2005 WWE draft lottery

The 2005 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) draft lottery, the third WWE draft, took place over a four-week period from June 6-30.

2005 WWE draft lottery
John Cena, the first draftee in the 2005 WWE draft.
General information
SportProfessional wrestling
Date(s)June 6–30, 2005
Overview
LeagueWorld Wrestling Entertainment
TeamsRaw
SmackDown!

Every wrestler from Raw and SmackDown! was eligible to be drafted, including announcers, commentators, and general managers.[1] There were ten draft picks and an eleven-person trade conducted between the promotion's two brands: Raw and SmackDown!, where twenty-two wrestlers were drafted and traded overall.[2] Draft picks were drawn at (kayfabe) random on WWE's two-hour television programs, each Monday on Raw (on Spike TV) and each Thursday on SmackDown! (on UPN).[1] Post-draft trades were revealed on WWE's official website, WWE.com.[2][3]

Background

On the April 18, 2005, episode of Raw, WWE chairman Mr. McMahon scheduled a draft lottery for the following month in May.[4] However, on the May 16 episode of Raw, McMahon postponed the draft to June.[5] He noted that there were no exceptions from the draft, including the injured and the champions.[5]

Selections

Draft lottery
Pick No. Brand (to) Employee
(Real name)		 Role Brand (from)
1 Raw John Cena Male wrestler SmackDown!
2 SmackDown! Chris Benoit Male wrestler Raw
3 Raw Kurt Angle Male wrestler SmackDown!
4 SmackDown! Randy Orton Male wrestler Raw
5 Raw Carlito
(Carlos Colón, Jr.)		 Male wrestler SmackDown!
6 SmackDown! Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari
(Mark Copani and Shawn Daivari)		 Male wrestler Raw
7 Raw Big Show
(Paul Wight)		 Male wrestler SmackDown!
8 Raw Rob Van Dam
(Robert Szatkowski)		 Male wrestler SmackDown!
9 SmackDown! Christian
(William Reso)		 Male wrestler Raw
10 SmackDown! Batista
(David Bautista)		 Male wrestler Raw

Post-draft trades
Pick No. Brand (to) Employee
(Real name)		 Role Brand (from)
1 Raw Male/female wrestlers SmackDown!
SmackDown! Male/female wrestlers Raw
  • 1 – Jindrak made only one appearance on Raw.
  • 2 – These people were released from their contracts prior to their debut on Raw.
  • 3 – Guerrero made his return on the July 4 edition of Raw repackaged as Kerwin White. The gimmick was later abandoned in November 2005 after the death of Eddie Guerrero.

Aftermath

This was the first draft in which champions brought their titles to their new show if they were selected. After John Cena was drafted to Raw, along with the WWE Championship, SmackDown! was left without a world title for the remainder of the month of June.[6] As a result, On the June 23, 2005 episode, General Manager, Theodore Long, announced the creation of new world title, called the SmackDown! Championship.[6][7] 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!.[8][9] After Layfield won the match, Long declared that the SmackDown! Championship was not needed because the then-World Heavyweight Champion, Batista, had been drafted to SmackDown!.[8][9]

See also

References
  1. "2005 WWE Draft Lottery". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2005-06-13. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  2. Waldman, Jon. "WWE announces trade to finish Draft Lottery". Canoe: SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  3. "RAW and SmackDown! agree to a 11-person deal". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2005-06-30. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  4. "WWE Raw (April 18, 2005) Results". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  5. "WWE Raw (May 16, 2005) Results". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  6. "WWE SmackDown! (June 23, 2005) Results". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  7. "SmackDown!". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  8. "WWE SmackDown! (June 30, 2005) Results". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  9. "6 Man Elimination match for the vacant WWE Championship". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.