Temporary Turnover: The 2008 WWE Draft Lotteries

2008 was a big year of change for WWE. It saw the introduction of WWE in HD which meant the debut of a new set for all three brands that was a big step in eliminating any remaining individuality, SmackDown moved from The CW to less prestigious myNetworkTV, all programming adopted a more conservative TV-PG rating (sorry Paul & Katie Burchill) and the Draft might’ve featured the largest tally of surprising moves in history. Also in 2008 was the brand split continuing to jump the shark when ECW entered a talent exchange program with RAW while already in one with SmackDown. Not everything changed, though, as Mr. McMahon was nearly killed off for a second straight Draft show at the end of the night.

Jeff Hardy moving to SmackDown for the first time kicked off the blue brand’s Draft and WWE Champion Triple H leaving the A-Show he had dominated for all but 2 months of the Brand Extension’s history closed it, signaling a star power-centric shift for Friday night’s hottest show. Seven years after they traded the IC Title, Triple H and Jeff Hardy engaged in a drawn-out rivalry over the WWE Championship which was not the most fitting accessory for the long-haired, bad ass 39-year-old brawler. After being left off two straight PPVs in the Summer, Hardy made up for lost time by challenging for SmackDown’s top prize on four of 2008’s final five Sunday specials. He would’ve been on all five, but a controversial move that played off concerns over Hardy’s real life personal issues led to a WWE Championship match at Survivor Series between Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov, which was met with chants of “TNA” from the crowd. Perhaps that night is when The Game began to plan on taking out then-TNA World Champion Sting, who would debut at 2014’s Survivor Series which makes my theory not quite as crazy as you thought it was 5 seconds ago.

A newly-bearded Edge made his return during a Title match at Survivor Series for the second time in as many years and walked out as WWE Champion, but it was emerging mega star Jeff Hardy who closed 2008 with his first World Championship by virtue of winning a 3-Way at Armageddon also featuring Triple H. Multiple losses to Triple H that Fall — including at Cyber Sunday where the fans overwhelmingly voted Hardy in over Kozlov and a Triple Threat situation — angered many who were losing hope Hardy would ever burst through the well maintained glass ceiling, but he finally did it. That all happened after Hardy’s house legitimately burned down as well, but little did we know the the cause of that, Hardy being attacked with pyro (the first time), being left unconscious in the Boston hotel and being cost the WWE Title one month after winning it would all be credited to ECW’s Matt Hardy in a test run of The Final Deletion. Matt became Jeff’s WrestleMania 25 opponent which was the role heavily rumored to be Christian’s, but Captain Charisma ended up returning from TNA for another three-lettered brand in ECW. Matt Hardy actually defeated Jeff a long way from the backyards of Cameron, NC by upending him at WrestleMania, but Jeff got the last Willow-esque evil laugh by being the Last Man Standing at Backlash.

Triple H’s Road to WrestleMania also involved family being attacked, but in his case it was wife Stephanie being RKO’d & DDT’d by Randy Orton in what might have been the last instance of premeditated man-on-woman violence in WWE, though Steph remains something of a magnet for that type of thing. Another rare instance in this feud was the Champion following his Royal Rumble match-winning contender to a brand instead of the other away around, with Triple H appearing all over RAW alongside the male McMahons in the buildup. It was done for no discernible reason besides SmackDown not being perceived as worthy enough to host a McMahon/WrestleMania story, though in looking back and seeing he defended the WWE Title against Vladimir Kozlov and The Great Khali on PPV, maybe The Game’s disdain for SmackDown was understandable.

Umaga and Mr. Kennedy were another pair of RAW stars moved to SmackDown, but the blue chippers from ’06 & ’07 didn’t leave nearly the impact Hardy and Triple H did. Umaga tore his PCL on August 2 which put him on the sidelines for the rest of the year, and after failing to win the US Title on the 4th of July like his last name was O’Neil, Kennedy dislocated his shoulder exactly a month later on August 4 in what proved to be his final match on the brand. Even less effective for SmackDown were Supplemental picks Big Daddy V , Trevor Murdoch & DH Smith, all of whom never made their Friday night debut that year. In the case of Smith he was moved back to FCW, but Murdoch and Big Daddy were less fortunate when they were reassigned to the unemployment line that Summer.

My living room TV had began doing a weird thing where it would freeze for a few seconds before returning to live action, which acted as an added drum roll for the announcers-only portion of the Draft. RAW’s Melina & Mickie James fought SD’s Natalya & Victoria to a clunky Double DQ, meaning both brands got a bonus broadcaster while ECW wasn’t even given a chance to compete despite its lead announcer being 19th round Draft pick equivalent Mike Adamle. My screen froze and returned with King in a state of disbelief over the match result and then jumping into another over Jim Ross being shifted from his longtime home of RAW to SmackDown, in a move WWE assured Ross before the show wouldn’t happen. RAW was without a play-by-play announcer until the incredible coincidence moments later where Michael Cole was drafted to fill the now vacant seat. JR was visibly upset and nearly quit WWE, but instead stayed and was packaged alongside Triple H as a key move to boost SmackDown ahead of its relocation to myNetwork. JR joined Mick Foley on commentary until August when Foley grew tired of the added voices in his head and was written off before joining TNA, which is where JR’s next partner Tazz would defect to shortly after WrestleMania 25. JR’s final partner on SmackDown was Todd Grisham, who JR revealed was ironically set to replace him on RAW in 2007 before the idea was nixed. Cole & King languished together on RAW while JR shifted to color commentary and had an unconventional yet solid partnership with Grisham during a revitalization period for SmackDown in 2009.

Shelton Benjamin, Maria, Carlito & Brian Kendrick were the final four names chosen in the SmackDown portion of the Supplemental Draft, with all three men reaching Championship glory on their new show, even if for one of them it was officially unofficial. Shelton Benjamin carried over his Gold Standard persona from ECW and returned the US Title to SmackDown by beating ECW’s newest star Matt Hardy at The Great American Bash, but that and successfully defending the Title in a 4th of July Fatal 4-Way weren’t enough to boost him beyond his painfully familiar position in the middle of the card. Shelton wasn’t even able to temporarily hold the WWE Title in SmackDown’s Scramble Match at Unforgiven, but the reinvented The Brian Kendrick did as part of a surprise singles resurgence. Initially set to be joined by friend/indie no-name geek loser Bryan Danielson, Kendrick was instead seconded by someone almost identical to The American Dragon who shared Kendrick’s thrist for literary knowledge.

SmackDown acted as the defibrillator to Carlito’s fading career by teaming him up with recent FCW call-up Primo, who transferred from RAW after one match and united with his brother to win the WWE Tag Team Title just two weeks into their run. They went on to add the future Mrs. Danielson in Brie Bella while feuding against World Tag Champs John Morrison & The Miz with Nikki Bella at their side. The feud was ECW’s top rivalry going into WrestleMania and with a fair deal of anticipation behind this unification match, WWE reminded you what they thought of both ECW and tag teams at the time by bumping the match to the WrestleMania 25 DVD to make time for rocking and deceased women’s wrestlers rolling in their graves.

As touched on, ECW continued its decline into extreme irrelevancy in 2008, but the brand did receive a fresh coat of paint in the form of several new Superstars thanks to GM Teddy Long’s aptly-named New Superstar Initiative. Some were hits, some were misses, some were misses that might soon be hits and one of them was a bigger miss than Jeb! 2016. Mike Adamle finished up his much-maligned tenure behind the mic in July, which created a domino effect that ended with Todd Grisham and Supplemental RAW pick Matt Striker joining forces for a surprisingly strong duo that won the Slammy for Announce Team of the Year. The 2008 Draft resulted in five new faces joining The Land of Extreme, but it wasn’t enough kids if you asked Tazz despite sometimes kid Hornswoggle joining ECW along with father Finlay in the Supplemental Draft.

Mark Henry kicked off the Supplemental Draft and wound up replacing Kane in the role of monstrous ECW Champion, defeating the outgoing Big Red Machine and SmackDown’s Big Show at Night of Champions to return the ECW Title home in a match not nearly as bad as you’d imagine. While ECW original Super Crazy joined the brand and was gone by request in October, a much bigger trace of the original ECW was eliminated when Philadelphia played host to Mark Henry receiving a new ECW Championship worthy of a spot on E!’s medical makeover show Botched. The Title was fit for a man of Mark Henry’s size, but the mini-preview of his 2011 was halted when the silver found a new owner in October.

Though the ECW Championship was nowhere near the WWE & World Titles in terms of prestige, in part due to things like then-Champion Chavo Guerrero entering the Royal Rumble for a shot at RAW or SD’s World Championships, Matt Hardy receiving his first World-ish Title in ECW was a big moment for him and his supporters. I was never a passionate Matt Hardy fan during his singles runs (outside of 2005 maybe), but following up his long feud with MVP over the US Title with a chance to anchor a brand felt like a pretty cool deal for him. The match quality atop ECW improved as Mark Henry was beginning to click in personality but still fell short in-ring, and Matt had what turned out to be the blueprint for Christian’s return where they tested him in main event waters on a lesser show and upgraded him when they felt he had impressed enough. Upstart Oklahoman Jack Swagger took the ECW Title from him in January shortly before Matt began his WrestleMania program by bashing Jeff over the head with a chair at the Royal Rumble.

The flagship may have lost some star power, but RAW answered right back by drafting several SmackDown mainstays such as Rey Mysterio and Batista, two of the names most associated with SmackDown since the Brand Extension. Batista was finally healthy during WrestleMania season after missing two straight, but the best WWE could scrape together was a seven minute Battle For Brand Supremacy with RAW’s Umaga, won by The Animal who celebrated successfully representing his brand by competing on RAW all Spring against the man who had just retired Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels.

Batista moved on to a second straight Summer series against Edge over the World Title, which again left him empty handed. However, the Title did change hands after Batista demolished Edge who was on RAW for no apparent reason the week after the Draft, opening the door for fellow RAW Draft pick CM Punk to cash in MITB on The Ultimate Opportunist and return the World Heavyweight Championship to RAW for the first time since 2005. 1-0 MMA fighter Batista challenged 0-2 MMA fighter CM Punk for the Big Gold Belt at The Great American Bash, but the only Title Batista would claim over the Summer was a World Tag Team Title with John Cena. The reign was barely a blip on the radar like so, so many of Cena’s Tag Title runs, and soon the faces of SmackDown & RAW since 2005 were set to square off at SummerSlam thanks to underrated GM Adamle. Batista surprisingly won the dream match with Cena at SummerSlam, but also injured his hamstring in the process which forced Batista onto the shelf from December until the night after WrestleMania 25. Batista did manage to claim another World Title while on RAW, but he lost it back to Chris Jericho on RAW just 8 days after winning it at Cyber Sunday.

CM Punk was even unluckier with the World Title, defending the Championship against JBL in match 4 of 8 at SummerSlam, putting him in the most mid-card slot mathematically possible. Whether the man makes the belt or the belt makes the man, neither really happened in 2008 and Punk lost the Title without ever actually losing it when Randy Orton punted him and caused Punk to miss that night’s Scramble Match. Punk rebounded by capturing the World Tag Title with road wife Kofi Kingston and defeating William Regal near Chicago for the IC Title in January, though unlike with the World Title, Punk lost it to JBL. The road to superstardom Punk had been on since debuting in ECW now appeared to be filled with potholes, but he became the first man to repeat as Money in the Bank winner at WrestleMania 25 and was set-up for a huge 2009.

Rey Mysterio’s run on RAW felt weird but did provide potential due to Mysterio being one of the few stars never to leave their brand, but the potential was quickly wiped away for the rest of 2008 when he entered a rivalry with Kane, who had snapped on July 7 and began asking “IS HE ALIVE OR IS HE DEAD?” for weeks on end while toting a burlap sack. Kane finally revealed that this wasn’t yet another attempt at feuding with The Undertaker (wait for 2010), but rather an admission that he had taken out Mysterio 6 weeks prior and was carrying around his mask.

Mysterio returned and faced Kane throughout the Fall in various underwhelming matches that never seemed to end, but finally did in 2009 when Mysterio moved on to JBL, whom he had beaten and forced into retirement in 2006. This time wasn’t much different as Mysterio ran through JBL in a mere 21 seconds to win his first IC Title at his first ‘Mania since 2006, which made JBL immediately quit WWE. Besides his reliable role as a “base” in Money in the Bank, Kane’s run on RAW was highlighted by a weird stalking & kidnapping of Kelly Kelly before an even weirder moment where Kelly revealed she and Randy Orton had an overnight encounter, which drove a crushing Kane up the wall for about a month and then he got over it forever.

Kofi Kingston’s stock had been on the rise since debuting that January on ECW, but it soared like an eagle belonging to Jack Swagger when he moved to RAW as the final selection in the Supplemental Draft. He debuted that same week at Night of Champions to defeat the most decorated IC Champ of all-time in Chris Jericho to claim his first Title in WWE. Kofi’s flashy style and sudden ascension to the mid-card of RAW rightfully turned him into one of the most popular new stars in a role that didn’t require him to turn heel while waving the Jamaican flag and cutting anti-American promos before locking in the Camel Clutch to remind you he’s like Iron Sheik who wasn’t from these here parts.

Not as lucky was Deuce, a product of the Fiji Islands and, more specifically, Jimmy Snuka’s loins. He transformed from a ’50s greaser without his partner or girlfriend into Sim Snuka, son of Jimmy Snuka who wanted to join Legacy. After failing to meet the standards of the group who had just taken in Manu, Sim was rumored to be under consideration for the job of color commentator on the revamped WWE Superstars. That really random idea was quickly disposed of when Snuka posed as a camera man at WrestleMania and literally had one job, but failed to do it and as a result lost his job as a WWE Superstar in June.

Like in 2005, Chuck Palumbo was moved to RAW after the major deals had already been done. Also like in 2005, Palumbo was released by November. His 2008 began with an oft-forgotten feud with Jamie Noble over Michelle McCool that received praise for being a rare instance where WWE committed to undercard storytelling, which they tried to continue with Jamie Noble moving to RAW and pining after new draftee Layla. Noble struck out with another member of LayCool and felt the wrath of returning King William Regal, who had his main event push squashed due to a Wellness violation but did claim the IC Title in his homeland of England during a wonderful heel run that saw Layla by his side.

Suspension of Disbelief: The 2007 WWE Draft Lottery

2007 is one of the murkier years for my own memory, but it’s one of the most interesting in WWE’s history for a host of reasons. Many of those will be covered below, but one way in which it stood out was that for the first time, the Draft Lottery included all three brands and took place during a special three-hour episode of RAW, because there was in fact a time when that sort of thing was the exception and not the rule. Each of the 10 televised picks were determined by interpromotional matches, though I question why someone would want to win since it almost guarantees more competition for you. I suppose the trade-off is you lose and end up being drafted to a show with tougher competition, but still. Play the odds.

Looking to outdo the NFL Draft (JaMarcus Russell) & NBA Draft (Greg Oden) when it came to terrible #1 picks in 2007, WWE had The Great Khali taken first overall by virtue of World Champion Edge defeating WWE Champion John Cena by countout, a match JR noted was WrestleMania-caliber as it was slotted as the RAW opener. Khali was back where he began his career one year earlier after a stint on RAW that saw him face Kane & Kane’s hook at WrestleMania before mercifully being unsuccessful in two shockingly solid WWE Title matches against Cena. India’s native son wouldn’t be without gold for much longer, though, as a pectoral tear for Edge who had just moved to SmackDown! in May resulted in Teddy Long ordering a 20-man Battle Royal for the vacant Title, just as he did in 2006 when Kurt Angle won the belt. Fans weren’t as fortunate in July 2007 because The Great Khali eliminated Batista & Kane to put the “big” in “Big Gold Belt”. Khali reached heights other human skyscrapers such as Giant Gonzalez and Giant Silva never did, and also inspired a young Tom Brady in a segment that gave us a classic Batista moment.

Khali lost his prized possession to Batista at Unforgiven in a Triple Threat also involving Rey Mysterio and finally made his Punjabi Prison Match debut the following month, but was beaten in his own playhouse by The Animal. Khali moved on from Batista and one former Cruiserweight Champ in Mysterio to another in Hornswoggle, but faced the wrath of Finlay for his troubles. Khali failed to earn shots at the World & ECW Titles in consecutive months in early 2008, but did get a shot at Big Show where their patented submission wrestling was on display in a match not nearly as bad as you’d assume.

In one of the rare instances where winning a Draft pick for your brand helped you, Batista outlasting ECW’s Elijah Burke & RAW’s Jeff Hardy meant his former World Tag Team Champion partner Ric Flair joined SmackDown! for the first time, the brand he promoted against at the onset of the brand split. After being put on the shelf by Great Khali in August, Flair returned in November on RAW to announce he hadn’t been on the program in 6 months not because he was drafted and there were strict rules to abide by, but because he can’t wrestle forever even though he’ll never retire. Mr. McMahon came out and made his decree that the next time Flair lost a singles match he’d be forced to retire, setting up a series of matches against names like Randy Orton, MVP, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H and even Mr. McMahon, whom he defeated in a Street Fight to finally avenge his June 2002 loss for 100% ownership of WWE to.

Flair became a guest in his own home after the McMahon announcement, only competing on SmackDown! twice while racking up nine matches on RAW and even one on ECW. Flair was taken out back and shot in a great bout against RAW’s Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24, whom the new Hall of Famer had actually teamed with in one of his two SmackDown! matches that year.

The 2007 Draft was unkind to SmackDown, taking away 11 names while only returning 8 in exchange. Chris Masters, who immediately after being drafted was described by JBL as having “a nickel brain in a million dollar body” failed Wellness twice and was released by November while healing a dislocated elbow. Torrie Wilson came home to SmackDown! thanks to US Champion MVP’s victory over upstart Santino Marella, but Torrie too would exit in November as a result of lingering back problems after a feud with the debuting Krissy Vaine was called off due to she and her familiar beau abruptly leaving WWE.

Chosen in the first-ever Supplemental Draft on WWE.com the following Wednesday, Kenny Dykstra and Victoria quickly hooked up, only for Kenny to abandon her as 2008 began like he had his Spirit Squadron. Eugene thought he found the connection between the Bischoff & McMahon family trees while on SmackDown, but was proven wrong and then made another mistake by following in Chris Masters’ footsteps and failing a second drug test which led to his dismissal. The Major Brothers were the most successful of the picks, revealing in December that they weren’t brothers, but rather friends of Edge named Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, but they would join another Familia and kind of main event WrestleMania.

RAW went 0-2 in matches to begin the night, but a sound thrashing by Umaga to ECW’s Balls Mahoney resulted in the brand getting a combo deal with King Booker & Queen Sharmell. Booker defeated Bobby Lashley all the way back in May 2006 to become the first King of the Ring since 2002, and WWE made up for lost time. Booker ditched the only theme song his career had known in favor of a royal ditty, developed an on-again-off-again English accent, dubbed his wife Queen Sharmell and even assembled The King’s Court with Sir Finlay and Sir William Regal. His first act as King was unseating former WCW star Rey Mysterio at former WCW PPV Great American Bash to win the former WCW World Heavyweight Championship belt, a Title he held until Survivor Series when he fell to commercial shoot nemesis Batista, who ironically was best known to King Booker for being down.

After failing to win John Cena’s WWE Title at Vengeance in a match also featuring four other former Champs, King Bookah set his sights on imposter King Jerome Lawler. Booker conquered the lowly jester and tried to upstage “King of Kings” Triple H at SummerSlam, but Booker failed and extended his 2007 PPV record to 0-5. Shortly after, Booker failed a much bigger test when he was linked to Signature Pharmacy, which had distributed PEDs to several key WWE stars. Among the names outed, Booker was suspended but denied using anything illegal, leading to the 6-time World Champion requesting & being granted he and his wife’s releases. Booker only spent two months on RAW and eventually traded in his Kingship for a spot in TNA’s Mafia family.

No stranger to RAW, because why bother enforcing a brand split, Bobby Lashley was officially made part of the flagship when the imbalanced scenario of Candice Michelle beating SmackDown’s and mother to Lashley’s children Kristal Marshall, resulting in ECW momentarily losing its World Champion played out. The rocket strapped to Lashley’s back at the end of ’06 had only been strapped on tighter to begin 2007, even if he wasn’t our generation’s greatest orator. Lashley represented the always non-controversial Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23 against RAW’s Umaga, who represented Mr. McMahon and defeated him, forcing McMahon to be shaved bald by Lashley, Trump & Stone Cold in front of 80,000 fans. Mr. McMahon soon struck back by swiping the ECW Title from Lashley while styling on him, but after three straight PPVs of 3-on-1 Handicap situations, the future ex-husband of Kristal Marshall became the first two-time ECW Champion of the WWE era.

8 days after winning back his gold, Lashley was stripped of the Championship by order of Mr. McMahon, whose alter ego Vince McMahon would see his dream match of John Cena vs. Bobby Lashley headline The Great American Bash for the WWE Title in a match nobody predicted to be the banger it was. Lashley’s biggest shot in WWE was also his last, as a shoulder injury caused in the match and credited to injury connoisseur Mr. Kennedy on July 30 would put him on IR seven months before the man seen as most likely to become the first (undisputed) black WWE Champion was released.

Wrestlers might’ve finally realized winning on this night would mean more competition, so the 15-man, tri-brand Battle Royal worth two picks won by RAW’s Randy Orton featured members from all three brands eliminating guys from their own team. A bald, yellowing Snitsky was the first name drawn, but most memorable from this pair of picks was Mr. Kennedy. He won Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 23 by going through anyone who stood in his way, including Mr. McMahon’s future replacement son. Kennedy promised to cash in at the next ‘Mania, with the actual plan being to defeat The Undertaker the following week on SmackDown. However, an injury would develop and what appeared to be the latest 6-8 month ailment in less than two years for Kennedy caused him to lose his briefcase to Edge, making him the only man to lose a MITB contract. The injury was later discovered to be nothing more than what amounted to a bruise and Kennedy was gone for a month, costing him dearly. Despite this, big plans still seemed to lie ahead for the individual JBL called “the fastest rising Superstar in WWE”.

When the search for Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s fair-haired illegitimate son began in August, the man named after McMahon by Paul Heyman was first in line to assume that major role. Plans called for Kennedy to rise to power and face-off with McMahon’s son-in-law Triple H at WrestleMania 24 over control of WWE, but perhaps the thought of war was so intimidating it made Kennedy feel the need to beef up his physique, which landed him on the same Signature Pharmacy list as King Booker. Kennedy was suspended shortly after saying he no longer took PEDs and blasted the media for portraying all wrestlers as steroid-addicted freaks, adding to his shame in a year where he missed out on two huge opportunities and was announced as being suspended for “impersonating a McMahon”.

During the Supplemental Draft, the red brand received Paul London & Brian Kendrick whose RAW run included a house show-exclusive Tag Title reign, but is most remembered for visible elation and being given the honor of sharing the ring with a sexy badass rebel. The biggest acquisition was apparent GSN fanatic William Regal, who usurped his former mate Booker as King of the Ring in 2008 after already winning a forgotten 30-man Battle Royal to become RAW GM, last eliminating Supplemental shocker Sandman who inexplicably left ECW for RAW and unfortunately never became GM. Daivari returned to RAW but was released by October, Jillian did nothing of consequence until 2009 and Hardcore Holly won his first Tag Team Championship of the millennium when the grizzled vet took rookie Cody Rhodes under his wing that Winter.

Unfortunately, the biggest story of 2007 was also one of the saddest in wrestling history. ECW Champion Bobby Lashley upset Chris Benoit to the chagrin of the adult males in attendance, only for Benoit to immediately be drafted to Lashley’s show. The now unsettling scene played out with Benoit looking on in surprise as ECW’s theme song “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” blared throughout the arena, and the first episode of ECW on Sci-Fi to feature Benoit began with a 10 bell salute for the “death” of Mr. McMahon 24 hours earlier. Having advanced to the Finals of a grueling 4 man tournament, CM Punk & Chris Benoit were set to meet for the vacant ECW World Title at Vengeance in a dream match that was going to revive the flatlining red-headed stepchild of brands and personally had me so amped you’d have thought I was a GFW fan. Benoit was set to win the ECW Championship and step into the role created for RVD in 2006. He’d be the beloved ECW original leading the charge on Tuesday nights with the added duty of preparing the next generation of stars such as CM Punk and Johnny Nitro, who was chosen in the Supplemental Draft. Things wouldn’t go as planned for the ECW Championship for a second straight Summer, but this time under much sadder circumstances.

Chris Benoit missed the event due to his horrific double-murder suicide and Johnny Nitro assumed the role of Benoit against Punk, down to actually winning the ECW World Championship. Moments after the reborn Vince McMahon announced Benoit would no longer be mentioned on WWE television, Nitro squared off with WWE Champion John Cena in his first match as ECW Champ and promptly lost, with his excuse being that he was under the weather. Nitro soon transformed into the slow motion sensation John Morrison and retained his Title against CM Punk at two consecutive PPVs, but was suspended for his connection to the Signature Pharmacy scandal like so many of his former RAW cohorts. The suspension made him the second ECW Champion in 15 months to lose their Title due to a Wellness violation as Morrison was finally defeated by the straightedge CM Punk on September 1.

Another Supplemental selection for ECW was The Miz, who quickly became a chick magnet. He did have to deal with a budding romance between Kelly Kelly & Balls Mahoney represented by a stuffed bear, but did so in a way Snitsky would be proud of. Miz got a very literal shirt out of it, but by Fall had moved on to join up with fellow ECW Title contender John Morrison to defeat the dysfunctional duo of MVP & Matt Hardy on SmackDown! for the WWE Tag Team Championship, the biggest moment in the early history of ECW & SmackDown’s talent exchange that further rendered the brand split pointless. However, it did afford the two future movie stars a great opportunity to become one of the premiere tag teams in WWE, and they soon started a web show to rival iCarly; The Dirt Sheet. ECW’s other two Draft picks Viscera (now the cleavage-exposing Big Daddy V) and Sci-Fi superstar The Boogeyman weren’t as lucky in The Land of Extreme. Big Daddy V failed to win an Elimination Chamber match in February that would have put him in the main event of WrestleMania for the World Title, while The Boogeyman was gone from September 2007 until October 2008 due to a torn calf muscle. His brief Summertime stint did at least give us this wonderfully wacky match filmed in Madison Square Garden and aired on NBC as part of Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Extreme Makeover: The 2006 ECW Edition

Unlike any other Draft in WWE history, the 2006 version played like that of an expansion team. Only one brand was involved and it was able to handpick its stars, rather than draw them from a tumbler or watch the TitanTron shuffle through names. The brand was ECW, which was punished by the Draft Gods in future installments with how Lottery selections played out for them. Those will come later, but right now is the story of launching ECW on Sci-Fi.

The excellent Rise & Fall of ECW DVD in 2004 was the start. WWE allowing Paul Heyman & Tommy Dreamer to run with RVD’s idea of an ECW reunion PPV that received widespread acclaim was when the metaphorical light bulb went off in Vince McMahon’s head. May 25, 2006 is when it became official, but in many ways it was also the end. Sci-Fi agreed to air one hour of ECW a week, already a left turn from the original idea of a Paul Heyman-run, Shane McMahon-operated ECW overtaking Velocity’s webcast slot on WWE.com. There was more money to be made and more eyeballs to engage with a TV deal, even if it meant compromising a vision and some creative pride, too. It was then decided that Paul Heyman, acting as ECW’s Representative, would be allowed to draft one star from RAW and one from SmackDown! with both rosters of talent free to jump ship.

Money in the Bank holder and recent IC Champion RVD was selected #1 overall due to Van Dam announcing he was cashing in on WWE Champion John Cena at ECW One Night Stand.  Already unique for giving advanced notice of his cash in just as Cena would do with his MITB 6 years later, it was also the first time the WWE Title would be defended in ECW, in as much as you could view the new ECW as a promotion rather than a third WWE show. ECW as a whole went to war with Cena ahead of the match, but it was actually the inaugural Mr. Money in the Bank, RAW’s Edge that cost Cena at One Night Stand and allowed RVD to not only win the WWE Championship, but also reintroduce the ECW World Championship. RVD entered enemy territory himself 2 weeks later and retained the WWE Title against Edge at RAW’s Vengeance PPV, the same night John Cena defeated Sabu in an Extreme Lumberjack Match.

What was thought to be RVD finally ascending to the heights he had been unfairly held back from since the day he entered the WWF turned out to be nothing more than a blip on the radar. Following an ECW house show, infamous high flyers RVD & Sabu were pulled over for speeding and soon arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia on July 3. Like future offender Roman Reigns, RVD had a brief stay of execution where he remained on TV to lose both of his first World Championships in consecutive days, first the WWE Title in a Triple Threat on RAW originally planned for Saturday Night’s Main Event, and the ECW Title during a standalone taping of ECW in Philadelphia. RVD returned after a 30 day suspension and remained a top name in ECW until his departure in June 2007, but his chances of ever holding another Championship in WWE went up in smoke that fateful July night.

Not unfamiliar with ECW after walking out on a show in 1996 due to a possibly controversial angle and saying this about it in 2005, Kurt Angle was chosen #2 by ECW just as he was by SmackDown! and RAW in earlier Drafts. To bring things full circle, Heyman announced this on RAW from the Tacoma Dome where the launch of WCW as its own brand began & ended 5 years earlier. Heyman said The Wrestling Machine embodied what the new ECW would be all about, and he displayed it in victories over Randy Orton at One Night Stand and The Brooklyn Brawler on August 1. However, the expansion brand would suffer yet another blow later that month when Kurt Angle walked from WWE due to a mounting reliance on painkillers to work through his injuries, which limited him to just 9 televised matches as a member of ECW before beginning a new career as a pilgrim.

Following the announcement of his former foe Kurt Angle going to ECW, Taz(z) announced that he was leaving SmackDown! after 4 years to become Paul Heyman’s new color commentator alongside Joey Styles, who he himself had an infamous exit from RAW the month prior. Jerry Lawler had choice words for his favorite, least-favorite promotion and eventually challenged longtime nemesis Tazz to the Bull Dempsey trainer’s first match since 2002 at One Night Stand. After a flare up at a special WWE vs. ECW Head to Head show, Tazz defeated King in just 35 seconds with an assist from Lawler’s former partner Styles.

In classic Big Show fashion, The World’s Largest Athlete turned on WWE by ripping off his RAW t-shirt to reveal an ECW one after he and newly-signed RAW Superstar Randy Orton had seemingly defeated Team ECW in a Battle Royal. Reunited with his old SmackDown! friends, Big Show initially picked on returning ECW original Tommy Dreamer but quickly shifted focus to RVD, who Show defeated in the hostile birthplace of ECW with Paul Heyman’s help to become ECW Champion. Big Show was in the homestretch of his first run with WWE as his weight kept ballooning and his health kept declining, but that didn’t stop him from putting on a brutal (in a good way) Extreme Rules Match with Ric Flair of all people for the ECW Title, as well as Kane, Undertaker and Batista in a bizarro world string of defenses.

Big Show overcame someone actually on the ECW roster at SummerSlam when he defeated Sabu, but soon joined The McMahons on RAW to battle DX, resulting in a loss to Triple H & Shawn Michaels in Hell in a Cell. After that was a tri-brand rivalry involving fellow World Champions John Cena & King Booker, ultimately resulting in Show’s team of ECW, RAW & SmackDown! stars losing to John Cena’s, which included the two men Cena faced on back-to-back PPVs that Summer, RVD & Sabu. Looking to reverse his fortunes in Cage matches after also losing to The Undertaker in the Punjabi Prison, Big Show entered the Extreme Elimination Chamber as Champion, but limped out with nothing but a rematch that he lost two days later, officially ending his first run in WWE.

With the introduction of a third brand came even more developmental call-ups, which had already been on the rise since RAW & SmackDown! separated. ECW on Sci-Fi was always meant to showcase up-and-coming talent, a philosophy it would carry until its cancellation in 2010. The first 12 months of ECW saw 11 new names placed on television. The list of new Extremists & Vixens included a vampire, an exhibitionist unsure how to take off her clothes, a pair of Major Bros, former TNA stars and a tarot card reader, but the most notable signing was CM Punk. Thought to be another man who embodied what the new ECW would be, Paul Heyman launched the WWE career of his OVW star pupil by debuting him in front of an independent-friendly crowd at Hammerstein Ballroom, where the former ROH Champion earned a deciedely better response than the main event despite beating ECW original Justin Credible. The 18-49 year old male fanbase wasn’t the only demo that latched onto CM Punk, who reportedly cried after his debut and would quickly become one of the most popular peformers in ECW.

Stevie Richards & Nunzio were the only other former ECW stars on a WWE roster who left their brand (SmackDown!) for the newest addition to the WWE portfolio. Many other ECW originals were signed to join, but the only ones who remained by 2007’s Draft were The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer & Balls Mahoney. Names that later jumped ship from other brands included Hardcore Holly (maybe a mistake), Bobby Lashley, Elijah Burke, Matt Striker and the always active René Duprée, in a last-ditch effort to save his WWE career. New-look Shannon Moore spurned TNA to join The Land of Extreme and Test even made a return that included an ECW Title match at the Royal Rumble, but a frightening physique and Wellness violation that the ECW fans predicted the next month spelled the end of his WWE tenure.

ECW traveled a rocky road en route to their first PPV since debuting on Sci-Fi, but the terrain was only just starting to toughen. As if being sandwiched between two $44.95 PPVs in Survivor Series & Armageddon wasn’t enough of an Olympic hurdle, only two matches were announced prior to the event. The featured bouts were the Extreme Elimination Chamber for the ECW World Title and a match pitting RAW’s Jeff Hardy & SmackDown’s Matt Hardy against RAW’s Johnny Nitro & SmackDown’s Joey Mercury in the latest example of a third brand only bringing the original two closer together. Another example came during an episode of ECW in October built primarily around strip poker. A meager 4,800 attended the event and just 90,000 ordered the show on Pay-Per-View, which is 18,000 fewer than bought Extreme Rules 2014 available to at least 667,287 WWE Network subscribers for $45 less.

It was a 6 match card with no contest going beyond the 8 minut mark outside of the opening Hardys-MNM match, which went an excessive 22 minutes, and the main event Extreme Elimination Chamber. Balls Mahoney overcame Matt Striker in a Striker’s Rules Match that was extremely frustrating for Balls, but he could take pride in saying he was the only ECW original to claim a victory on the night. The FBI fell to Elijah Burke & 3-1 MMA fighter Sylvester Terkay, Tommy Dreamer lost via extreme roll-up to Great Khali’s manager Daivari and in the main event, 15-2 MMA star Bobby Lashley cemented himself as the precursor to Roman Reigns by beating Big Show, Test, Hardcore Holly (replacing a sleepy Sabu), RVD and 0-2 MMA star CM Punk to win the ECW Championship. The fans were soundly behind Punk and so too was Paul Heyman, who pitched that Punk would win and even eliminate Big Show first. Vince compromised with Heyman by having Punk be the very first man eliminated, an indication of the kind of headbutting that led to Heyman being dismissed the next day and entering a 6 year break from wrestling as ECW on Sci-Fi entered year two.