WWE Draft! Where It All Begins… Again!
In 2004, WWE returned to Madison Square Garden for Wrestlemania 20 – the 3rd held at “The World’s Most Famous Arena. “ The show’s marketing campaign was around the slogan, “Where It All Begins… Again.” Wrestlemania is considered the conclusion of the WWE’s season and that year. But the plans for the “new season” were thrown out the window with one meeting weeks before the show.
Our normal weekly meeting started with the news – “Brock Lesnar will be finishing up at Wrestlemania.” At the time, I was entering my second year in charge of Smackdown. While never really “ready” for the job, I felt like we were gaining some good momentum. Eddie Guerrero had really flourished as the “Latino Stone Cold“, John Cena was waiting in the wings as the “second coming”, The Undertaker was set to return to the Deadman persona, Edge was close to returning and the roster was full of guys like Kurt Angle, The Big Show, World’s Greatest Tag Team, and we thought Brock Lesnar.
Wrestlemania 20 was to feature Brock defeating the exiting Goldberg. This was to set Brock up for rematches with The Undertaker from their program earlier in the Fall. The creative wasn’t the reason for Brock Lesnar’s departure; he just had enough of the road. I’m sure this and so much more is covered in his upcoming book (available here) penned by Paul Heyman. The news of Brock’s departure in 2004 lead to the call to “fix the rosters” and a draft was scheduled. It wasn’t planned, it just happened out of the unexpected news.
It seems that based on the news of Edge’s sudden retirement, that slogan from Wrestlemania XX fits here – “Where it all begins…again.” The WWE draft was a big deal back in 2002 when the brands officially split into two – Raw and Smackdown. It felt historic and the original intention was to leave the brands separate and let a rivalry grow; only colliding in the Royal Rumble match and then again in mega matches at Wrestlemania. The reset button was first hit in Atlanta, GA on 6/10/02 when Stone Cold walked out of WWE; again, unexpected news.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9b0ca_wwe-confidential-stone-cold-walkout_sport
That day, Vince McMahon and Ric Flair had a match over ownership of the company, which Vince won. Two new general managers (Stephanie and Bischoff) were put in place and the rosters were “opened up” for talent movements including Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, Lance Storm, Test, Undertaker and more switching sides. The rosters were locked again… until Big Show was moved to Smackdown in October of 2002 to work with Brock Lesnar; due to again, unexpected turn of events. But this news of Lesnar in 2004, really shook the Brand Extension snow globe hard. Why do you think they use that soundbite of Vince saying “It’s time to shake things up again.”
The brand extension just turned nine years old. Over the last few years, the waters of the WWE Brand extension have gotten muddier and muddier. If you’ve watched Raw and Smackdown over the last few months, all talents have been all over both shows. Having been in that position of looking at an ever evolving roster, it’s very difficult to keep it fresh. Injuries happen, unexpected news always happens.
Over the next few days, I’ll be posting different articles covering the different drafts during my time there. Each has their own story and it’s own consequences. The WWE Draft… Where It All Begins Again.
David Lagana (@Lagana)
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Well, for some of them, yeah, it’ll start. But, um, for others it’ll be the end. Spring Cutdown Season is upon us!
Aside, from the aforementioned Superstars showing up from one show to another all the time, and rosters moving randomly alas, The Corre, Ziggler, Cole? The draft really lost its thunder.
They have had the same format for the past 4 years I believe, where wrestlers from their respective brand get a lottery pick if they win their respective match. The 2007 year was fine, but it got boring year after year. Plus half the roster seems to be moving, including the supplemental draft, which I believe involves too many wrestlers.
The format they had in 2004, and especially 2005 was great. They made it special because, each Brand had 5 picks that showed up each week. They didn’t have to be big starts either, as I found the Carlito and Christian picks were decent, to go along with the major ones which were Cena and Batista.
It’s more unique when only a few move over, if I were in charge I’d use the 2005 format, and a supplemental draft that perhaps move another 4-6 low-mid-carders to the other side.
I’m guessing they’ll use the same format, but we’ll see…