World Wrestling Entertainment: 2007 Draft Lottery Preview

World Wrestling Entertainment first introduced the "brand extension" concept in 2002 in response to a decline in ratings following the downfall of competition within the Pro Wrestling Industry. The original idea was to divide WWE's immense talent pool into two separate rosters that would compete on WWE's RAW and Smackdown television shows. With the innovative concept came another element which would be a first time ever in Pro Wrestling, and that was a "Draft" similar to those of other sports that would decide the future of many of WWE's Superstars. Now, five years after the first draft following the brand extension, the draft makes its return live on June 11^th, 2007 during a special three hour edition of RAW on USA.

The first draft in 2002 following the announcement of the brand split was one that saw Vince McMahon and Ric Flair, representing Smackdown and RAW respectively, make their draft picks until the entire roster was divided. Since then, however, the impact and significance of the draft has seemingly diminished within the WWE. In 2004, for example, only six superstars from each brand were traded over to the other brand and it wasn't as a result of a draft but rather a "random" lottery. In 2005, the draft went down in the same way that 2004's did, in that it was a "random" lottery, although this time the draft spanned over four editions of RAW and Smackdown in an attempt to increase ratings during that month. In 2006, the only thing that resembled a draft was Paul Heyman's choosing one superstar from RAW and another from Smackdown to help shape the WWE's third brand, ECW.

Now, five years after the historic WWE brand split, Shane McMahon has announced that a draft lottery will be held on a special three hour edition of RAW on June 11^th, 2007. What makes this draft lottery unique is that it will be the first time that three brands - RAW, Smackdown, and ECW - will be represented.