10 Things You Didn’t Know About The WWE Draft

After a five-year hiatus since the last WWE Draft, you could argue it was worth the wait. Because this year’s instalment turned out to be the largest Draft of all time.

With 59 picks being made in total - some of which were tag teams, remember - the 2016 edition just edges out the debut 2002 showing, in which 57 selections were made. Back then, though, the roster was split much more evenly, with 29 going to Vince McMahon’s SmackDown and 28 joining Ric Flair on Raw.

Every other year in between saw far fewer names being drafted. Of course, that’s because 2002 and 2016 were the only years in which the entire roster had to be drafted from scratch. In the intervening years we simply saw amendments being made to rosters that already existed.

Therefore, it’s not too surprising that 2016 also set the record for most televised picks in one year. 30 names were called on Tuesday’s SmackDown versus the 20 made on Raw in 2002, while no other year managed to get past 12.