10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2004
9. The “Draft Lottery” Started A Bad Trend
The 22 March Raw was all about WWE's new "Draft Lottery" premise. GMs Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff would "randomly pick" wrestlers for each brand whilst Raw and SmackDown stars sat around wearing the goofiest t-shirt/cap combos known to man.
This started a really bad trend.
WWE tricked itself into thinking fans were more invested in the idea of Raw vs. SmackDown than which workers ended up on which show. They were wrong. People wanted killer feuds and fresh ideas, not some phoney 'Us vs. Them' rivalry that was weirdly only wheeled out for certain points of the year.
The randomised lottery-style process also didn't reflect Drafts in other real-world sports leagues like the NFL. Looking back, this was less interesting than it was in 2002 when Vince McMahon and Ric Flair were playing a game of oneupmanship with their picks.
Hopefully, fans will never see those red and blue t-shirts on workers again. They suck.