Draft brings surprises, switches ECW champion to Raw
By Corey Clayton
Written: June 11, 2007WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – With every spin of the WWE Draft machine at Wachovia Arena came nervous Superstars and anxious fans. Each match winner on Raw earned a lottery draft pick for their brand.

Here’s how the exciting night played out, and which Superstars are on the move:

Pick No. 1: SmackDown selects The Great Khali

Irony showed its ugly head early tonight.

As Edge celebrated winning the No. 1 pick in the WWE Draft for his brand, he might have brought upon himself a world of pain.

Khali, the 7-foot-3 giant, has been chasing WWE Champion John Cena for months, physically dominating The Champ week after week. It was only recently that Cena was able to turn the tide, and beat back the beast’s challenge to his title at One Night Stand.

Now, with Edge’s World Heavyweight Championship dangling in front of the SmackDown locker room as its ultimate prize, the giant will likely be fixated on gaining the gold that eluded him on the Raw brand.

For SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, adding Khali to his brand’s roster is a gigantic stroke of luck. Whispers from the GM’s office already mention the World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry and Kane as Superstars that could give Khali a run for his rupee.

Pick No. 2: ECW selects The Boogeyman

Ironic that “Smoke on the Water” was playing on a locker room radio as this pick was made after C.M. Punk’s victory.

The Bottomless Pit dweller makes the move to ECW after seeing his diminutive friend, Little Boogey, splashed by the World’s Strongest Man, Mark Henry on Friday Night SmackDown.

Understandably, he’s in a bit of a foul mood.

Looking at his new home, the Boogeyman seems at first to be a perfect match with the master of Original Sin, Kevin Thorn, who has an occult aura around him. But it could be that creatures of the night such as Thorn and Boogeyman tend to work alone.

Also, the Boogeyman’s unorthodox style could present a challenge to ECW Superstars that are used to a more traditional, conventional style of ring warfare. But then again, ECW has been anything but conventional in its history, and in that sense, the worm-eating enigma will be right at home.

Pick No. 3: Raw selects King Booker (w/ Queen Sharmell)

Umaga’s impressive win over Balls Mahoney led to Raw gaining a touch of royalty – the pair of King Booker and Queen Sharmell.

For months, the King and Queen have been ruling their SmackDown kingdom from afar. But now, the regal duo restart their reign in the Raw locker room.

It will be interesting to see how Raw Superstars react to the monarchs, and who might get their feathers ruffled by the pompous pair. Tea, anyone?

Pick No. 4: ECW selects Chris Benoit

It’s a homecoming for the Rabid Wolverine, Chris Benoit. After debuting for ECW in 1994, Benoit won tag-team gold.

Now, 13 years later, the former world champion will return to the extreme locker room to likely challenge for the ECW World Title.

After months of battling Montel Vontavious Porter over the United States Championship on SmackDown, Benoit will likely welcome the opportunity to face new challengers such as the New Breed and CM Punk.

Pick No. 5: SmackDown selects Torrie Wilson

Winning the battle of champions over Santino Marella on Raw, Montel Vontavious Porter earned SmackDown rights to Raw’s delicious Diva, Torrie Wilson.

After months of navigating a romantic maelstrom with former boyfriend Carlito, the already-injured Diva was forced into a match against him last Monday at Raw.

At first, Wilson was shown mercy by Carlito and allowed to leave the ring and take a count-out loss. But Carlito turned on Wilson as she walked away, knocking her down and giving her a Backstabber to score the despicable win.

Joining the SmackDown Diva locker room puts her in the middle of many beautiful ladies – enough to brighten anyone’s demeanor. But then again, Torrie’s mood could change for the worse after listening to a few lyrics from Jillian Hall.

Pick No. 6: SmackDown selects Chris Masters

Snitsky’s excessive aggressiveness led to a disqualification, and SmackDown’s second-straight draft selection – “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters.

The master of the Master Lock moves to SmackDown after dueling with Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella.

Masters might target the United States Championship around MVP’s waist as his first step.

Also, the muscular Superstar might choose to go toe-to-toe with another chiseled locker-room leader, Batista.

Pick No. 7: Raw selects ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley

Candice’s win over Kristal proved to be the most valuable of the night, as the Diva’s victory lead to Raw’s selection of ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley.

Lashley recently defeated Mr. McMahon in a Street Fight at One Night Stand to regain the title – a defeat that many in the locker room see as the start of the Chairman’s decline into dementia.

The ECW World Champion was forced to abandon his recently re-acquired title as he transfers to Raw, by order of the Chairman. That loss has to be grating on the Dominator, who will likely be hunting for another title to replace his lost ECW gold.

WWE Champion John Cena and Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella would be wise to watch their backs.

Pick No. 8: SmackDown selects “Nature Boy” Ric Flair

You didn’t need to see the TitanTron to see who was picked by SmackDown after Batista’s Triple Threat win. All you needed to hear was the “Woooooo’s” from the fans.

Thanks to his former Evolution teammate, the Nature Boy is heading to SmackDown.

At least Flair will see a friendly face there, as Torrie Wilson was drafted to SmackDown earlier in the evening. Flair teamed with Wilson’s ex-beau Carlito in previous months, until the relationship soured between the two.

With the 16-time World Champion’s decades of experience, he can be a threat to SmackDown Superstars from both inside and outside the ring.

Picks No. 9 and 10: Raw selects Snitsky and Mr. Kennedy

Randy Orton’s win in a 15-man, Tri-Branded Battle Royal earned Raw a pair of picks.

First, Raw obtained the services of ECW’s resident psycho, Snitsky. The pick was possible karma for Snitsky, who lost ECW a draft pick with his earlier disqualification against The Miz.

Will anyone in the Raw locker room be able to control this goliath? Or will he run roughshod over Raw much like he did ECW, being a terror to those that cross his path?

Second, Raw obtained the services of this year’s “Mr. Money in the Bank” from Green Bay, Wisc., Mr. Kennedy.

(wait for it) … Kennedy!

Currently recovering from injury, Kennedy returns to the scene of the crime, where Edge beat him and obtained the valuable Money in the Bank briefcase. Edge used the case’s championship contract the next night to defeat Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Can Kennedy redeem himself for his past setbacks on Raw by rising up the brand's championship ladder once again?

Supplemental Draft Announced for Wednesday, Noon ET on WWE.com

WWE officials have announced that WWE.com will host a Supplemental Draft Wednesday at noon ET. Read More…

Look for additional Superstars from Raw, SmackDown and ECW to switch brands and find new homes. WWE.com will bring you all the details live Wednesday at noon ET.

Id love to see Cena V.s Lashley and it will happen soon

Edge's title is all but gone, khali will abliterate him and that will be funny to see

Booker drop the king act and go back to Booker T

why on earth is the boogeyman still around, ffs hes an idiot and not really entertaining, now lil boogeyman and hornswaggle that was a rite laugh haha, and finlay haha he battered the lil guy

overall im not too bothered with the draft and think maybe it could have made it more intresting

but mr mcmahon :O:O:O i reckon hes still alive some how hes devious like that, maybe well see him interupt a lashley match pretending to be back from the dead.

your views ??

Like I said, draft was a disappointed, Smackdown got the short end of the stick, lets see, they loose booker(An entertaining heel), benoit(One of the hardest workers), kennedy(Was inline to take the title off edge, now will job to Cena) and boogeyman(Pfft, I find him entertaining), and who do they gain? Khali(ugh..), ric flair(Past his prime), masters(Not booked well, might do well, but with steph in creative...) and Torrie wilson(oh yay, a proper wrestler! ;D) >_>

Couldn't have said it better myself. As far as I'm concerned, the only good thing going SmackDown!s way is a Batista vs. Khali rivalry.

It is good to see Benoit back to ECW though, might revive it a little.

On another note: Does anybody know what will happen to ECW when they lose their contract with Sci-Fi in December? Is the WWE gonna lose ECW or find another station?

Yeah, Benoit on ECW is good, just wish Smackdown had got cor von, burke or CM Punk in return >_>.
Dunno what will happen but either way it really isnt ECW, it's WWECW and their champ, lashley, was pretty much on a different brand anyway (until this draft)>_>
Only way I see batista vs Khali happening is if Dave wins in the 'do or die' match, and with vince supposedly not wanting t give him the title any time soon I don't see it happening, so looks like we have something like Edge vs Khali and Batista vs Henry