One of the primary reasons the WWE Draft didn't live up to its full potential was because there never felt like there was any bad blood between Raw and SmackDown. Mr. McMahon and Ric Flair had animosity for each other when they chose their rosters at the 2002 WWE Draft, and although Raw and SmackDown general managers Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon kept that feud alive through the remainder of the year, there wasn't any competition between the brands. Again, it was quite clear that SmackDown was inferior to Raw from the get-go, but especially after 2005. That was the year they made one last attempt to have Raw and SmackDown invade each other, but when that flopped, the "brand supremacy" card was dropped all together. Unless you were a die-hard fan of either brand, it didn't matter who went where in the annual WWE Draft. They were essentially the same show with the exception of Raw receiving higher ratings and more focus. The Draft was successful in giving fans fresh feuds, but the environments were almost identical.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
