The2010 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) draft was the eighthWWE draft, produced by the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWorld Wrestling Entertainment.^[1] The draft took place over two days: the first day was televisedlive for three hours on April 26, and the second part, the "supplemental draft", was held on April 27.^[1][2] The first day was broadcast on WWE's Monday night programRaw on theUSA Network in the United States,^[a] and the supplemental draft was available on WWE's official website.^[1][2] The televised portion was held atRichmond Coliseum inRichmond, Virginia.^[4] During the production of the draft,guest hosts were portrayed as authority figure characters onRaw; however, due to the importance of the event, the draft was run by the WWE management backstage, as are all other WWE programs.^[5][6]

Unlike sports draft lotteries where players are signed to a team, WWE drafts featured the exchanging of employees between WWE's two brands. The 2010 WWE draft marked the fifth time that only theRaw andSmackDownbrands were involved; wrestlers along with other WWE personalities from these brands were eligible to be drafted.^[1] This was the first draft since2005 to not feature theECW brand, due to its disbandment on February 16, 2010.^[7] For the televised portion, matches determined which brand received a random draft selection. During the supplemental draft, brand and employee selections were conducted randomly. Based on2009 regulations, drafted champions took their titles to their new brands, and tag teams were not exempt from being selected. Unlike the previous year's draft where each selection was for only one individual, 2010 featured two instances where at least two employees were drafted in one pick.

Overall, 21 employees from the company's roster were drafted in 19 selections, the fewest in a single night draft show (that featured supplemental drafting) since2004. Eight selections were made on television (four from each brand), while the supplemental draft saw eleven draft picks (five by Raw and six by SmackDown) that featured 13 draftees. Of the 21 selected personalities, seventeen were males (seven drafted on television) and three were females (one drafted on television). All but one draftee was a wrestler:The Great Khali'smanager Ranjin Singh, who came to Raw in the supplemental draft along with Khali in one draft pick. SmackDown obtained the first draft pick by winning the first match, which resulted in the acquisition of the only drafted female wrestler on television,Kelly Kelly;John Morrison was Raw's first selection after winning the third match. In the supplemental draft,Unified WWE Tag Team ChampionsThe Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd andDavid Hart Smith) were drafted as one selection to Raw, with theirvaletNatalya Neidhart drafted as a separate pick. In addition to Smith being drafted to Raw,Chavo Guerrero Jr.,Montel Vontavious Porter, andHornswoggle (who were all drafted to SmackDown) were acquired by the brand for which they made their debuts in WWE.

TheBrand Extensionstoryline was initiated in March 2002, in which WWE'sRaw andSmackDown television programs were made into brands (similar to conferences within a league) to whichemployees were assigned to;^[8] theECW brand additionally involved between 2006 and 2009.^[9] Since its inception, annual drafts have followed, except for in 2003.^[10] As in previous drafts that followed the Brand Extension, the purpose of the 2010 WWE Draft was to increasetelevision ratings of WWE programming and refresh the rosters with new storylines for each brand.^[11] The 2010 WWE Draft was confirmed both by WWE andRichmond Coliseum via their websites between March and April 2010, which featured the draft eligibility of WWE employees from the Raw and SmackDown brands.^[1][4] The event was scheduled to take place over two days, in which the televised draft would airlive on theUSA Network in the United States from the Coliseum inRichmond, Virginia, on the April 26 episode ofRaw. The second portion of the draft, the "supplemental draft," was originally scheduled for April 28; however, it was announced during the live broadcast that it would be held the next day on April 27 with selections being announced via WWE's website.^[2][12]

DuringRaw, six matches were held among representatives of the two brands to determine which would receive a draft pick; except for one match that was for three selections, the others were for one. Each match featured a wrestler representing their brand; if a wrestler was drafted earlier in the program, they would represent their new brand. After the matches, a computerized system, which appeared on theRaw stageTitanTron, randomly^[b] selected a member from the opposing brand's roster for the winning brand.

Following the televised draft,Josh Mathews, acommentator and interviewer for WWE, interviewed various wrestlers who switched brands. They included Big Show, Christian, Kelly Kelly, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and R-Truth, who all stated that they viewed their new brands as an opportunity to engage in combat with new competitors and to achieve new success.^[13] Based on the2009 regulations, champions that were drafted would carry their titles with them to their new brand.^[14] As opposed to previous drafts, this was the first to not feature achampionship exchange brands since2007.^[f] Similar to 2007, notag teams were affected by the draft since tag teams and stables were drafted to the same brand either as a single draft pick or consisting of several draft picks to a new brand. The two alliances that switched brands were the stable of The Hart Dynasty (Kidd, Natalya, and Smith), in which Kidd and Smith were in unison and Natalya consisted of a separate draft pick, and The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh, who were also drafted as one selection in the supplemental draft.

The draft had little effect on the WWE's television ratings. Despite not having direct involvement in the draft,NXT andWWE Superstars were a part of the weekly television lineup for the company and featured wrestlers from both brands. Generally, the ratings of the four shows during the week of the draft were consistent with the ratings of each from the previous week. The ratings for WWE programming the week before the draft were the following: the April 19 episode ofRaw was watched by an average of 4.10 million viewers in the first hour and 4.20 in the second hour for an average 3.05 rating,^[16]WWE NXT on April 20 was watched by 1.21 million viewers for a 0.90 rating,^[17] the April 22 episode ofWWE Superstars earned a 0.64 rating,^[g][18] while the April 23 episode ofSmackDown was watched by 3.09 million viewers and earned a 1.8 rating.^[19] The draft episode ofRaw was watched by 3.90 million viewers in its first hour, 4.99 in its second hour, and 4.98 in its final hour for an average of 3.07 rating. In the normal two-hour time slot forRaw, the show would have received a 3.4 rating.^[20] Later that week,WWE NXT was watched by 1,069,000 viewers for a 0.79 rating,^[21]WWE Superstars earned a 0.76 rating with 754,000 viewers,^[22] andSmackDown was watched by 2,718,000 million viewers for a 1.7 rating.^[23]

• History of WWE

General

• Adkins, Greg (April 26, 2010)."Mix & matches (Televised draft results)".World Wrestling Entertainment.Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. RetrievedApril 27, 2010.
• "2010 WWE supplemental draft results".WWE.World Wrestling Entertainment.Archived from the original on April 30, 2010. RetrievedApril 27, 2010.

Specific

• Official website of the 2010 WWE draftArchived April 9, 2010, at theWayback Machine

• 2010 in professional wrestling
• WWE Draft
• Professional wrestling shows in Richmond, Virginia
• 2010s in Richmond, Virginia
• April 2010 in the United States
• 2010 in Virginia

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