10 Biggest Winners Of The 2016 WWE Draft (One Year Later)

5. Carmella

The 2016 WWE Draft contained 59 picks, and The Princess of Staten Island was the 59th of those. Carmella was the final draftee from NXT, and in many ways it seemed as though it was a decision made for its own sake. Carmella didn't seem ready for the main roster, but she had somewhat outgrown developmental.

The decision to put Carmella on the opposite brand to Enzo & Big Cass seemed even more perplexing. How would Carmella fare without the two main reasons she got over in the first place? When she made her debut as a vanilla babyface on SmackDown, the future didn't seem too bright.

'Turn them heel' is pretty much the go-to booking strategy of most when it comes to failing acts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and in Carmella's case the latter is most definitely true. She made the turn by attacking Nikki Bella, and all of a sudden Carmella was a credible character in the SmackDown women's division.

So credible in fact, that she went on to become the first ever Ms. Money in the Bank. If the draft didn't happen, it is difficult to imagine Carmella being involved in the first ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match, let alone winning the thing. The 2016 WWE Draft gave Carmella a platform to show what she was capable of.