johnnyhanson21
Main Eventer
Joined on: Oct 10, 2019 17:01:41 GMT -5
Posts: 1,004
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Post by johnnyhanson21 on Apr 8, 2020 12:57:33 GMT -5
Been rewatching some of the Smackdown's from that era and feel that on paper this might have been the strongest draft era roster besides the Smackdown in '02.This era of Smackdown was coming off Benoit jumping ship to RAW and become the World Champion and Brock quitting but on paper it was still a hell of a roster.
Big Show
Booker T Bubba Ray Dudley
Chavo Guerrero
D'Von Dudley
Eddie Guerrero
JBL
John Cena
Kurt Angle Rey Mysterio
Rob Van Dam
The Undertaker
and then some solid veteran talents like Gunn,Holly,Rikishi,Kidman,Spike...ect and younger up incoming talents like Carlito,Hendirch,Dupree,Suzki...ect(none of which panned out really besides Carlito to some degree)
Just wondering whats your overall take on the roster in '04 and shows.My only draw back for this era and I think why its looked down upon by fans is that it wasn't the "Smackdown Six" era and I'll say that most of the storylines where lacking besides the rise and push of JBL.
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Post by keegandimitrijevic01 on Apr 8, 2020 17:07:47 GMT -5
I think there was no good storylines planned. In addition, Kurt Angle was in bad health and injured until SummerSlam. They went through a trial-and-error phase with guys like Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak, & Heidenreich, but none of them made an impact, though Jindrak could of. JBL was a solid heel, but his reign was boring in its first stages and didn't get good until he feuded with John Cena. I think they probably should've had Eddie Guerrero feud with The Undertaker for a majority of 2004, and had The Undertaker carry the WWE Championship until the Royal Rumble, where JBL wins. I personally thought JBL would've been better in a transitional champion role that lasted from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania 21. I do think Eddie Guerrero vs The Undertaker, Kurt Angle & Rob Van Dam, & Rey Mysterio vs John Cena in a face vs face feud should've been the big Smackdown programs in 2004.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Apr 8, 2020 17:53:41 GMT -5
All I remember is how Raw destroyed Smackdown on the actual draft night on Raw. Having Benjamin and Edge go to Raw was huge that night.
The fact that Smackdown traded Triple H back to Raw after getting drafted for the Dudley Boys, and Booker T I wanna say it was, just goes to show that the WWE felt Triple H was as good as three people. Talk about a crappy situation for the Dudley Boys and Booker.
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Post by cordless2016 on Apr 8, 2020 18:14:55 GMT -5
The first half of the year Smackdown’s roster was horrid, especially after WM. Lesnar left, Benoit was on Raw, and Show and Angle were both hurt. That legit left Eddie as the only credible main eventer on the show outside of Undertaker.
Then they had the Raw draft. Normally getting Booker, RVD, and the Dudley Boyz sounds great on paper. But considering three of those guys were devalued to equal HHH on his own hurt their credibility, and this isn’t taking into account how HHH had buried Booker and RVD in previous feuds.
This forced them to make a new top heel fast and JBL was born. While I enjoyed his run, his out of nowhere push was hard for most fans to buy . But even with JBL’s quick rise the roster was lacking. Booker was defeated pretty easily by Taker at Judgement Day, and spent the majority of the summer looking like a joke to a mid-card Cena. RVD and Mysterio were floating around the tag scene with not much direction, and Rene Durpree was not catching on as the WWE heads likely hoped.
Once Angle and Show got back Smackdown seemed to pick up again, but we still had crap like Heidenreich and Luther Reigns to deal with. The potential was there, but I feel like the injuries and booking killed what was a solid roster by the middle of the year.
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