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The 2005 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Draft Lottery took place over a three-week period in June. There were ten draft picks and an eleven-person trade conducted between the promotion's two brands: Raw and SmackDown!, where twenty-two superstars were drafted and traded overall. The draft took place on WWE's two hour television programs, Raw, which aired on Spike TV, and SmackDown!, which aired on UPN. Post-draft trades were announced on WWE's official website, WWE.com. The draft picks were announced each Monday on Raw and each Thursday on SmackDown! from June 6 to June 30. Each draftee was drafted at random. Every superstar from Raw and SmackDown! was eligible to be drafted, including divas, announcers, commentators, and general managers.

Report[]

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. On the May 16, 2005 episode of Raw however, McMahon announced that the draft would take place in June over a one-month period. Following the announcement, he made note that there were no exceptions from the draft, including the injured and the champions.

Superstar selections[]

Draft lottery[]

Pick # 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 The 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 # Brand (to) Employee
(Real name)
Role Brand (from)
1


Raw Mark Jindrak1
René Duprée
(René Goguen)
Danny Basham
(Daniel Hollie)
Kenzo Suzuki2
Hiroko2
(Hiroko Suzuki)
Chavo Guerrero3
(Salvador Guerrero IV)
Male wrestlers/Diva SmackDown!
SmackDown! William Regal
(Darren Matthews)
Candice Michelle
(Candice Michelle Beckman-Ehrlich)
Sylvain Grenier
Simon Dean
(Mike Bucci)
Stevie Richards
(Michael Manna)
Male wrestlers/Diva Raw
  • 1 - Jindrak made only one appearance on Raw.
  • 2 - These people were released from their contracts prior to their return to Raw.
  • 3 - Guerrero made his return on the July 7 edition of Raw repackaged as Kerwin White. The gimmick was later abandoned in November 2005 after the death of Eddie Guerrero.

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. 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. 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!. 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!.

See also[]

WWE Draft
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