12 Most Impactful WWE Draft Picks In History

3. Kurt Angle to SmackDown – 2002

The 2002 WWE Draft was difficult to analyze for this list. You might think that names like The Rock and The Undertaker would have to make this list but really that is not the case.

Many of the biggest names involved left the company or switched brands entirely just a few months later. One who didn’t was Kurt Angle who was moved to SmackDown.

Angle was famously part of the SmackDown Six, who defined the early days of SmackDown post Brand Split. However, he picked up the pace, becoming the face of the brand during one of its strongest periods.

His rivalry with Brock Lesnar involved perhaps the best match in SmackDown history with their Iron Man match in September 2003 and his ongoing rivalries with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were some of the best to ever come out of the Blue Brand.

Of all the picks in the first WWE Draft, Kurt Angle undoubtedly had the biggest impact.

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2. AJ Styles to SmackDown – 2016

AJ Styles was a name on the rise in WWE after his debut at the Royal Rumble in 2016. He had just turned heel when he was taken in the first round of the 2016 WWE Draft, moving to SmackDown where he would make his home.

SmackDown became known as the House that AJ Styles built after the reintroduction of the Brand Split. Considering the work he put in on the show, it is hard to argue with that monicker.

His first reign as WWE Champion came immediately after the Draft, beating Dean Ambrose at Backlash. From there he solidified himself as WWE’s top performer at the time with great defenses and a solid second reign lasting over a year from 2017-2018.

Everyone moves around so much these days that it is hard for a star to feel linked to a brand but Styles and SmackDown are still synonymous even with him wrestling on Raw these days.

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1. John Cena to Raw – 2005

John Cena was still incredibly rough around the edges when he was drafted to Raw in 2005. However, through WWE’s insistence on sticking with their cash cow, he took over WWE after this move.

Cena walked onto Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel as the first pick of the 2005 WWE Draft. At the time he and Batista were on fairly equal footing as WWE’s newest top stars but it was here that Cena surpassed his peers and never looked back.

Cena remained on Raw consistently until 2016, marking a ridiculous 11 year stretch on the show. He was never the most polished performer but it is undeniable that Cena was the biggest and most important star on Raw for over a decade.

His highs ultimately outweigh his lows, illustrated by his two Wrestler of the Year awards in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 2007 and 2010.

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• draft
• Batista
• John Cena
• wwe

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