10 Most Disappointing WWE Moments Of 2016
7. Draft Night
Provided nothing huge happens in the next few weeks, the revived Brand Split will go down as WWE’s biggest move in 2016. The original split died in 2011, but this July, WWE once again cut their roster in two to create two distinct talent pools and two (seemingly) distinct brands.
The Brand Split has proven beneficial for SmackDown, but it was hard not to be disappointed on Draft night. As things drew to a close on July 19th, it was hard to shake the feeling that the blue brand had been screwed over, and that Raw had left with the superior talent.
The bulk of the company’s elite-level wrestlers found homes on Monday night, while SmackDown was left with John Cena, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, and long-broken wrestlers like The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. On the women’s scene, Becky Lynch was left propping-up a paper thin division, and the tag division was even worse, with only The Usos really standing-out.
The NXT call-ups didn’t exactly set pulses racing either. Finn Balor and American Alpha were long overdue, but the likes of Mojo Rawley and Carmella hadn’t even proven themselves at Full Sail yet, let alone on the main roster. Fans had gone into the event hoping for Samoa Joe and Bayley, but they were given duds.
Hindsight’s 20/20, and SmackDown’s quality has negated much of these concerns, but the 2016 Draft drew an overwhelmingly negative reaction at the time. Ironically, it’s Raw’s “superior” roster that has struggled the most since...