Have you heard that WWE is having a draft tonight? To celebrate, Widro, PK and I decided to sit down and figure out where WWE was planning to go with it. Okay, so that was only part of it — we also got a kick out of “playing GM” (with a little fantasy booking thrown in for good measure), and had a little fun with how we’d book the draft if it was up to us…
Some ground-rules (we made up our own, since the rules of the upcoming WWE draft haven’t exactly been laid out clearly):
1. Widro picked on behalf of RAW, PK for Smackdown and Matthew for ECW. Each brand, in that order, selected 20 picks (one at a time), with tag champions counting as one pick (as they did in the original 2002 WWE Draft). For example, Widro picked John Cena first for RAW; then PK picked Edge for Smackdown; then I picked Lashley for ECW (that was the easy part). Three trades were made afterwards.
2. Gameplan/overall strategy: RAW will have larger-than-life stars, SD will be wrestling-based and slightly older-school in booking, and ECW younger-skewing.
3. All wrestlers and on-air talent, excluding referees, announcers and McMahons, were eligible as long as they were under WWE contract. Inactive, unassigned and/or developmental wrestlers that have appeared on WWE TV in the past could be drafted, but those who haven’t yet debuted were not eligible. Undrafted talent stayed on their pre-draft roster.
Here are the draft results… (those new to their roster are in italics):
RAW (Selected by Widro; total post-draft roster = 39)
Draft Picks
1) John Cena – WWE Heavyweight Champion
2) Dave Batista
3) Ken Kennedy
4) Randy Orton (traded to ECW for Chris Benoit)
5) Marcus Cor Von
6) Carlito
7) HHH
8) MVP – United States Champion
9) Mark Henry
10) Johnny Nitro (traded to SD with Estrada and Helms for Flair and Hall)
11) Kane
12) Jamie Noble
13) Gregory Helms (traded to SD with Estrada and Nitro for Flair and Hall)
14) Melina Perez – Women’s Champion
15) Mike Mizanin
16) Michelle McCool
17) Mickie James
18) Chuck Palumbo
19) Viscera
20) Maria Kanelis
On RAW Following a Trade
Chris Benoit (traded from ECW for Randy Orton)
Ric Flair (traded from SD with Hall for Nitro, Estrada and Helms)
Jillian Hall (traded from SD with Flair for Nitro, Estrada and Helms)
Rest of RAW Roster (Not Drafted)
Candice
Eugene
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Jerry Lawler
Jim Ross
Jonathan Coachman
Josh Mathews
Lilian Garcia
Robbie McAllister
Roddy Piper
Ron Simmons
Rory McAllister
Runjin Singh
Stone Cold
The Great Khali
Todd Grisham
Torrie Wilson
Val Venis
Victoria
Smackdown (Selected by PK; total post-draft roster = 39)
Draft Picks
1) Edge – World Heavyweight Champion
2) Shawn Michaels
3) Booker T
4) Umaga
5) Ric Flair (traded to RAW with Hall for Helms, Nitro and Estrada)
6) Matt Hardy
7) Dave Finlay
8) Santino Marella – Intercontinental Champion
9) Trevor Murdoch & Lance Cade – World Tag Team Champions
10) Shelton Benjamin
11) The Undertaker
12) Deuce & Domino – WWE Tag Team Champions
13) Charlie Haas
14) Kevin Thorn
15) Chris Masters
16) JTG
17) Shad Gaspard
18) Dave Taylor
19) Brett Major
20) Brian Major
On SD Roster Following a Trade
Gregory Helms (traded from RAW with Nitro and Estrada for Flair and Hall)
Johnny Nitro (traded from RAW with Helms and Estrada for Flair and Hall)
Armando Estrada (traded from RAW with Nitro and Helms for Flair and Hall)
William Regal (traded from ECW for Boogeyman)
Rest of SD Roster (Not Drafted)
Ashley
Cherry
Funaki
Hornswoggle
JBL
Kristal
Maryse
Max Bretos
Michael Cole
Queen Sharmell
Shannon Moore
Theodore Long
Tony Chimel
Vickie Guerrero
ECW (Selected by Matthew; total post-draft roster = 32)
Draft Picks
1) Bobby Lashley – ECW Heavyweight Champion
2) Rey Mysterio
3) Chavo Guerrero – Cruiserweight Champion
4) CM Punk
5) Chris Benoit (traded to RAW for Randy Orton)
6) Jeff Hardy
7) Paul London
8) William Regal (traded to SD for Boogeyman)
9) Kenny Dykstra
10) Brian Kendrick
11) Elijah Burke
12) The Sandman
13) Super Crazy
14) Jimmy Wang Yang
15) Johnny Jeter
16) Khosrow Daivari
17) Colt Cabana
18) Tommy Dreamer
19) Balls Mahoney
20) Matt Striker
On ECW Following a Trade
Randy Orton (traded from RAW for Chris Benoit)
Boogeyman (traded from SD for William Regal)
Rest of ECW Roster (Not Drafted)
Brooke
Hardcore Holly
Joey Styles
Justin Roberts
Kelly Kelly
Layla
Little Guido Maritato
Mike Knox
Snitsky
Stevie Richards
Tazz
Trinity
OTHERS, NOT DRAFTED, WHO HAVE WRESTLED ON WWE TV BUT ARE NOT ACTIVELY ON A SPECIFIC BRAND’S ROSTER (16):
Aaron Stevens (last seen on Smackdown)
Antoni Polaski (last seen as Road Kill on ECW)
Beth Phoenix (last seen on RAW)
Cassidy James (O’Reilly, last seen on ECW)
Dan Rodman (Rodimer, last seen on RAW)
Harry Smith (last seen on RAW)
Jesse Dalton (Ray Gordy, last seen on Smackdown)
Justice Dalton (last seen on Smackdown)
KC James (last seen on Smackdown)
Mick Foley (last seen on RAW)
Mike Mondo (last seen on RAW)
Nick Nemeth (last seen on RAW)
Paul Burchill (last seen on Smackdown)
Rene Dupree (last seen on ECW)
Sylvan Grenier (last seen on ECW)
Vladamir Kozlov (last seen as free agent)
POST-DRAFT TRADES:
1) Chris Benoit from ECW to RAW; Randy Orton from RAW to ECW
2) Ric Flair and Jillian Hall from SD to RAW; Johnny Nitro, Gregory Helms and Armando Estrada from RAW to SD
3) William Regal from ECW to SD; The Boogeyman from SD to ECW
