2005 WWE Draft Lottery

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John Cena, the first draftee in the 2005 WWE Draft
John Cena, the first draftee in the 2005 WWE Draft

The 2005 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Draft Lottery took place over a three week period in the month of June. There were ten draft picks and five trades conducted between the promotion's two brands: Raw and SmackDown!, where twenty-two superstars were drafted and traded overall.[1] The first half of the draft took place on WWE's two hour television programs, Raw, which aired on Spike TV, and SmackDown!, which aired on UPN.[2] The second half of the draft took place over WWE's official website, WWE.com.[1][3] For the televised half of the draft, the draft picks were announced each Monday on Raw and each Thursday on SmackDown! from June 6–-30.[2] Each televised draftee was drafted at random.[2] The second half of the draft however, was conducted manually, as the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown!, Eric Bishoff and Theodore Long, traded ten superstars evenly.[1][3] Every superstar from RAW and SmackDown! was eligible to be drafted, including Divas, announcers/commentators, and General Managers.[2]

Contents

[edit] Report

[edit] Background

On the April 18, 2005 episode of Raw, Mr.McMahon, the WWE Chairman, announced that a Draft Lottery would take place the following month in May.[4] O the May 16, 2005 episode of Raw however, McMahon announced that the draft would take place in June over a one month period.[5] Following the announcement, he made note that there were no exceptions from the draft, including the injured and the champions.[5]

The Draft Lottery is a concept used by WWE to improve it's weekly television ratings of RAW and SmackDown!. The WWE yet again used the concept in 2005, to improve its television ratings.

[edit] Superstar selections

[edit] Draft lottery

Pick # Brand
[1][2][6]		 Superstar/Diva
[1][2][6]		 Date Location of pick Notes
1 Raw John Cena 02005-06-06 6 June 2005 St. Louis, Missouri Was drafted on an episode of Raw[7][8][9] When Cena was drafted, he was the then-WWE Champion, thus making the WWE Championship Raw exclusive.[10][8]
2 SmackDown! Chris Benoit 02005-06-09 9 June 2005 Kansas City, Missouri Was drafted on an episode of SmackDown![10][11][12]
3 Raw Kurt Angle 02005-06-13 13 June 2005 Binghamton, New York Was drafted on an episode of Raw[13][14]
4 SmackDown! Randy Orton 02005-06-16 16 June 2005 Hershey, Pennsylvania Was drafted on an episode of SmackDown![15][16]
5 Raw Carlito 02005-06-20 20 June 2005 Phoenix, Arizona Was drafted on an episode of Raw[17][18]
6 SmackDown! Muhammad Hassan (w/Daivari) 02005-06-23 23 June 2005 Tucson, Arizona Was drafted on an episode of SmackDown![19][20] Hassan was drafted along with his manager, Daivari.[19][20]
7 Raw The Big Show 02005-06-27 27 June 2005 Anaheim, California Was drafted on an episode of Raw[21][22]
8 Raw Rob Van Dam 02005-06-27 27 June 2005 Anaheim, California Was drafted on an episode of Raw[21][22]
9 SmackDown! Christian 02005-06-30 30 June 2005 Anaheim, California Was drafted on an episode of SmackDown![23][24]
10 SmackDown! Batista 02005-06-30 30 June 2005 Anaheim, California Was drafted on an episode of SmackDown![23][24]When drafted, Batista was the then-World Heavyweight Champion, thus making the World Heavyweight Championship SmackDown! exclusive.[23][24]

[edit] Post-draft trades

Trade # Brand
[1][2][6]		 Superstar/Diva
[1][2][6]		 Notes
1 RAW Mark Jindrak
Rene Dupree
Danny Basham
Kenzo Suzuki
Hiroko
Chavo Guerrero		 Jindrak, Suzuki and Hiroko were released prior to their first Raw appearance. Guerrero debuted on Raw as Kerwin White.
SmackDown! William Regal
Candice Michelle
Sylvan Grenier
Simon Dean
Stevie Richards

[edit] Aftermath

After John Cena was drafted to RAW, along with the WWE Championship, SmackDown! was left without a World Heavyweight Championship for the remainder of the month of June.[19] On the June 23, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, General Manager, Theodore Long, announced a new World Championship for the SmackDown brand, called the SmackDown! Championship.[19][20] The new champion would have been determined in a six-man elimination match between The Undertaker, Muhammad Hassan, Christian, Booker T, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Chris Benoit, which Layfield won on the June 30, 2005 episode of SmackDown!.[23][24] After Layfield won the match, Long announced that the SmackDown! Championship was not needed because the then-World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, had been drafted to SmackDown!.[23][24]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Waldman, Jon. WWE announces trade to finish Draft Lottery. Canoe: SLAM! Sports. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 2005 WWE Draft Lottery. World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-06-13). Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  3. ^ a b RAW and SmackDown! agree to a 11-person deal. World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  4. ^ WWE Raw (April 18,2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  5. ^ a b WWE Raw (May 16, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  6. ^ a b c d Waldman, Jon. SLAM! Stats-Draft Lottery Dimensions. Canoe: SLAM! Sports. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  7. ^ WWE Raw (June 6, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  8. ^ a b Clayton, Corey (2007-06-08). Hypotheticals about next week's WWE Draft. World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  9. ^ The Time is Now. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  10. ^ a b WWE SmackDown! (June 9, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  11. ^ Another Shocker, Another Invasion. World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-06-09). Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  12. ^ Wild Night. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  13. ^ WWE Raw (June 13, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  14. ^ Angle to Raw. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  15. ^ WWE SmackDown! (June 16, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  16. ^ Legendary Returns. PWWEW.net.
  17. ^ WWE Raw (June 20, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  18. ^ Nobody Gets Up from the Pedigree. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  19. ^ a b c d WWE SmackDown! (June 23, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  20. ^ a b c SmackDown!. PWWEW.net.
  21. ^ a b WWE Raw (June 27, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  22. ^ a b An Immortal Moment. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  23. ^ a b c d e WWE SmackDown! (June 30, 2005) Results. Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  24. ^ a b c d e 6 Man Elimination match for the vacant WWE Championship. PWWEW.net. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
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