2007 WWE draft
The 2007 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) draft, the fifth WWE draft, took place at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on June 11. The first half of the draft was televised live for three hours on World Wrestling Entertainment's program, Raw on USA Network.[1][2][3] The second half of the draft, or the "supplemental draft", was conducted over WWE's website, WWE.com, for four hours on June 17, 2007 as draft picks were announced at twenty-minute intervals.[4] There were twenty-three draft picks, with twenty-seven wrestlers drafted overall, between the promotion's three brands: Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW.[1][5] For the televised half of the draft, each brand's draft pick was determined by nine matches, one being a battle royal for two draft picks, where wrestlers from their respective brands wrestled to earn a draft pick.[6][7] The supplemental draft, however, was conducted randomly, with each brand receiving random draft selections. Raw and SmackDown! received five random draft picks, while ECW received three random draft picks.[4] The televised draft picks were randomly selected by a computer that was shown on the Raw titantron.[8][9] Every WWE wrestler from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW was eligible to be drafted.[10]
| 2007 WWE draft | |
|---|---|
 The WWE Draft logo used from 2007–2011. | |
| General information | |
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Date(s) | June 11 and 17, 2007 |
| Location | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
| Overview | |
| League | World Wrestling Entertainment |
| Teams | Raw SmackDown! ECW |
Background
The draft was announced by Shane McMahon on the May 28, 2007 episode of Raw from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and was promoted as the "first ever tri-branded draft".[10][11][12] Besides the promoted draft, the show was billed as "Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night", a tribute of appreciation to the WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon,[13][14] who was blown up in his limousine later that night.
The draft lottery is a concept used by WWE to improve its weekly television ratings of Raw, SmackDown! and ECW'.[15] The WWE yet again used the concept in 2007, to improve its television ratings.[15] The 2007 WWE draft was the first official draft lottery to take place in WWE since the 2005 WWE draft lottery.[16]
Wrestler selections
Matches
During the program, representatives from the Raw, ECW, and SmackDown brands were involved in matches that determined which brand received a draft pick. Overall, there were 9 matches, Both SmackDown! and Raw got four while ECW got two.
| No. | Results | Stipulations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edge (SmackDown!) defeated John Cena (Raw) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 2 | CM Punk (ECW) defeated Carlito (Raw) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 3 | Umaga (Raw) defeated Balls Mahoney (ECW) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 4 | Bobby Lashley (ECW) defeated Chris Benoit (SmackDown!) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 5 | MVP (SmackDown!) defeated Santino Marella (Raw) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 6 | The Miz (SmackDown!) defeated Snitsky (ECW)1 | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 7 | Candice Michelle (Raw) defeated Kristal Marshall (SmackDown!) | Singles match for 1 draft pick |
| 8 | Batista (SmackDown!) defeated Elijah Burke (ECW) and Jeff Hardy (Raw) | Triple Threat match for 1 draft pick |
| 9 | Randy Orton (Raw) lastly eliminated Matt Hardy (SmackDown!) to win8 | Tri-branded 15-man Battle royal for 2 draft picks |
Selections
| Pick No. | Brand (to) | Employee (Real name) |
Role | Brand (from) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SmackDown! | The Great Khali (Dalip Rana) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 2 | ECW | The Boogeyman (Marty Wright) |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 3 | Raw | King Booker and Queen Sharmell2 (Booker Huffman and Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman) |
Male/female wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 4 | ECW | Chris Benoit | Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 5 | SmackDown! | Torrie Wilson | Female wrestler | Raw |
| 6 | SmackDown! | Chris Masters (Chris Mordetzky) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 7 | Raw | Bobby Lashley3 (Franklin Lashley) |
Male wrestler | ECW |
| 8 | SmackDown! | Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 9 | Raw | Snitsky (Gene Snitsky) |
Male wrestler | ECW |
| 10 | Raw | Mr. Kennedy (Ken Anderson) |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
Supplemental draft
| Pick No. | Brand (to) | Employee (Real name) |
Role | Brand (from) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Raw | Paul London and Brian Kendrick4 | Male tag team | SmackDown! |
| 12 | SmackDown! | Kenny Dykstra (Ken Doane) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 13 | ECW | Viscera5 (Nelson Frazier Jr.) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 14 | Raw | The Sandman (Jim Fullington) |
Male wrestler | ECW |
| 15 | SmackDown! | Hardcore Holly6 (Bob Holly) |
Male wrestler | ECW |
| 16 | ECW | The Miz (Mike Mizanin) |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 17 | Raw | Daivari (Shawn Daivari) |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 18 | SmackDown! | Bret Major and Brian Major4 (Matthew Cardona and Brian Myers) |
Male tag team | ECW |
| 19 | Raw | William Regal (Darren Matthews) |
Male wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 20 | SmackDown! | Victoria (Lisa Marie Varon) |
Female wrestler | Raw |
| 21 | Raw | Jillian (Jillian Hall) |
Female wrestler | SmackDown! |
| 22 | SmackDown! | Eugene (Nick Dinsmore) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
| 23 | ECW | Johnny Nitro7 (John Hennigan) |
Male wrestler | Raw |
- 1 – The referee reversed his decision to give The Miz the win due to Snitsky ignoring the referee whilst attacking Miz.
- 2 – This person was drafted alongside the drafted wrestler.
- 3 – Bobby Lashley was stripped of the ECW World Championship after being drafted to Raw, vacating the title as a result.
- 4 – Both members of the tag team were drafted in unison.
- 5 – Viscera would debut on the July 10 episode of ECW repackaged as Big Daddy V.
- 6 – Hardcore Holly made his re-debut on Raw rather than SmackDown!.
- 7 – Weeks after his ECW debut, Johnny Nitro would repackage himself as John Morrison.
- 8 - Other match participants: Raw; Johnny Nitro, Eugene, Kenny Dykstra, and Viscera. SmackDown!; Chris Masters, Mark Henry, Chavo Guerrero, and William Regal. ECW; Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, Marcus Cor Von, Kevin Thorn, and Matt Striker.
Aftermath
The 2007 draft lottery provided WWE's three brands with new wrestlers, allowing for new storylines and rivalries. Television ratings for WWE increased, as Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW became the most watched programs on their respective television networks in the summer of 2007.[17] Four months after the draft, on October 16, 2007, it was announced that ECW and SmackDown! would have a talent exchange that would allow wrestlers from their respective brands to compete on either brand. At the end of the show Vince McMahon's limousine blew up which appeared to be the demise of the evil WWE owner. Two weeks later Vince McMahon appeared on WWE Monday Night Raw breaking kayfabe and explained that his demise was all a part of a storyline. The reason for this was that Chris Benoit was found dead in his home along with his wife and son. At the time, details of his death were not certain so WWE dedicated the show to Chris Benoit and his family.[18]
References
- McAvennie, Mike (2007-06-11). "One wild night". WWE. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- "Media Advisory – WWE(R) to Hold Historic Draft". WWE Corporate. 2007-06-07. Archived from the original on 2008-01-06. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- "Raw Recap: Draft night rocks the WWE". USA Network. 2007-06-11. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- Dee, Louie (2007-06-17). "2007 Supplemental draft results". WWE. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- "2007 Full Draft Results". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-06-17. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
- "OWoW's Live Coverage of the WWE Draft". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-06-07. Archived from the original on 3 December 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
- "Cena vs. Edge to kick off WWE Draft night". WWE. 2007-06-11. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- "Raw Results (June 11, 2007)". WWE. 2007-06-11. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- Martin, Todd (2007-06-12). "WWE Raw report:Draft results". Wrestling Observer. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
- Difino, Lennie (2007-05-28). "Drafting Change". WWE. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- Starr, Noah (2007-05-28). "The last stand before One Night Stand". WWE. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- Khan, Steven (2007-05-29). "Raw Report from Toronto". Wrestling Observer. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
- Clayton, Carl (2007-06-04). "Crazy like a fox". WWE. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- "Appreciating Mr.McMahon". WWE. 2007-06-11. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- Sabinsack, Joe. "Joe Babisack looks at the WWE Draft". The Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
- Ashish (2007-05-27). "2007 WWE Draft Lottery Set for Three Hour Raw". 411Mania.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-29. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
- "WWE Corporate 2007 News releases". WWE Corporate. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- "Partnership Forming?". WWE. 2007-08-16. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-12.