10 Times WWE Introduced Something Cool (Then Panicked And Took It Away)

Speaking of the 2016 Brand Split, WWE were actually onto a winner with this version of the draft, weren't they?

Using SmackDown as the platform for the one night event, fans were champing at the bit to see which brand each of their favourite talents would end up on. The fact that Raw and SmackDown's Commissioners/General Managers were given the luxury of hand picking and announcing their roster selections on the show, only added to the authentic feel of the concept.

If you were drafted first, this meant that you were literally the top commodity in the whole of the company and the performers who were drafted later on in the night then all had a readymade storyline grievance to work into their characterisation for the foreseeable future.

Yet, despite this 2016 format being quite successful and leading to incredible crowd popping moments - Finn Bálor's inclusions being a standout - WWE opted to scrap the idea in favour of the clunky two day Superstar Shake-Up a year later.

This felt like a panicky, spur of the moment decision to revamp the draft as a sparkly new commodity in order to try and make it feel fresh and distinct. It definitely did the latter, but it was distinctly crap in comparison to the 2016 system which had worked so well.

2019's Draft brought back the hand selected anticipation to a certain degree, but the decision to have Stephanie McMahon announce each pick on her lonesome led to the excitement being mutilated early in the show. If it wasn't broke you shouldn't have tried to fix it, WWE. You had the perfect Draft model right there in 2016.