WWE Draft! Where It All Begins… Again!

In 2004, WWE returned to Madison Square Garden for Wrestlemania 20 – the 3^rd held at “The World’s Most Famous Arena. “ The show’s marketing campaign was around the slogan, “Where It All Begins… Again.”  Wrestlemania is considered the conclusion of the WWE’s season and that year.   But the plans for the “new season” were thrown out the window with one meeting weeks before the show.

Our normal weekly meeting started with the news – “Brock Lesnar will be finishing up at Wrestlemania.”  At the time, I was entering my second year in charge of Smackdown.   While never really “ready” for the job, I felt like we were gaining some good momentum.  Eddie Guerrero had really flourished as the “Latino Stone Cold“, John Cena was waiting in the wings as the “second coming”, The Undertaker was set to return to the Deadman persona, Edge was close to returning and the roster was full of guys like Kurt Angle, The Big Show, World’s Greatest Tag Team, and we thought Brock Lesnar.

Wrestlemania 20 was to feature Brock defeating the exiting Goldberg.  This was to set Brock up for rematches with The Undertaker from their program earlier in the Fall. The creative wasn’t the reason for Brock Lesnar’s departure; he just had enough of the road.  I’m sure this and so much more is covered in his upcoming book (available here) penned by Paul Heyman.  The news of Brock’s departure in 2004 lead to the call to “fix the rosters” and a draft was scheduled.  It wasn’t planned, it just happened out of the unexpected news.

It seems that based on the news of Edge’s sudden retirement, that slogan from Wrestlemania XX fits here – “Where it all begins…again.”  The WWE draft was a big deal back in 2002 when the brands officially split into two – Raw and Smackdown.  It felt historic and the original intention was to leave the brands separate and let a rivalry grow; only colliding in the Royal Rumble match and then again in mega matches at Wrestlemania.  The reset button was first hit in Atlanta, GA on 6/10/02 when Stone Cold walked out of WWE; again, unexpected news.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9b0ca_wwe-confidential-stone-cold-walkout_sport

That day, Vince McMahon and Ric Flair had a match over ownership of the company, which Vince won. Two new general managers (Stephanie and Bischoff) were put in place and the rosters were “opened up” for talent movements including Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Lance Storm, Test, Undertaker and more switching sides. The rosters were locked again… until Big Show was moved to Smackdown in October of 2002 to work with Brock Lesnar; due to again, unexpected turn of events.  But this news of Lesnar in 2004, really shook the Brand Extension snow globe hard.  Why do you think they use that soundbite of Vince saying “It’s time to shake things up again.”

The brand extension just turned nine years old.  Over the last few years, the waters of the WWE Brand extension have gotten muddier and muddier.  If you’ve watched Raw and Smackdown over the last few months, all talents have been all over both shows.  Having been in that position of looking at an ever evolving roster, it’s very difficult to keep it fresh.  Injuries happen, unexpected news always happens.

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting different articles covering the different drafts during my time there.  Each has their own story and it’s own consequences.  The WWE Draft… Where It All Begins Again.

David Lagana (@Lagana)

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Paul Heyman (@heymanhustle) shares his #ManiaRushmore

I asked the question on who you would put up on your Mount Rushmore of Wrestlemania in this article.  You’ve all responded great by tagging your tweets with #ManiaRushmore.  Here is a gallery of some of the early tweets.

I spoke with Paul Heyman earlier and asked his thoughts.  He tweeted the following.

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New Formerly Creative Podcast – Mates/Gough – Episode 7

Seth Mates and Chris Gough joined the WWE Creative team on the same day in the Summer of 2002.  They cut their teeth working for Shane McMahon at the website and then took the leap into creative.  Chris and Seth were on the team during the time of HLA, Billy and Chuck’s wedding, Brock Lesnar’s first title win, the debut of John Cena and so much more.

This episode is split into two parts.  Enjoy part one now.

Click to play newest Formerly Creative Podcast

Episode 7 – Part 1 – Seth Mates (WWE – 2002)  & Chris Gough (WWE – 2002 – 2003)

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Get the DVD – WWE: The True Story of WrestleMania

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Cena vs. Rock – Cena Goes Old School!

ESPN Anchor Robert Flores is talking about it!   Hear full podcast here now.

Wrestlemania Season inspires fond memories like the Holiday Season.  For the fans it’s a time for you to get more excited then any other time of the year.  For the WWE, it’s a time for them to pull out the big guns.  For the wrestling business it’s a chance to shine and remind us why we all love it. Last week, The Rock returned recapturing the imagination of the fans.  The 2/21/11 vignette lead to the return of The Undertaker and Triple H.   And last night on Monday Night Raw, we saw the return of John Cena rapping.

John Cena has been THE guy in WWE since 2005 when he was moved to the RAW brand.  It was in that time period that Cena transitioned away from the rap character into the more modern day version you see today.  John felt to broaden his character he needed to get away from the one-dimensional rap gimmick that grabbed the attention of fans.  I agreed with the decision but like a well planned stipulation match, it has it’s a place for a one-off returns.  Last night on RAW was the time.  Rock had punked out Cena and Cena’s first response was crucial.  This was not PG Cena.  And all those deep base “Cena Sucks” voices were cheering along with him again.

The period that Cena rapped every week on Smackdown in 2002-2003 is a time that showed that patience, consistency and believing in a character paid off.  Before that, Cena would call himself “Johnny Boots and Tights” as the most distinguishable thing about his character was his constantly changing tights based on the city we were in.  It was on an international tour in 2002 where a battle rap on a bus between Cena and another Smackdown talent was heard by Bruce Prichard, Stephanie McMahon, Seth Mates, Paul Heyman and myself.  It wasn’t fireworks going off at the time.  We all didn’t look at each other and say “This is exactly what the WWE needs.”  It was a collective decision to say, “Let’s try it.”  And on a Halloween edition of Smackdown in 2002, we did.

Every week, John would create these raps dissing his opponent.  No matter who it it was.  It was consistent and his momentum built.  There were those on the inside who said “you’re killing this kid with it”.  But the secret to this success was in the hands of John Cena.  I’d suggest a scenario for the rap and he’d go off and create it and then we’d produce it.  In one year, he went from being “Johnny Boots and Tights” to the most talked about newcomer in the WWE.  His matches in 2002 with Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Eddie Guerrero, and Kurt Angle as a heel got him hot enough for the fans to be clamoring for him to be their hero.

At No Way Out 2003, Cena was scheduled to face Kurt Angle.  Earlier that day, Cena and I went outside to produce this segment to air on the Sunday Night Heat show prior to the pay-per-view.  All I told John was there would be a fan challenging him to rap, the fan would rap John and John was to retort.

John just seized the moment and created something memorable.   Even watching it nearly eight years later, it still is cool to me.  Yeah, it was for a PPV pre-show but it set the tone and showed how much passion he really had.   It was one take and couldn’t have ever been duplicated.  Later that night, it did air on Heat but did not air to the live house.  A discussion with the executive producer revealed he didn’t play it to the arena because “it was too good… would make John too much a babyface live”.  Seems the people already started to make up their mind on that.  The match featured a split audience in Baltimore chanting “Let’s Go Angle… Let’s Go Cena…”  John Cena was turned babyface three weeks later.

John Cena vs. The Rock – simply as a confrontation is one of the great elements WWE has brewing for this years Wrestlemania. We don’t know what we’re going to see and isn’t that the secret to what we want out of wrestling?  To be hyped up for whatever does happen?

Favorite Cena Raps from the 2002-2005 Era

And a personal favorite of mine.  The music video released to promote his album.

David Lagana / IWantWrestling.com

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ESPN’s Robert Flores – New Podcast

ESPN's Robert Flores

If you’ve have heard wrestling reference during ESPN SportsCenter, there is a good chance they were made by anchor Robert Flores.  A life-long wrestling fan, Flores talks with IWantWrestling.com’s David Lagana about a variety of topics involving wrestling.  Topics include Texas Wrestling, the role of the media and sports stars in ever changing media landscape, Rock vs. John Cena, Brock Lesnar, The “attitude” era, The Coach coming to ESPN and Ring of Honor Wrestling.  Please check out Robert’s sites at – http://www.facebook.com/RobertFloresESPN.

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