10 Times WWE Tried To Rejuvenate SmackDown But Failed

2. Drafting John Cena And Randy Orton To SmackDown

Ah, the 2011 WWE Draft. It's regarded as one of the worst drafts in the history of WWE, and based off the results as well as the aftermath, it's not hard to see why it was the last one to ever occur. Originally, the draft was set to be held in June, but because Edge abruptly retired from active competition, they quickly needed someone to take his place as the face of SmackDown. WWE attempted to shake things up in a big way by opening the 2011 draft special with John Cena being sent packing to Friday nights. It marked the first time in six years that Cena was gone from Raw, so it came as a genuine shock to fans. Other than his feud with The Rock, there was no reason why they couldn't bring him to SmackDown for a time to inject new life into the show. Sadly, it was all a ratings ploy and he was back to being a member of the Raw roster by night's end. Randy Orton's move to SmackDown was in fact permanent, but not even The Viper could do anything to salvage SmackDown by that point. He and Christian had a feud for the ages that summer, but it was too little too late and the brand split was dissolved by August.