The 2011 WWE Draft was the ninth annual draft held by WWE, scheduled to take place on April 25. With a core business of professional wrestling, the corporation holds a draft to exchange personnel assigned to one of its two television programs (Raw and SmackDown) that are (in terms of storyline) independent brands that represent WWE. The Draft will air live on the USA Network on Raw for two hours in Raleigh, North Carolina from the RBC Center. As a standard for previous drafts, most on–air personnel will be eligible to be drafted.
Background[]
The Brand Extension storyline was initiated in March 2002, in which WWE's Raw and SmackDown! television programs were made into brands (similar to conferences within a league) to which employees were assigned to; the ECW brand additionally involved between 2006 and 2009. Since its inception, annual drafts have followed, except for in 2003. As in previous drafts that followed the Brand Extension, the purpose of the 2011 WWE Draft will be to increase television ratings of WWE programming and refresh the rosters with new storylines for each brand. The 2011 incentive was confirmed by the RBC Center in April 2011, with WWE officially announcing it on the April 18th edition of Raw. A USA Network executive had also confirmed the event to occur via a press release on the same day of the WWE announcement.
Roster selections[]
Televised draft[]
Matches[]
| # | Match | Stipulation | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1
|
Raw: Evan Bourne, Daniel Bryan, Ted DiBiase, Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, Santino Marella, Mason Ryan, Sheamus, and Yoshi Tatsu vs. SmackDown: Brodus Clay, Kane, Chris Masters, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Big Show and The Corre (Wade Barrett, Ezekiel Jackson, and Heath Slater) | 20-man Battle royal for 1 draft pick | SmackDown: Big Show and Kingston |
| 2
|
Raw: Eve vs. SmackDown: Layla | Singles match for 1 draft pick | Raw: Eve |
| 3
|
Raw: King Sheamus vs. SmackDown: Kofi Kingston | Singles match for 1 draft pick | SmackDown: Kingston |
| 4
|
Raw: Dolph Ziggler vs. SmackDown: Randy Orton | Singles match for 2 draft picks | SmackDown: Orton |
| 5
|
Raw: Rey Mysterio vs. SmackDown: Wade Barrett | Singles match for 2 draft picks | Raw: Mysterio |
| 6
|
Raw: The Miz, CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio vs. SmackDown: John Cena, Christian, and Mark Henry | 6-man tag team match for 1 draft pick | Raw: The Miz, Punk, and Del Rio |
Selections[]
| Pick | Brand (to) | Employee | Role | Brand (from) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SmackDown | John Cena | Superstar | Raw |
| 2 | Raw | Rey Mysterio | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 3 | SmackDown | Randy Orton | Superstar | Raw |
| 4 | SmackDown | Mark Henry | Superstar | Raw |
| 5 | Smackdown | Sin Cara | Superstar | Raw |
| 6 | Raw | The Big Show | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 7 | Raw | Alberto Del Rio | Superstar | Smackdown |
| 8 | Raw | John Cena | Superstar | Smackdown |
Supplemental Draft[]
WWE announced that its supplemental draft would take place over WWE.com on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 beginning at 12:00pm Eastern time.
| Pick | Brand (to) | Employee | Role | Brand (from) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | SmackDown | Daniel Bryan | Superstar | Raw |
| 10 | Raw | Jack Swagger | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 11 | SmackDown | The Great Khali & Ranjin Singh | Superstar & Manager | Raw |
| 12 | SmackDown | Jimmy Uso |
Superstar | Raw |
| 13 | Raw | Kelly Kelly | Diva | SmackDown |
| 14 | Raw | JTG | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 15 | SmackDown | Alicia Fox | Diva | Raw |
| 16 | SmackDown | William Regal | Superstar | Raw |
| 17 | SmackDown | Yoshi Tatsu | Superstar | Raw |
| 18 | Raw | Drew McIntyre | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 19 | SmackDown | Natalya | Diva | Raw |
| 20 | Raw | Curt Hawkins | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 21 | Raw | Chris Masters | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 22 | SmackDown | Jey Uso | Superstar | Raw |
| 23 | Raw | Kofi Kingston | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 24 | SmackDown | Ted DiBiase | Superstar | Raw |
| 25 | SmackDown | Tyson Kidd | Superstar | Raw |
| 26 | SmackDown | Tamina | Diva | Raw |
| 27 | Raw | Tyler Reks | Superstar | SmackDown |
| 28 | SmackDown | Alex Riley | Superstar | Raw |
| 29 | Raw | Beth Phoenix | Diva | SmackDown |
| 30 | Smackdown | Sheamus | Superstar | Raw |
Response and aftermath[]
The changes made to the roster would not go into effect until the following week's episode of Raw in order to allow the already scheduled matches at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event to take place with the original brand designations. Various WWE Superstars and Divas posted updates on their Twitter accounts (as mentioned during the televised portion of the Draft) regarding their reactions to draft selections. Most of these regarded Raw losing top-tier talent to SmackDown, such as Cena and Orton switching brands. As a result of Sheamus holding the United States Championship, the title would be designated back to SmackDown (where the championship was debuted in 2003). SmackDown would now be the designated homes to three of the four brand assigned titles.
Additionally, one of the contenders for the vacant Heavyweight title (Del Rio) being drafted to Raw could mean that both of the major belts could end up in Raw after Extreme Rules.
See also[]
External links[]
| WWE Draft |
|---|
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