What's Good in 2020 WWE?

     WWE recently announced they were having a draft again this year.  One can't help but groan and think, Uhhh here we go again.  The last few years have certainly emphasized WWE's complete and lack of regard for the phrase, "brand exclusive" with superstars jumping back and forth or switching brands entirely for little or no explanation given.  Credit where it's due though, this year has been much better than the complete and total farce that was last year's jump-a-palooza.  

    I realize I sound like a battered wife who constantly goes back to her abusive husband because "he only hit me twice this year."  In all honesty, most WWE fans are this to some degree, depending on how well you pay attention.  If you try to follow continuity, you're punished.  If you believe in stipulations, or in this case, exclusive draft picks, you're punished.  You just have to sit and watch the whims unfold of one maniacal senior citizen named Vincent K. McMahon.  

    Now COVID has thrown a monster monkey wrench into everything, and that doesn't exclude the pro-wrestling industry.  (AEW has handled it overall much better than WWE has, but it still has negatively affected the promotion as well.)  This year was going to suck no matter how good creative was, and with Vince in charge, creative usually doesn't stay "good" for very long.  

    Despite it all, once I started to think about it more, the draft is much-needed.  I haven't watched Smackdown since it moved to Fridays because who honestly once to watch WWE on a Friday night?  (The clips I've seen haven't held my attention at all.)  I do watch Raw weekly, and despite trying to remain optimistic, two weeks ago finally broke me.  "We need to shake things up!"

    I know this has been negative thus far, but I'm going to spin it and talk about what has been good on Raw in the turd sandwich known as 2020.  And there is only one place to start.  

    Drew McIntyre has had a banner year in 2020.  (Poor bastard.)  When Drew talks, I 

believe him.  He doesn't come across as WWE's 

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version of "cool," i.e. lame, like Roman/Cena 
always did.  Drew seems like a believable bad ass babyface, and he passes the ultimate test; I don't look at my phone when he's on the screen.  He looks like a star, he wrestles like a star, and brother, he is a star.  

    Asuka, although has cooled off lately, is the same thing to the women's division that Drew is to the men's.  Asuka somehow is hilarious, yet a believable killer.  That is a fine-line to balance,

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yet she somehow does it on a weekly basis.  

    Randy Orton somehow crept onto a new creative level the past few years.  He did it very quietly, and it's result has been most noticeable this year.  For a guy that was always hit or miss, he's pretty much batting 1.000 this year.  

    MVP was brought in as a one-off surprise for the Royal Rumble, and eventually ended up staying around.  I can't overstate how important he's been to Raw.  He always delivers on the mic, and his pairing with Lashley has been a God-send for Lashley.  I don't know how it's possible, but pre-MVP Lashley somehow had negative charisma.  He had failed on every level since his comeback, yet somehow seems tolerable now in his role.  The Hurt Business overall has been a nice vehicle for guys that were desperately needing it; and it's all due to MVP.

    Samoa Joe the commentator was a surprise, and although I much prefer him wrestling (I have no idea what his injury status is currently) he's really good at the announce booth.  

    A ninja in wrestling in 2020 is a death sentence.  I realize I'm biased here, but Akira

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has turned this chicken shit into chicken salad.  His comedic timing and facial expressions are impeccable.  He’s been the ultimate foil to R-Truth, who himself has had a good year.  Yes, I want more for the feisty grappler from Japan, but I enjoy him doing this much more compared to what he was doing prior, which was nothing.       

After the draft, all these folks could be moved to Smackdown and I'll never see them again-at least until next year's draft.  Oh, that's right, they'll probably be a "wild card 2.0" and they'll be back on Raw in three weeks!