Power ranking every No. 1 pick in WWE draft history

Regardless of how you might feel about the rest of the draft, one thing's for sure: Raw got it right with the No. 1 overall pick. Seth Rollins is a perfect choice to lead WWE's flagship program into its New Era. But is he the best No. pick in WWE draft history?

Chances are you know about the original brand extension draft in 2002, and you're obviously familiar with the 2016 draft that took place on Tuesday night. That's just the beginning, however. In the early 2000s, WWE caught draft fever, reshuffling the roster once a year between 2004 and 2010. In all, there have been 10 WWE drafts, counting Tuesday's festivities.

The No. 1 picks in each of those drafts have varied widely -- from guys who won the heavyweight championship multiple times and became global icons to ... well, to the Great Khali.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeep. That wasn't a joke in the introduction. In 2007, with WWE trying to juggle Raw, Smackdown, and a nascent ECW brand, the powers that be decided the Great Khali was the right choice with the No. 1 pick.

On the left: Khali. On the right: Kane.

Khali's claim to fame was his alleged status as the eighth tallest superstar in professional wrestling history. And that's about all he brought to the table. Yet for some reason, WWE saw fit to put Khali in the title hunt, having him feud with John Cena and Rey Mysterio during one of the darkest eras in modern wrestling history. The less we speak about this, the better. Just remember that this all happened once upon a time. Remembering our history is the only way to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

The Women's Division is a crucial part of WWE programming these days. It has some of the best wrestling and storylines in the business. Still, we can't abide Kelly Kelly's selection as the first pick in 2010. She was an outstanding performer, of course, and we give WWE credit for fighting for equality between the genders.

But Kelly went ahead of the likes of Edge, Christian, Kofi Kingston and Chris Jericho, any of whom would have been a great No. 1 pick in a year when WWE suffered from a lack of roster depth. On the other hand, we completely approve of Kelly being selected ahead of the Big Show.

Hahahahaha, what? Why? Seriously, was wrestling that desperate for a superstar in 2004?

Given that not one, but two managers (Teddy Long and Paul Heyman) went in the top 12 picks, yeah, they probably were that desperate. But Duprée clearly wasn't the answer for Smackdown. His Smackdown debut came against Billy Kidman, for goodness' sake. Billy. Kidman. On the bright side, Duprée did become the youngest superstar to win a championship in WWE, when he claimed the tag team titles with Kenzo Suzuki later in 2004.

On the flip side, Duprée was once sacrificed in the name of the Undertaker as a warning to Randy Orton, and he was out of WWE by 2007. That's not a great look for a former No. 1 pick.

Here's everything you need to know about MVP as the No. 1 pick in 2009's supplemental draft: By 2010, he was out of WWE. At least he won a US Championship before he was out the door, though.

Next!

Finally, we're to the wrestlers who have actually mattered in WWE history. Mysterio was a fairly inspired pick in 2008. He'd already won the heavyweight championship as part of the WWE version of his "Giant Killer" gimmick, and taking him No. 1 in the draft was a nice way to bring Mysterio back after he'd missed nearly six months due to injury.

The only real quibble with Mysterio as the first pick in 2008 was that Raw could have drafted CM Punk. Still, Mysterio remained a roster mainstay for the next five years or so, before injuries forced him out of WWE.

Spoiler alert: Cena shows up on this list once more before it's all said and done. 

By 2005, Cena was obviously on the path to superstardom in WWE. He'd just won his first heavyweight championship at WrestleMania a few months prior, and his feud with JBL was the biggest thing going at the time. After the draft, Cena was the man selected to square off with Eric Bischoff on Raw, which led to an odd feud with Chris Jericho. While Cena was allegedly the face in that rivalry, his old "Dr. of Thuganomics" shtick was wearing thin with fans, who rained boos on the champion every time he stepped into the ring.

Cena's evolved beyond that gimmick, and even the smarks have more or less come around on him. But when people talk about hating John Cena, they're talking about the 2005 version.

The 2006 draft was unique in WWE's brand extension history. With the decision to revive ECW as its own brand, superstars were selected from the Raw and Smackdown rosters to jump ship to the resurrected promotion.

RVD was the natural choice to bring ECW back, and he was followed by Kurt Angle, Tazz (who worked almost exclusively as a commentator) and Big Show. Unfortunately, the more traditional wrestlers on the roster, such as Big Show and Batista, caused old-school ECW fans to give up on the product rather quickly. By 2010, ECW was once again off the air.

Just days before Cena would win the heavyweight championship for an eighth time, he was drafted back to Smackdown. And in the following months, Cena helped re-ignite WWE's popularity with his feud against the Rock and later against Brock Lesnar. After a few years wandering through the wilderness, WWE finally had the kind of star power it needed in the main event scene.

As evidence, look no further than the history of WWE drafts. Until Tuesday night, 2011 was the last time WWE held a draft. By July, Triple H announced that the brand extension was over.

The future of the WWE is quickly becoming its present.

What more can you say about Rollins? He's great on the mic. He's outstanding in the ring. He stays clean (so far). He can work with anyone. He's willing to put other guys over -- yet he's clearly a heavyweight champion, regardless of whether he has the strap or not.

WWE often avoids what the internet sees as the obvious answer. This time, however, Rollins as the No. 1 pick made too much sense. Now, if only they give him his title back at Battleground on Sunday ...

There's one argument against Rock being the best No. 1 pick in WWE history, and that's what came after the selection. 

His time in WWE was coming to a close when the 2002 draft rolled around in March. He would win the title once again in July, but after dropping it to Brock Lesnar later that summer, Rock went on a sabbatical to concentrate on his movie career. He returned briefly in 2003 to take on Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania.

From there, however, his time in the ring was intermittent at best. Reuniting with Mick Foley in 2004 was a lot of fun, but that was about all we got from the Rock for a while. And that's fine, honestly. Six months of the Rock is worth more than a full career of 99% of wrestling superstars who have ever lived.

Maybe there's an argument for taking Undertaker or Kurt Angle ahead of the Rock in 2002. But even with the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of his sporadic schedule, you don't pick against Dwayne Johnson. In fact, we'd be vote the Rock for President if we had the chance.