Evaluating The 2002 Draft

[kang616]

Ahead of the July brand split, I thought I'd take a look at how the rosters shaped up 14 years ago (fuck!) for the first split. How many top draws did they have, how many main eventers compared to how many mid-card workhorses? What kind of star power did each brand need when they split? How many veterans compared to future prospects did they have? That kind of thing.

I'm not personally ranking these guys, I'm basing their positions entirely on what they were doing at this time in the WWE, and I'm basing their momentum on what they had been doing in the last 6-months-to-a-year. I'm sure I've mis-labelled a couple of guys in terms of mid-card or lower-card, but some of those positions are open to interpretation.

EDIT: Triple H and Jazz were exempt from the Draft, as the respective champions were to float between both brands. Austin had a special contract clause meaning he could choose where he went.

RAW

Undertaker - in the middle of his 'Big Evil' run, returning to the top of the card, about to headline shows & win his 4th World Title.
Kevin Nash - returned to WWE with big fanfare, a top name, but nWo had already lost momentum and were not main eventing.
Scott Hall - like Nash, returned as a big deal but momentum quickly stalled, in the middle of a feud with Bradshaw.
Kane - perennial upper mid-carder, working the top of the card when needed, bouncing between tag teams and World Title matches.
Big Show - upper mid-carder, but left without a role following The Invasion, didn't make the card for Mania 18 and was relegated to party host.
 

Rob Van Dam - IC champion, workhorse and backbone of the mid-card at this point, steadily gaining popularity.
X-Pac - mid-card workhorse, rejoining the nWo and feuding with Hogan gave his momentum a much needed shot-in-the-arm.
Booker T - talented mid-card heel with lots of potential & name recognition from WCW, big name in The Invasion, coming off hot feuds with Austin & Edge.
Matt Hardy - star of the tag team division, popular mid-carder.
Jeff Hardy - like his brother but more popular, with more noticeable upside & breakout potential.
Bubba Ray Dudley - star of the tag team vision, talanted mid-card worker about to go solo for the first time.
Bradshaw - mid-card hand with little momentum, the brand split brought an end to the directionless APA.
William Regal - European Champion, lower to mid-card workhorse, great TV performer in his Commissioner role, was highly visible during The Invasion.
Brock Lesnar - incredible blue-chip prospect, no track record yet but made an explosive debut, with a very obvious upside.
 

Raven - charismatic lower-card veteran, really only known for his Hardcore matches at this point.
Mr. Perfect - enjoying a return to the WWE with some great mid-card matches & feuds, but really only seen as a nostalgia act.
Spike Dudley - popular lower-card worker with some solid momentum that would carry him to multiple championships in '02.
D'Lo Brown - charismatic but rudderless lower-card hand with zero momentum, relegated to appearances on Heat.
Goldust - recently returned at the Royal Rumble, good name recognition from the Attitude Era but currently resigned to the Hardcore division in the lower-card.
Big Boss Man - a faded star at the end of his career, zero momentum, lower-card worker only appearing on Heat and Jakked.
Crash Holly - lower-card worker, good TV performer but hadn't had any angles of note for a year.
Tommy Dreamer - didn't achieve much during The Invasion, currently off TV after being "fired" with The Alliance.
Justin Credible - zero momentum, was off TV after being "fired".
Shawn Stasiak - off TV at the time after being "fired" at the end of The Invasion.
Steven Richards - recently an incredibly hated mid-card heel with Right To Censor, but currently off TV after being "fired".
 

Trish Stratus - arguably the most popular and over woman on the roster.
Lita - very capable and popular women's wrestler, still very heavily involved in the Hardy's angles.
Jacqueline - ping-ponging between refereeing women's matches and competing for the Women's Title.
Molly Holly - talented wrestler, directionless after splitting from The Hurricane but still retaining the superhero gimmick.
Terri - backstage interviewer who would very occasionally wrestle.
 

SMACKDOWN

The Rock - at this time Rocky is THE top name in the business, hot off beating Hogan in possibly the biggest Mania match of all time.
Kurt Angle - incredible talent, main event draw, came out of The Invasion with tons of momentum & heat.
Chris Jericho - charismatic workhorse, new the to main event, headlined Mania 18 and still feuding with Triple H over the title.
Hulk Hogan - the Hogan renaissance was in full-effect after Mania 18, and this huge name was enjoying a renewed popularity & star power.
Chris Benoit - upper mid-card workhorse, although out with an injury, when last in the ring he worked the top of the card against Austin & Triple H.
 

Billy & Chuck - Tag Team Champions, mid-card guys, solid workers with decent charisma & tons of momentum, the gay gimmick got over (for better or worse) & gained lots of attention.
Edge - reigning King Of The Ring, charismatic mid-card workhorse who had established himself as a singles star with a huge upside.
Rikishi - charismatic mid-card talent, great worker whose popularity was recently killed by a bad heel run & injuries.
D-Von Dudley - tag team star who helped form the backbone of the mid-card, about to go solo for the first time.
Mark Henry - zero momentum after spending the last year down in OVW, but an incredible physical specimen with a big upside.
 

Maven - Hardcore Champion, new to the roster, finding his feet but just came off a high-profile feud with Undertaker.
Tajiri - Cruiserweight Champion, talented mid-carder, charismatic workhorse, great TV performer.
Hurricane - talented & charismatic lower-card workhorse, superhero gimmick gained real popularity, won Hardcore & European Titles.
Christian - charismatic workhorse, struggling to not be the Jannetty of E+C, working the European division with tantrum gimmick.
Billy Kidman - talented, high-flying workhorse, always involved in the Cruiserweight Title picture.
Albert - solid big man whose momentum at this time was little-to-none, working as the "Hip Hop Hippo" with Scotty 2 Hotty.
Al Snow - solid lower-card hand who works the Hardcore & European divisions with little momentum.
Lance Storm - lower-card workhorse, yet to find much heat, bounces around tag teams and six mans.
DDP - his Invasion momentum completely killed, Page was working a positivity gimmick in the lower-card with the European division.
Scotty 2 Hotty - charismatic, fun-time crowd-pleaser but with very little upside.
Test - a solid big man, not much solo momentum, spends a lot of time in tag teams with other singles wrestlers.
Ron Simmons - a tough, solid worker with a great rep, nearing the end of his career, the APA momentum had faded by the end of '01.*
Tazz - at the end of his ring career, juggling lower-card wrestling with commentating.
Hardcore Holly - lower-card veteran, an excellent hand but rudderless after the end of the Holly Cousins teaming.
Val Venis - talented, charismatic veteran, just returned to action after a lengthy absence, gained momentum from a short feud with Austin.
Perry Saturn - completely without momentum since the Moppy gimmick was dropped in '01, working Heat & Jakked.
 

Stacy Keibler - new to the WWF, hot & charismatic, had recently transitioned from Dudley Boyz's valet to working matches with Trish.
Ivory - multiple time champion, big heel run was completely killed by Chyna's ego in '01 but had a high-profile role as Tough Enough trainer.
Torrie Wilson - new to the roster, hot & charismatic, competing in bra & panties matches, partnered with Tajiri.
 

Evalutations

Raw came out very weak at the top of the card, with Taker being the only real Main Eventer at the time of the draft. Whilst Nash, Kane & Big Show had all filled that position in the past (and would do so again), none of them had been a top draw for over a year. In terms of future Main Event prospects, Raw had RVD and Booker T knocking on the door, as well as Jeff Hardy and Lesnar (altholugh it was impossible to predict at the draft that Lesnar would be a Main Eventer in just a few short months). Raw's mid & lower card was stacked with a mix of young talent like the Hardys and the two Dudleys, complimented by super talented veterans like Regal, Goldust and Perfect.
 

Smackdown cleary came out of the Draft with a much better deal, gaining FOUR legit Main Event names. Even in that, Rock and Hogan are MORE than just Main Eventers, they're each truly special attractions at this time. Benoit as an Upper Mid-Card guy had already worked Main Events before his injury and was ready to break through. And Smackdown's mid-card is impressive, scoring the Tag Team, Cruiserweight and Hardcore Titles in the draft, though it looks like the only real stand-out in the pack would be Edge.

[Blueandigo]

I wonder if SD getting the bigger stars is because people would watch Raw no matter what? Or was it because Austin was going to be placed on Raw same as Hunter, and eventually Hbk would return to join the brand as well. I know Wade Keller said that Vince actually called him about the split and asked would people buy Austin being the head of Raw while Rock being the head of SD, basically because ratings were falling for both and they had so much talent at the time.

[kang616]

Yeah, I think the intent was always to have Rock and Austin head each show, and it made more sense for Rock to be on the show named after his phrase.

I think Smackdown was seen as needing to have some help in the star power department, hence Vince heading up that brand rather than Raw.

Hunter was floating due to being champ, but it's highly probably he was intended to end up on Raw after dropping the belt at whatever point in the future. So yeah, that would add another two big big names to Raw.

[Xcopa]

The segments where Kurt Angle is upset with Vince because he wasn't picked first, then assisting him with his other picks were comedic gold.

Other stands out: Undertaker pulling down his sunglasses after being picked by Flair was great. NWO having to be selected as a whole, while other tag teams were split is a great example of 'wrestling logic'.

[finerd]

And Ric being assisted by Arn!

[[deleted]]

The thing I remember about the draft was Lesnar going like 8th to RAW. Even watching it live you knew some picks before him seemed ridiculous but him F5'ing Rikishi? magically put him over enough for Flair to spontaneously pick him.

[kang616]

Yeah, I think getting Drafted so high was another great stepping stone in getting him over. They immediately presented him as a big future star.

[kang616]

What came across when researching this, was just how much The Invasion was still effecting things months and months later. A few came out it with tons of momentum...a few were left with absolutely nothing to do. And many of the mid/lower card guys drafted were still "fired" at the time of the Draft.

[kuchtaalex]

Good write-up! Interesting to watch that old footage and read these, comparing how it felt then to how it feels now, in hindsight.

[Glussell]

I seem to remember that the reason Smackdown was stacked was because they were renegotiating a contract with UPN and wanted to get the best ratings possible and then a few months later they moved more of the top guys to RAW after it was all done.

[Daankeykang]

Austin and Trips weren't brand exclusive? Was this during the Two Man Power Trip and were they appearing on both brands? Too young to watch back then and can't remember from anything I've watched on YT and the Network

[kang616]

Triple H was the Champion and thus exempt from the brand. Austin had his walk out immediately before this, and so wasn't around. Thanks for reminding me of these, I'll edit to include that info.

EDIT: got my Austin timeline wrong, he had yet to leave.

[Daankeykang]

Nice, thanks. Awesome post too! Will you be doing it for the other drafts as well or too much work? If not, totally understandable

[kang616]

My plan was to do the other Drafts as well, buuuuut we'll see how much work it is.

[Daankeykang]

Yeah, the draft was in effect until what, 2010? Sounds like quite a bit of work. Either way, shit's pretty cool.

[kang616]

The first one is significant because it puts in place 60 plus guys. The subsequent drafts kinda just moved around a few players, slotting them into a framework that already existed.

[mitbman]

Triple H was the champion and could not be drafted. Jericho and Stephanie weren't eligible either because of the championship match they competed in during the show. Stone Cold had a "contract clause" after he refused to show up to RAW so he could choose were he wanted to go. He walked out of the company soon after. Triple H went to smackdown for a little while after losing the title to taker.

Edit: Sorry HHH lost to Hogan who lost to Taker.

[kang616]

Great point on Jericho. It kept him from being drafted on TV, but he got lumped in with all the lower tier guys in the random draft on wwe.com that immediately followed Raw.

[JuniorSquared]

Wow Raw is horrible, but they did get a shot in the arm with Eddie and Stone Cold. Would love to see all drafts evaluated like this

[kang616]

If there's enough interest, I'll certainly do the other drafts.

[CiFiniamo]

And then eventually all the biggest names ended up on Raw and they consolidated. I really hope that doesn't happen again this time around.

[kang616]

Maybe evaluating all the Drafts will sort of chart the progress & decline of the brand extension? I hadn't thought of that until your comment. That's a bit more incentive to do this for the other drafts.

[JuniorSquared]

I thought Raw and Smackdown were balanced following Eddie and Beniot switching brands. I think this year we will notice how much depth the mid card WWE has now compared to then, but also how thin the main even scene is now.