10 Worst WWE Roster "Shake-Up" Moves
3. Vladimir Kozlov To ECW (2009)
By 2009, WWE's version of ECW was circling the drain of existence, and would be put out of its misery in February 2010. The plucking of John Morrison and The Miz in the 2009 Draft onto the two bigger brands was a sign of its impending demise, leaving Christian, a 40-year-old William Regal, a 38-year-old Tommy Dreamer, and maybe (big maybe) Jack Swagger as the only viable talents left on the brand.
The televised portion of the 2009 Draft saw only one wrestler go to ECW: Kozlov. This was a scant five months after he and Triple H wrestled one of the most boring matches in recent memory at Survivor Series, and 'The Moscow Mauler' wasn't exactly setting the world on fire. Later arrivals like Sheamus, Yoshi Tatsu, and Tyler Reks positioned ECW for its eventual fate as the maiden form of NXT, a post-developmental program for molding incoming talent before the real WWE audience.