Bullet points: Week one of the brand extension

A few more bullet points, this time focused on the highlights of this week's Raw and Smackdown.

Finn Balor looked amazing while Roman Reigns' wellness policy
punishment streak got underway. Image credit this page: WWE.com.

• The Raw roster is infinitely deeper than the Smackdown roster. Even without the incoming cruiserweight division (I assume in September), the roster already feels bloated. The brand certainly doesn't need the influx of classic talent that the Smackdown roster is already getting.
• WWE has been wise so far in their additions from the past on Smackdown. Rhyno is a guy that

  

  Rhyno still has a lot he can give
  to the blue brand. 

  never got a real shot to shine in WWE for any significant period of time. He's got all the tools he needs to be a credible upper midcarder for years to come and hopefully he'll get that chance. Shelton Benjamin is honestly one of the most talented WWE stars to never be a World champion. While I don't see him ever getting to that plateau with his return, he should continue to bring great matches. And if WWE can lure Charlie Haas back even for a few weeks, American Alpha versus the World's Greatest Tag Team is a definite dream match.
• Nia Jax isn't ready for the main roster. Dana Brooke got a lot of flack when she was called up, but in my opinion, Nia is worse. She's going to get a huge push and she simply doesn't have the seasoning she needs for it to work. I could be proven wrong, but she has no place anywhere near Charlotte, Paige or new champion Sasha Banks yet.
• The Miz should have been in the battle royal, not sitting on the sidelines to get beat by Randy Orton. Ditto for American Alpha. I get you don't want them to debut in a battle royal they lose, but it makes no sense when the heads of the brand say "everyone has a chance" and three talents not booked for Summer Slam yet don't get a chance. 
• I'm excited to see new talents rise to the top of the rosters, but it very much feels like the writing is already on the wall about the placement of title matches on Summer Slam. Either Orton versus Lesnar or Styles versus Cena will almost certainly get the main event spot on the pay-per-view while Dolph Ziggler and Finn Balor get their chances farther down the card. 
• I really hope WWE uses a Dean Ambrose / Dolph Ziggler feud to turn Ziggler heel. In the perfect world, they would team Ziggler with his now respected rival Baron Corbin and let the two have a strong Michaels / Diesel style run with the title before the inevitable breakdown. 
• Enzo and Big Cass need to find a storyline quickly. The two Certified Gs are far too important to The New Era to have them beating up jobbers on Raw without any real purpose. 
• I expect next week's Smackdown will give us the start of at least one title tournament. I suspect we will see some kind of tag team title as well as a second women's belt (which I'm guessing will be called the Revolution title.) If the blue brand really is the show to go for solid wrestling, they would be foolhardy not to book solid tournaments as opposed to the fatal four way setup Raw gave on Monday night. 
• I'm personally more excited about WWE's weekly shows than I have been for months. I'm back to watching them regularly after over a year of pay-per-view only viewing. If they can keep up the quality, I can seriously see the brand extension pulling in a lot of new or lapsed viewers.

Could Becky Lynch be the face of a new title on Smackdown?

Both shows looked solid and if this is truly the beginning of a New Era of dual brands, WWE is off to a great start. Hopefully the momentum can continue in the weeks ahead as both shows prepare their matches for the four hour Summer Slam spectacle.

Wrestling Weekday presents the WWE fantasy draft

It has been weeks since WWE first announced the return of the roster split as part of an ongoing move to broaden the viewership of Smackdown. This Tuesday on the first live Smackdown, it will take place, complete with a second screen experience to keep the draft going into the evening.

Over the weekend I teamed with John Morgan Neal of the ESO-PRO podcast for something just about every wrestling site is doing over this weekend, predicting their layouts one-on-one of the WWE draft. John Morgan picked Smackdown as his brand, and I took Raw. With the assumption Smackdown gets the first pick, we started to run down our own rosters. 

We had a few simple rules: single stars remained singles stars while tag teams remained tag teams unless a good reason existed to break them apart. Any NXT star of extended service (i.e. ready for the main roster) was allowed as a draft pick, but no higher than round four. Brock Lesnar is considered an automatic free agent, as Paul Heyman refuses to have him tied to a single brand. Finally, we were each allowed one surprise outside pick which you will see down the list at certain points. 

With the assumption that this draft will be extended longer than the show itself, probably through WWE Network picks, John Morgan and I went twenty rounds to pick our choices for the best names on both new brands. 

FIRST ROUND

Image credit: Rob Schamberger.

SD: Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon choose for their first pic of the draft, JOHN CENA.   While Shane and Daniel are all about the New Era.  The New Era isn't about erasing or denigrating the past.  And they realize Smackdown needs things to get eyes on the new Smackdown.  Going live and having their own roster is the start. But having the biggest name in all of pro wrestling exclusively on your show is another.  John Cena would be an excellent start to a brand new Smackdown roster.

Image credit:
Rob Schamberger.

RAW: Stephanie McMahon wants the newest star on the WWE roster, a man that has made a name for himself in just the six months since his first appearance at the Royal Rumble. He's the man that beat John Cena. He is a wrestler and a man that inside or outside the ring is simply Phenomenal. Raw's first round pick is AJ STYLES.

Analysis: Clearly both John Morgan and I knew the importance of John Cena to WWE's product. If JMN hadn't recruited him, he would have been Raw's first pick. But with Cena taken for Smackdown, his current foil seemed like the perfect first round pick for Raw, even if it did leave the World Heavyweight champion and his contenders by the wayside. Besides, I am still amazed that I live in a world where AJ Styles could have an outside shot of being a first round draft pick for a WWE draft. Five years ago, I would have told you that you were clearly insane to even think that idea. Oh how the times change.

SECOND THROUGH FIFTH ROUNDS

SD: While Shane's first pic was using the past to help the future his next pic is the future, the face of the future in fact and a potential new  WWE champion as of Battleground: SETH ROLLINS!

RAW: Raw's second pick is a man Stephanie doesn't like very much, but who has proven he can survive a beating and keep going. That resiliency made him the WWE champion and his name is DEAN AMBROSE.

SD: Well one world champion deserves another so Shane decides to be positive with his next draft as to not be booty and picks the two times Double U. Double U. E. Tag Team Champions THE NEW DAY:  Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods.

Image credit:
Rob Schamberger.

RAW: Last year, Stephanie started the revolution. This year she will take control of that revolution. The third pick for Raw is the WWE's women's champion CHARLOTTE. 

SD: And Shane was instrumental in the New Era which Smackdown is going to be all about.  And that area is all about the new!  For his next pick Shane welcomes someone new to the main roster.  FINN BALOR!

RAW: Stephanie doesn't like him. Heck, she hates him. But she knows that in this business respect must be played to the man that rises against all obstacles. Whether he's the good guy or the bad guy, he is Raw's guy: ROMAN REIGNS.

SD: Shane shows he is not above picking someone he doesn't care for either.  But talent is talent and no one in the WWE has more of it than KEVIN OWENS!

RAW: He's perhaps the most dominant champion in WWE today and has destroyed the competition that has came in his path. The fifth pick for Raw is the United States champion, RUSEV.

Analysis: I'm not sure I agree with John Morgan in choosing Seth over Dean unless he wins the title on Monday night. I think the third round feels right as I expect both the tag and women's championship to be high in the prize list. I certainly wanted Stephanie to continue to focus on the women's division as well, so Charlotte had to go high to guarantee the title was held there. I wasn't surprised by most of the other picks on the list, but I was a bit surprised either secondary champion wasn't picked until the fifth round. I actually waited that long assuming JMN would take his pick and I could counter with the other. But I happily took Rusev, a man with tons of potential still untapped.