World Wrestling Entertainment 2009 Draft Results
Raw Hosts Three-Hour Draft Special, Followed by Supplemental Draft
Apr 15, 2009
Each year after Wrestlemania, World Wrestling Entertainment promises to shake things up with its annual draft, where superstars from the three brands (Raw, Smackdown and ECW) switch shows to allow for new rivalries and more exciting matchups.
The 2009 draft offered a few surprises, but the overall impact was lessened by moves reminiscent of last year’s event.
Live Raw Draft Results
In probably the most unexpected move, former World Heavyweight Champion and 2008 Slammy Award-winning Superstar of the Year Chris Jericho made the leap to Friday Night Smackdown. Coming off a rather bland storyline where the erstwhile Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla criticized Mickey Rourke for his portrayal of an aging grappler in the flim The Wrestler, Jericho will likely liven up the Friday night roster and make a run for the title.
However, there is one problem – Smackdown has no championship belt to speak of since the WWE Champion, Triple H, was drafted to the Raw brand.
This is a move that was neither surprising nor exciting. Triple H has been involved in a feud with Randy Orton of Raw for some time now, and so he’s been appearing on the program consistently for weeks already. Plus, as a member of the McMahon family, he was bound to resurface on the core TV show sooner or later.
Another roster move that makes sense but downplays the significance of the draft is Rey Mysterio to Smackdown. Having just debuted on Raw last June, Mysterio is already headed back to Friday nights having accomplished little more on the signature program than suffering numerous injuries before winning the Intercontinental Championship in a thirty-second match against the recently retired JBL.
Following are the rest of the roster moves announced during the three-hour Raw broadcast:
Smackdown drafted CM Punk, WWE Women’s Champion Melina, and Kane.
RAW received the Big Show, Matt Hardy, United States Champion MVP, Divas Champion Maryse, and the Miz.
With its lone pick, ECW received Vladimir Kozlov.
Supplemental Draft Results
Beginning at noon on Wednesday, April 15, ring announcer and 2009 World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame inductee Howard “The Fink” Finkel participated in a live chat to discuss this year’s WWE Draft. Every ten minutes during the live chat, a new superstar was announced as switching brands as part of the non-televised supplemental draft.
ECW made up for the lackluster Raw draft by selecting DH Smith, Hurricane Helms, Natalya, Ezekial Jackson and Zack Ryder.
Raw selected Mr. Kennedy, Chavo Guerrero, Primo and Carlito, Hornswoggle, Festus, the Bella Twins, and The Brian Kendrick, while Smackdown chose Cryme Tyme, Mike Knox, Ricky Ortiz, John Morrison, Candice Michelle, Layla, Alicia Fox, Dolph Ziggler and Charlie Haas.
Fans of WWE will quickly notice that most of the tag teams in the company were separated because of the draft. In the past, this has not bode well for the former partners, as many achieved little success after heading into singles competition. Members of former tag team champions La Resistance, Deuce ‘n’ Domino, Murdoch and Cade, and the Basham Brothers all failed to make a splash on their new shows, with Deuce (now known as Sim Snuka) the only superstar from any of the teams still employed by WWE.
While many of the moves were less than spectacular, some fans may be scratching their heads next week if they missed news of the draft results. Nearly all of the championship belts switched shows, and the only tag teams still intact are Carlito and Primo and Cryme Tyme (and Team Priceless, which has largely been absorbed by Randy Orton’s Legacy).
The true effect of the draft will be seen in weeks to come, and while some of the changes look to prove exciting (notably Y2J on Smackdown), a lot of the moves seem all too familiar to have much of an impact.
