WWE Draft
The WWE Draft (also known as the WWE Draft Lottery) is an annual event held by World Wrestling Entertainment in which a few members of the RAW and SmackDown! rosters jump to the other brand.
History
In early 2002, the WWF (now WWE) announced they would be executing what they called a brand extension. The entire WWF roster would be split into two separate brands, each with their own exclusive show and champions: RAW and SmackDown! This was their "Plan B" in response to the failed "Invasion" storyline, which, should it have been successful, would have seen a revived World Championship Wrestling (and perhaps Extreme Championship Wrestling) promotion operating under the auspices of the WWF. Proponents of the brand extension claimed that this would allow mid-card talents more opportunity to move up the card, while critics claim that the roster split would lock most wrestlers to one show, which may be the one they do not watch regularly.This would begin with a "draft" to be held live on the March 25, 2002 edition of RAW in State College, Pennsylvania. It was set up like a normal sports draft, in that each brand would take turns selecting one wrestler from the WWF roster at a time (with exceptions made for tag teams and multiple-member factions). The RAW brand was represented by on-screen "owner" Ric Flair while SmackDown! was represented by on-screen owner, Mr. McMahon. It was decided that the WWF Undisputed Champion and the WWF Women's Champion would be eligible for competition on both brands, and should either title holder lose their title, they would become a talent exclusive to the show that they lost the belt.
In time, the storyline involving McMahon owning SmackDown! and Flair owning RAW was dropped, as McMahon was announced to be the 100% owner of both brands. He then assigned general managers to each brand. In a move that surprised many fans (mainly because of its poor execution with regards to the failed "Invasion" storyline), Eric Bischoff was named RAWs general manager, while Stephanie McMahon, the force behind ECW in the failed "Invasion" storyline, was made SmackDown!s GM. The special privileges of the WWE Undisputed Championship and the Women's Championship was also lost with the decision to make Undisputed Champion Brock Lesnar exclusive to SmackDown! and the declaration that the Women's Championship exclusive to RAW.
2004
The first formal draft where each show could take talent from the other show was in 2004. Prior to this, talent movement was largely made through trades (akin to those found in sports), a brief "open season" period that saw many talents being on both shows due to a more lucrative contract offered on the other show, or simply an unexplained retooling of a wrestler's character.In 2004, two years after the brand extension (and one day after WrestleMania XX), McMahon made the announcement that a second draft was to occur the next week on RAW (which he claimed was a natural compliment to "It all begins again", the catchphrase of WrestleMania XX). This draft would be susbstantially different from the one two years prior. This would be a draft via lottery, where the two general managers from each brand would randomly select six Superstars from the other roster (although, as part of the storyline, the randomness of the lottery is disputed). Anybody from either roster including champions, divas, announcers, even general managers, would be eligible for the draft. After the draft, there would be a midnight deadline set to allow the general managers to make any additional trades. After the draft was over, many fans expressed disapointment that there weren't more high ranking wreslters traded. The only notable trades were Triple H and SmackDown! GM Paul Heyman. Triple H was traded back to RAW in exchange for The Dudley Boyz and Booker T, and Paul Heyman quit immediately following being drafted.
2005
The next year, McMahon once again announced there would be a draft lottery between RAW and SmackDown!, but this year, rather than hold the event on a single night, it would be a month long draft. Each week for four weeks, RAW and SmackDown! will both get one draft lottery pick, to be announced on their show that week (other than the fourth week, in which each brand will be allowed two draws). Additional trading may continue until midnight of the last night (June 30, 2005). Arguably the biggest results of the draft were WWE Champion John Cena being drafted to compete on RAW, and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista being drafted to SmackDown!, effectively swapping the top titles of the two brands.Results
2002 WWF Brand Extension Draft
March 25, 2002, in State College, Pennsylvania.Mr. McMahon won a coin toss to determine who would choose first. The WWF Undisputed Champion (at the time, Triple H) and the WWF Women's Champion (at the time, Jazz) are eligible for competition on RAW and SmackDown! Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon are ineligible for the draft due to their match that night with Triple H for the WWF Undisputed Championship. Steve Austin was ineligible due to a "contract stimpulation" which allowed him to choose which brand he wished to compete on himself. The nWo were traded as a group. Billy & Chuck were traded as a group (due to their status as WWF Tag Team Champions).
The initial 20 picks (10 for each brand) were announced throughout the live RAW broadcast. The others were chosen via lottery and announced on WWF.com following the broadcast.
When Triple H lost the Undisputed Title to Hollywood Hogan, he became a SmackDown! exclusive wrestler. However, shortly after this, McMahon declared all contracts open for a short period of time. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker switched to SmackDown!, while Stacy Keibler, The Hurricane, Christian, Lance Storm and Test and Triple H switched to RAW.
Later still, The Big Show was traded to SmackDown! in a storyline dispute with Eric Bischoff. His trade was used to explain the sudden appearance of Raw wrestlers in need of a new start who had been "traded" to SmackDown! - such as D-Von Dudley and Maven.
Other wrestlers such as Rodney Mack, Linda Miles, John Bradshaw Layfield and Johnny Nitro have switched rosters with little or no explanation.
2004 WWE Draft Lottery
March 22, 2004, in Detroit.| SmackDown! (Paul Heyman) | RAW (Eric Bischoff) |
| René Duprée | Shelton Benjamin |
| Mark Jindrak | Nidia |
| Triple H | Rhyno |
| Rob Van Dam | Tajiri |
| Theodore Long | Edge |
| Spike Dudley | Paul Heyman |
Paul Heyman immediately quit after being drafted to RAW. The deadline for additional trades was extended to 9 PM the next day (due to SmackDown!'s lack of a general manager).
Additional trades after the draft:
- The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D'Von Dudley) and Booker T traded to SmackDown! in exchange for Triple H returning to RAW.
- Rico and Miss Jackie (engaged to Charlie Haas) traded to SmackDown! in exchange for A-Train and Chuck Palumbo.
2005 WWE Draft Lottery
June 6 - June 30, 2005| RAW (Eric Bischoff) | SmackDown! (Theodore Long) |
| John Cena (June 6) | Chris Benoit (June 7 - airs June 9) |
| Kurt Angle (June 13) | Randy Orton (June 14 - airs June 16) |
| Carlito (June 20) | Muhammad Hassan and Daivari (June 21 - airs June 23) |
| The Big Show and Rob Van Dam (June 27) | Christian and Batista (June 27 - airs June 30) |
On the last two days of the draft, each brand was allowed to draw two names. John Cena being drafted resulted in the WWE Championship, formerly a SmackDown! title, becoming exclusive to RAW, gave RAW both of WWE's top titles (the other being the World Heavyweight Championship). Batista being drafted resulted in the World Heavyweight Championship becoming SmackDown! exclusive. Muhammad Hassan and his manager Daivari were traded as a unit, giving SmackDown! six picks in reality.
The following people were traded at midnight on July 1 (agreed upon by general managers, not lottery):
| RAW (Eric Bischoff) | SmackDown! (Theodore Long) |
| Danny Basham | Simon Dean |
| René Duprée | Sylvain Grenier |
| Chavo Guerrero | Candice Michelle |
| Mark Jindrak | William Regal |
| Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko | Steven Richards |
However, Mark Jindrak, Kenzo and Hiroko Suzuki were all released a week later, never having debuted on RAW.
Due to negative publicity, UPN ordered WWE to keep the controversial Muhammad Hassan character off of their network. As a result, WWE dropped the Muhammad Hassan and Daivari characters and Mark Copani and Shawn Daivari were removed from the SmackDown! roster. Mark was sent back to WWE's Ohio Valley Wrestling only to be released a month later, and Shawn was sent to WWE's Deep South for repackaging.
On August 22, 2005 Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson were traded to RAW and Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler were traded to SmackDown!''