The Fink’s Payload 08.15.07: Saving SmackDown (Part 2)

First up is Samer;

Hey guys, this is Samer from Lebanon with some ideas for smackdown…
Khali defeats Batista at SummerSlam after an interference by Mark Henry. Or the match ends in a DQ after Henry’s interference to protect Batista. Either way, that should start a Henry vs Batista feud, since the former had nothing to do but squashing jobbers ever since he came back, and Batista needs some rebuilding after failing to reclaim the title so many times. On Smackdown, Khali (and his translator) are bragging about nobody on Smackdown being able to beat him and challenges anybody from the back to come out, and nobody answers until Matt Hardy comes in through the crowd and takes Khali out with a chair from behind. The following week, Khali asks teddy long for Matt Hardy and says he wants him tonight, but Teddy says Matt is already scheduled to face MVP in a non (US) title match. Matt is in the ring, MVP comes out with a mic, and says that he really would have loved to beat Matt again tonight, but someone else just wanted to beat him even more.. Khali’s music hits and he will face Matt. The match starts with Khali dominating until he throws Matt outside the ring, Matt grabs a chair and hits khali with it a couple of times causing a DQ before quickly leaving through the crowd again. Later, Khali looks for Matt backstage but he can’t find him. The next week on Raw, Jeff Hardy (he should be back from suspension by then) is shown on a stretcher, somebody took him out backstage. On Smackdown, Khali comes out and says that he was the one who took out Jeff and tells Matt he’ll suffer the same fate unless he comes out now then maybe Khali will slow down the level of punishment a little. So Matt comes out and gets his ass handed to him and Khali stands tall. Backstage Teddy comes in to check on Matt. Matt says he wants Khali at unforgiven. Teddy says he doesn’t think it’s such a good idea for anyone to face khali. Matt says it’s not a stupid idea if it’s for the title. Teddy is reluctant to accept, he doesn’t know if Matt has what it takes to be in a main event for the title, he tells him if he wants a piece of Khali then he can team up with Batista to face Khali and Henry later tonight. Matt says he’s not satisfied, he still wants Khali at unforgiven for the title. Teddy tells Matt to impress him in the tag match later on, and he’ll think about it. In the Main event Matt gets the pin on Mark Henry with a rope assisted twist of fate after Henry was going for the world’s lamest splash. Teddy comes out and says he’s impressed, even more so with Matt’s courage and he makes the match at unforgiven. At unforgiven, the match ends when Khali goes for the tree slam but matt knees him in the jaw (that might look cool) and hits the twist of fate. We have a new champ.

On Smackdown Khali wants his rematch, which he gets in the main event. Matt again ends up somehow winning. Then suddenly Kennedy’s music hits, he storms to the ring, kicks the shit out of Matt (who’s exhausted from his match) and steels the title belt and leaves. The following week on Raw, there is no sign of Kennedy. However Smackdown kicks off with Matt hardy and Teddy long in the ring, Teddy says that a Raw superstar can’t just show up on Smackdown and steel the World title, he asks kennedy to show up and return the title like a man. Kennedy comes out and he reminds everybody that he lost his Money in the Bank briefcase on Raw after being jumped backstage before the match (or on the isle i can’t remember). And at the time he was a Smackdown superstar. So for him if he can lose his Money in the Bank shot unfairly on Raw while being a Smackdown superstar, than he damn sure can win the world title on smackdown when he’s a Raw superstar.. Teddy reminds him that he was the one who accepted Edge’s challenge for the MITB shot, kennedy says he doesn’t care and leaves. On Raw Teddy long is in Coachman’s office, he tells him to force Kennedy to return the title to Matt Hardy. Coachman says he doesn’t appreciate Teddy showing up on Raw uninvited. Teddy says he didn’t appreciate Kennedy showing up on Smackdown uninvited. Kennedy walks in and introduces himself as the world heavyweight champion. He says ever since he showed up on Raw he didn’t receive any opportunity, so he figured he might as well take matters in his own hands. He says nobody tried to force Edge to give him back his MITB shot when he cheated to win it, so he doesn’t expect them to force him to give back the WHT. Teddy says he’ll welcome him back on Smackdown with open arms as long as he gives back the title. Coach tells him that he can’t just welcome him, since he has a contract, he can’t just show up wherever he likes. The 3 of them argue when Vince Mcmahon comes back from the dead and walks in. He tells them to shut up since he’s going to the ring for a major announcement. In the ring, Vince says that this thing has been going on for a couple of weeks and already it’s a pain in the backside for him. He hates crybabies, he hates superstars who complain when they don’t get oppurtunities, but he admires people with grapefruits. And Kennedy certainly had balls to do what he did, so he’s making an exception for him. Kennedy can get a title shot against Matt hardy, but he has to give up his position as a Raw superstar and get back to Smackdown, and give Matt back his title. That should set up a series of Kennedy vs Hardy matches, which will be better that anything we’ve been seeing on Smackdown lately.

Ryan: This seems like a decent enough idea on paper, even if it’s something that I can never see being put in to practice by WWE. The only thing that I might change is giving Hardy a string of big wins heading up to the Khali title match, particularly over men larger than he is like Kane or Mark Henry. (Heck, while we’re at it, bring over a Raw guy or two to job to him as well. Gene Snitsky comes to mind.) This would provide more intrigue headed in to the Khali/Matt Hardy title match, with fans having a legitimate reason to believe that Hardy could unseat yet another giant on his list. Perhaps the best part of the whole thing was the finish that you thought of for the Khali/Hardy title match, which is something that gets Hardy the win in a somewhat believable way but doesn’t damage the credibility of Khali in any major way. In that regard, it’s similar to the finish of the Umaga/John Cena match from this year’s New Year’s Revolution in which it’s not quite a fluke win by the babyface but comes close enough that the heel still has a legitimate claim to being the better man. As far as the follow-up Kennedy/Hardy feud is concerned, I doubt that we would see the company move Kennedy back over to Smackdown, given that WWE wants to make him in to a big star and they believe the only way for him to do that is to be on Monday Night Raw. However, if it WERE to happen, he’s already on a level at which he could immediately be seen as a threat to Hardy, which would certainly help the angle. Plus, getting him back on Smackdown is a great idea because, quite frankly, they never should’ve taken him off the show in the first place. A Kennedy/Edge feud after what happened with the MITB briefcase is such a natural fit, and now it looks like we’re never going to get the opportunity to see this because they’ve been split up.

I don’t really watch Smackdown and this is the first time I’ve tried this so you’ll have to forgive me if this sucks. Oh, and I’ve used some drafts and stole a few ideas from previous payloads…….

Its this weeks Smackdown and Vince McMahon comes out and announces that he’s not happy with Smackdown, and that the fans deserve better. He then says that next week will be the dawn of a new era on Smackdown, and then leaves. The rest of the how is then spent hyping this next weeks show. The following weeks episode begins with Paul Heyman walking to the ring with Chris Masters. Heyman discusses how he’s always made stars, from his time as a manager (Austin, Lesnar) to ECW (Foley, RVD). He then announces the formation of the Dangerous Alliance, and introduces the Chris Masters, the newly arrived Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, Paul Burchill and MVP as it members. Vince interrupts Heyman and tells him he won’t have things his own way on Smackdown, as the WGTT aren’t the only new arrivals. He talks about the legendary stables from the past before getting to the Hart Foundation. He puts them over before introducing the newest members of the Smackdown Roster, The Hart Foundation 2.0 – Teddy Hart, Harry Smith, TJ Wilson & Nattie Neidhart. Later on that night, Edge makes an appearance, talking about how he is the new face of Smackdown, and even though he’s injured, he still its biggest star. He says his star power will shine through the latest group the Rated R Army, who are the Major Brothers, Mark Henry and Chavo Guerrero.
With the roster now redrawn into factions several new feuds can kick off, with first the Dangerous Alliance and the Hart Foundation feuding. This should give all the members a storyline to work with, and should also provide the Hart Foundation with some good opponents to learn off. The second new feud will be between the Rated R Army against Matt Hardy & Rey Mysterio. The Rated R Army will use their superior numbers to beat down Matt & Rey, and should also tease a feud between these two and Edge for when he makes his return.
The changes in the roster should reinvigorate the tag divison, with WGTT, Hart Foundation, the Major Brothers, Deuce & Domino and Burchill & Masters. The world title picture will remain between Batista, Khali and Kane, but with MVP, Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio all being built up to enter when Edge returns. These feuds should build until Survivor Series, when both the Hart Foundation and Matt & Rey will be looking for partners to overcome the opposing factions odds, with the Hart Foundation adding the DiBiase brothers, and Matt and Rey announcing surprise partners of Kane and Jeff Hardy. Once Survivor series has finished, Smackdown should set up an Elimination chamber match for the title, with Batista (who has become champion), Edge, Rey Mysterio, Matt Hardy, MVP and Harry Smith getting the shot. With a rebuilt tag division, some fresh talent and hopefully a few new wrestlers in the title picture, Smackdown will be closer to the status it enjoyed in 2002.

Rob: Well, I quite like your Dangerous Alliance guys, looks like a great bunch there. But there’s an awful lot of people who have virtually no connection deciding to become bestest friends and team up for no apparent reason. Why is Edge making his own stable? Are the Major Brothers heels now? Why is Mark Henry working for anyone, when he clearly states he is the Silverback of the Jungle? And if Edge was to put a stable together, surely he’d target either the guy who took his title, or the guy who put him on the shelf. Also, Rated R Army? Worst name ever. But, you’ve tried to build up the tag team division and you’ve used Paul Birchall so you get 1,900 Rob Points. Overall, having three random stables appear from nowhere with no rhyme or reason is not the way to go.

Holy shit, we have found a chick. I thought chicks didn’t exsist on the intraweb. Anyway, here’s Nicole’s idea;

Save Smackdown? Seems like mission impossible to me,since Vince seems insistent on constantly making the show into a developmental league bitch for Raw,but lets try anyway. So Batista and Khali have their “match” at Summerslam.Its a grueling battle for everyone watching at home and Batista pulls it out after figuring out how to “Batista Bomb” the big man, in one of the more impressive, and soon to be most replayed scenes ever. The following Smackdown opens with the new World Champ being introduced. Batista enters the arena, fresh new suit, sunglasses, and all with a seemingly overconfident smirk on his face. He states that he has beaten just about every person on the Smackdown roster including the unbeatable Khali. He has proven all their is to prove and is possibly the most successful wrestler alive. He then thanks all the fans for their support and love. He adds that people as great as he is always reach a point when they cannot do anymore. He appears to be slightly emotional and turns to walk away. The crowd seems to be confused and doesnt know if they should boo Batistas’ cocky comments or cheer his accomplishments. The announcers are equally confused as Michael Cole openly ponders if Batista is possibly retiring as we go to break. As we come back from break Batista is at his limo. hes about to get in and takes one last satisfactory look around. He smirks again, gets in and the limo takes off. The next weeks show pretty much centers around what Batista is thinking, as several wrestlers are interviewed and most seem to agree that due to age and previous injury problems he might be retiring. The last person interviewed is Rey Misterio who says that Batista is one of his best friends and he doesnt think his buddy would ever quit anything and has too much love for the fans to just walk out. The show ends with Rey beating Matt Hardy, Chavo, and Kane in a fatal four way to determine the #1 contender for the World title. The next week begins with the announcement that Batista is here and will make a huuuuuge statement-TONITE!!!!. So at the end of the show Teddy Long is in the ring and introduces Batista. Batista states that their are a lot of rumors going around about him and why not, i mean im always the talk of the town anyway. He says that he has made a very important decision in his life that may upset his millions of Smackdown fans. Teddy interrupts saying that he understand why he wants to retire and respects his great legacy. Batista respond that their is no way he is retiring as great as he is. No, his announcement is that he wants Teddy to grant him a release from his contract so he can take his World title and defend it against some real competition over on monday nights! He states that he has beaten everybody on Smackdown and hes pretty bored. The announcers are appalled at his lack of respect and he is booed (thanks to the magic of television editing since most fans would probably cheer this ambitious move). Teddy refuses to give him the release and Batista grabs him by the lapels. Suddenly Rey Misterios music hits and he enters the ring. Rey expresses shock at his big buddies’ actions and reminds him that their is one person that he has not beaten-him. Batista overconfidently smirks again and goes back to trying to convince Long to give him his release, when Rey dropkicks him out of the ring and officials show to diffuse any further confrontation. This would lead to Batista v Rey at Unforgiven where the overconfident champ barely beats the pesky contender. This leaves you with a fresh heel champ to battle Kane, Matt Hardy and Ric Flair in future PPVs. Ultimately Batistas’ reign ends at Wrestlemania when he faces the newly acquired Bobby Lashley. Speaking of Flair, post Summerslam he would be placed in a feud with MVP after Montel claims to be the greatest US champ ever. Flair would Win the title at Unforgiven,and pretty much have the upper hand in the feud. After losing several rematches, MVP is given one last shot at No Mercy with the stip being that a loss means that he never gets another shot until Flair loses it. MVP wins after his new bodyguard Mark Henry kills Flair behind the refs back. Leads to Cyber Sunday where Flair takes on Henry but loses due to MVPs’ interference. It is then announced that at Survivor Series MVP and Henry will take on Flair and a partner of his choosing.Flair has a partner and says he is a legend just like him. Henry and MVP laugh as MVP yells “bring on Piper,Slaughter,andDusty-well kill em all(ha ha ha).Flair stops all the mocking when he announces that his partner is THE UNDERTAKER!!!!!! Flair and Taker stomp these two at Survivor Series. Flair then starts talking about one last run on top. their is an eight man elimination tounament held over the following four weeks of Smackdown to determine the #1 contender for the world title with the finals to be held at Armageddon. Taker and Flair make it to the end, and Flair wins the battle of legends after Henry attacks both men and flair recovers first to pin the dead man.
Over the next few weeks we get Flair being encouraged by all the wrestlers on the roster, face and heel, most talking about how they grew up wanting to be the man, and how they know Flair can pull it out one more time. Two weeks before the Royal Rumble title match with Batista, who by the way thinks that the old man is a joke, Flair is at his locker getting geared up for a match, when a hand taps him on the shoulder-its Edge. Edge gives a serious promo about how he grew up watching Flair and tried to emulate everything he did in his work. He looked up to Flair his whole life, even when they were battling each other. He believes that Naitch has one more in him. A tearful Flair thanks and hugs him. So of course at the Rumble Flair is about to win when Edge interferes and costs him the title. Edge then conchairtos Flair, causing him to miss several weeks and return to face Edge at Wrestlemania. As far as the cruiserweights go, Id strip hornswaggle of the title, since he doesnt meet the weight requirement to be a cruiser, and hold a cruiser battle royal at Summerslam. Jimmy Wang is the last man standing when khalis’ music envelops the arena. Out comes Khali and his translator. The translator is the final participant. Khali smacks the hell out of poor jimmy and The translator(his oficial name by the way)throws him over to become the new champ. All of The translators matches would follow the same concept, in that Khali would destroy the challenger, while The translator-did i mention that he still wears the suit for his matches seeing that he does nothing-cleans up the pickings. Then at Survivior Series Rey Mysterio returns to the cw division and returns to giant killer status and wins the title, saving the division and giving the division a higher profile. To round things out, I think that Teddy Long and Vickie should be greatly deemphasized and should only be seen sporadically at most. Nothing against Mr. playah,but the on air authority figure role is pretty play(ah)d out.

Dan: Well there was a lot there that I liked and a fair bit that I didn’t. I really think that turning Batista heel is the way to go because of the massive number of losses he has had in World title matches. Rey/Batista is a bout I’d enjoy seeing and I think Batista isn’t so big that all of Rey’s offence would look unrealistic. I don’t think saying he wants to go to Raw is the best way of setting it up, because that’s been done before and it lowers the profile of SmackDown which is the opposite of what we’re trying to do here. Batista vs. Flair would also be a very fun program as they’d be able to play off their history, though the problem would be could they have a good match together? I don’t think they could, but it’s not like that’s something new in SmackDown’s main events. Here’s the stuff I didn’t like. Putting the Cruiserweight title on Khali’s translator. The guy can’t wrestle, and if you are having Khali destroy all his opponents before the match it makes the entire division look weak. I don’t see Rey ever going back to the Cruiser division as he is too big a star. I was digging the MVP/Flair feud and especially liked the idea of bringing Henry in as a bodyguard for MVP. It’d be awesome if Porter got Henry to dress in one of his snazzy power ranger-esque outfits. Plus it keeps Henry from being in a feud of his own which would be horrible. What I didn’t like was the inclusion of The Undertaker in the angle because I think he could be used better.

Cheshiregville sent this in;

Hello, gents —

For the next month, the feud continues – Shane and his boys waylay Taker outside of Raw and steal the belt back the night after the PPV and hold it for ransom. This sets up a rematch, with Vince and Shane in the corners of their representatives. Batista wins the belt at the PPV, and Vince swears that Shane will pay the price. For the next month (or three months, depending on how long they want to milk it), the feud can continue to play out leading up to a PPV blowoff match between Vince and Shane (perhaps in a Captains Choice elimination match?). While the McMahon Family Saga holds the spotlight, the Smackdown guys can work hard and enjoy the boost in ratings, so that when the feud ends Smackdown will rest at a higher level then it previously did, and no longer carry the B-show stigma.

Rob: The good stuff is a brand new set dressings, music and video for Smackdown. But the rest is an old angle I’ve already seen a few times. Shane defying his Dad and trying to take over the show, and Shane stealing a brand out from under his Dad’s nose has been done before. The Shane-led Smackdown invading Raw etc. is either very close to the Shane-led WCW or the recent Heyman-led ECW. You have the title being disrespected twice in a row, first by Vince vacating it, and then again by Taker winning it but not wanting it and walking off with it. Building that belt up to a credible level after two great big turds have been dumped on it, is going to be tough. And you’ve made the McMahon’s the centre of attention, just like we’ve seen a thousand times before. You’re hoping that once the McMahon soap opera ends, people will stick around and watch the rest of the show…but why? What else is different about Smackdown? What’s been changed besides the set and the GM? Oh and expecting McMahon to admit that Smackdown is has been a failure of his, even for storyline purposes, when his real life failures haunt him in a very public manner, is asking quite a lot of everyone’s favourite billionaire.

David Ward is next;

I don’t know whether you prefer files or have it pasted here, so I’ll do both. Excuse the length.

Finlay and Chris Masters engage in a feud after Finlay tires of Masters posing and preening, challenging him to a real fight. Finlay gains a victory over Masters on Smackdown when Masters brings a chair into the ring and Finlay retaliates as the ref removes the weapon by introducing his shillelagh. However, on Pay-Per-View, Masters pulls off the victory. Chuck Palumbo and Kane battle after Kane attacks Palumbo from behind as he
revs his motorbike. Kane tells Palumbo that he has no idea what life on the edge really means, but that he is the one to take him to hell and back. The Major Brothers re-debut albeit slightly refined to be more Impressive and aggressive. Jesse and Festus finally debut. Dave Taylor hits the ring and tells the audience that “a short while ago Dave Taylor – with the moral support of William Regal – was single-handedly dominating Smackdown’s tag team division. An even shorter while ago, Regal decided that he couldn’t
hack the pressure and so left to become a secretary on Raw. However, I have a new partner. A younger partner whom I can train and will carry wrestling into the future” – the re-debut of Paul Burchall. All three teams and the tag champions battle over the ensuing months. Kenny becomes a cruiserweight and between he, Jamie Noble, Shannon Moore and Jimmy Wang Yang – along with the occasional leadership of Chavo Guerrero and next year Gregory Helms – relight interest in the division.

Ryan: As I said in response to one of last week’s submissions, I thought that the point of this assignment was to take Smackdown in a new direction that would revitalize them, not simply to rebook more of what we’ve already seen from the brand. Unfortunately, this idea is more of what we’ve already seen. Booker/Batista already dominated the majority of last year, Chavo and Misterio have already had numerous matches against one another, and even MVP/Matt Hardy has been going on for a while. And, quite frankly, none of those feuds have exactly been setting the world on fire. MVP and Matt Hardy has been the best of the three, but even it hasn’t exactly been getting fans to tune in to the product in droves. Misterio and Chavo produced some good matches here and there, but Chavo is so miscast as a serious heel that it’s hard for me and a lot of other fans to get in to the feud with the passion that we can when there’s a better bad guy involved. Batista and Booker had NO CHEMISTRY WHATSOEVER in the ring when they feuded last year, producing terrible pay per view main event after terrible pay per view main event. They started out bad, and I think that they may have actually gotten worse. On top of that, I think that the “King” gimmick for Booker is starting to near the end of its usefulness and should be put away sooner rather than later.

Plus you lose points for involving the Major Brothers, no matter how minor the role. I will not approve of any booking plan that involves them unless it’s “The Majors are put on a rocket and shot in to the sun.”

Joe Heferer shares his idea;

How to Make SmackDown Better: NO KHALI
But seriously, nothing can be done about that so I’ll take another approach.

Here is the set up… After his long absence from injury WWE.com breaks news that Shawn Michaels contract with RAW has expired after 5 years (from August 2002) and that he is declared a free agent for all three brands to negotiate as of September 1st. After Teddy and Kristal’s wedding Teddy returns to power and throws his hat in on the negotiation of a SmackDown contract for HBK. Weeks go by as the announcers of SD and ECW talk about what it would be like to have “The Showstopper” as a wrestler on their brand, while RAW talks about the possible homecoming or loss of one of their major stars. This builds the hype for the comeback of Michaels about 4 months before he is even ready to come back. SmackDown eventually gains the upperhand in and by Survivor Series they announce that the are far and above landing HBK. Teddy also announces that SmackDown will be airing LIVE beginning the first week in January. The hype for Shawn begins to run full fledged as they interview the likes of Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Kane, Finlay, Batista, Edge, and The Undertaker what they think of Shawn Michaels coming to the Blue Brand.
On the first live episode of SmackDown, the HBK contract signing is interrupted by the largest SmackDown contract signer, Montel Vontavious Porter, who by this point has dropped the US title to Matt Hardy and is starting to be pushed to main event status. He and Michaels jaw jack back and forth with MVP saying that once he is given a chance to shine he will be better than Shawn has ever dreamed of. Teddy signs the match for New Years Revolution and the stage is set. MVP picks up a win over the Icon and uses that going into the Royal Rumble, but he gets eliminated before HBK enters. Shawn is out of the rumble as either Cena or Kennedy win the Rumble to main event against HHH at WM. Shawn is entered into a tourney and faces off against Batista at No Way Out to get a shot at EDGE for the World Championship at WM24.
SmackDown would have an impact main event star that has a long history of being in the spotlight. This would also be an opportunity for some new/refreshed rivalries (Edge, Batista, and MVP) and partnerships (Flair, Hardy, Mysterio) and also a one on one program with another ring legend, The Undertaker. These two have a long history of matches and altercations including SummerSlam ’97(Shawn’s accidental chair shot), the first hell in a cell match, the casket match from Royal Rumble ’98 and this past year at the Royal Rumble, to name a few. He could be used for one last run with a major title and give the rub to some of the up and comers on the Blue Brand. A second change would be that since the interest in cruiserweight wrestling has gone by the wayside, that belt could be taken over to ECW by Jamie Noble and converted into the ECW Television Title. This would clear the void of non-booking that title on one show and giving another show something else to work with. SmackDown could then focus on the World Heavyweight, United States, and WWE Tag Team Championships. A change in look of some titles could also benefit the look of the show. A change in the style of the “big gold belt” might make people not think of it as the “old WCW belt”.
If the show gets a new look random fans might start watching the show with a regular basis. With the fan following that Shawn Michaels has, he could draw in a big audience on a weekly basis also. Setting up the announcement months in advance could also draw fans into watching SmackDown just to get ready to see HBK. While they have the fans attention with him they could start setting up future main event stars such as Matt Hardy, MVP, Gregory Helms, and others. SmackDown does have hope to become at least an absolute equal to RAW or move past it. While Raw might have the champ that never loses fans will become bored and want to see something different and SmackDown could give them that outlet.

Dan: I like it. Going live would help SmackDown in a HUGE way but for whatever reason (money, travel?) WWE doesn’t seem like they want to do it but it would give SmackDown that “anything can happen” feel that Raw always has. Moving HBK to SmackDown is something I’ve wanted for a long time, especially now when there are tons of programs that would kick ass with Shawn in. HBK vs. Edge, Taker, Rey would all be tremendous, and then you have MVP, Batista, Flair and even Hardy who could all have great feuds with Michaels. A new look is definitely needed too. Give it a new set, new theme, new graphics, and make it less “blue.” Blue gives the show a second rate feel. Go with black. Black logos, black set. An edgy feel is good.

Moving the Cruiserweight title to ECW is an idea I’ve back for a long time, though I wouldn’t call it the ECW TV title, I’d keep it as the Cruiser title. Move a punch of Cruisers to ECW (Noble, Yang, Chavo, Moore etc) and then some of ECW breakout stars can be moved over when they are ready (Burke is a guy who needs to be on SmackDown). Good ideas here.

Next up is Steve Lavender;

How to save smackdown.
yea, yea, yea i know i missed the deadline, but hear me out. I just thought of a fucking brilliant plan. Not only will it make smackdown better, but it will make new contenders to the title. The answer has been laying in OVW this whole time. Here’s a hint, he used to be a pirate. Paul Burchill debuts on the smackdown (dressed as he is in OVW) after summerslam defeating Dave Taylor. Later that night Bautista is facing The Great Khali in a rematch for the Smackdown Title. 15 minutes in and Paul Burchill and two other guys with the Homicide like bandana run into the ring and just lay out both of these guys. The next week Paul Burchill comes out with his cronies and cuts this brilliant promo i will now recite.

The battle lines are drawn folks. The most dangerous men in smackdown vs the main eventers. And you know there’s tons of talent who shined in OVW and went to the big leagues to get jobbed out. Maybe have Eugene revert to Nick Dinsmore. Kenny could join. They could maybe bring back Mark Magnus, Seth Skyfire, or Idol Stevens. Hell, Edge could even hire them to take out Kane. So this could lead to feuds that would stall until all the injured stars come back and create a few well deserving stars in the process.

Rob: First and foremost you used Paul Birchall and Dave Taylor so you received 3,100 Rob Points, which makes you this week’s highest scorer! Congratulations. Now…did I miss something or did you not reveal who the third man of this group is? I’ve read it a few times now, and I know it’s Paul Birchall and I know it’s Johnny Jeter, but…who’s the third guy? You’ve told me that he’s English but…I can’t see his name anywhere. Anywhere, this idea just won’t work. The assignment was to Save Smackdown, not alienate the majority of the audience with insider terms and a storyline that only wrestling geeks like you and me would get. Nobody knows what OVW is. Nobody cares what OVW is. Also, a major problem you have is that Pirate Paul was the single godamn greatest gimmick in the history of the fucking world! He swung to the ring on a rope! On a fucking rope! That shit was awesome! He had a sword and he threatened to stab people with it! He hunted for treasure and called it ‘booty’! I’d pay through the freakin’ nose to see that! Also, and this is only funny to people who know that Birchall’s finisher in OVW was called the C-4 (as in, the explosive)…but it could have been called…wait for it…the Sea-4! How awesome is that? Pretty freakin’ awesome! Erm…so anyway, this suggestions fails miserably because you took an awesome pirate-dude and made him a boring guy nobody has ever heard of.

And finally Andy Clark sent this in;

Hello,
Hey, this was a fun project. I had surgery on my shoulder and playing fantasy booker for SD has been very enjoyable. I had to type all of this with one hand. Enjoy!

S Oct 7 – NO MERCY
1. ELIMINATION CHAMBER MATCH FOR THE WORLD TITLE
ENTRANTS: WORLD CHAMPION BATISTA
“KING OF THE RING” MATT HARDY
16-TIME WORLD CHAMPION RIC FLAIR
“THE WORLD’S STRONGEST MAN” MARK HENRY
THE GREAT KHALI
KANE
the elimination chamber gives so many possibilities. essentially, hardy and flair are the only faces here. but khali and henry are so big! its not time for hardy to win, but his stock is definitely elevated from involvement here. my plan is on batista pinning flair to finish the match and retain the title.
2. REY MYSTERIO VS MVP (US TITLE)
mysterio takes the title, but the feud shouldn’t end yet.
3. MOORE AND WANG YANG VS DEUCE ‘N DOMINO
the cruiserweights win the rematch.
What do you think?

Dan: I think there is a lot of potential here. I’ve mentioned before how I like the idea of a Flair/Batista feud and putting it in a hardcore environment would hide faults that a one-on-one match between the two would have. Bringing back the King of the Ring is another sound idea. Last year it was a big hit and produced good match so there should be good interest for it. The Elimination Chamber coming to SmackDown is new and should spark some interest on the show. I also liked the cruisers getting a surprise win for the tag team titles because again, it sparks interest which is what SmackDown is needing right now. Good work.

And now for our ideas. Or not. We don’t want this to flow over to another column, and we’ve run out of room for ideas. Hopefully we’ll have the space to add them next week. Look at what we’re sacrificing for you people!

This week’s homework is something a little different but before I get to that, I have a few requests. When sending in your entries, there is no need for indentations, MASSIVE headings, big spaces etc. It makes things harder to read and a lot harder to edit, which probably takes up as much time for us as reading your entries does. Keep your layout simple and we’ll appreciate your stuff a lot more. By all means put in dates, headings, but something like…

Sumerslam, August 26th:

…would suffice. The other thing is length. We appreciate you have ideas and want to let us know your thoughts, but there’s no need to beat around the bush. We don’t want to consider setting a limit, but when we are getting entries that are practically 5 or 6 pages long, it gets hard to read and that’ll reflect in our comments. We don’t need a word for word promo just for setting up a match. Put detail into the important stuff, keep the unimportant stuff simple and we’ll all be happy. Which brings me to the homework. You have the i=option to choose from the following:

Book the rest of the Summerslam card and how you think it should go down.
Book Impact’s first 2 hour show.
Book any one superstar turning heel or face.
Book a superstars jumping ship to either TNA or WWE.