WWE Draft

The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Draft, (formerly known as the WWE Draft Lottery) is a process used by WWE (professional wrestling promotion) to provide new brand competition and to refreshen its rosters. The Draft was first used during the brand extension of 2002, though it was officially incepted and used in 2004. Since the inception of the process, it has been referred to as the Draft Lottery (2004-2005) and the Draft (2007–present). Starting in 2005, the draft took place during the month of June; however, the 2009 WWE Draft and 2010 WWE Draft took place during April.
On May 25, 2016, it was announced that due to SmackDown moving to Tuesdays and to a live broadcast starting July 19, necessitating a brand extension, WWE announced that the draft would be coming back. On June 20, 2016, it was announced that the 2016 WWE Draft will be taking place on July 19, 2016 (Smackdown's Live Premiere) on the USA Network.
==Impact on championships==
Whether a champion keeps their championship after being drafted is unpredictable:
During the 2005 Draft, the WWE Champion John Cena was drafted from SmackDown! to Raw and kept his championship. General Manager Theodore Long announced that a new SmackDown! Championship was to be created but the idea was abandoned when the World Heavyweight Champion Batista was drafted to SmackDown! from Raw, bringing the title with him. 
During the 2007 Draft, the ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley was stripped of the title after being drafted to Raw. 
During the 2008 Draft, Matt Hardy was drafted to ECW with his WWE United States Championship, Triple H was drafted to SmackDown with his WWE Championship, and Kane was drafted to Raw with his ECW Championship.
==History==
Year 	Brands 	Notes
2002 	RawSmackDown! 	
2004 	RawSmackDown! 	
2005 	RawSmackDown! 	
2006 	ECW 	
2007 	RawSmackDown!ECW 	
2008 	RawSmackDownECW 	
2009 	RawSmackDownECW 	
2010 	RawSmackDown 	
2011 	RawSmackDown 	
2016 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
2017 	RawSmackDown 	
2018 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
2019 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
October 2019	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only)205 Live (outgoing only)	
2020 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
2021 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
2023 	RawSmackDownNXT (outgoing only) 	
==Image gallery==
WWE Draft Logo.jpg|WWE Draft logo 2007-2011
WWE Draft logo.jpeg|2011-2017
2019_WWE_Superstar_Shake-Up.jpg|Superstar Shake-Up logo and poster
2021 WWE draft poster.jpg|2021 poster
==See also==
*WWE Brand Extension
==External links==
*History of the WWE Draft Lottery
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment
Category:WWE Draft