WWE Draft: Breaking Down the Best Pick of Every Draft from 2002-16
The WWE draft is a novel concept that, when done correctly, creates fresh matchups and breakout stars. Each year, even in weak drafts, a particular talent emerges as the most valuable pick in a pool of high-profile WWE Superstars.
Sometimes, that pick is an overlooked veteran. Other times, it's a tenured top star. Once in a while, they come out of nowhere as deep sleepers who needed a change of scenery to sound the alarm on their career.
This piece will break down every WWE draft since the first brand extension and decide which Superstar was the best draft pick of each class. Draft picks are analyzed from the time they were drafted to the following draft. Criteria includes quality of opponents, time spent in the main event and world championship victories.
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2002: Kurt Angle
The first pick of the 2002 WWE draft was The Rock. The best pick, however, was Kurt Angle. In 2002, The Rock already had one foot out of the door. With stellar box office performances in films The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King, Rock was primed for a gargantuan career in Hollywood that has only grown more dominant over time.
In fact, despite being drafted to SmackDown in the franchise pole position in 2002, The Rock's looming exit for Hollywood was so apparent it became part of his character. After becoming a movie-star heel while on SmackDown, The Rock competed in multiple high-profile feuds against Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Goldberg before retiring from his post as a full-time wrestler in 2003.
| 1. | SmackDown | The Rock |
| 2. | Raw | The Undertaker |
| 3. | SmackDown | Kurt Angle |
| 4. | Raw | nWo (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac) |
| 5. | SmackDown | Chris Benoit |
The gaping void left by The Rock's departure was filled, in part, by Kurt Angle. It was Angle's feud with Brock Lesnar that main-evented WrestleMania XIX despite the fact the card featured the final encounter between the aforementioned Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Angle and Lesnar's chemistry was as immediate as it was magnificent. Even though an ill-advised Lesnar Shooting Star Press went horribly wrong during their WrestleMania match, it is still regarded as one of the more memorable moments in WWE history.
During his memorable stint atop the card on SmackDown, Angle revolutionized both the singles and tag team divisions. Alongside Chris Benoit, his tag team titles match against Edge and Rey Mysterio at No Mercy in 2002 was immediately lauded as the "match of the year" by Wade Keller of PWTorch.
Even when Angle wasn't directly involved in the tag team division, he spawned Team Angle, which featured the talented pairing of Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. The duo won the WWE Tag Team Championships within a year of aligning with Angle. Angle's team also came with the services of SmackDown GM Paul Heyman. The famed SmackDown 6, which contributed to initial ratings dominance for the blue brand, was led by Angle.
In the months after being drafted, Angle wasted no time in establishing himself as a workhorse main eventer who would need neck surgery just over a year later—presumably from carrying the brand on his shoulders.
In 2002, The Rock went Hollywood, leaving Angle to influence several major SmackDown storylines.
2004: Triple H
In 2004, only three men held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit, Randy Orton and Triple H. The latter was technically sent to SmackDown in the 2004 WWE draft before quickly returning to Raw in WWE's first draft trade.
In hindsight, WWE's inaugural draft lottery was markedly weak. Picks included a pre-Rated R Superstar Edge coming off injury, an up-and-coming Shelton Benjamin and, for whatever reason, Spike Dudley.
Triple H was the only member of this draft class who had ever held a world championship in WWE to that point. And despite a lottery that adopted a theme of promise and future, Triple H was easily the most valuable pick over the course of the next 12 months.
| 1. | SmackDown | Renee Dupree |
| 2. | Raw | Shelton Benjamin |
| 3. | SmackDown | Mark Jindrak |
| 4. | Raw | Nidia |
| 5. | SmackDown | Triple H (Traded to Raw) |
Triple H waged war with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, Edge and Batista, whom he competed against in the main event of WrestleMania 21.
Despite Benoit holding the world championship for 154 days in 2004, Raw was the Triple H show. After being traded to Raw, Triple H main-evented seven of 10 Raw/interpromotional pay-per-views before the 2005 draft. Triple H's non-title Hell in a Cell match against Shawn Michaels at Bad Blood was the main event despite Benoit defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Kane.
By Survivor Series of that year, Benoit was a former champion who wasn't even captain of his own team. That distinction went to Orton, Triple H's former disciple in Evolution.
It's easy to cite 2004 as the year Triple H, an heir to the throne, used his backstage political prowess to keep himself atop the WWE. But by the end of this draft cycle, the promotion had successfully created two new main eventers in Randy Orton and Batista; both their rises came on the heels of career-defining feuds against the Game.
2005: John Cena
In its third year, 2005, the WWE draft was such an anticipated staple of WWE programming it was a month-long affair. With every passing week, a new pick was introduced, and none was more impactful than the first overall pick, John Cena.
From Chris Jericho's memorably astonished expression, to Jim Ross' screams of amazement, no draft pick has been treated with as much fanfare as Cena's.
That's because Cena's naming to Raw felt bigger than a draft pick. It was a coronation. Cena stormed out of the entrance with his hands triumphantly raised, animatedly taking in every single moment of his arrival. By 2005, Raw as clearly the A-show, and in WWE, Cena was A-list.
Despite Batista's monumental victory over Triple H at WrestleMania 21, WWE hitched its wagon to Cena and a dynasty ensued. Until Tuesday's live SmackDown premiere, Cena was never permanently drafted back to the SmackDown brand. That accomplishment evaded names such as Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton and Edge.
Cena held the WWE Championship for all but three months in 2005. During his own reign of terror, victims included Jericho, Christian, Angle and JBL.
| 1. | Raw | John Cena |
| 2. | SmackDown | Chris Benoit |
| 3. | Raw | Kurt Angle |
| 4. | SmackDown | Randy Orton |
| 5. | Raw | Carlito |
Cena's extended coronation was made official with a win over Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 22. By then it was clear the rapper-turned-poster boy was entrenched as WWE's top star. The 2005 draft was a star-studded affair with names such as Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Batista, Benoit, The Big Show and Randy Orton switching brands.
Still, Cena was the glue that held it all together.
Following his migration to Raw, Cena became so mainstream fans began resenting him in droves. It all boiled over in a hostile Allstate Arena, which turned on him before his match against a heel Triple H at WrestleMania 22 had even begun.
It all pointed to what everybody already knew: the kid made it.
2006: Randy Orton
This was more of an expansion draft to subsidize the fledgling ECW brand. Despite three impressive picks, RVD quickly flamed out as ECW champion, following an infamous traffic stop, and Kurt Angle left WWE shortly after, leaving an aging Big Show to carry the ECW brand as its main attraction.
Unfortunately, despite his accolades as possibly the best big man ever, Big Show wasn't even a top attraction in his prime.
Enter Orton, who was "drafted" to Raw on a technicality after his SmackDown contract had expired. The Viper was in his peak years of tomfoolery, as the self-destructive Viper seemed to be on a mission to outdo himself in the wild headlines department. Orton's one-in-a-million talent, not his third-generation pedigree, afforded him extra chances that were almost unheard of from the typically draconian WWE.
Orton's 2006 return to the Raw roster came on the heels of a 60-day suspension for what PWTorch.com termed "unprofessional conduct." Beginning with this run, however, he finally seemed to be putting it all together.
Orton began realising his potential with a feud against Hogan at SummerSlam. He rode that main event momentum toward a successful pairing with Edge as Rated RKO, who served as a worthwhile foe to the otherwise tired rehash of D-Generation X.
With the WWE draft beginning to lose its luster in 2006—Raw, SmackDown and ECW began routinely exchanging talents by 2007—Orton was like a last action hero of the brand extension era.
2007: John Morrison and The Miz (Tie)
In a year that featured a throwaway draft, it was the supplemental portion that began building the pillars of WWE's immediate future.
Johnny Nitro, who later changed his name to John Morrison, was drafted to the ECW brand in 2007; he would be integral in WWE changing its main event trajectory forever.
The Miz was also drafted to ECW that year, and the two would go on to form the entertaining Morrison and the The Miz tag team, which spawned the Miz's unlikely WWE Championship run.
But in 2007, Morrison was presented as the thoroughbred who appeared to be the Shawn Michaels of this tandem. Morrison won the ECW Championship within days of his debut with the promotion. Following a hit-and-miss feud with CM Punk, he found his footing as part of a breakthrough comedic pairing with The Miz.
| 16. | ECW | The Miz |
| 18. | SmackDown | Bret Major and Brian Major (Zack Ryder and Kurt Hawkins) |
| 23. | ECW | John Morrison |
The two hosted the popular Dirt Sheet web series, which was a precursor to WWE's ubiquitous social media presence, namely on YouTube. Zack Ryder is often credited with opening WWE's eyes to the phenomena of social media, but let the record state Morrison and The Miz did it first.
In addition to its sleazy, gossip-site appeal, the charismatic duo captured the WWE Tag Team Championships in November 2007 and held the titles for 250 days.
In a draft—and an era—that featured lost causes from Ken Kennedy to the Great Khali to Bobby Lashley, Morrison and The Miz crystallized into a formidable tag team—and eventually even more formidable singles stars.
2008: Jeff Hardy
Jeff Hardy was poised to be the biggest thing in wrestling in 2008. In the midst of a white-hot year that saw him compete for a WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, Hardy seemed to be in prime position to win WWE Money in the Bank. Unfortunately, in March that year, he was suspended for 60 days because of a second wellness-policy violation.
With one strike left, Hardy was sent off to the less-prestigious SmackDown brand, which seemed to be a pre-emptive move by WWE; maybe they figured if he slipped up for a third time he'd go away quietly.This was the draft headlined by the Jim Ross blindside. It marked the first time Triple H was drafted to SmackDown—and stayed put.
Hardy could have easily been a side note in a newsworthy draft lottery.
But it was on SmackDown that Hardy solidified himself as not only a reliable main event babyface but world championship material.
| 1. | Raw | Rey Mysterio |
| 2. | SmackDown | Jeff Hardy |
| 3. | Raw | CM Punk |
| 4. | ECW | Matt Hardy |
| 5. | SmackDown | Jim Ross |
Hardy won his first WWE Championship at WWE Armageddon that year and would remain at or near the main event picture for the remainder of his run with WWE. Hardy's world championship reign ended during WrestleMania season, but unlike the previous year—when he was forced to sit out WWE's biggest show—he was part of a high-profile storyline at WrestleMania XXV against his brother Matt Hardy.
Hardy's singles career in WWE could have easily been reduced to a story of what could have been. And while he may not have lived up to his seemingly never-ending potential, he certainly overachieved after being drafted to SmackDown.
2009: CM Punk
The 2009 WWE draft was something of a liberation movement for CM Punk. With Triple H headed back to Raw to join John Cena and a star-studded cast—one that received four of the top five picks—SmackDown was a place where Punk could be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
After cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Jeff Hardy in an underhanded fashion, a heel turn made him a shark.
Punk described this time in his Best in the World documentary by saying: "I was kind of tucked away on SmackDown; I could get away with more."
Punk's second world championship win set off a career surge that made him one of the more controversial heels of the modern era. He went on to become a three-time champion after losing the title to Jeff Hardy and then regaining it in a wild SummerSlam main event TLC match.
But it wasn't the world championship that made him a star; his two title reigns in 2009 lasted for under 100 days combined. Punk's star power was at its best when he was the leader of the Straight Edge Society.
Throughout his run on SmackDown, and through a series of carefully crafted promos, Punk introduced the world to a triad—which later grew to a quartet—of self-important disciples who forced their morals on WWE.
| 1. | Raw | MVP |
| 2. | Raw | The Big Show |
| 3. | SmackDown | Melina |
| 4. | Raw | Matt Hardy |
| 5. | Raw | Triple H |
His designed likeness to Jesus made him a walking lightning rod who already had enough of an affinity for controversy without a bold new gimmick.
"Knoxville, Tennessee, I had a grandmother jump the rail to slap me in the face," said Punk, regarding the heat for his straight-edge gimmick.
"When he was doing the Straight Edge Society, there was nobody—nobody—who was getting as much heat from those people as CM Punk was," Daniel Bryan later commented. "He was the most hated man in the company."
2010: Edge
By 2010 the brand-extension era was beginning to wind down. It was becoming more customary to see WWE Superstars shrug off their exclusivity and appear on rival shows. Pay-per-views were no longer brand-exclusive, something that had ended in 2007.
So it was only fitting the legendary career of Edge, who was a fixture on SmackDown during the brand split, begin to wind down as well. After being drafted to Raw, Edge immediately entered a feud against Randy Orton, thus going back to his roots as a heel, a position from which he did his best work.
While on Raw, Edge was the subject of a rare trade to SmackDown, re-entering the world championship picture.
| 1. | SmackDown | Kelly Kelly |
| 2. | SmackDown | Big Show |
| 3. | Raw | John Morrison |
| 4. | Raw | R-Truth |
| 5. | Raw | Edge |
WWE seemed to be grasping at straws during this draft, during which Kelly Kelly and R-Truth went in the top four. Raw drafted Chris Jericho with the eighth pick, but he took a hiatus from WWE just a few months later.
Although the competition for best draft pick in 2010 was questionable at best, it would have been tough to top Edge's victory lap.
Following his draft-and-trade, Edge captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and defended it at WrestleMania XXVII against Alberto Del Rio before being forced to retire with a neck injury.
2011: Mark Henry
Before the ironic "sexual chocolate" chants, Mark Henry had one of the most unlikely late-career resurgences in recent memory.
Henry was simply existing on the WWE roster as an aging veteran whose career highlight was winning the soon-to-be defunct ECW Championship. And while many of his more memorable moments were comedy segments from the Attitude Era, Henry always showed an aptitude to adapt to whatever environment needed his services.
The draft in 2011 would prove to be the final one of the brand-extension era. The concept had become such a caricature of itself by then, and this particular episode of Raw was bookended by Cena being drafted to SmackDown and then back to Raw.
But beneath the big splashes of Orton to SmackDown, Rey Mysterio to Raw and the Cena flip-flop was a diamond in the rough. Like a wounded animal who knew his days were numbered, Henry became more dangerous, aggressive and physical the second he joined the SmackDown roster.
Henry's systematic takedown of The Big Show raised eyebrows. His one-sided world title win over Orton, the presumed franchise of SmackDown, legitimized his Hall of Pain.
The approach was simple yet effective. Henry was presented as a monster with no equal. He beat people up. He told them about it. He was a serious threat to anybody who dared to breathe around him.
| 1. | SmackDown | John Cena |
| 2. | Raw | Rey Mysterio |
| 3. | SmackDown | Randy Orton |
| 4. | SmackDown | Mark Henry |
| 5. | SmackDown | Sin Cara |
One week into his WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, SmackDown set a ratings record on Syfy per James Caldwell of PWTorch.com. Much like the first WWE draft, the unheralded SmackDown brand was outshining Raw.
Jon Cudo of PWTorch.com said of Henry's push: "As Smackdown viewers have discovered, the Mark Henry push works. Unlike C.M. Punk, Triple H, and the feud over power, insider jargon, and titles, the signature main event angle of Smackdown (Henry) is drawing ratings."
The 2011 draft positioned John Cena and Randy Orton as the franchises of Raw and SmackDown, respectively. But it quickly became obvious this was the year of the World's Strongest Man, who was only going to leave his throne by force.
2016 Prediction: Sasha Banks
If we've learned anything it's the blue-chip, first overall pick rarely pans out to be the most valuable asset in a brand extension. It's always the sneaky selections, sometimes deep into the supplemental draft, who seize an opportunity and develop into stars.
As the women's division continues its boom, you can't help but feel as though Sasha Banks will finally come into her own on the Raw roster. After an odd disappearance for months after WrestleMania, which elicited the #WeWantSasha movement, Banks now has fewer WWE Superstars to share the stage with following Tuesday's draft.
Banks' feud with Charlotte will only gain steam moving forward as WWE continues its slow build toward ending Charlotte's lengthy reign with a long overdue championship victory by The Boss.
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