WWE Draft

The WWE Draft is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw and SmackDown brands (2002–2011; 2016–present) when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand NXT (2016–present) are also eligible to be drafted to Raw and SmackDown. Two of WWE's former brands, ECW (2006–2009) and 205 Live (2019), have also taken part in the draft during the promotion's various brand split periods.

The draft was first used in 2002 when the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) introduced the brand split. It was initially called the WWF Draft Lottery but after the company's renaming from WWF to WWE two months after that original draft, it was rebranded the following year to WWE Draft Lottery (2004–2005), then WWE Brand Extension Draft (2006), and then simply WWE Draft (2007–2011). In 2011, WWE ended the original brand split.

With SmackDown moving to Tuesdays and to a live broadcast starting July 19, 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand split with a draft held that same episode. From 2017 until May 2019, the draft was rebranded as the Superstar Shake-up; instead of a traditional draft, wrestlers were traded or moved between the brands with decisions made behind the scenes. With SmackDown's move to Friday nights on FOX beginning October 4, 2019, a second draft for the year was scheduled to occur, reverting to its original name ("WWE Draft") and returning to a traditional draft format. A draft was not held in 2022, but it returned in 2023.

In 2002, the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) introduced the brand extension, splitting its roster into two "brands", Raw and SmackDown, represented by the shows of the same name where their talent would exclusively perform. Only then Undisputed Champion Triple H and Women's Champion Jazz were ineligible to be drafted, as the holders of those titles defended them on both brands; the other champions, however, could be drafted.

The first half of the 2002 draft was televised live on TNN for two hours, as part of the WWF's flagship program, Monday Night Raw. The second half was conducted over the Internet on the WWF's website. There were thirty draft picks, with sixty wrestlers drafted overall by co-owners of the WWF, onto their respective brands, Raw and SmackDown. The remaining wrestlers were divided randomly in a draft lottery, with each brand receiving a grand total of thirty wrestlers. During the draft, Raw drafted Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam and European Champion William Regal, while SmackDown drafted Tag Team Champions Billy and Chuck, Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri, and Hardcore Champion Maven, though the Tag Team Championship, renamed to World Tag Team Championship, and Hardcore Championship switched to Raw after the titles were won by Raw's The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) and Raven, respectively. Two months after the draft, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In July and August, respectively, the European and Hardcore titles were unified into the Intercontinental title. In September, the Undisputed Championship became exclusive to SmackDown and renamed to WWE Championship after reigning champion Brock Lesnar signed an exclusive deal with the brand. In response, Raw established the World Heavyweight Championship as the counterpart to the WWE Championship. The Women's Championship also became exclusive to Raw with no SmackDown counterpart. SmackDown then established the WWE Tag Team Championship as the counterpart to the World Tag Team Championship, and in July 2003, they revived the United States Championship as the counterpart to the Intercontinental title.

The second draft took place in 2004 on Raw on Spike TV. Post-draft trades were revealed on WWE's website until midnight on March 22, 2004. There were twelve draft picks, with nineteen wrestlers overall switching between the promotion's two brands. During the draft lottery, the General manager of Raw, Eric Bischoff, and the General manager of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman, stood on opposite ends of the stage on the Raw set, where they drafted six wrestlers randomly via two machines. At the conclusion of the draft, the two GMs would then be allowed to trade anyone on the roster until Midnight EST, which was later extended until Tuesday night after Heyman resigned. Every on-screen WWE employee was eligible to be drafted, including injured wrestlers, commentators, champions, and general managers.

The 2005 draft took place on WWE's two television programs, Raw, which aired on Spike TV, and SmackDown!, which aired on UPN. Post-draft trades were announced on WWE's website. The draft picks were made each Monday on Raw and each Thursday on SmackDown! from June 6 to June 30. Each pick was drafted at random. Like the previous year, all on-screen WWE personnel were eligible to be drafted. There were ten draft picks and an eleven-person trade conducted between the promotion's two brands; twenty-two wrestlers were drafted and traded overall. During the draft, WWE Champion John Cena was drafted to Raw and kept his championship. General Manager Theodore Long considered creating a new SmackDown world championship but the idea was abandoned when World Heavyweight Champion Batista was drafted to SmackDown, bringing the title with him.

There was no Raw and SmackDown draft in 2006, however, ECW became a third brand. ECW representative Paul Heyman received two total draft picks from the existing SmackDown and Raw rosters for the newly created ECW brand, which shortly after revived the ECW World Heavyweight Championship as the brand's only title.