10 Most Shocking WWE Draft Moments

8. Raw Gains An Edge

Kurt Angle ECW
WWE.com

The first ever Draft Lottery in 2004 was high on shocks, as Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman traded barbs over show-specific raffle tumblers whilst the company dished out several major roster adjustments over a single two hour edition of Monday Night Raw.

The announcement of Edge's name as a newly-minted Raw superstar after over a year on the shelf with a neck injury drew a thunderous response from the live crowd in attendance, but that paled in comparison to the explosion his actual return generated just minutes later when he speared his new boss Eric Bischoff to mark his return.

Looking as physically impressive as he'd ever been for the entirety of his WWE tenure, it appeared to earmark the Canadian for a stint as a headline act, but the love from the crowd barely lasted up to his pay-per-view return at April's Backlash event.

Prone to short-term injuries that hamstrung his early progress on the red brand, the comeback stalled following his electric return.

Edge was booed vociferously by his hometown fans when Summerslam hit Toronto later that year, and by November he was a fully fledged heel.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett