SmackDown

June 30, 2005

Anaheim, CA

Arrowhead Pond

The 2005 WWE Draft was my favorite iteration of the draft. It was also consequential for the destinies of WWE's two top babyfaces, John Cena and Batista.

After the first week, SmackDown found itself without a world champion, as WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to Raw. To fill the void, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long announced a new SmackDown Championship. The inaugural champion would be crowned in a six-man elimination match with JBL, Chris Benoit, Booker T, Muhammad Hassan, Big Show, and Undertaker. Big Show was drafted to Raw the prior Monday, so Long announced he would be replaced by SmackDown's newest acquisition, Christian.

This match is more than 30 minutes long. Undertaker and Hassan are the first to go, with Taker bashing Hassan with a chair, resulting in a disqualification. Hassan flees to the back to sell the injuries, but also to protect him from a loss. The rumor mill at the time was Hassan was being prepped for a title shot at SummerSlam (keep in mind he had been on the main roster for six months). Of course, that would all go up in flames in short order.

Benoit and Booker have a good sequence, with JBL eliminating Benoit after capitalizing on Booker's work. Christian surprised Booker with a roll-up, and then Christian was smashed by JBL's Clothesline from Hell, giving JBL the championship. That is until GM Long came to the ring and announced JBL would instead be the number one contender to SmackDown's final draft pick, World Heavyweight Champion Batista.

Switching Cena and Batista had a lasting effect on their respective careers. For most of 2005, Batista was the bigger star. He got the Royal Rumble win, the more memorable crowning moment at WrestleMania 21, and beat Triple H three consecutive times. But Cena was seven years younger, a better talker, and had the higher ceiling. I don't think that this was the sole determining factor on how both guys ended up, but it was a sign as to who WWE thought the bigger star would turn out to be.

Eddie Guerrero lost to Rey Mysterio the week prior to this show, his third loss to Mysterio in 2005. He decided to take the feud to an even more personal level, threatening Mysterio with revealing a "secret," and he showed a video where he visited Dominik Mysterio's daycare. This would turn out to be Dominik's villain origin story and set him on the path to be the hardened criminal we see today.

I think this is an easily forgotten show, but it proved to have ramifications for years to come.

Other matches on this show:

• WWE Cruiserweight Champion Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero

• Melina vs. Michelle McCool

You can find the B-Show Stories archive here.