Needless to say, a guy like me loves to predict these things, and I couldn't resist doing a breakdown of my thoughts if I tried. So looking at the previous drafts, and I've got to tell you, this year is a BITCH to figure out. With the recent releases of Mickie, Shelton, Knox, and some others, as well as HBK's retirement, Batista's rumored departure, the up and coming vacations of Triple H, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, and John Cena, as well as Smackdown's move to SyFy and the lack of the ECW brand, this year is a BITCH to figure out. Normally, there's 10 primary drafts and then 19 that follow in the Supplemental, and about half of them are forecast long ahead of time, but this year, damn near every draft as the potential to be shocking. But hey, I'll take a shot at it.
*Note: If Batista stays, all my predictions pretty much go out the window haha.
TO RAW:
1) Edge - Rumor has it that Orton is going to Smackdown, so I think due to Taker and Mysterio perpetually on the SD machine, they'd want to move Edge to avoid overloading that roster with too many big name faces.
2) CM Punk - Either he or Jericho will go, but Punk's yet to have any true programs with Cena or HHH and I think both of them are staying on Raw. Plus, Punk moves quite a bit whenever they do these drafts, so far be it from me to guess that he doesn't move again this time.
3) Luke Gallows - He follows Punk. Simple.
4) Serena - Again, she follows Punk.
5) Matt Hardy OR R-Truth - Shuffle up the midcard. Since his program isn't finished with McIntyre yet (and if it is, they really sucked with this feud), I don't think Hardy will be the one going over. One of the reasons they supposedly had the likes of people like Cryme Tyme, Khali, Truth, and Mysterio on Smackdown were to draw in the "lower income ethnic" audiences according to some sources, but now that they're leaving MyNetworkTV and SyFy is a cable station, it renders that point moot. Truth could therefore go to Raw easily. Hardy had his chance earlier in the year and they pulled the plug early.
6) Michelle McCool - Dropping the title roughly the same time Maryse drops hers? Suspicious.
7) Layla - If they're going to continue working together, she'll move in the Supplemental.
8) Khali - With the SyFy switch, along with how he normally moves in every draft, and how Kapoor is a writer on the Raw side, it makes sense.
9) Goldust - Sort of a trade for Chavo. Nothing really important about the move, just something to fill in a space for the Supplemental draft.
10) Shad - I actually don't think this is incredibly likely to happen, but if either one of them moves, I think Shad will.
TO SMACKDOWN:
1) Randy Orton - Rumored to be going to Smackdown and he's been on Raw forever. He and Edge switch places.
2) Christian OR MVP - One of these guys goes over and turns heel. I'm not sure who. It all basically depends on how balanced the rosters are by that point. Christian is the bigger star between the two, so if you see Smackdown losing quite a bit of star power, he'll be the one to move, but I'd bank more on MVP being the one to be drafted. His draft over to Raw stopped his career dead in its tracks and it's no secret that the writers there have no clue how to use him (or possibly don't even want to), so a draft over to Smackdown is the only thing that can save him, especially if it's coupled with a heel turn as both rosters are hurting right now in the heel department. Right now, I'd say 5 to 1 odds that MVP goes over and Christian stays, but eventually Christian turns heel as well and we see Edge vs Christian as a grudge match at WrestleMania.
3) Cody Rhodes - DiBiase will have his stable over on Raw and they really need to split up the Legacy members if that happens. Plus, I think this whole punt situation was a means to write Cody off TV until the draft moves him over, as they had nothing else planned for him to do. He'll be a solid part of the midcard division over on Smackdown and may even progress to winning the IC title (I hope).
4) Zack Ryder - He isn't getting any play on Raw and they need people to shift for the Supplemental.
5) Chavo Guerrero - Originally he was moved over to Raw to be with Vickie, then he had a program with Hornswoggle that we shall not speak of, so now that that's all over and done with, he might as well be a filler draft to SD so he can not only be with Vickie and Rey but also work with the NXT crew.
6) Maryse - She very well could have lost her title in order to do this switch.
7) Jillian OR Gail Kim - If Layla moves, Jillian will. If Layla doesn't, I think Gail will, seeing as how the Raw writers don't give her much and would most likely be fine with losing her now that she has no real appeal.
8) Carlito - Not only has he expressed in character (probably in a worked-shoot fashion) that he wants to leave Raw, but he's not doing ANYTHING on it right now. A move to Smackdown would not only be something that happens nearly every year, but it would also help his career out.
9) Evan Bourne OR Kofi Kingston - I wholeheartedly believe Daniel Bryan and possibly Justin Gabriel as well are going to be heading to Raw once NXT is over with, so when you couple those two up with Kofi Kingston and Bourne, one of them has to go. More than likely, I'd vote Bourne heading to Smackdown.
10) Rosa Mendes - If they really want to waste a draft, they'll throw her on Smackdown.
DRAFTS THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN (and if they do I'll practically shit myself):
Santino, Hornswoggle, Undertaker, John Cena, Jack Swagger, Rey Mysterio, Triple H, The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Tiffany, Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, the announcers, the commentators, Teddy Long.
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