8 Puzzling Things About The Original WWE Draft

4. Maven Picked 19th Overall

Vince McMahon 2002 Draft
WWE

This one's a bit more defensible, because at least Maven was still riding on the wave of his ultimately-limited celebrity.

Five months after winning hearts and minds as the male Tough Enough winner, Maven and his sky-high dropkick enjoyed some success as a gallant rookie trying to make good on his potential. With the Tough Enough win, and mini-feud with Undertaker, fresh in everyone's mind, Maven was a decent enough choice for a pick.

The only problem was that the air completely rushed out of the balloon quickly afterward. Maven quickly dropped the Hardcore title to Raven, who then absconded to Raw with a belt that had only five months of life left. Maven's stardom crashed roughly around the same time Tough Enough Season Two winner Jackie Gayda woefully underperformed on Raw.

In hindsight, saying Maven justified a pick sounds absurd, but to be fair, it really wasn't. It's just harder to defend today.

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Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.