The 2016 WWE Draft was the ninth annual and tenth overall draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, taking place on July 19 on the live premiere of SmackDown on the USA Network in Worcester, Massachusetts from the DCU Center. It was the first draft since 2011.
Background[]
On July 17, WWE announced on their website that Raw would get the first overall pick, as well as receive three picks for every two that SmackDown receives. Additionally, six draft picks will be made from the NXT roster. On the July 18 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced Mick Foley as the General Manager of Raw, with Shane McMahon announcing Daniel Bryan as the General Manager of SmackDown.
Roster selections[]
SmackDown Live[]
Rnd. | Pick # | Brand | Brand Pick # | Superstar (Real name) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Raw | 1 | Seth Rollins (Colby Lopez) |
|
1 | 2 | SmackDown | 1 | Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) |
WWE Champion |
1 | 3 | Raw | 2 | Charlotte (Ashley Fliehr) |
WWE Women's Champion |
1 | 4 | SmackDown | 2 | AJ Styles (Allen Jones) |
|
1 | 5 | Raw | 3 | Finn Bálor (Fergal Devitt) |
Drafted from NXT |
2 | 6 | Raw | 4 | Roman Reigns (Leati Anoa'i) |
|
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) (Ettore Ewen, Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah and Austin Watson) |
WWE Tag Team Champions |
3 | 11 | Raw | 7 | Sami Zayn (Rami Sebei) |
|
3 | 12 | SmackDown | 5 | Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) |
|
3 | 13 | Raw | 8 | Sasha Banks (Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado) |
|
3 | 14 | SmackDown | 6 | Becky Lynch (Rebecca Quin) |
|
3 | 15 | Raw | 9 | Chris Jericho (Christopher Irvine) |
|
4 | 16 | Raw | 10 | Rusev with Lana (Miroslav Barnyashev with Catherine Perry) |
WWE United States Champion |
4 | 17 | SmackDown | 7 | The Miz with Maryse (Mike Mizanin with Maryse Mizanin) |
WWE Intercontinental Champion |
4 | 18 | Raw | 11 | Kevin Owens (Kevin Steen) |
|
4 | 19 | SmackDown | 8 | Baron Corbin (Thomas Pestock) |
|
4 | 20 | Raw | 12 | Enzo & Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass) (Eric Ardnt and William Morrissey) |
|
5 | 21 | Raw | 13 | Gallows and Anderson (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) (Andrew Hankinson and Chad Allegra) |
|
5 | 22 | SmackDown | 9 | American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) (Charles Betts and Nathan Everhart) |
Drafted from NXT |
5 | 23 | Raw | 14 | Big Show (Paul Wight, Jr.) |
|
5 | 24 | SmackDown | 10 | Dolph Ziggler (Nicholas Nemeth) |
|
5 | 25 | Raw | 15 | Nia Jax (Savelina Fanene) |
Drafted from NXT |
6 | 26 | Raw | 16 | Neville (Benjamin Satterley) |
|
6 | 27 | SmackDown | 11 | Natalya (Natalie Neidhart) |
|
6 | 28 | Raw | 17 | Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) |
|
6 | 29 | SmackDown | 12 | Alberto Del Rio (José Rodriguez) |
|
6 | 30 | Raw | 18 | Sheamus (Stephen Farrelly) |
Final televised draft pick; later drafts to be aired on the WWE Network |
WWE Network[]
Rnd. | Pick # | Brand | Brand Pick # | Employee (Real name) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 31 | Raw | 19 | Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth) (Dustin Runnels and Ron Killings) |
|
7 | 32 | SmackDown | 13 | The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) (Jonathan Fatu and Joshua Fatu) |
|
7 | 33 | Raw | 20 | Titus O'Neil (Thaddeus Bullard Sr.) |
|
7 | 34 | SmackDown | 14 | Kane (Glen Jacobs) |
|
7 | 35 | Raw | 21 | Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis) |
|
8 | 36 | Raw | 22 | Darren Young with Bob Backlund (Frederick Rosser III with Robert Backlund) |
|
8 | 37 | SmackDown | 15 | Kalisto (Emanuel Rodriguez) |
|
8 | 38 | Raw | 23 | Sin Cara (Jorge Arias) |
|
8 | 39 | SmackDown | 16 | Naomi (Trinity Fatu) |
|
8 | 40 | Raw | 24 | Jack Swagger (Donald Hager Jr.) |
|
8 | 41 | SmackDown | 17 | The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) (Ryan Parmeter and Eric Thompson) |
|
9 | 42 | Raw | 25 | The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) (Mark LoMonaco and Devon Hughes) |
|
9 | 43 | SmackDown | 18 | Zack Ryder (Matthew Cardona) |
|
9 | 44 | Raw | 26 | Summer Rae (Danielle Moinet) |
|
9 | 45 | SmackDown | 19 | Apollo Crews (Sesugh Uhaa) |
|
9 | 46 | Raw | 27 | Mark Henry | |
9 | 47 | SmackDown | 20 | Alexa Bliss (Alexis Kaufman) |
Drafted from NXT |
10 | 48 | Raw | 28 | Braun Strowman (Adam Scherr) |
|
10 | 49 | SmackDown | 21 | Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) (Matt Clement and Curtis Hussey) |
|
10 | 50 | Raw | 29 | Bo Dallas (Taylor Rotunda) |
|
10 | 51 | SmackDown | 22 | Eva Marie (Natalie Coyle) |
|
10 | 52 | Raw | 30 | The Shining Stars (Primo and Epico) (Eddie Colón and Orlando Colón) |
|
10 | 53 | SmackDown | 23 | The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) (Matt Rehwoldt and Seth Lesser) |
|
11 | 54 | Raw | 31 | Alicia Fox (Victoria Crawford) |
|
11 | 55 | SmackDown | 24 | Erick Rowan (Joseph Ruud) |
|
11 | 56 | Raw | 32 | Dana Brooke (Ashley Sebera) |
|
11 | 57 | SmackDown | 25 | Mojo Rawley (Dean Muhtadi) |
Drafted from NXT |
11 | 58 | Raw | 33 | Curtis Axel (Joe Hennig) |
|
11 | 59 | SmackDown | 26 | Carmella (Leah Van Dale) |
Drafted from NXT |
Heath Slater was the only active talent listed by WWE as eligible for the draft who was not picked by either brand. He would later get drafted to Smackdown Live.
See also[]
External links[]
WWE Draft |
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