Damn. I would have liked to have seen Swagger and Bourne at the Smackdown/ECW house show on August 8th. Goldust is supposed to replace them? Goldust was compelling in 1995. Now, he is filler. I hope that some promising people are coming to ECW from developmental.

I knew from day one that Raw would not be kind to Matt Hardy. I am glad that he can kiss the A show good-bye. That being said, Matt has to do his part. He has to shed the excess pounds and get back to being the performer who was one of the top reasons to watch Smackdown and ECW.

I was one of the strongest supporters for a Jeff vs.Matt program when it all unfolded in Jan. now, not so much. This could finally be Matt's break though, he could have decent programs with the likes of Rey or Morrison. But looking at the roster they're a little heel heavy right now. Maybe the plan is to turn him face, have him team with Jeff again and challenge Jericho & Edge for the tag titles. The fact of the matter is Matt can work and should only help keep up the pace that Smackdown has set over the past few months.
Ditto for the Hart Dynasty.
Don't feel to bad for Shelton Benjamin, feel bad for Charlie Haas. He won't get any air time now that Shelton's gone. He should try to get a team going with Ricky Ortiz or Mike Knox, someone they're not doing anything with right now.
And the way things are on RAW with HHH and Cena playing invinceable super-heros it may not be good for anyone to get drafted to that show. Hope that's not the case for Swagger.

You find Goldust’s act entertaining? "Find," and not "found"? Because sure, he might have had a schtick once, but I haven't been remotely entertained by anything, anything he has done since being reactivated.

To get Henry over better as a face, I'd like to see them incorporate aspects of his old "Sexual Chocolate" character.

I wonder what role, if any, Tony Atlas will play in Mark Henry's face push.

Good post, Kevin. All I have to add is that I hope they don't restart the Jeff-Matt feud (was never compelling in the least to me), and I'm interested to see what they do with Natalya. At the moment there are just three 'real' women wrestlers on SD (Natalya, Melina, and McCool) and McCool is a bit of a stretch as far as I'm concerned. Meanwhile, Raw is loaded, with Kim, Maryse, Mickie, Beth, and Jillian.

What do you think WWE should/will do with the women? Also, is it just me or is Katie Lea the most squandered talent this side of Shelton Benjamin?

I'd like to see the Hardy's reconcile and start a tag feud with the Hart Dynasty. Maybe even have Melina get back to managing a tag team - she talks better than Matt or Jeff anyway - and we can also have a Melina-Natalya program.

I figure I better comment here so you can actually see it. What would be great to see if you ever got the time because I know youre a busy guy would be a "What I Would Do If I Ran Raw" blog, because even after this trade, the brand is in shambles. Their top heel hasn't looked good since the Rumble, they only have 2 faces their willing to keep in the main event scene, they are wasting several key guys ready for the major push, and their only solutions have been publicity stunts to raise ratings. I found both the 3-For-All and the commercial free Raw to be hardly anything special. I just don't understand what Raw is trying accomplish right now with these "feuds".

Smackdown clearly is separating itself from the other shows. And I think ECW and Superstars are nice alternatives.

This 'trade' proves again how eager Vince is to elevate Raw.After every draft Raw gains the most and ECW loses the most.This time ECW lost everything it had except Christian.The best pick for Raw is Swagger.Bourne can be helpful in increasing the quality of wrestling on the show which is lacking so much right now.I am not so sure about Mark Henry though.
SD lost Benjamin but he was doing nothing anyway.Matt Hardy's move was great.He was being completely wasted on Raw.On SD I think he can be very useful for such a good worker he is.Agree with you on Finlay.
What can be said about ECW.
What remains to be seen is how good Raw uses its new guys.They are getting in a habbit of crushing its talented mid-carders lately.
Yet another great post Kevin.Keep up the GREAT work.

LMFAO @ no word on who gets custody of Hornswoggle.

Isn't Matt Hardy injured anyway? How long is he going to be out?

I thought they had released Finlay. Shows how much I watch ECW!

To this day, I still don't understand why they completely took Natalya away from the divas division. Why couldn't she be used as a valet in ECW and a wrestler on Smackdown?

Ok. Eck, can you clear this up for your readers.

ECW IS TO THE WWE AS TRIPLE A IS TO THE MAJOR LEAGUE!

Any wrestling fan should know by now that the old ECW is completely dead and is now a breeding ground for new talent. A chance to give them some television exposure and matches in the WWE (as oppose to FCW which is the Double A of WWE).

I dont understand this outcry of "ECW lost everything!" The point of its very existence is to groom new talent and eventually send them to Raw or Smackdown. Meanwhile having a few veterans to show the young kids how to have good matches and still make it a serviceable show and have the ECW title be a good semi-prop for someone.

Yes. Swagger, Bourne, and Hart Dynasty gets called up. We should be happy. Besides, no one seems upset for the triple A teams that lost Matt Wieters, Andrew McCutchen, and Tommy Hanson right? Should we send Adam Laroche back down to Triple A to make up for what the Pirates gained? No.

So here's to hoping Swagger and Bourne, TJ Wilson, Natalya, and Bulldog Jr. get decent pushes on the big time shows.

Excellent post Kevin and what you said makes alot of sense. In looking at it a second time, and I find it odd that on ECW last night Matt Striker made several references to the "New Talent Initiative" on ECW which is the next step up from FCW. I saw a least 2 wrestlers and 3 promos for new talent. It also makes sense because of the amount of talent that has left. Let's not forget that. I would imagine from this point forward things should hopefully get more interesting, but it is Vince afterall who makes the final call....
Maybe The Repo Man will be a guest GM on Raw?

I cannot work out why the WWE is going to push Mark Henry. He is extremely limited as an in-ring talent and he is not exactly reknowned for cutting quality promos.

Surely Christian to Raw or Smackdown was one trade that needed to be made?!

i am still a little disapointed in the trades and their 1 sidedness especially for RAW I think having Swagger their will be great, having him join Legacy would be even better and not having him Job to Cena or HHH priceless. I think Bourne would have been better suited for ECW because i just don't see him beating the Ortons,Cena, HHH's of the World but i could see him Jobbing to the Cody's especially since you have a talent similar to Evan in Kofi.Mark Henry just gives big show someone close to his equal, Gail i don't think it will help because it looks like Mickie is gonna win the Title at Night of Champions and now with michele as champ there is no real strong face challenger. i agree with u on the harts the smart thing would be to have them on Raw and still have the Colons as champs and let them feud over them. Do you know if I Tony Atlas gonna be on Raw with Mark Henry or will he be the next to go

I was surprised when Henry came out and squashed Orton. To me that was an out of nowhere move BUT thats a good thing. For the first time in a while I was like hmmm, things could be getting better.

Kevin, why do people think that Swagger will join Legacy? Is he a 2nd or 3rd generation wrestler? I've been watching for a long time, but don't think he has wrestling roots, please correct me if I am wrong. As always, Kevin great blog!!

RESPONSE FROM KE: Swagger is not second generation.

The Natural—You make a fair point about ECW being a AAA league, but the flip side is that it doesn't *work* as a developmental/"breeding" ground if you strip-mine the thing completely. There needs to be a balance between, on one hand, letting talent blossom onto the upper cards (Smackdown/Raw) when they're ready; versus, on the other hand, keeping enough talent on ECW so that (a) viewers will watch, and (b) younger guys has the opportunity to learn, improve, and be put over by working with performers somewhat above their level.

The Natural has a point. As long as ECW continues to be booked better than Raw (i.e. not reserving the main event for men who couldn't be pryed out of their spots with a crowbar), then it will continue to be better than Raw, regardless of which talent leaves. It could even be said the inevitable departures help to keep the show fresh.

With both Hardy and Regal gone, it looks like Bourne and probably Swagger will be thrown into the US Championship mix with Kingston and MVP on Raw. Bourne seems like a reason to bring back the Cruiserweight title, the guy deserves something. Also, on Raw I was fully expecting the final guy in the Gauntlet match to be Christian, so when it was Mark Henry I had mixed emotions. Him receiving a push must be for steady hard work and maybe he's really liked backstage...

I agree with everyone that these trades worked in favor of RAW, but I thought all the internet fans were complaining about RAW and the lack of top talent on RAW for Randy Orton. Seems like the WWE's obvious attempt at satisfying the internet fans has only developed new complaints from them. Internet fans are impossible and who cares that much about ECW anyway. The wrestlers use that forum to improve and get on shows like SD and RAW so if an athlete you like gets off ECW, you all should be thrilled more than anything.

I hope these rumors about DiBiase turning face aren't true. I'm not enthusiastic at all about DiBiase. He's too bland for me--nothing like his father. I rather cheer someone with more personality like Jack Swagger. That's why I don't want Swagger to have anything to do with Legacy. It would feel like wasting a talent, getting overshadowed and neglected to make Randy Orton look better. I want him to be independent superstar, preferably a babyface.

To get the live audience to give Jack Swagger a pop, all they'd have to do is have him act all buddy buddy with Randy Orton for awhile like he is now, before he turns on him. That kind of stuff makes live audiences go crazy. The fans would love it because they'd think Swagger was against them all, when he was with them the whole time. I'm sorry but Mark Henry already had his chance at main even level years back before finally getting crushed by all the babyfaces before weakening and ending up on ECW.

I don't know anything about Jack Swagger because I don't watch ECW. I only watch RAW and SmackDown. That's how fast he was able to make a good first impression with me in regards to his match with Cena and on RAW.

Anyways, WWE had better worry less about internet fans complaining about RAW or ECW, but Smackdown. I've taken a look at the ratings for SD and surprisingly they're awful; 1.7 was the last rating. I think what boosted WWE's RAW ratings was making huge announcements a week an advance for the following RAW. The more big announcements they had, the higher the ratings went. The one week, they had 2 big announcements; not only Trump (rolls eyes), but commercial-free as well. I think they should make a bunch of huge announcements for SD on the previous SD and RAW. I feel bad for all the stars on SD who are doing wonderful jobs. :(

Tonetare, Swagger is great and a star in the making, but he is a natural heel. Turning him babyface would be like turning Ricky Steamboat into a baddie.

As for the ratings, I don't know about that stuff, but SD has definitely been the superior brand since the draft. Raw has pulled closer by picking up Swagger and Bourne, so we'll see how it turns out.