Impact On Championships
Whether a champion keeps their championship after being drafted is unpredictable:
- During the 2002 Draft, the Undisputed WWE Champion and the Women's Champion were ineligible to be drafted as, at the time, their respective services were deemed available to both brands. The rest of the champions, however, were eligible to be drafted to either brand's roster. Initially, the Intercontinental Championship and WWE European Championship became exclusive to Raw, while the Tag Team Championship, WWE Hardcore Championship, and Cruiserweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown. However, as time went on, some of these championships would eventually switch brand designation.
- 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 Dave 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.
- During the 2009 Draft, WWE Unified Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo), WWE Divas Champion Maryse, WWE United States Champion MVP and WWE Champion Triple H were drafted to Raw, while WWE Women's Champion Melina and WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio were drafted to SmackDown.
- During the 2011 Draft, WWE United States Champion Sheamus was drafted to SmackDown.
- Also during the 2011 Draft, one half of the WWE Tag Team champions Big Show was drafted to Raw from Smackdown, leaving his partner Kane with the other half on Smackdown.
Read more about this topic: WWE Draft
Famous quotes containing the words impact on and/or impact:
“Too many existing classrooms for young children have this overriding goal: To get the children ready for first grade. This goal is unworthy. It is hurtful. This goal has had the most distorting impact on five-year-olds. It causes kindergartens to be merely the handmaidens of first grade.... Kindergarten teachers cannot look at their own children and plan for their present needs as five-year-olds.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)