WWE Draft 2011 Results: 15 Biggest Story Lines to Come out of the Draft

After two nights, 30 draft picks, and seemingly hundreds of articles on this site about it, the 2011 WWE Draft is over.

I am just as fed up as a lot of readers on Bleacher Report and, now that the draft in its entirety is finished, it is time to look forward and see what the picks have left us all to enjoy in the coming year.

Here are 15 of the stories to look at until next year's draft.

1) Christian Is Smackdown's Only Hope

Looking immediately at Sunday's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, we know that Christian and Alberto Del Rio will have a ladder match to crown a new World Heavyweight Champion. The emphasis is on "new," since neither man has won a world championship in WWE.

With Alberto Del Rio going to RAW last night, a win by Del Rio would leave Smackdown without a world champion, especially with John Cena heading back to RAW at the end of last night's show.

This would mean that the only way that Smackdown has a world championship on its show after Sunday's pay-per-view is if Christian wins the ladder match over Del Rio. Would they blatantly reveal that to us with a a few days before the huge reveal?

Something tells me that there is more to this story. The last time that Smackdown was left without a world champion, in 2005 when champion John Cena was the first draft selection, Smackdown held a six-man elimination match to crown a new champion.

Christian was one of the final two in that match, but lost to JBL, who never was considered a champion after it was revealed that World Heavyweight Champion Batista was the last draft pick. This was the year that the draft took forever and it has never been like that since, thankfully.

2) RAW Has No Mid-Card Champion

A lot of fans predicted a shake-up with mid-card champions. Wade Barrett and Sheamus both appeared last night on RAW and both men lost. However, both men stayed put until Sheamus claimed the final draft pick this afternoon.

Neither man is booked in a championship match for Extreme Rules. Since Sheamus won't officially call Smackdown home until next week, signs point to Sheamus or Barrett dropping the belt on Sunday or Barrett losing a title match to a new RAW superstar during tonight's Smackdown tapings.

My money is on the latter. Among the new RAW superstars that could bring the Intercontinental Championship with them is Rey Mysterio, who defeated Barrett last night on RAW.

Other possibilities include: Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, JTG, Drew McIntyre, Curt Hawkins, Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston and Tyler Reks.

Some are more practical than others, but these were the men who are switching to the RAW brand, and you have to cover all possibilities.

3) Orton Is Smackdown

Going into this draft, it wasn't a secret that Edge's retirement pushed the draft's date up. Smackdown was in dire need of a top babyface, and they got one. Actually, they got two and then ended up with just one.

Randy Orton returns to Smackdown and now he gets to own the brand. For the first time in his career, it is Orton's world on the blue brand and everyone else is living in it.

As the face of the brand, Orton will be responsible for helping the talent around him. Now that Ted DiBiase was also drafted to Smackdown and Cody Rhodes stayed put, a potential Legacy reunion, in whatever way they wish to go about it, is possible.

Orton will electrify Friday nights and force people to watch SyFy...or he will kick them in the head.

4) Sin Cara Shines on Friday Nights

The only draft pick that was more essential for Smackdown to get than Orton was Sin Cara, the new prized acquisition by WWE to appeal to a global audience.

The worldwide superstar has garnered some backstage heat and lackluster matches in his first few weeks with the company.

Now on Smackdown, he has superstars that can help him put on great matches. I can immediately see his Smackdown debut next week being against a guy like Chavo Guerrero, who can hang with Sin Cara and help his innovative offense get over with the crowd.

Plus, Smackdown is not live like RAW is and can be edited when Sin Cara makes some botches in trying to conform to WWE practices.

5) RAW Prepares for Kharma

The Divas did not change shows until today's latter part of the draft, where we saw Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix come to RAW. These are the exact moves necessary to prep for Kharma, formerly known as Awesome Kong, to debut with WWE.

It seems obvious to me that Kharma on RAW is the best fit, especially with these draft picks. Not only could she slay through the likes of the Bellas, Eve Torres and former foe Gail Kim, but she has her first two feuds set up.

Kelly Kelly will fall victim to Kharma at first. It is almost so obvious that I would put money on it if I were a betting man (and if it were legal, you know?).

After that, Kharma and Beth Phoenix will meet as two of the strongest Divas in the last decade of WWE. If they wanted to give a jumpstart to this division, this will do it.

6) William Regal's Revitalized Career?

This is the most perplexing move in the draft for me. William Regal has been a commentator for the past few months on NXT but has not shown himself on either brand.

Regal made it public that he was going to retire when WWE visited England last year. We have not seen him in the ring since Royal Rumble.

Does William Regal get drafted to the commentary team? There were no other commentators that were drafted. It just is one massive head scratcher.

7) Drew McIntyre = Sleeper Pick

How do you not look at Drew McIntyre and think of him as a future world champion? Regardless of that being a part of his gimmick as The Chosen One, Drew McIntyre has really been held back in recent months.

It looked like McIntyre was going to have a feud with Edge, but that was ruined when Edge had to retire. It seemed like McIntyre was going to have an angle where he was determined to have a WrestleMania match, but nothing ever came of it.

Now, McIntyre sneaks into the WWE Draft and crosses to RAW in a position that is very much under the radar.

I have made a prediction back from January that Drew McIntyre will win a Money in the Bank briefcase this year and I will stick to that prediction. This is the pick of the draft that you aren't talking about.

8) Alex Riley Post-Miz

In one of the more shocking picks in the Supplemental Draft, Alex Riley was drafted to Smackdown, away from his friend and business associate, The Miz. Riley will likely still be in the corner of the WWE Champion at Extreme Rules this Sunday, even if it is from outside of the steel cage.

Riley showed me the most promise of any of the season two NXT rookies. Considering that he was going against a popular indie wrestler and the son of a Hall of Famer, I give Riley all the credit in the world to take a bad gimmick like the Varsity Villain and make it his own.

Riley is one of those guys to watch on Smackdown now. He was booked to help Miz against some top talent, so Riley being able to show what he has will be interesting to see.

9) Usos to Smackdown

This seems like it is not a big deal, but speculation ran rampant in preparation for this draft about these brothers. A lot was made about these two splitting up, which it looked like for a while.

Considering that the Supplemental Draft took most of the afternoon, The Usos were disbanded for a good couple of hours today, only to stay together in the end.

The Usos will likely not do much of anything that they were doing on RAW. It is truly a shame that these guys seem ready for the chopping block.

They were inexperienced but were brought up too early for their bloodline and to feud with The Hart Dynasty.

Beyond that, you would not have seen them yet, if at all. In a pretty much non-existent tag team division, The Usos will always be a top contender simply for being a team.

However, they will seldom have matches, let alone title shots. Perhaps the creative team on Smackdown can try to breathe new life into these two.

10) Chris Masters Gets One More Chance

Once upon a time, there was a young man named Chris Masters that had the look of a major player in this company. Then, he was caught using steroids and was suspended. Then, he was released and never heard from again.

Then, mostly because of his friendship with people like Randy Orton, Masters returned to the company. Then, he would go to Smackdown and dominate on Superstars for the past year.

This pretty much catches us up with The Masterpiece. Masters is still just 28 years of age, but has never held gold of any kind in WWE.

As the hot streak now puts Masters back on RAW, where he got his greatest push in his tenure, will this second chance for Masters' pay off?

11) Kofi Kingston's Push: Take Two

Speaking of second chances, Kofi Kingston returns to RAW to give it another go. In the first time around, Kofi had a feud with Randy Orton that was going to propel him toward the top.

However, we have seen many a man fall victim to Orton if he starts to not like the way you do things. Just ask Mr. Kennedy.

This is what it took for Kofi's first push to end. He then toiled around in the mid-card for a while longer and now it is unclear just what Kofi is supposed to be anymore.

His trip to RAW should do him some good, as his position as a fan favorite will keep him relevant and might give him another chance to climb up the ladder.

Then again, maybe not.

12) Ted DiBiase's Legitimacy: Take Two

Speaking again about second chances...

Ted DiBiase is supposed to succeed. You just don't get a movie before you get singles gold. It just doesn't happen. DiBiase has just had a load of bad luck in his career.

For one, he has to live up to his Hall of Fame father. He becomes a tag team champion with Cody Rhodes in his first match in WWE.

Since Legacy broke up a year ago, he has been rumored to try and form a faction with other sons of Hall of Fame talent, calling themselves The Fortunate Sons.

However, circumstances that include an injury to his brother, Brett, have derailed those plans.

Even giving him the Million Dollar Championship did him no good. The belt is unsanctioned by WWE, so DiBiase is still without singles gold in his career.

With that said, getting off of RAW and going to Smackdown may be good for him. Smackdown is more structured and centered on wrestling, as opposed to gimmick segments and wasting time on RAW.

13) Reuniting the Edgeheads

So sue me for being excited about this.

Curt Hawkins is now on RAW with Zack Ryder. The two were once known as The Major Brothers before being repackaged as Hawkins and Ryder, also known as The Edgeheads.

Leave it to a draft pushed up because of Edge to reunite the tag team that would do some of his dirty work for him.

The former tag team champions may not wrestle much on RAW and may not even wrestle together again. However, just seeing a collision of these two backstage will be worth it.

I hope that Ryder has become somewhat of an untouchable commodity with his huge cult following and that aligning with Hawkins keeps both men around longer.

14) How Michael Cole Got His Swagger Back

As The Rock would likely say, Jack Swagger gives Michael Cole that "funny feeling."

Swagger and Cole have spent weeks together as friends, culminating in tagging together at Extreme Rules against Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. In the oddest way possible, Swagger has parlayed all of this into a type of calling card back to RAW.

It was there that Swagger won Money in the Bank and eventually got a world title run. Lightning doesn't often strike twice, but you have to imagine that Swagger will get rewarded for doing this awful storyline.

15) Drafted for Pink Slips

Not counting the initial draft, which ran like that of picking teams for dodgeball, this year's thirty draft picks were the second most ever, trailing only the 2009 WWE Draft, which featured an ECW brand.

With massive cuts to the roster expected in just a few weeks, some of the talent drafted this year is likely just being put on another team simply to just be released weeks later anyway.

It is almost becoming that of a hospice in a way. Knowing that their fate is only a matter of time, some of those who will future endeavored pack up and go to another brand but don't unpack entirely. A lot of them won't be staying for long.