2005 WWE Draft Lottery

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 an eleven person trade conducted between the promotion's two brands: Raw and SmackDown!, where twenty-two superstars were drafted and traded overall.cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2005/07/01/1112643.html|accessdate=2008-02-24|title=WWE announces trade to finish Draft Lottery|last=Waldman|first=Jon|publisher=Canoe: SLAM! Sports] The draft took place on WWE's two hour television programs, "Raw", which aired on Spike TV, and "SmackDown!", which aired on UPN.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/archive/draftlottery1|accessdate=2008-02-24|title=2005 WWE Draft Lottery|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|date=2005-06-13] Post-draft trades were announced on WWE's official website, WWE.com.cite web|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/archive/trade|accessdate=2008-02-24|title=RAW and SmackDown! agree to a 11-person deal|publisher=World Wrestling Entertainment|date=2005-06-30] The draft picks were announced each Monday on "Raw" and each Thursday on "SmackDown!" from June 6–-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.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/050418.html|accessdate=2008-02-23|title=WWE Raw (April 18,2005) Results|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] On the May 16 2005 episode of "Raw" however, McMahon announced that the draft would take place in June over a one month period.cite web|url=http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/050418.html|accessdate=2008-02-23|title=WWE Raw (May 16, 2005) Results|publisher=Online World of Wrestling] Following the announcement, he made note that there were no exceptions from the draft, including the injured and the champions.

uperstar selections

Draft lottery

Post-draft trades

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!.

ee also

*WWE Draft Lottery
*WWE Brand Extension
*WWE Roster

References