Welcome to week 15 of “RAW is WAR: 2009 vs. 2019.” This is a 52-week project to determine which year of Monday Night Raw was better: 2009 or 2019. Each week, we’ll have the three biggest takeaways from the shows, extra analysis and thoughts on the rest of the show, and then a final score for each show. Whichever score is higher wins, and whichever year wins the most week wins bragging rights for life … kind of.
This week will be a little different than most. In both shows this week, WWE featured a version of the WWE Draft. It was called the draft in 2009, but it’s a “Superstar Shakeup” in 2019. Because of this format, there was really only one overarching theme to each year’s show: fresh blood on each show. With that being said, this week will just feature a brief recap and analysis of how each show fared in their respective roster shakeups.
April 13, 2009 Raw in Atlanta, GA.
THE CHAMPIONS:
- World Heavyweight Champion: John Cena; No. 1 contender: Edge
- Intercontinental Champion: Rey Mysterio; No. 1 contender: TBD
- Women’s Champion: Melina; No. 1 contender: TBD
- Unified Tag Team Champions: Primo and Carlito; No. 1 contenders: TBD
- Primarily on SmackDown
Detailed “play by play” of the show here.
WHO’S NEW, WHO LEFT
- NEW TO RAW:
- WWE Champion Triple H
- United States Champion MVP
- Divas Champion Maryse
- Matt Hardy
- Big Show
- The Miz
- LEAVING RAW FOR SMACKDOWN:
- Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio
- Women’s Champion Melina
- Chris Jericho
- CM Punk (still holds the Money in the Bank briefcase)
- Kane
- NOTE: Vladimir Kozlov moved from SmackDown to ECW as apart of the WWE Draft as well.
ANALYSIS: First off, Big Show and Triple H have been on essentially every episode of Raw since February, despite them being SmackDown superstars So them moving to Raw isn’t an earth-shattering moment. The brand split in 2009 was pretty weak at this point, so even having a WWE Draft feels inconsequential.
That being said, Raw really cleaned up by getting three new champions to their show. As it currently stands, both major championships — held by Triple H and John Cena — are on Raw. Cena still has to defend his title against SmackDown superstar Edge at the upcoming Backlash PPV, so the World Heavyweight Championship could go to SmackDown soon. But still, Raw having both world champions is a major power move by WWE.
Losing guys like Jericho, Punk and Mysterio is tough. Those are three of the better wrestlers on the show, so the in-ring quality will go down. MVP, Hardy and Big Show are nice additions, but I’d rather have that first trio than the second.
The wild card in all of this is The Miz. He had been teaming with John Morrison for a while, but with them splitting up now because of the draft, it leaves Miz in an interesting position. He beat up Morrison after he was drafted, which was a nice touch. I’m intrigued to follow his progression throughout the rest of the year.
SCORE: 7.5/10. The format of the WWE Draft in 2009 allowed for there to be 11 matches on the three-hour show, meaning the action was fast-paced. The best match of the night was Cena against ECW Champion Jack Swagger, as they let the two champions have a longer match that highlighted some of Swagger’s talent. The main event featuring Legacy vs. HHH/Shane McMahon/Batista was a nice way to end the show and gives us a Triple H vs. Randy Orton 1v1 rematch for next week’s Raw. All in all, this was a solid show that featured plenty of big names moving to Raw.April 15, 2019 Raw in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
THE CHAMPIONS:
- Universal Champion: Seth Rollins; No. 1 contender: TBD
- Intercontinental Champion: Finn Balor; No. 1 contender: TBD
- Raw Tag Team Champions: Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder; No. 1 contenders: TBD
- Raw Women’s Champion: Becky Lynch; No. 1 contender: TBD
- Lynch is also the SmackDown Women’s Champion
- Women’s Tag Team Champions: The IIconics; No. 1 contenders: TBD
Detailed “play-by-play” of the show here.
WHO’S NEW, WHO LEFT
- NEW TO RAW:
- AJ Styles
- The Usos
- The Miz
- Ricochet (via NXT)
- Aleister Black (via NXT)
- The Viking Experience (Ivar and Erik; also known as “War Raiders” Hanson and Rowe in NXT)
- Lacey Evans (via NXT)
- EC3 (via NXT)
- Andrade (w/Zelina Vega)
- Rey Mysterio
- Cedric Alexander (via 205 Live)
- Eric Young
- Naomi
- LEAVING RAW FOR SMACKDOWN:
- Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor
- Roman Reigns
- Elias
- Lars Sullivan (via NXT)
- Ember Moon
- Bayley
- Kairi Sane (via NXT)
- Liv Morgan
- Mickie James
- Buddy Murphy (via 205 Live)
- Chad Gable
- Apollo Crews
- Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight)
- STATUS UNKNOWN:
- Bray Wyatt (has had vignettes running for two weeks)
- Sami Zayn
- Nikki Cross
- Killian Dane
ANALYSIS: As of now, there is no mid-card champion on Monday Night Raw. A rumor came out, though, that United States Champion Samoa Joe plans to move to Raw once he recovers from a sickness. So Raw will have an undercard champion hopefully by next week.
Okay, so there’s a lot more to digest here than the 2009 show. First off, the splitting-up of The Riott Squad (w/Morgan moving to SmackDown), Gable and Bobby Roode (w/Gable moving to SmackDown) and Sanity (w/Young moving to Raw) is a bummer. All three of those groups/tag teams had a lot of potential to make noise on the main roster and just didn’t. It’s especially frustrating with Sanity, as the former NXT tag team champions never really got a shot to prove themselves on the main roster.
Speaking of the NXT tag team championships: “The Viking Experience” is now on Raw. The team formerly known as War Machine, who then became War Raiders in NXT, are now strapped with the dumbest name in pro wrestling history. Even worse, they had to change their names from Hanson and Rowe to Ivar and Erik. I have so many questions about this. It feels like another example of Vince McMahon taking something that worked in NXT and taking a big ol’ dump on it. There was absolutely no reason for a name change and really no reason to bring them up to the main roster. They’re still the NXT tag champs and could’ve stayed down there for a bit longer. It all feels dumb and rushed and I’m not a happy camper about it. At least they’re still two good wrestlers and could (hopefully) overcome it.
Alright, back to the shakeup. The two biggest names to move were obviously Styles and Reigns. Both had been the pillars of SmackDown and Raw, respectively, since the original brand split in 2016, so to see them switch shows was shocking. Balor moving to SmackDown was also a nice surprise. For the most part, though, a lot of mid-card guys moved shows and that’s it.
SCORE: 7.0/10. I kind of like the 2009 format better, where wrestlers won matches to earn draft picks for their brand. There’s also so many more people moving in 2019, making it harder to know who’ll make an impact and who won’t on their new shows. This Raw was solid, but I enjoyed watching the 2009 version more.
OVERALL SCORE: 2019 — 8; 2009 — 7.