10 Annoying Ways WWE Ruined What We Once Loved
9. The Draft - Boring And The By The Numbers
Sticking with the original brand split, one of the most interesting by-products of that was the draft night. Back then it was miles apart from the current version.
We used to get cool things like a flashing screen switching between wrestler’s faces before stopping on whoever the draft pick was to be. There would impromptu inter-brand matches getting put together, sometimes even for world titles. At least once we even got a lottery system where Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman literally draws their draft picks from a ballot.
Not only that, but there were also major storyline implications associated with the draft during those days. Batista and Cena swapping brands as world champions in 2005, Randy Orton getting drafted to SmackDown to continue his WrestleMania feud with the Undertaker, and of course SmackDown General Manager Paul Heyman being drawn as the final draft pick to Raw in 2004.
Today, we get Stephanie McMahon coming out and read out draft picks like it’s a PowerPoint slide.