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The 2019 WWE draft will begin on the October 11 episode of SmackDown and continue on the October 14 episode of RAW.
Between April 2017 and April 2019, WWE held three Superstar Shake-Ups after WrestleMania events, with the most recent Shake-Up featuring AJ Styles’ move to RAW and Roman Reigns’ move to SmackDown.
Unlike those Shake-Ups, the upcoming draft will involve the entire roster, with Superstars being ranked from most wanted to least wanted.
Many fans have been speculating about who could be the #1 draft pick in 2019, with Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins among the top contenders.
In this article, let’s take a look back at all eight #1 draft picks over the last 17 years to find out what happened to those Superstars.
#8 The Rock
When was The Rock drafted at #1?
In 2002, Ric Flair had storyline control of RAW, which meant he was responsible for selecting which Superstars represented the red brand, while Vince McMahon oversaw everything on SmackDown.
Dozens of WWE Superstars gathered together in the backstage area as Flair and McMahon began to make their draft picks, and it was revealed that the villainous WWE Chairman had chosen The Rock – still a frequent in-ring competitor at the time – as his top name on SmackDown.
The Undertaker was the first man to be drafted to RAW that year, while Kurt Angle moved to SmackDown as the third overall pick.
Where is The Rock in 2019?
Where isn’t The Rock in 2019?! Just two years after the inaugural draft, “The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment” permanently swapped the squared circle for the silver screen and began to make a name for himself in Hollywood.
In 2019, hardly a week goes by without the name ‘The Rock’ (or ‘Dwayne Johnson’) appearing in some kind of viral news story.
This week, he has been back in the WWE headlines after featuring in a segment with Becky Lynch and Baron Corbin on the first episode of SmackDown on FOX.
#7 Rene Dupree
When was Rene Dupree drafted at #1?
Unlike the 2002 draft, which saw Ric Flair and Vince McMahon rank Superstars from most wanted to least wanted, the 2004 draft had a different format, with RAW GM Eric Bischoff and SmackDown GM Paul Heyman drawing names at random to find out who would be on their brands for the foreseeable future.
La Resistance member Rene Dupree, a 20-year-old up-and-comer at the time, was the first name to be drawn by Heyman, while Shelton Benjamin was the first person to be drafted to RAW.
Most fans will remember Dupree for his success early on in his career, as he burst onto the WWE scene as a 19-year-old in 2003 and quickly won the World Tag Team Championship with Sylvain Grenier, making him the youngest holder of a title in WWE history (the record is now held by Nicholas).
Where is Rene Dupree in 2019?
After leaving WWE in 2007, Rene Dupree began working for various wrestling promotions including Hustle, All Japan Wrestling and Wrestle-1.
Now aged 35, the Canadian has competed in lots of matches for Japanese company Wrestle-1 over the last month, with his latest match coming on October 7 in a six-man tag team defeat against Kaz Hayashi, Manabu Soya & Shuji Kondo.
#6 John Cena
When was John Cena drafted at #1?
John Cena is the only Superstar in WWE history to be the #1 draft pick on more than one occasion.
In 2005, “Big Match John” was chosen as Eric Bischoff’s first pick to move to RAW in the draft, which meant the WWE Championship moved back to the red brand for the first time since it became exclusive to SmackDown in the 2002 draft.
In 2011, history repeated itself when Cena was chosen as the first pick in the draft for the second time in his career. However, his return to SmackDown did not last for very long, as he was drafted back to RAW at the end of the night.
Where is John Cena in 2019?
Like The Rock, John Cena is everywhere in 2019. His last WWE match came in January when he took part in a Fatal 4-Way match on RAW ahead of the Royal Rumble – an event he was originally advertised for before pulling out on the day of the show.
Since then, the 16-time World Champion has been busy filming movies, but he recently said he will never walk away from WWE and he still plans to make sporadic appearances.
#5 The Great Khali
When was The Great Khali drafted at #1?
WWE introduced a new approach to the draft in 2007 when Superstars from opposing shows faced each other in singles matches, with the winner’s brand gaining a Superstar from the loser’s brand.
SmackDown’s Edge defeated RAW’s John Cena in the first match on the night of the draft, meaning The Great Khali moved to SmackDown as the first pick in that year’s roster changes.
One month later, Edge was forced to relinquish the World Heavyweight Championship after sustaining a torn pectoral muscle injury, and The Great Khali took advantage by outlasting everybody in a 20-man Battle Royal to win the title on an episode of SmackDown.
Where is The Great Khali in 2019?
The Great Khali made a surprise appearance in the Punjabi Prison match at Battleground 2017 to help Jinder Mahal retain the WWE Championship against Randy Orton, while he also participated in the 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia in 2018.
Nowadays, the former World Heavyweight Champion runs the CWE (Continental Wrestling Entertainment) wrestling promotion in India.
The company’s YouTube channel, which boasts an impressive 2.26 million subscribers, often shows footage of Khali training with up-and-coming wrestlers.
#4 Rey Mysterio
When was Rey Mysterio drafted at #1?
Triple H defeated Mark Henry in the first match of the 2008 draft, meaning RAW was able to select Rey Mysterio as the brand’s first draft pick.
The high-flyer shook hands with Triple H and teased a future match against “The Game” by staring at his WWE Championship. However, a dream match never came to fruition as HHH moved across to SmackDown later in the night.
To this day, the former WWE Champions have still never met in a one-on-one match.
Where is Rey Mysterio in 2019?
Since returning to WWE in October 2018, Rey Mysterio has been involved in rivalries with Superstars including Randy Orton, Samoa Joe and Andrade.
It looked as though he was going to challenge Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship on the season premiere of RAW on September 30, but Brock Lesnar shockingly attacked both Mysterio and his son Dominik in a segment at the start of the episode.
Mysterio has now introduced Cain Velasquez to WWE as Lesnar’s new challenger for the WWE Championship, so we can expect to see a lot more from the former United States Champion over the next few weeks.
#3 MVP
When was MVP drafted at #1?
Just like previous years, several one-on-one matches between Superstars from rival brands took place on a 2009 episode of RAW to determine which show would be allowed to draft the next Superstar.
RAW’s Rey Mysterio, the #1 pick from 2008, defeated ECW’s Evan Bourne in the first match of the draft, meaning the red brand was able to recruit United States Champion MVP.
Later in the night, the other secondary title in WWE – the Intercontinental Championship – moved across to SmackDown when Rey Mysterio was drafted to the blue brand.
Where is MVP in 2019?
After making a one-off return to WWE on the 25th anniversary episode of RAW in January 2018, MVP has appeared for companies including Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling in 2019, while he has also competed in matches for Alberto Del Rio’s new promotion, Nacion Lucha Libre.
The former United States Champion told Chris Van Vliet in a 2018 interview that he will only return to WWE when CM Punk does the same – implying that it will never happen – but neither of those returns are too far-fetched when you look at the rest of the wrestling landscape in 2019!
#2 Kelly Kelly
When was Kelly Kelly drafted at #1?
WWE continued to use the same results-based approach when it came to draft picks in 2010, with the only difference being that the first match of the draft was a women’s tag team encounter between SmackDown’s Layla & Michelle McCool and RAW’s Maryse & Eve Torres, which meant the first draft pick had to be a female Superstar.
As the SmackDown duo won the match, Kelly Kelly was drafted to the blue brand, meaning she was the first – and, as of the time of writing, only – woman to be the first pick in a draft.
That could change, of course, if the likes of Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair are chosen in the #1 spot in 2019.
Where is Kelly Kelly in 2019?
WWE recently featured Kelly Kelly in a ‘Where Are They Now?’ episode on the WWE Network.
The 32-year-old regularly signs autographs and takes pictures with fans at meet-and-greets and wrestling conventions, while she has not ruled out returning to WWE one day.
Outside of wrestling, the former Divas Champion is a model and social media influencer, and she also appeared on 28 episodes of WAGS LA between 2015-2017.
#1 Seth Rollins
When was Seth Rollins drafted at #1?
After a five-year break, the draft returned in 2016 when WWE decided to separate the rosters and introduce authority figures for RAW (Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley) and SmackDown (Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan).
As RAW had the first pick, Stephanie chose Seth Rollins – a fellow member of The Authority at the time – as the brand’s #1 choice.
The former Shield member would go on to be granted an opportunity to win the newly introduced Universal Championship in a one-on-one match against Finn Balor one month later at SummerSlam. However, he was unable to pick up the victory and had to wait until April 2019 to finally win the title from Brock Lesnar.
Where is Seth Rollins in 2019?
Regardless of his draft position in 2019, Seth Rollins is even more important to WWE now than he was in 2016.
The current Universal Champion will represent RAW by facing SmackDown’s Roman Reigns in the first match of the 2019 draft on October 11, with the winner’s brand being given the choice of first pick.
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