With the 2008 WWE draft looming, I’ve decided to look at the past talent swaps, starting with 2004’s edition, to see exactly what being drafted has done to the careers of those affected.

In hindsight, being drafted often tends to have the exact opposite effect to what you would assume would be the desired result, i.e. stale wrestlers rejuvenate their careers thus adding interest to the respective brands, and making more money for the WWE, instead end up being buried or forgotten once moved from their comfort zones…

(i) Rene Dupree was Smackdown’s first pick, breaking up the La Resistance team. At the time Dupree was seen to have a lot of upside by some in WWE, and his new role on Smackdown was something of a testing ground for his potential as a singles wrestler.

He started off with a feud against US Champion John Cena, most notably including a singles match at the Judgement Day PPV, but after failing to win said title, his role was phased right down. Dupree did get over to a degree, especially with his daft ‘French Tickler’ dance, but the dubious highlight of his Smackdown tenure was his tag title run with the abysmal Kenzo Suzuki.

Dupree later became a multiple draft victim, as he was drafted to Raw and then ECW in later years, accomplishing nothing of note (apart from a decent little couple of matches with CM Punk late in his ECW run), before finally being released in July of last year.

(ii) Shelton Benjamin was Raw’s first pick, again breaking up an established tag team, in ‘The World’s Greatest Tag Team’.

Benjamin was another youngster thought of as having a lot of potential, and almost immediately mad an impact on the red brand by scoring a rare pinfall victory over HHH. From then on Benjamin was involved in the summer long Benoit and friends against Evolution feud, having decent PPV matches against Ric Flair and Randy Orton at Backlash and Badd Blood, before capturing the Intercontinental Title off Chris Jericho in another good match at Taboo Tuesday in October 2004.

While his career since 2005 has been erratic, and he has since been viewed by many as a disappointment for a variety of reasons, the initial 2004 draft certainly did provide a boost for Benjamin’s career.

 

(iii) The trend of breaking up tag teams continued on, with Smackdown’s next pick being Mark Jindrak discontinuing his tandem with Garrison (now Lance) Cade.

Jindrak went on to have a Lex Luger Narcissist-lite gimmick over the summer of 2004, before joining Kurt Angle’s disappointing stable in the Autumn of that year. The 2004 draft did provide more opportunities for Jindrak, although his WWE career never really got off the blocks; he was actually drafted back to RAW in 2005, pointlessly actually, as he was released five days later.

(iv) Raw’s next pick was Nidia, last seen in a prominent role breaking up with Jamie Noble earlier in the year. She was brought over to wrestle in the Women’s division but failed to make an impact, getting released in November 2004.

Nidia at least had a niche on Smackdown, and while she may have been a decent wrestler (we were never really shown), the sheer volume of competition on RAW left her without a role and subsequently without a job.

(v) HHH was then drafted to Smackdown, in a move that would have had a major effect on the WWE landscape if it hadn’t been reversed later on in the week!

The way in which this transfer was conducted also highlighted HHH’s importance to WWE at the time, while also being perceived as a burial of the THREE wrestlers that he was exchanged for, namely Booker T and the Dudley Boys.

(vi) RAW’s next pick was Rhyno, who as noted in my first column, was in the latter part of his WWE career, accomplishing little in his RAW run apart from the formation of a criminally underutilised team with fellow draftee Taijiri.

Although Rhyno and Taijiri’s team managed two PPV bouts (at Vengeance and Backlash 2004), there was no standout match for him while on RAW, and after his ECW comeback in 2005, he was released. Rhyno’s draft only really accelerated his WWE decline, which had begun in the Summer of 2003, after Vince McMahon actually walked out and stopped a match with Taijiri for being ‘too boring’.

(vii) The fourth pick for Smackdown was Rob Van Dam. Van Dam managed to effect a fairly smooth transition to the blue brand, and his WWE profile didn’t really change to how he had been used on RAW.

An upper mid card player, Van Dam competed in his usual spot, becoming involved in the US title scene over the summer, and maintaining a strong profile including a Tag Title reign with Rey Mysterio; a team that could have done more in my opinion, had Van Dam not been taken off Smackdown following a knee injury (his only serious physical setback in the WWE) in late 2004.

He would go on to compete on RAW and ECW, showing that sometimes being drafted can have no effect on the career of a wrestler, as long as they have the talents to remain over and continually receive a push.

(viii) Taijiri was RAW’s fourth pick. Many questioned the logic of taking this talented cruiserweight out of his comfort zone on Smackdown, and while he initially had a good role in the ‘faces against Evolution’ feud over the Summer of 2004, he soon became lost in the comparative land of giants that was RAW, enjoying a brief renaissance in early 2005 in a Title winning team with William Regal, and a prolific role in the first One Night Stand PPV, before being released in the Winter of 2005.

Outside of the Cruiserweight Division, Taijiri was neglected in on a programme that really had no space for him, in this case the draft was a failure for someone who could have accomplished much more.

(ix) In the long run, Smackdown’s pick of Teddy Long would surprisingly have one of the biggest impacts on the WWE as a whole.

Although Long had most recently been featured as the manager of no hoper Rodney Mack, and would, in the short term, be equally stuck in the role of manager to perennial loser Mark Jindrak, he would eventually go on to become a well liked and respected General Manager of the brand.

Although he has now swapped brands to ECW, Long portrays a likeable character that has had remarkable longevity in the youth culture obsessed WWE. In this case the draft proved a success, although it is probable that Long’s eventual role wasn’t even thought of at the time.

(x) Edge’s draft to RAW was another pick that would have long term implications on the landscape of the WWE.

While Edge’s face character initially stalled with an indifferent match with Kane at the Backlash PPV, he went on to have a good run with Randy Orton over the Summer, which elevated both men and the IC belt.

His much needed heel turn in October 2004 provided WWE with a genuinely hateable heel character that did not go out of his way to get cheers off the audience; one that would eventually become a staple of the WWE main event scene.

Edge’s change of scenery doubtlessly ending up recharging a tired character, and would go on to provide a boost to his career, without a doubt the most successful story to come out the first draft.

(xi) Smackdown’s final draft pick was Spike Dudley. While he had no great long term impact, his career progression was the almost exact opposite of the RAW-bound Tajiri.

Free from being the heavyweight’s punching bag, Spike was able to become a staple of the Cruiserweight Division, executing a surprisingly effective heel turn, and managing a Title reign, before inevitably being released along with his brother in the post ONS job cuts in 2005.

Although not a long term success story, Spike’s Smackdown tenure shows what can be achieved when wrestler’s are transferred into an environment that allows them to show their full range of skills, making this draft pick a minor triumph.

(xii) The concluding RAW pick ended up being then-Smackdown General Manager Paul Heyman. This was in reality a political ploy to remove Heyman from his prolific (and entertaining) role, and Heyman never appeared on RAW.

He actually ended up back on Smackdown later in the year, managing John Heidenreich in a forgettable run, before becoming the head booker of OVW, and coming back as the leader of the revived ECW.

The 2004 WWE draft ended Heyman’s entertaining GM character, although it proved meaningless even in the short term, as he was soon back on Smackdown in a revised role.

As a whole, the 2004 draft was certainly effective in shaking up the WWE in the short term, providing immediate boosts for Edge and Shelton Benjamin, while shaking up the on screen power structure to some extent.

Wrestlers such as Renee Dupree, Spike Dudley and Mark Jindrak were given a fresh chance in a new environment, while it seems that others, such as Nidia, Rhino and Tajiri were simply set up to fail. Finally, Rob Van Dam proved that an over character can survive a brand switch and continue to flourish in any environment.

The volatile nature of the WWE is again also highlighted, in that of twelve original participants, only four remain. Next week’s column will look at the 2005 draftees in similar detail.

I’m relatively new to the column writing field, and am eager for any feedback: please send any to james@wwepreview.com. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed the column!