10 Things You Didn’t Know About The WWE Draft
Which records were broken at this year's Draft?
Since its inception in 2002, the WWE Draft has arrived,
thrived, seen its demise and then finally this year returned again.
It hasn’t really been the most reliable of histories. But for every year that’s seen a Draft staged, one thing we’ve always been able to rely on is a guaranteed dose of drama, and this year’s edition was no different in that respect.
We saw Monday Night Raw draft Seth Rollins as the overall number one pick, but in doing so they missed out on securing the services of the WWE Champion. Elsewhere, the Wyatt Family was torn apart, The Club have been forced to divide and conquer on different shows, and the Social Outcasts were seemingly disbanded when everyone forgot about poor old Heath Slater.
But beyond the big takeaways, there are a number of less obvious facts and figures that manage to slip by unnoticed.
And when viewed over time, these trivialities tell a story of their own about the Draft and the history of it. So with a wealth of data to look back upon and analyse, let’s delve in to some of the lesser-known facts that help define the WWE Draft, facts you might not even be aware of.
10. Most #1 Picks
In this year’s Draft, SmackDown was very much positioned as
the number two brand. Not only did Raw get the first choice of the night, they
also had three picks to every two of SmackDown.
But it hasn’t always been that way.
If we look back at which brand has the most number one picks since the debut edition of the Draft, then it’s actually SmackDown that comes out on top. They’ve gone first on five occasions versus the four times of Raw, with a solitary pole pick going to ECW in 2006.
Of course, there’s something of a side note to be made on this one. Given that it would make sense for the weaker brand to pick first in a bid to level the playing field, you could argue this only reinforces SmackDown’s standing as the inferior brand.
But come on guys, let’s give them this one. It’s not often that they manage to score a win over the flagship brand, so we won't take that away from them here.