REVIEW OF MARCH 22, 2004 WWE RAW

Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net editor (5.5)

The show was a real letdown until the Eddie Guerrero vs. Triple H match and the interpromotional brawl that followed. This is the first time WWE has really even attempted to establish that the wrestlers - not just the general managers and announcers - actually feel a sense of loyalty to their own brand and, more importantly, a genuine rivalry with the wrestlers of the competing brand. This isn't something I want or expect to see every week, but I do hope that the rivalry is at least touched on when the brands unite for the joint pay-per-views.

It's hard to feel anything other than disappointed by the lottery since there were so many mid-card wrestlers involved. Internet wrestling fans probably enjoyed the lottery more than the casual fans, because at least the net fans knew going in that the most of the wrestlers who switched brands were doing so because the company wants to put them in positions to shine. Casual fans who were expecting to see some of the bigger names moved had to be let down by tag wrestlers like Shelton Benjamin, Rene Dupree, and Mark Jindrak, and undercard players such as Teddy Long, Nidia, Rhyno, Tajiri, and Spike Dudley. On the other hand, net fans expected RVD and Edge to swap brands, but casual fans were probably satisfied with those moves. And, of course, anyone who's excited about the Triple H move is probably in for another big let down around midnight, although it should be interesting to see not who, but how many wrestlers are exchanged for the sake of Triple H's ego.

Notes: Looks like the Tombstone piledriver Paul Heyman took on Smackdown was part of a blowoff angle after all. This should only add to the speculation of the rumored return of ECW, especially given the way Heyman mentioned his past battles with WWE and WCW... Poor Rhyno. He finally gets out of the Smackdown dog house and immediately does a job on Raw... I was hoping the Intercontinental and U.S. Champions would swap brands so that the WWE and Intercontinental Titles would be on one show, while the World Hvt. Title (a/k/a WCW Title) and the U.S. Title would be reunited on the other...

Pat McNeill, Torch columnist (8.0)

Boy, wouldn't it be terrible if there were no brand extension, and we had to sit through shows like that every week?

Raw wasn't a fabulous wrestling show, but it made up for it by being newsworthy and by setting up the next two pay-per-view main events. I was very, very, very skeptical of the lottery idea, but it worked well, as WWE got to call attention to the ten performers (and Teddy Long) who switched sides tonight. Of course, it didn't really help Rene Dupree or Rhyno to get beaten the way they did.

The tag title change was a mild surprise, but Evolution needed something with Hunter going to Smackdown.

It was interesting to watch the fan reaction to Chris Benoit in his title defense against Rhyno. The fans obviously respect and believe in Chris Benoit, but it isn't clear that they love him in the same fashion they loved Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. Hopefully, putting Benoit in Edmonton on pay-per-view will draw the sort of reaction WWE is looking for.

This was a fun two hours and a very pleasant surprise.

Bruce Mitchell, Torch columnist (7.0)

Thanks to Paul Heyman’s caustic asides, the Lottery was pretty entertaining even with all the dud picks. Ric Flair had a good performance and for his reward he gets to get bounced around full time on the road again. At least Triple H crossed up all of us who figured he’d make Chris Benoit another transitional champion.

James Guttman, former Torch columnist (7.5)

I wasn't blown away by tonight's show, but I was definitely into it. It felt like a special show and came across as such. You had some major switches to roster line-ups, two title matches, and a tag strap change. I'd say that makes for a pretty productive night on Spike Lee TV.

I'd say that the lottery was done fairly well. Perhaps for some saw it as a letdown considering that most thought this would be a major overhaul. Instead, each show picked six names. In the long run, that's the best move. You don't want to change too many people around, thus confusing audiences. Six was a good number and some of the early picks are people who can benefit from it.

The only issue with some of those names is the way they were portrayed tonight. If you're flipping Renee Dupree over to Smackdown for the long-awaited singles run, why job him to Chris Jericho and then have him eat a Stunner before he leaves? Renee would have benefited from a victory over Y2J far more than Jericho benefited by beating him. Dupree should have gotten a win.

Same could be said for Rhyno, whom I'm fairly indifferent to already. Welcome aboard, Rhyno. Now go tap to our champion on your first night, just so we'll have nothing fresh to do with you after that.

Paul Heyman's departure opens the doors for the third brand suspicions. Having Paul E. branch out at this point would be a good move and give people a reason to tune in to the late night afterthought timeslot.

The best part of the night was the big finish, featuring a locker room clearing brawl between both brands. It was a nice visual to end the show and a reminder of just how deep their roster is. Considering that this might not happen again for a while, this episode of Raw was a keeper.

Wade Keller, Torch editor (7.5)

Pat says: "Boy, wouldn't it be terrible if there were no brand extension, and we had to sit through shows like that every week?"

I'm not sure if this is one of those cases where Pat is kidding or not. If he's serious, I've got to point something out: Tonight wouldn't have seemed special if all the talent was on every show each week, week after week. It would seem normal. It's the separation of brands that made tonight special. It's the adrenaline rush of seeing wrestlers interact who normally don't that's the rush. It's the possibilities of new matches and feuds and alliances conjured up everytime someone switched brands that made this show special. Seeing Spike, Rico, Jericho, Rhyno, Hunter, Guerrero, Benoit, Flair et all in the ring on the same show doesn't mean much if they're always on the same show. Especially when you consider that the wrestlers who weren't on the show tonight in any prominentl role could have more than made up a separate roster themselves. It's not as if Raw featured two rosters of talent, it just featured a different mix than usual. Take away the brand split and it would have been "more off the same" tonight with no hope that any undercard wrestlers would be given a prominent chance to shine on either show.

I thought tonight was done brilliantly. Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman were perfect in their roles. The prelim switches are no surprise to insiders who knew that Dupree, Jindrak, and Benjamin are high on McMahon's list of potential future singles stars. Assuming Hunter isn't traded back to Raw, he can form a new "Evolution" with Jindrak and any number of other people, while Orton, Flair, and Batista try to survive without Hunter. If Hunter is traded back to Raw, there should be some fireworks between now and the end of Smackdown this week.

Overall, this was a shining endorsement of the brand split and the great possibilities created because of it.

The matches weren't anything special, but they shouldn't have been, because even good matches would have seemed to be just getting in the way of the next draft pick. The main event was good, and the finish was the right approach to take because it would make no sense to have either Hunter or Guerrero win clean, or even score a tainted pinfall. One could argue that Guerrero vs. Hunter hardly felt like a dream match, thus indicting the ineffectivness of the brand split. However, the lack of "dream match" feel to that has more to do with the fact that Guerrero hasn't been a headline singles wrestler for long and there is no history between those two to draw from in the distant past. It also doesn't help that Smackdown's top star is gone.

If Hunter remains with Smackdown, he takes the designated slot held by Brock, and fills in the gap left by Angle, whose career thankfully isn't over, but he can't go 100 percent in the ring on a full time basis, either, at this point. If Hunter ends up traded back to Raw, who's the top heel on Smackdown along with Angle? I assume someone who is traded for Hunter, such as Kane or even Randy Orton.

Edge looks to be inheriting the top babyface position on Raw while the top heel slots would be wide open if Hunter departs with a number of candidates including Orton and Batista, of course, but perhaps also a heel-turned Benjamin along with Christian and Matt Hardy as dark horse candidates. Booker could also turn heel.

Rob Van Dam should benefit from a fresh environment, although if Hunter does go to Smackdown, that would seem to limit his potential for stardom over there, although Hunter has never given RVD a full-fledged, main-event-level sustained feud against him, so perhaps Smackdown will be the place.

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