The WWE Draft is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw and SmackDown brands (2002–2011; 2016–present) when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand NXT (2016–present) are also eligible to be drafted to Raw and SmackDown. Two of WWE's former brands, ECW (2006–2009) and 205 Live (2019), have also taken part in the draft during the promotion's various brand split periods.
The draft was first used in 2002 when the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) introduced the brand split. It was initially called the WWF Draft Lottery but after the company's renaming from WWF to WWE two months after that original draft, it was rebranded the following year to WWE Draft Lottery (2004–2005), then WWE Brand Extension Draft (2006), and then simply WWE Draft (2007–2011). In 2011, WWE ended the original brand split.
With SmackDown moving to Tuesdays and to a live broadcast starting July 19, 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand split with a draft held that same episode. From 2017 until May 2019, the draft was rebranded as the Superstar Shake-up; instead of a traditional draft, wrestlers were traded or moved between the brands with decisions made behind the scenes. With SmackDowns move to Friday nights on FOX beginning October 4, 2019, a second draft for the year was scheduled to occur, reverting to its original name ("WWE Draft") and returning to a traditional draft format. A draft was not held in 2022, but it returned in 2023.
History Initial brand split In 2002, the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) introduced the brand extension, splitting its roster into two "brands", Raw and SmackDown, represented by the shows of the same name where their talent would exclusively perform. Only then Undisputed Champion Triple H and Women's Champion Jazz were ineligible to be drafted, as the holders of those titles defended them on both brands; the other champions, however, could be drafted.
The first half of the 2002 draft was televised live on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWF's flagship program, Monday Night Raw. The second half was conducted over the Internet on the WWF's website. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty wrestlers drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, onto their respective brands, Raw and SmackDown. The remaining wrestlers were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty wrestlers. During the draft, Raw drafted Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam and European Champion William Regal, while SmackDown drafted Tag Team Champions Billy and Chuck, Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri, and Hardcore Champion Maven, though the Tag Team Championship, renamed to World Tag Team Championship, and Hardcore Championship switched to Raw after the titles were won by Raw's The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) and Raven, respectively. Two months after the draft, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In July and August, respectively, the European and Hardcore titles were unified into the Intercontinental title. In September, the Undisputed Championship became exclusive to SmackDown and renamed to WWE Championship after reigning champion Brock Lesnar signed an exclusive deal with the brand. In response, Raw established the World Heavyweight Championship as the counterpart to the WWE Championship. The Women's Championship also became exclusive to Raw with no SmackDown counterpart. SmackDown then established the WWE Tag Team Championship as the counterpart to the World Tag Team Championship, and in July 2003, they revived the United States Championship as the counterpart to the Intercontinental title.
The second draft took place in 2004 on Raw on Spike TV. Post-draft trades were revealed on WWE's website until midnight on March 22, 2004. There were twelve draft picks, with nineteen wrestlers overall switching between the promotion's two brands. During the draft lottery, the General manager of Raw, Eric Bischoff, and the General manager of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman, stood on opposite ends of the stage on the Raw set, where they drafted six wrestlers randomly via two machines. At the conclusion of the draft, the two GMs would then be allowed to trade anyone on the roster until Midnight EST, which was later extended until Tuesday night after Heyman resigned. Every on-screen WWE employee was eligible to be drafted, including injured wrestlers, commentators, champions, and general managers.
The 2005 draft took place on WWE's two television programs, Raw, which aired on Spike TV, and SmackDown!, which aired on UPN. Post-draft trades were announced on WWE's website. The draft picks were made each Monday on Raw and each Thursday on SmackDown! from June 6 to June 30. Each pick was drafted at random. Like the previous year, all on-screen WWE personnel were eligible to be drafted. There were ten draft picks and an eleven-person trade conducted between the promotion's two brands; twenty-two wrestlers were drafted and traded overall. During the draft, WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to Raw and kept his championship. General Manager Theodore Long considered creating a new SmackDown world championship but the idea was abandoned when World Heavyweight Champion Batista was drafted to SmackDown, bringing the title with him.
Addition of ECW There was no Raw and SmackDown draft in 2006, however, ECW became a third brand. ECW representative Paul Heyman received two total draft picks from the existing SmackDown and Raw rosters for the newly created ECW brand, which shortly after revived the ECW World Heavyweight Championship as the brand's only title.
The first half of the 2007 draft was televised live on Raw on USA Network, while the second half, the supplemental draft, was conducted on June 17, 2007, on WWE's website for four hours as draft picks were revealed at twenty-minute intervals. There were twenty-three draft picks, with twenty-seven wrestlers drafted overall, between the promotion's three brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. For the televised half of the draft, each brand's draft pick was determined by nine matches, one being a battle royal for two draft picks, where wrestlers from their respective brands wrestled to earn a draft pick. The supplemental draft, however, was conducted randomly, with each brand receiving random draft selections. Raw and SmackDown! received five random draft picks, while ECW received three random draft picks. The televised draft picks were randomly selected by a computer that was shown on the Raw titantron. Every WWE wrestler from Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW was eligible to be drafted. ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley was stripped of the title after being drafted to Raw. The Cruiserweight Championship was also retired later that year.
During the 2008 draft, broadcast live on Raw, United States Champion Matt Hardy was drafted to ECW, while WWE Champion Triple H was drafted to SmackDown, and ECW Champion Kane was drafted to Raw. The World Heavyweight Championship moved to Raw after Raw's CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Edge to win the title on an episode of Raw, the ECW Championship moved back to ECW after ECW's Mark Henry won the title at Night of Champions, and the United States Championship moved back to SmackDown after SmackDown's Shelton Benjamin defeated Hardy to win the title. Every on-screen WWE employee was eligible to be drafted. Similar to the 2007 draft, wrestlers from each brand competed in matches to win a random draft pick for their brand. Draft picks were kayfabe selected at random via a computer that was shown on the titantron. Like the previous year, a supplemental draft took place on June 25, in which draft selections were randomly conducted. Also in 2008, SmackDown established the WWE Divas Championship as the counterpart to the Women's Championship on Raw.
The 2009 draft took place over two days: the first day was televised live on the April 13 episode of Raw from Atlanta, Georgia, while the supplemental draft was held on April 13 on WWE's website. 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. Overall, 36 draft selections were made. Twelve selections were made on television, six 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). Just prior to the 2009 draft at WrestleMania XXV, The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) unified the World Tag Team and WWE Tag Team Championships as the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, though the titles remained independently active. Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns, Divas Champion Maryse, United States Champion MVP, and WWE Champion Triple H were drafted to Raw, while Women's Champion Melina and Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio were drafted to SmackDown. The World Heavyweight Championship moved to SmackDown after SmackDown's Edge defeated John Cena for the title at Backlash.
Disbanding of ECW and the brand split
The 2010 draft took place over two days: the first day was televised live on April 26 on Raw at Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia, and the second part, the supplemental draft, was held on April 27 on WWE's website. As the ECW brand had been disbanded two months earlier, deactivating the ECW Championship along with it, the draft was once again only between Raw and SmackDown. Unified WWE Tag Team Champions The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith) were drafted to Raw. Later that year, the World Tag Team Championship was formally decommissioned in favor of continuing the WWE Tag Team Championship, which dropped "Unified" from its name, and the Women's and Divas Championships were unified, retiring the Women's title and continuing the Divas title, which briefly became known as the Unified WWE Divas Championship. The WWE Tag Team Championship and Divas Championship both became unbranded, allowing the holders to defend the titles on both shows.
During the 2011 draft, United States Champion Sheamus was drafted to SmackDown, however, he lost to the title to Raw's Kofi Kingston the following month, moving the title back to Raw. The draft aired live on Raw, for two hours in Raleigh, North Carolina from the RBC Center. As a standard for previous drafts, most on-air personnel were eligible to be drafted. A continuation of the draft took place on WWE's official website at 12:00pm Eastern Time on the following afternoon. SmackDown received 16 additional members to its roster while Raw received 13. For the first time in draft history, two of the draft picks consisted of the same wrestler (John Cena) being selected to SmackDown with the first pick and back to Raw with the last televised pick. This was the last draft of the first brand split as WWE ended the brand split in August 2011, with all on-screen personnel appearing on both shows. Also, earlier in April that year, WWE ceased using its full name with the "WWE" abbreviation becoming an orphaned initialism.
In early 2012, WWE established a developmental brand called NXT with its own set of championships. The following year in December, the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship were unified, retiring the World Heavyweight Championship and continuing the WWE Championship, which became known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship until mid-2016, when it was renamed back to WWE Championship. The Divas Championship was also retired in early 2016 and replaced by a new WWE Women's Championship.
Second brand split