| 2016 WWE draft | |
| Sport: | Professional wrestling |
| Date: | July 19, 2016 |
| Location: | Worcester, Massachusetts |
| League: | WWE |
| Teams: | Raw SmackDown NXT (outgoing only) |
| Prev: | 2011 |
| Next: | 2017 |
The 2016 WWE draft was a professional wrestling event and the tenth WWE draft, the first since 2011, produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between the Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on July 19 during the live premiere of SmackDown on the USA Network in the United States broadcasting from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.
In 2002, following the acquisition of the remains of World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling, the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) introduced the brand split, dividing its roster among two brands, Raw and SmackDown, represented by the shows of the same name.[1] The brand split would continue until 2011, with a draft 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 brand NXT, WWE decided to reintroduce the brand split with a draft to be held on the July 19 episode of SmackDown – the show's debut broadcast on the USA Network, as well as its renaming to SmackDown Live (with the show now broadcasting live as it was previously aired on tape delay). On the July 11 episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon appointed Shane McMahon as the commissioner of SmackDown and Stephanie McMahon as the commissioner of Raw.[3] The following week, the commissioners introduced Mick Foley and Daniel 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 of SmackDown also featured several matches.
The following is the list of wrestlers who were drafted on SmackDown Live.[7]
| 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 from NXT | |
| 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, and Xavier 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 with Lana | WWE United States Champion | |
| 4 | 17 | SmackDown | 7 | The Miz with Maryse | WWE Intercontinental Champion | |
| 4 | 18 | Raw | 11 | Kevin Owens | ||
| 4 | 19 | SmackDown | 8 | Baron Corbin | ||
| 4 | 20 | Raw | 12 | Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass) | ||
| 5 | 21 | Raw | 13 | Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson | ||
| 5 | 22 | SmackDown | 9 | American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad 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 the WWE Draft Center Live special on the WWE Network.[7]
| Rnd. | Pick # | Brand | Brand pick # | Employee | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 31 | Raw | 19 | Golden Truth (Goldust and R-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 with Bob 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 and Viktor) | ||
| 9 | 42 | Raw | 25 | Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-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 and Fandango) | ||
| 10 | 50 | Raw | 29 | Bo Dallas | ||
| 10 | 51 | SmackDown | 22 | Eva Marie | ||
| 10 | 52 | Raw | 30 | The Shining Stars (Primo and Epico) | ||
| 10 | 53 | SmackDown | 23 | Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon 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.[7]
| 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 at SummerSlam, replacing the suspended Eva Marie, in a SmackDown match teaming with Natalya and Alexa Bliss to defeat Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Carmella. | |
| Triple H | Semi-active | style= | Unaffilliated | August 29, 2016 | Returned on Raw and attacked Seth Rollins, and subsequently only appeared on Raw 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 the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament with Rhyno at Backlash. | |
| Luke Harper | Knee injury | SmackDown | October 9, 2016 | Returned at No Mercy to help Bray Wyatt defeat Randy Orton. | |
| Rosa Mendes | Maternity leave | Retired | February 13, 2017 | Announced retirement on February 13, 2017.[8] | |
| 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 | style= | Unaffiliated | January 9, 2017 | Returned at SmackDowns 900th episode on November 15, 2016. Subsequently, appeared on the January 9, 2017 episode of Raw, where he declared his unaffiliation to any brand. |
| Tamina | Knee injury | SmackDown | April 11, 2017 | Returned as part of the Superstar 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.[9] Even after coming out of retirement and returning to WWE on a part-time basis on 2024, 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 and Brian Kendrick returned on Raw, while Rhyno and Curt 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.[10] In September, Raw draftee Jack Swagger moved to SmackDown. Various competitors from the Cruiserweight Classic also signed contracts with Raw due to being a part of the cruiserweight division. Former NXT Women's Champion Bayley joined Raw after her final match at .
On November 29, 2016, a new show called 205 Live premiered. The new show exclusively features WWE's cruiserweight division. The division was formerly exclusive to Monday Night Raw, but became shared between Raw and 205 Live until 205 Live became its own brand in 2018.[11] [12]
As a result of the reintroduction of the brand extension, the July 19 Draft episode (and the first live episode) of SmackDown on Tuesdays gained a viewership by 2.2 rating with 3.17 million viewers (compare to Raws rating with 3.04 million viewers on the previous night), and was SmackDowns highest rated episode since December 2010.[13] [14] [15]