| 2016 WWE draft | |
|---|---|
 The 2016WWE Draft logo. | |
| General information | |
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Date | July 19, 2016 |
| Location | Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Overview | |
| League | WWE |
| Teams | Raw SmackDown NXT (outgoing only) |
The2016 WWE draft was aprofessional wrestling event and the tenthWWE draft, the first since 2011, produced by the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWWE between theRaw andSmackDown brands. It took place on July 19 during the live premiere ofSmackDown on theUSA Network in theUnited States broadcasting from theDCU Center inWorcester, Massachusetts.
In 2002, following the acquisition of the remains ofWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) andExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) introduced thebrand split, dividing its roster among twobrands,Raw andSmackDown, represented by the shows of the same name.[1] The brand split would continue until 2011, with adraft held every year (except 2003) to refresh the brands' rosters. In August 2011, the brand split ended, allowing all WWE wrestlers to appear on both shows.[2]
In mid-2016, with a larger roster of wrestlers, in part thanks to WWE's developmental brandNXT, WWE decided to reintroduce the brand split with a draft to be held on the July 19 episode ofSmackDown – the show's debut broadcast on theUSA Network, as well as its renaming toSmackDown Live (with the show now broadcasting live as it was previously aired ontape delay). On the July 11 episode ofMonday Night Raw, WWE Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerVince McMahon appointedShane McMahon as the commissioner of SmackDown andStephanie McMahon as the commissioner of Raw.[3] The following week, the commissioners introducedMick Foley andDaniel Bryan as the general managers of Raw and SmackDown, respectively.[4]
The rules of the draft were posted to WWE's website on July 17.[5][6] They were the following:
In addition to the televised draft, the live episode ofSmackDown also featured several matches.
| No. | Results[7] | Stipulations | Times[8] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Cena defeatedLuke Gallows | Singles match | 5:25 | ||
| 2 | Darren Young andZack Ryder defeatedThe Miz andRusev bysubmission | Tag team match | 4:05 | ||
| 3 | Bray Wyatt defeatedXavier Woods | Singles match | 4:45 | ||
| 4 | Dana Brooke andCharlotte defeatedSasha Banks | 2-on-1 handicap match | 2:18 | ||
| 5 | Chris Jericho defeatedCesaro | Singles match | 4:52 | ||
| 6 | Dean Ambrose (c) defeatedSeth Rollins | Singles match for theWWE Championship | 12:17 | ||
| |||||
The following is the list of wrestlers who were drafted onSmackDown Live.[9]
| Rnd. | Pick # | Brand | Brand pick # | Employee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Raw | 1 | Seth Rollins | |
| 1 | 2 | SmackDown | 1 | Dean Ambrose | WWE Champion |
| 1 | 3 | Raw | 2 | Charlotte | WWE Women's Champion |
| 1 | 4 | SmackDown | 2 | AJ Styles | |
| 1 | 5 | Raw | 3 | Finn Bálor | Drafted fromNXT |
| 2 | 6 | Raw | 4 | Roman Reigns | |
| 2 | 7 | SmackDown | 3 | John Cena | |
| 2 | 8 | Raw | 5 | Brock Lesnar | |
| 2 | 9 | SmackDown | 4 | Randy Orton | |
| 2 | 10 | Raw | 6 | The New Day (Big E,Kofi Kingston, andXavier Woods) | WWE Tag Team Champions |
| 3 | 11 | Raw | 7 | Sami Zayn | |
| 3 | 12 | SmackDown | 5 | Bray Wyatt | |
| 3 | 13 | Raw | 8 | Sasha Banks | |
| 3 | 14 | SmackDown | 6 | Becky Lynch | |
| 3 | 15 | Raw | 9 | Chris Jericho | |
| 4 | 16 | Raw | 10 | Rusev withLana | WWE United States Champion |
| 4 | 17 | SmackDown | 7 | The Miz withMaryse | WWE Intercontinental Champion |
| 4 | 18 | Raw | 11 | Kevin Owens | |
| 4 | 19 | SmackDown | 8 | Baron Corbin | |
| 4 | 20 | Raw | 12 | Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore andBig Cass) | |
| 5 | 21 | Raw | 13 | Luke GallowsandKarl Anderson | |
| 5 | 22 | SmackDown | 9 | American Alpha (Jason Jordan andChad Gable) | Drafted from NXT |
| 5 | 23 | Raw | 14 | Big Show | |
| 5 | 24 | SmackDown | 10 | Dolph Ziggler | |
| 5 | 25 | Raw | 15 | Nia Jax | Drafted from NXT |
| 6 | 26 | Raw | 16 | Neville | |
| 6 | 27 | SmackDown | 11 | Natalya | |
| 6 | 28 | Raw | 17 | Cesaro | |
| 6 | 29 | SmackDown | 12 | Alberto Del Rio | |
| 6 | 30 | Raw | 18 | Sheamus |
The following is the list of wrestlers who were drafted on theWWE Draft Center Live special on theWWE Network.[9]
| Rnd. | Pick # | Brand | Brand pick # | Employee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 31 | Raw | 19 | Golden Truth (Goldust andR-Truth) | |
| 7 | 32 | SmackDown | 13 | The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) | |
| 7 | 33 | Raw | 20 | Titus O'Neil | |
| 7 | 34 | SmackDown | 14 | Kane | |
| 7 | 35 | Raw | 21 | Paige | |
| 8 | 36 | Raw | 22 | Darren Young withBob Backlund | |
| 8 | 37 | SmackDown | 15 | Kalisto | |
| 8 | 38 | Raw | 23 | Sin Cara | |
| 8 | 39 | SmackDown | 16 | Naomi | |
| 8 | 40 | Raw | 24 | Jack Swagger | |
| 8 | 41 | SmackDown | 17 | The Ascension (Konnor andViktor) | |
| 9 | 42 | Raw | 25 | Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley andD-Von Dudley) | |
| 9 | 43 | SmackDown | 18 | Zack Ryder | |
| 9 | 44 | Raw | 26 | Summer Rae | |
| 9 | 45 | SmackDown | 19 | Apollo Crews | |
| 9 | 46 | Raw | 27 | Mark Henry | |
| 9 | 47 | SmackDown | 20 | Alexa Bliss | Drafted from NXT |
| 10 | 48 | Raw | 28 | Braun Strowman | |
| 10 | 49 | SmackDown | 21 | Breezango (Tyler Breeze andFandango) | |
| 10 | 50 | Raw | 29 | Bo Dallas | |
| 10 | 51 | SmackDown | 22 | Eva Marie | |
| 10 | 52 | Raw | 30 | The Shining Stars (Primo andEpico) | |
| 10 | 53 | SmackDown | 23 | Vaudevillains (Aiden English andSimon Gotch) | |
| 11 | 54 | Raw | 31 | Alicia Fox | |
| 11 | 55 | SmackDown | 24 | Erick Rowan | |
| 11 | 56 | Raw | 32 | Dana Brooke | |
| 11 | 57 | SmackDown | 25 | Mojo Rawley | Drafted from NXT |
| 11 | 58 | Raw | 33 | Curtis Axel | |
| 11 | 59 | SmackDown | 26 | Carmella | Drafted from NXT |
Several wrestlers remained undrafted mainly due to injury or inactivity, some of which eventually were assigned to a brand. The chart is organized by date.[9]
| Employee | Reason for not being drafted | Subsequent status | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryback | Contract dispute | Released | August 8, 2016 | Ryback was released from WWE due to a contract dispute. |
| Nikki Bella | Neck injury | SmackDown | August 21, 2016 | Returned atSummerSlam, replacing the suspendedEva Marie, in a SmackDown match teaming withNatalya andAlexa Bliss to defeatBecky Lynch,Naomi, andCarmella. |
| Triple H | Semi-active | Unaffilliated | August 29, 2016 | Returned onRaw and attackedSeth Rollins, and subsequently only appeared onRaw but never declared an affiliation to any brand. |
| Heath Slater | Only active wrestler not to be drafted | SmackDown | September 13, 2016 | Earned a SmackDown contract after winning theWWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament withRhyno atBacklash. |
| Luke Harper | Knee injury | SmackDown | October 9, 2016 | Returned atNo Mercy to helpBray Wyatt defeatRandy Orton. |
| Rosa Mendes | Maternity leave | Retired | February 13, 2017 | Announced retirement on February 13, 2017.[10] |
| Emma | Back injury | Raw | February 13, 2017 | Returned to the Raw brand as "Emmalina", then announced her makeover back to "Emma". She was off television until April 3, 2017, where she returned as her evil-Emma character. |
| The Undertaker | Semi-active | Unaffiliated | January 9, 2017 | Returned atSmackDown's 900th episode on November 15, 2016. Subsequently, appeared on the January 9, 2017 episode ofRaw, where he declared his unaffiliation to any brand. |
| Tamina | Knee injury | SmackDown | April 11, 2017 | Returned as part of theSuperstar Shake-up. |
| Tyson Kidd | Neck injury | Retired | June 29, 2017 | Suffered a life-threatening spinal injury on June 8, 2015. On June 29, 2017, Kidd officially retired from in-ring competition and became a producer. |
| The Rock | Semi-active | Retired | August 2, 2019 | Announced he had quietly retired on August 2, 2019.[11] Even after coming out of retirement and returning to WWE on a part-time basis on 2024, The Rock did not affiliate with any brand. |
Following the brand extension draft, former WWE wrestlers made their return to WWE and sided with either Raw or SmackDown. Within the next month,Jinder Mahal andBrian Kendrick returned on Raw, whileRhyno andCurt Hawkins joined SmackDown.Shelton Benjamin was announced to return on SmackDown, but his return was put on hiatus due to a torn rotator cuff, which required surgery.[12] In September, Raw drafteeJack Swagger moved to SmackDown. Various competitors from theCruiserweight Classic also signed contracts with Raw due to being a part of thecruiserweight division. FormerNXT Women's ChampionBayley joined Raw after her final match atNXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II.
On November 29, 2016, a new show called205 Live premiered. The new show exclusively features WWE's cruiserweight division. The division was formerly exclusive toMonday Night Raw, but became shared betweenRaw and205 Live until 205 Live became its own brand in 2018.[13][14]
As a result of the reintroduction of the brand extension, the July 19 Draft episode (and the first live episode) ofSmackDown on Tuesdays gained a viewership by 2.2 rating with 3.17 million viewers (compare toRaw's rating with 3.04 million viewers on the previous night), and wasSmackDown's highest rated episode since December 2010.[15][16][17]