Do you remember the excitement of the WWE Draft in 2008?  I hope so, since it was only a couple weeks ago, but it is a shame how quickly all that mystique vanished.  On that night, franchise players were drafted to brands you never thought you would see them on, such as "The Voice of RAW" Good Ol' JR moving to Friday Night Smackdown! or former-World Heavyweight champion Rey Mysterio drafted to RAW.  After all the moves were done, both WWE Champion HHH and World Heavyweight champion Edge were on Friday Night Smackdown! facing members of the RAW brand that following Sunday at Night of Champions.

Reasonably, most people expected one or the other to lose his title, and after Edge retained the World championship, those fans thought John Cena was a lock, but surprise, surprise, standing victorious at the end of what I would call Match of the Year, WWE Champion HHH remained the 12-time champion.

Immediately that evening, fans speculated scenarios across the board of what would happen to bring a championship belt to Monday Night RAW.  Obviously, eyes shifted to C. M. Punk as Mr. Money in the Bank, holding a briefcase which would allow him to secure the championship at almost any time, even admist the most opportunistic moments, by simply cashing in his bank.

While the fans rightly assumed that the briefcase would play a role, WWE missed out on a few plausible scenarios that would have made the next several weeks more interesting, instead of just a flash-in-the-pan lightning bolt of excitement which we saw when World champion Edge appeared on Monday Night RAW the night after Night of Champions, and Batista battered him until he was easy pickings for C. M. Punk.  Instead, here is my scenario for the past couple weeks:

The night after Night of Champions, Monday Night RAW begins with Shane McMahon's announcement on the condition of the patriarch, asking for fans to respect their privacy during this difficult period.  From there, Smackdown! General Manager Vickie Guerrero rolls out to the front of the stage to start the RAW broadcast from the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

VICKIE GUERRERO: "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen.  Excuse me, please...  EXCUSE ME!  EXCUSE ME, PLEASE!  Ladies and gentlmen, I am here tonight to make a special announcement.  I AM HERE TO MAKE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!  Ladies and gentlemen, as you know last night, WWE Champion Triple H retained his championship gold for Friday Night Smackdown!  And my fiance Edge retained his ... MY FINANCE EDGE RETAINED HIS WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FOR FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN!  That means both of the championship belts are on Friday Night Smackdown! and there are no World champions left on RAW.

"EXCUSE ME!  EXCUSE ME, PLEASE!  I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY... I WOULD JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT AT THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH ... At the Great American Bash, two RAW superstars will have one more opportunity to bring a championship belt back to Monday Night RAW.  Because the WWE Board of Directors have cleared a tag team match pitting two RAW superstars against the WWE Champion Triple H and my finance, the World Heavyweight champion Edge.  Whichever man is pinned in the match will lose his championship belt.  However, if Triple H and Edge are victorious in this match at the Great American Bash, then they will go to SummerSlam and meet each other in a title-for-title, 'Winner Take All' championship match.

"Now, the way we will determine the two RAW superstars to meet Triple H and my fiance Edge will be a short mini-tournament amongst the top four superstars left on the RAW brand.  The first week, they will each face one man.  The next week, they will face a different person.  And the final week, they will face the third opponent.  The men with the two best records in this tournament will then be chosen to compete in this tag match at the Great American Bash.

"Those four superstars are going to be John Cena ... Batista ... JBL ... and Shawn Michaels."

After her announcement, Michael Cole explains that each match will have a 10-minute time-limit, and wins by pinfall or submission will be worth 3 points, wins by disqualification or count-out will be worth 1 point, draws will be worth 2 points, and losses will be worth no points.  The first matches for this evening are John Cena versus Shawn Michaels and JBL versus Batista.  Batista scores a hearty victory over JBL, and John Cena pins Shawn Michaels after interference from Chris Jericho, who is of course peeved to be left out of the competition.

That week on Friday Night Smackdown!, Edge protests the set-up of the match, saying that he and HHH should be wrestling in the "Winner Take All" match at Great American Bash, and what a stupid idea it was to have them team up.  Vickie defends her idea, and Edge snaps back that he never gave her permission to make that match.  Vickie pulls a power card, reminding him that she is the boss, and just like what happened on the 7/4 Smackdown!, they call off the wedding.

The following week on RAW, JBL versus John Cena and Batista versus Shawn Michaels.  Batista wins by count-out when Shawn Michaels chases Chris Jericho out of the arena, and both John Cena and JBL are disqualified.  The scoreboard would have Batista at 4 points, John Cena at 5 points, JBL at 2 points, and HBK at no points.

That week on Smackdown!, Vickie Guerrero and Edge reconcile after HHH turns into the peace maker between the two, and they reschedule the wedding for an unspecified date.  HHH demands that they win and he will do everything he can to help them through the Great American Bash, but after they win, all bets are off and it's straight ahead to SummerSlam.

In the final week, JBL defeats Shawn Michaels after more interference from Chris Jericho, which finally allows them to set a match against each other for Great American Bash, and in the main event, John Cena and Batista wrestle a 10-minute stalemate.  Therefore, John Cena and Batista are the opponents for Edge and HHH.

That week on Smackdown!, Edge reminds Vickie Guerrero that the no-good C. M. Punk threatened to cash-in during their wedding, and he should be neutralized, so Vickie Guerrero makes a match between C. M. Punk and Chavo Guerrero for the Money in the Bank briefcase at Great American Bash.  Later that night, Edge and HHH are placed in competition against Jesse & Festus in the main event, but they make short work of them, and HHH grabs the mic and says that Jesse & Festus are no warm-up for John Cena and Batista in three days, so he makes an impromptu match for them to face Big Show & Mr. Kennedy.  During that match, their team implodes, but they still secure the victory over Mr. Kennedy.

Finally, the Great American Bash is upon us and anything can happen.  C. M. Punk retains his Money in the Bank briefcase over Chavo Guerrero.  The match between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho can go down the same way it will next weekend.  And in the main event, John Cena and Batista fail to win the match as Edge catches John Cena with a low blow from behind the referee's back and HHH's back, and HHH hits the Pedigree for the victory.  After the match, Batista and John Cena trash Edge.  HHH grabs the mic and reminds Edge that all bets are off now, and leaves.  After a Batista Bomb and the FU, C. M. Punk comes down and cashes in on his briefcase to bring the World Heavyweight championship back to RAW.

That puts C. M. Punk where he is today, it puts HHH and Edge where they are today, and it gives John Cena and Batista a little more time on top before WWE started trying to get Punk over.  Plus, it puts the whole Money in the Bank scenario on pay-per-view where a higher-paying audience gets to reap the benefits of the shocker.

Most importantly, it would provide more interesting weekly shows than what we have seen.  It was like we as fans had been watching the shows going along at a regular 55 MPH speed limit, and then the shows started to pick things up to over 100 MPH, and then just dropped back down to 55 speed limit in a matter of seconds.  Yes, it would have been predictable to see John Cena and Batista earn the title shot, but it would have been an ongoing series where the fans could have slowly crept back down to the "usual" speed.