10 Most Shocking WWE Draft Moments

5. Spitting Feathers

Kurt Angle ECW
WWE

For fans of both on-screen action and the inner workings of the industry, the prospect of Triple H taking residence on WWE's B-show in 2004 was absolutely unthinkable. The company cleverly played to each audience in drafting 'The Game' to Smackdown as one of Paul Heyman's first Smackdown raffle picks in 2004.

Having only lost the World Heavyweight Title weeks earlier, Triple H's vice-like grip on control of the red brand seemed to be completely slipping away, and his panicked spit-take in the locker-room created a memorable visual of the moment.

The move would never materialise.

In the same way the switch teased the smart mark WWE audience, his immediate trade back was a follow-up sucker punch.

Announced on WWE.com before he could even debut on the blue brand, Hunter was traded back to Raw for Booker T AND The Dudley Boyz, with the story being that Eric Bischoff was that desperate to keep the former champion that he'd sacrifice three major talents to do so.

Booker, D-Von and Bubba Ray all turned heel on Smackdown to try and maintain some momentum from the demeaning switch, and Triple H looked even more of an extra special case as he carried on as normal dominating television time on Mondays.

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