So no more WWE draft huh?

[CM Steel]

The WWE draft has been around on & off in the WWE for 7 years now. WWE chairman Vince McMahon's way of shaking up the roster of each brand. The very first WWE draft not so-long after Wrestlemania 20 was groundbreaking. You had Eric Bischoff as the general manager of RAW, and Paul Heyman as the GM of Smackdown. And that very first WWE draft concept was through a draft lottery.

A year later the GM's at that time of the brands just randomly selected superstars from each other's brands. And so on years later with the addition of the now defunct ECW brand the WWE drew another lottery-like draft but this time via computer on the RAW titantron. And as of this year with the brand extended coming to an end in the WWE, there will be no more WWE draft.

But wasn't the WWE draft more of a trade anyways? Just WWE superstars switching shows. But what if the WWE still had a WWE draft, but changed the landscape of it? Like instead of trading superstars from different shows, why not draft wrestler's from NXT formerly known as FCW? The draft limit is 6 wrestler's per show. So why not bring that concept up in the WWE draft? Because then it would be a legit Draft featuring rookies like with the NFL & NBA draft!

Good if not great things can come from this.

 

[GrandSword]

My memory is a bit shady, but wasn't the first draft Vince and Ric Flair?

In any case it is a shame the draft has been phased out. It was a pretty exciting concept except we sort of always knew that Cena will probably never leave Raw.

I think a Draft though is needed at the moment because Orton keeps showing up on Raw but isn't allowed to go for the WWE title...

I would love to see Raw and SD draft up the Ascension or Bray Wyatt or Kassius Ohno or whoever to the top roster, that would also be really fun to watch.

 

[CM Steel]

My memory is a bit shady, but wasn't the first draft Vince and Ric Flair?

In any case it is a shame the draft has been phased out. It was a pretty exciting concept except we sort of always knew that Cena will probably never leave Raw.

I think a Draft though is needed at the moment because Orton keeps showing up on Raw but isn't allowed to go for the WWE title...

I would love to see Raw and SD draft up the Ascension or Bray Wyatt or Kassius Ohno or whoever to the top roster, that would also be really fun to watch.

Outside of the pilot WWE draft of course. That one doesn't really count. You didn't see a WWE draft a year after that one right? When Brock Lesnar was the main man in the E in 2003 where Smackdown was his kingdom.

But yeah the names that you brought up are good. And me personally can't wait to see them on WWE TV in the near future!

 

[TheLoneCharles]

The first draft was Vince and Flair, my memory was fuzzy as well so I looked it up. Rock was Raws first pick and Undertaker was Smackdowns first pick.

Back then, the draft was need because the roster doubled in size and it made sense to "create their own competition". Problem was, the roster began thinning out and became worse when a 3rd ECW brand was added in 2006. No new major stars were being developed and becoming mainstays in the WWE until the 2009 new talent initiative.

It seemed perfect for awhile, ECW was building great young talent like Kofi, Sheamus, Swagger, and Ryder although he caught on later...and gave guys like Christian new life. As they were sent to the main shows ECW folded in favor of NXT.

Now, talent is being molded quite nicely in NXT and infused the WWE with a ton of young stars. Rather than throw a guy that is green as hell on Raw hoping he will stick, eliminating the draft has done something effective. Smackdown is the non-live show where many young talents go to see how well they perform for a taped show. If they can get over with the crowd and not botch a ton of moves forcing a reshoot, they are promoted to Raw.

Since the star already has gotten over on Smackdown, there is more than enough room to showcase themselves as a key player for a larger audience. Raw is clearly the main show, and I have noticed the trend that they stopped thrusting rookies into the Raw spotlight. Guys like Sandow and Ryback jump out as key examples of this.

 

[TempestH]

I think there needs to be a draft. Not a big episode around it, but just quietly re-assigning people to the shows they appear on more often. Like Daniel Bryan is technically a SmackDown guy but has been appearing on RAW more often for the past few months. The same thing with Ryback, Sandow, and Brodus Clay. If they're going to be on RAW more often, then officially classify them as RAW Superstars.

Dolph Ziggler has the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank briefcase, and should be officially moved to SmackDown at some point. He already travels with the SmackDown crew for House Shows.

There shouldn't be two World Titles if there is no brand split. Personally, I think even WITH a brand split, there should be only one title. The WWE Champion should be the "champion of the WWE", not just the champion of one show.

They have a decent enough roster to maintain two brands, but they aren't utilizing everyone to their fullest. It seems like RAW and SmackDown center around the same select few people.

 

[Teddy Irving]

The first draft that WWE ever did was between Ric Flair and Vince McMahon, it was done after the whole invasion angle and after Flair had bought Shane and Steph's stock in WWE giving him equal control to Vince.
TheLoneCharles is nearly 100% correct with what happened Rock was the first pick, by Vince, and Undertaker was the first pick, by Flair. The only incorrect part was that Rock went to SD! and Undertaker to Raw.

The original idea behind the draft was to build up each brand as strong as possible as they would be competing against each other (storyline wise). That was the idea of the draft and at the time it was a great one it was interesting and the two shows had no crossover other than the Champion.

The fact that there is no barrier between the wrestlers moving between the brands week in week out eliminates the need for the draft as they will be appearing on both either way. The only difference is which world title they can compete for (I don't think there should be 2 but that's a different thread), which doesn't really make much sense if there is no brand extension why shouldn't you be able to challenge for whichever title you want. (or are you and WWE just don't play it up?)

As for the idea of drafting people up from NXT to the main shows. It is not a bad idea and when the brand extension existed it could have worked well and been a great way of the GM's 1 uping each other, eg look how successful my draft pick was where as yours is on a losing streak etc.
The only problem with it now is that it would be irrelevant which show they were drafted to as they would be able to appear on both anyway and as such the draft process is negated and they could just be brought up to the main roster as being 'ready' for the big leagues.

 

[rge2010]

I am one of the few who enjoyed the brand extension, although it is pretty much dead now. Even WWE.com doesn't list superstars as Raw or Smackdown anymore. Although Booker T claimed 'Sheamus' as his champion this past week on Raw.

I would love WWE to go back to it and stick to it. Make it feel really special when a Smackdown Superstar appears on Raw and vice versa. Treat them like they are two different companies and bring back 'Bragging Rights' or have a showdown at Survivor Series. The draft was also great. Really enjoyed that time of year when new fueds were born!

If I had my way it would be:

Raw - WWE Title, IC Title, Divas Title & Tag Titles (both shows)
Smackdown - World Title, US Title, Cruiserweight Title & Tag Titles (both shows)

I would build a really good Cruiserweight division on Smackdown based around Sin Cara, Rey, Bryan, Kidd, Gabriel etc.

 

[Ethelion]

So no more WWE Draft huh?

First of all guys, Mack_Swagger already told GrandSword that he already knew that the first WWE Draft saw Mr. McMahon and Ric Flair as the GMs. Just saying.

Anyway yeah, it's disappointing that the WWE Draft isn't being used, at least for this year. We might as well say that the "WWE Brand Extension" is dead and we might as well do away with it. I mean, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler have practically switched shows without the draft. When was the last time you saw Daniel Bryan on Smackdown lately?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For the time being, I think the WWE Draft concept in and of itself has run its course. With the brand seperation being pretty much dead, there's really no need for it and I'm glad to see WWE was clear minded enough to notice that.

As for the idea of possibly drafting NXT wrestlers, it's interesting but I think the concept will ultimately fall flat when it comes to the majority of WWE viewers. Right now, NXT support is made up almost entirely of internet fans and they're the ones who really know who guys like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno are. Having a WWE draft in which these guys are ultimately brought up to the main roster probably wouldn't have much of an impact.

The only way I could see it having an impact would be if WWE put a large amount of effort into building up the Draft several months in advance and by regularly featuring some of the most promising NXT talent on Raw and SmackDown! over the course of those months. It could have a slight resemblance to TNA's Gut Check concept, except maybe taking place on a weekly basis with NXT talent regularly making appearances on WWE television so that the fans will ultimately remember who they are rather than a one time appearance.

Set some time aside on Raw each week, for instance, and give the talent that's most impressing the WWE honchos, especialy Triple H, time on both the mic and to wrestle inside the ring. Let the fans make some connections with them as characters and give them real match time in matches against each other and some guys on the main roster. I just don't mean lower card guys like Zack Ryder, though they could be used sometimes, but I'm also talking about solidified mid-card and even main event guys as a means of really giving the young guys on NXT a challenge. Put them in matches and make them look good rather than have them obliterated by the WWE roster wrestlers within a few minutes, maybe even give some of them who compete against WWE wrestlers that people are really getting behind a win or two against some WWE wrestlers.

But, I think it's a pipe dream as I just don't see it happening. If Triple H was currently in charge of WWE, I think this is something that has some degree of feesibility.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

A draft is pointless since most wrestlers appear on both shows anyway. I'm still trying to figure out how Daniel Bryan switched to Raw when he was on Smackdown but that's in the past. Besides, the drafts they had weren't great especially when it came to Smackdown. They got nothing in 2004, close to nothing in 2007, and got HHH in 2008 and he wasn't even there a year. Best to leave the draft in the past because times have changed.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

I think the SuperShow idea pretty much defeats the purpose of a draft. If every Smackdown superstar is able to be compete on RAW anyway, then it really seems pointless to bring it back at this time. If anything, with the overpopulated roster, it makes very little sense to be pushing new talent as much as they are right now. There's too many Mahals, Kidds, Bournes, Sandows, Clays, Cesaros, Rybacks, and Slaters running around. Everyone should probably stop there immense need for new guys when there's too many as it is. If anything, they need a massive "cut" of sorts (off-screen of course) to weed out the new/old guys who aren't anything but jobber #17 or whatever.

 

[King Patrick Star]

In Professional Sports Wrestling Entertainment, I love two things. Championship Title Belts is the most important aspect of the show. Stables, in my opinion, is the second most interesting aspect of the show, when a great team is active. In the WWE, the 3rd concept I did enjoy very much was the Draft.

2002 Brand Extension Draft was the first and my favorite draft. I really liked the idea of the Owners “making picks”, and I also liked that each show had 10 picks on TV and about 20 more picks on WWE.com. I think all of the Drafts should have had at least 10 televised picks and 20 more picks on WWE.com.

2004 was okay, but with only 6 random picks for each show, it kinda gave me the impression that the Draft wasn’t as big of a deal as it was 2 years prior. The Post – draft “Trade” was a nice touch though.

2005 was better than 2004, only because it stretched out the televised portion of the draft from one night to one month, though it took away a pick, shortening it to 5 picks each, which I didn’t like at all. To this very day, I would still love to see what the Smackdown World Championship Title Belt looks like…if there really ever was one, Mr. Long. I was actually hoping for the return of the “Undisputed” design, which is my favorite of all time. This was the first year where I thought the Post – draft was straight bull $#!+.

2006 was the most interesting Draft for about 12 minutes. With only 2 picks for ECW, one from Raw and one from Smackdown, I think they should have given Paul Heyman the green light and at least 10 picks, at most 20, to rebuild ECW. At the “Extreme” least, Heyman could have introduced Tommy Dreamer, Terry Funk, The Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Justin Credible, Stevie Richards, Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido, and Al Snow as picks number 2 through 10, and then mention the “Big” 11th pick later on. Something, anything.

2007 was not my favorite, and that’s putting it nicely. I didn’t like the idea of a Brand having to win a match to get a pick, but oh well. The Supplemental Draft was whatever. I also didn’t like Lashley getting stripped of the ECW Title, but that’s for another thread. One more thing, the whole computer system making random drafts sucks!! Who thought of that?? We know its Kayfabe, can you pretend that the GMs are making the picks at least!? Is this the way it’s going to be from now on??

2008 was worse than 2007. Though the Titles were not stripped from the Champions who held them at the time (Triple H, Kane and Matt Hardy), it made for confusing television. ECW Champion on Raw, WWE and World Champion on Smackdown, and the United States Champion as ECW top Title was almost annoying. Oh, and the fact that the picks were based on matches again really bothered me. It showed me that there weren’t 3 equal brands in the WWE, there were 3 levels, the A-Show, B-Show and C-Show. The only real surprise here is that Triple H decided to work Tuesdays.

2009…just see 2007 and 2008.

2010 was just boring in my opinion. The only “Highlight” for me was Jericho being the last televised pick. The only thing I liked about this year was no Champions were switched. I always thought that the Champions of their brands should be ineligible to draft, but again, that’s for another thread. Plus with ECW gone, it just felt more like a trade than a draft.

2011 was the year a SuperStar for the first time ever was drafted twice. He happens to be the same guy who was the first SuperStar to cash in his Money In The Bank case only to have that check bounce.

2012. Well, end of the World, end of the Brand Extension, end of the WWE Draft. I was really hoping for a Draft this year. Even though the WWE started (and ended) the Super Smackdown Raw Super Show, and there still seems to be some separation, it appears that it’s just not going to happen. If I could, I would only make 1 trade. Intercontinental Championship to Raw and United States Championship to Smackdown. For some reason, I always felt that the original WWE Titles should be on Raw and the original WCW Titles should be on Smackdown.

Maybe they should combined the WWE Draft, King Of The Ring, and Bragging Rights concepts where those who get drafted, 4 picks for each show, are entered into the King Of The Ring tournament where the winner gets the crown and Bragging Rights for their new home, as well as a Title shot at their new show’s WWE / World Champion. Let’s see Tyson Kidd win that and get a shot at CM Punk.

 

[Kizzani]

Personally I think the draft is by far one of the stupidest ideas the WWE has ever used. Just because the NFL draft is such a major event now, the WWE copying the idea and giving it a ******ed WWE like twist is lame.

No one believes Smnackdown and Raw are 2 different identities. No one think that raw won't feature SD stars and SD will host raw stars. If they truly made SD and Raw different shows with some serious beefs going on then maybe the idea would work. By that I mean:

No more SD star vs SD star. Everything is Raw vs SD. Punk would feud with Orton and Cena would feud with Sheamus or Del Rio if he gets the strap. If they made a serious split then I could see the draft working.

Here is another option...Use FCW and draft 2-3 guys up tot the main roster. That would give people a sense of Draft like appearance. Run a few highlight reels of 10 or so stars then let SD and Raw guys have their match and pick the young talent from FCW, now that would be a draft. It would sure as hell beat the randomly bringing them up and having them blow. At least this way they gab some spotlight.

 

[JaylisJayP]

They can't go back to a strict brand separation now because the talent is so thin to begin with...I think they actually realize this and that's why the Supershows returned. Smackdown gets a 1.6 rating or something now, can you imagine if it was just Smackdown stars? The show might fold, lol.

So there's no need for a draft. The need is to develop storylines and refocus efforts on character development and quality angles to get people to care again.

 

[MisterRob]

As it stands right now and has been for years now, the Draft is entirely pointless. They never followed the initial concept of the draft and over the years they've just merged the rosters anyway, so there's absolutely no need for one.

If they had kept the concept of the original draft, where both rosters were SEPARATE and they competed with one another as unique shows with unique stars, then it could've been something really good. In fact, it could've made Wrestlemania FAR more important and interesting then it is now a days. They could've had champions against champions, the top stars of brands against one another, and everything would feel much more important. It would be something to see, not just the lackluster events Wrestlemanias have become now.

It's a shame, really.

Should they bring it back? Only if they're going to do THAT. Or they could make the draft a yearly event, not drafting between Raw and Smackdown, but used specifically to bring up young talent from NXT or their farm league. That's how they could introduce new talent to the greater audience, and build up these young stars like other sports have their rookies drafted. Then these young stars would become important to the roster they're drafted on, and you could really introduce them effectively and meaningfully. I think that's a great way to use the draft concept NOW in WWE.

 

[MYGold]

The first draft was Vince and Flair, my memory was fuzzy as well so I looked it up. Rock was Raws first pick and Undertaker was Smackdowns first pick.

The Rock was Vince McMahon's first pick to go to Smackdown. How could you not remember the "YOU ARE"...."AN ASSHOLE" chant The Rock gave Vince, courtesy of the crowd, as a parting gift to Raw?

I don't think NXT would work. No one knows who those people are so there's no point in using any build up or TV time on Raw or Smackdown.

 

[DirtyD79]

The brand split is pretty much dead. Before the current RAW Supershows wrestlers jumped back and forth between RAW and Smackdown all the time. And nobody is really buying the concept that these are two separate companies. They weren't then and they aren't now. Drafting wrestlers between the two brands is pointless. As for using it to draft wrestlers from NXT and FCW, What's the point? Wrestlers come up from NXT and FCW all the time.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I think the death of the draft is pretty well determined.

I don't think an NXT draft is worth the time. Not enough people know about those guys and could emotionally invested on where they end up. I wouldn't mind seeing a Macho Man rehash where you take a new superstar with a bright future and have all the managers and GMs pursue him. In the end the superstar can make their decision.

 

[MTL722]

The difference between NBA and NFL drafts and the WWE draft is very simple. Those two drafts have up-and-comers that people (for the most part) know from watching college games on ESPN. The WWE draft was more of a re-assignment of already professional wrestlers.

The idea to draft NXT guys is actually a really cool idea. Only problem is the EXTREME lack of exposure the guys of NXT have. If this idea was to work, NXT would have to be nationally televised.

Theres a reason why nobody watches the NHL draft. Nobody knows who the hell is getting drafted. The same would apply for the WWE drafting NXT guys

 

[Guyzwitgunz]

The whole phase of having the "brands" compete against other is over now as is evident by the way WWE has progressed over the last year with the Raw SuperShow, non-exclusive titles etc. The draft was created to help push that brand wars idea so it now no longer serves any purpose. Time to go in a new direction and come up with new ideas like they have done at the start of each new era in history.

An NXT draft could be done but it wouldn't be anything major considering the status of the guys down there.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

An NXT draft would only work if a) it became televised in the U.S. AND b) start introducing audiences to these guys on a larger scale.

If you follow Walking Dead, too many star in WWE are like T-Dog in season 2. They have no dialogue and seem to exist for token purposes, only to likely be killed by one handed Merle next season (or in wrestling terms future endeavored).

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

Lets be honest- for the past 6 years the brands have not really been that different. Talent swaps have been going on since 2006 -and the brands are more an internal seperation so that the performers get some time off.

 

[InsomniaMusic]

Because any wrestler can appear on any show drafting from Raw to Smackdown is not needed the drafting from NXT and FCW makes allot of sense in bringing in a group of people into the main roster at the same time. But as a wrestler I would only want to be brought with an immediate plan.

 

[SethKaelin]

I personally think the brand separation, originally ruined the shows. I think more effort was always put into Raw as the flagship show and still is. It was just an excuse to make more Titles active to please everyone on the roster knowing that they have more chance to be a champion.

So the fact that there is no more draft makes me happy anyway, maybe it'll get back to the good ol' days soon. Just a shame about the PG status (which I know is a controversial topic and best left for another thread)

 

[JimmyTehFreak]

Agreed with Jony, not so much with seth.

I rather enjoyed the brand extension as it gave a lot of opportunity to guys like Bradshaw and Bubba Ray to get over - which would have gone well if not for an early injury bug. Like most things in 2001-2002 it wasn't handled perfectly well but it could have been a truly great idea. Then one year all the talent ended up selfishly on one show, and then after that people appeared on both shows eliminating the purpose of it.