10 Most Impactful WWE Draft Picks

10 times superstars switched homes and changed the wrestling world.

john cena raw 2005
WWE.com

There have been eight WWE drafts since it first began in 2002. Right after The Invasion angle ended, Ric Flair returned to the company with shocking news that he now owned half of it. Naturally, Vince McMahon was not pleased to hear this, and decided he could not co-exist with The Nature Boy.

In a pretty reckless move, he decided to unleash a lethal dose of poison with the NWO to kill his own creation. When that plan failed spectacularly, his back-up idea was to retreat to SmackDown, take half the roster with him, and be left alone.

The following few years the company tried to keep things moderately split between the shows, before it all kind of went to hell. But during that time period there was always something to look forward to with the yearly draft. Top names would jump from show-to-show, and we’d see a plethora of new feuds.

In 2004, the draft became a lottery...which suspiciously always picked a few top names. I’m not saying it was rigged, but it didn’t quite seem to be on the up-and-up.

While plenty of names switched brands with little to no fanfare (sorry Chuck Palumbo), some top stars jumping really shook up the entire company, and drastically altered the course of WWE. To get pumped up for the next draft, here are the top 10 most impactful picks from past years.

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As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at." Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week. Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com