Swagger has just about lost his "swag" (see next week's blog as to what I mean about Jack's fall from grace). Watch out, everyone, for Kozlov will destroy all.

-Ezekiel Jackson: So, The Brian Kendrick's associate is now flying solo. Is there a reason for this? There's a few, actually. Ezekiel has been shown as a threat to anyone looking to get at Brian, until lately. Jeff Hardy has beat him down. Kane has beat him down. Now, Ezekiel is as useless as Tyson Tomko when he was a problem-solver. So, send him elsewhere to re-establish himself. That's the plan, right? The only problem is that it doesn't look like much is going to come from this. The last bodyguard to be left on his own on ECW was Bam Neely, and he lost his job subsequently after a month or so of inaction and losses. In Ezekiel's case, it looks like he and Kendrick will be riddled with losses before termination. But, who knows? This is a chance for Ezekiel, so let's see where it goes.

-Zach Ryder: This proved to be one of the more nonsensical moves in the supplemental draft because at the time, they were moving a bunch of tag teams around, as if they were going to break them up, including the champs. Since they pulled our legs on that one, this still made no sense. Why? If you are going to unify the tag belts, why would you take it upon yourself to start cutting down the division? The WWE did, by cutting down 3 teams, while keeping the other 3 intact. What does this bode for the division? More steps back instead of strides forward. What does this bode for Ryder? I'm looking at a very disappointing ECW run, unless, maybe, they're going somewhere with this. I have already seen what they've done with his character thus far, making him some goof of sorts with a terrible catchphrase (Woo-woo woo woo? I'm sorry, but it only works if you're name is Martin Lawrence, and you're not even Dane Cook). I don't want to have to sit through that anymore, and I'm sure no one else will either. It's just a shame when they have a talented wrestler with loads of potential and they do this to him.

-D.H. Smith and Natalya: One tried to make his way through Raw, but could not. The other tried to dominate SD, but the politics backstage prevented that. What else do they have in common? They are the new generation of wrestlers connected to the Hart Family. Now, both are on ECW and both have a connection to Tyson Kidd. Natalya is his sidekick/girlfriend, while Smith used to team with Kidd in Canada, so there's chemistry there. In fact, these three will most likely make up a new "Hart Foundation" that has been in the works for a while now (it was supposed to be headed by Teddy Hart, but that didn't happen because Teddy Hart is...well, Teddy Hart, and Bret's enemies weren't about to let another Hart succeed). I guess this is what will pass for our replacements for the Miz and Morrison, which athletically makes sense. But, it may take a while for the extra dose of charisma to kick in a la WWE. So, keep your eyes peeled for this power group. Who knows? Maybe Teddy will make his way back...or not. Either or, D.H. and Natalya will be joining Kidd sooner than later, in my view.

-Hurricane Helms: He finally returns from neck and spinal cord surgery, has a few Hurri-pop segments, causes grief for MVP and Shelton Benjamin, fails to win the U.S. title, and is beaten off of television by Matt Hardy. Let's not forget that he's not as svelte as he was when he started, either. So, ultimately this was going to happen whether we wanted it to or not, sadly. I still think it's a good fit, because of Helms's athleticism. He can bring some depth to ECW as a face, and can make a run for the title, along the same lines as Christian could. Still, I can't quite shake the feeling that this might be the last hurrah for the Hurricane.

There you have it, folks. ECW gets one draft pick live, a few supplementally, they lose a major player live, and two others supplementally. This doesn't sound very poignant, but I think I can see where they are going with this, based on the rumors and knowledge I have on ECW. Word on the street is that Vince will be taking ECW seriously from now on again as a major brand. This is probably due to the Sci-Fi channel's change in direction to a more inclusive network for entertainment that sci-fi fans might have. This might also be due to the fact that WWE Superstars is back and will most likely be the lesser of the 4 shows, if not the least. This would be ECW's chance to re-establish itself. Lastly, ECW is moving back to 10 P.M. again. This was fine when they didn't have all that kiddy stuff on it (i.e. Hornswoggle) and now they don't. This might very well be the move ECW needs to re-invigorate itself, especially since they are on par ratings-wise with TNA and ROH isn't far behind with their 1-hour wrestling show on Saturdays. In the end, WWE is trying to make ECW respectable wrestling-wise, as they are doing with SmackDown.

However, I can't help but feel that this may very well be a smokescreen of sorts or just another failed attempt by the WWE to maintain. I say this because, well, let's be honest: Vince and his cronies don't care about ECW. They never have or will. This will be no different. They are probably just doing this to appease the many fans of the show that want to see more become of the brand. But, in a few weeks, all will be back to normal. I wish this isn't the case as ECW can be a solid brand, as I have said before. These picks aren't the best of picks as compared to other shows, but they are still solid, if they are treated as such. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Yes, the draft is over for this year, and ECW gets the scraps. These scraps, however, still have something left in their tanks for wrestling purposes. They might add depth to ECW or take away from it. So, let's see where this goes. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come. Maybe ECW will finally turn around. Maybe I'm asking too much and it's late. Whatever the case, these superstars now make ECW their home. Let's hope they make ECW worth watching.