If you blinked you might have missed him.  Just a day shy of his one month ECW anniversary, WWE released Braden Walker on Thursday.

Walker debuted on July 8, 2008 in an ECW match with Armando Estrada.  He actually joined the company in January, but wasn’t involved in any televised matches until his ECW debut.

Braden Walker is, of course, best known from his time with TNA where he wrestled under his real name, Chris Harris.  There’s no official word yet on why Harris was released by WWE, but the rumor mill is churning with speculation that WWE management was unhappy with his plumper physique.

Ugh.  The title says it all.  Just in case you were holding onto an utterly misguided hope that ECW might some day return to their old school, hardcore, extreme Philly roots, I’m here to permanently crush your dreams.

WWE has announced that ECW on Sci-Fi will move to a 9pm EST time slot on September 30, 2008 as part of their effort to provide more “family friendly” programming.  What does this new PG spin on ECW mean for fans?  Let’s see: no blood, no barbed wire, and no razors, to start with.  I’m also betting we won’t be seeing any “accidental” nip slips any time soon.  Eventually, we probably won’t even have PG photos like the one of Kelly Kelly at the top of this page.

Will the 9:00 pm time slot be the final nail in the ECW coffin, or will the “Land of Extreme” find a new, younger audience at the earlier hour?

Mickie James announced Monday night that Kelly Kelly is now the newest Raw diva. No draft, no fanfare, no explanation: she’s just a Raw diva now.

Why do they even bother with the yearly WWE draft? I mean, I know it creates buzz and the occasional controversy, but what’s really the point if the writers are going to shuffle the rosters any time they want?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a well-deserved move, and a necessary one if WWE management intends to give Kelly Kelly her much rumored push. It also paves the way for Barbie Blank to become the next WWE star to pose for Playboy in 2009.

The ECW roster is looking a little diva-light now that Kelly and Layla have moved on from the third-tier brand. Are we looking at a push for Lena Yada or Tiffany, an opportunity for a new diva to step into the spotlight, or could we see a more seasoned diva move to ECW to help the Tuesday night ratings?

OK, so here’s the state of ECW after the 2008 WWE draft held on Monday night’s Raw and the supplemental draft held on the Interwebitubes on Wednesday:

ECW to Raw:
Kofi Kingston
Layla
Matt Striker
CM Punk
Kane

ECW to Smackdown:
Shelton Benjamin
Big Daddy V

Smackdown and Raw to ECW:
Finlay
Super Crazy
Hornswoggle
Mark Henry
Matt Hardy

I really, really want to care about these moves, but somehow I just can’t quite muster up any excitement or disgust or indignance, so instead, here are a few observations.

The drafting of Super Crazy brings another ECW original into the fold, but if WWE management actually wanted to capture the spirit of the original ECW, they’d have to pair Super Crazy up with Tajiri again.

Moving Mark Henry out of Smackdown was no surprise. Writer Michael Hayes, notorious for racist remarks made to Mark Henry and others, is back on the job after a 60 day unpaid suspension, so limiting interactions between Hayes and Henry was probably a legally advisable move on the part of WWE. Of course, permanently firing Michael Hayes would have nipped that whole liability issue in the bud, but no one asked me.

As for Finlay moving to ECW, quite frankly I’ve never been a fan and I’m not sure what anyone sees in him. His feuds make me yawn and he just isn’t that fun to watch in the ring. I don’t care what brand he’s on.

As for the moves out of ECW, I’m pretty sure Kofi Kingston was drafted to Raw so we wouldn’t have to hear Adamle say, “Jamaican me crazy,” every freakin’ week. Shelton Benjamin and Big Daddy V have been more or less absent in recent months, so the moves don’t really impact the show much.

The loss of Layla to Raw can’t possibly be because they think she deserves a push. In fact, backstage rumors suggest that Kelly Kelly is the one management wants to push. Maybe this was a way to give Kelly Kelly more of the ECW spotlight? Then again, since Raw and ECW will be traveling together, does it really matter which brand the divas belong to?

Summing it up, ECW lost more superstars than they gained, but that’s likely to be a good move since the hour-long program has always had more “talent” than they can use.

You guys have any other thoughts on the recent draft, or is everyone as apathetic as I am?

We don’t mention Boogeyman much here on the ECW on Sci-Fi Blog. Just the thought of his toothless, worm guzzling schtick is enough to make us give up watching ECW altogether.

Luckily Boogeyman and his repellent gimmick have been sidelined by a torn calf for several months. It’s not clear when Boogeyman will make his return to the ring, but WWE merchandising have released a 17 inch Boogeyman plush bear for you to snuggle up with at night.

The bear is kinda cute if you can manage to block out the memory of Boogeyman drooling worms into Striker’s mouth. I’m feeling a little nauseous just thinking about it … I think we need a little Kelly Kelly chaser to cleanse our mental palates.