The 2009 WWE draft was the seventh Draft produced by WWE. The draft took place over two days: the first day was televised live for three hours on April 13; the second part, the "supplemental draft", was held on April 15. The first day was broadcast on WWE's program Raw on the USA Network in the United States, and the supplemental draft was available on the Internet, at WWE's official website. The televised portion was held in Atlanta, Georgia at Philips Arena. The 2009 WWE draft marked the third time that the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands were featured in the draft; wrestlers, general managers and commentators were all eligible to be drafted from the company's roster. For the televised half, matches determined which brand received a random draft selection. During the supplemental draft, brand and employee selections were made at random. Due to draft regulations, drafted champions took their titles to their new brands, and tag teams were not exempt from being selected. As a result, the draft impacted championships and split tag teams.
Overall, 36 draft selections were made, the most since the original draft in 2002 (which featured 57 selections). Twelve selections were made on television; six were made by Raw, five by SmackDown, and one by ECW. All of the draftees were wrestlers: 28 males (10 drafted on television) and 8 females (2 drafted on television). Raw obtained the first overall pick in the Draft by winning the first match, which resulted in the acquisition of United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter from SmackDown. Women's Champion Melina from Raw was SmackDown's first selection. ECW's sole televised draft pick was Vladimir Kozlov from SmackDown. Additionally, SmackDown's WWE Champion Triple H was drafted by Raw, resulting in SmackDown's loss of its prime championship. At the end of the televised portion, the final draft choices were Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio of Raw by SmackDown, replacing the loss of the U.S. Champion, and SmackDown's Divas Champion Maryse by Raw, replacing the loss of the Women's Champion.
In the supplemental draft, Mr. Kennedy, who was sidelined with a non-scripted shoulder injury, was drafted from SmackDown to Raw as the first (13th overall) supplemental pick. SmackDown obtained Shad Gaspard from Raw as their first (14th overall) supplemental selection. Ezekiel Jackson was ECW's first supplemental pick. Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) were drafted from SmackDown to Raw; this left SmackDown without a tag team championship (although the tag team champions can appear on all 3 brands). Brie Bella (from SmackDown to Raw), Charlie Haas (from Raw to SmackDown), and Hurricane Helms (from SmackDown to ECW) were the final supplemental picks.
Main Draft[]
- Raw - Montel Vontavious Porter
- Raw - Big Show
- SmackDown - Melina
- Raw - Matt Hardy
- Raw - Triple H
- SmackDown - CM Punk
- Raw - The Miz
- SmackDown - Kane
- SmackDown - Chris Jericho
- ECW - Vladimir Kozlov
- Raw - Maryse
- SmackDown - Rey Mysterio
Supplemental Draft[]
- Raw - Ken Kennedy
- SmackDown - Shad Gaspard
- SmackDown - Alicia Fox
- Raw - Primo
- SmackDown - Mike Knox
- ECW - Ezekiel Jackson
- Raw - Nikki Bella
- SmackDown - Candice Michelle
- ECW - Zack Ryder
- Raw - Kerwin White
- SmackDown - Ricky Ortiz
- SmackDown - Layla
- Raw - Hornswoggle
- ECW - DH Smith
- SmackDown - John Morrison
- Raw - Carlito
- ECW - Natalya
- Raw - Luke Gallows
- SmackDown - JTG
- SmackDown - Dolph Ziggler
- Raw - The Brian Kendrick
- SmackDown - Charlie Haas
- ECW - Hurricane Helms
- Raw - Brie Bella