On the April 7th episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Triple H announced the return of the WWE Draft.
While The Game said that it would begin in a few weeks, details were thin on the ground.
This was followed by a report that suggested it could take place on May 8th, which would be the first episode of Raw following Backlash. However, WWE has now confirmed that the draft will begin in two weeks, which puts the start date at April 28th on SmackDown, with the second night taking place on the May 1st episode of Raw.
When Was The First WWE Draft?
When WWE purchased WCW back in March 2001, the company had plans to relaunch its former rival as a standalone brand. This would have created two separate rosters. However, once plans for the relaunch were scrapped, WWE was left with a huge talent roster and faced an uphill struggle in trying to feature everyone on television.
The solution was to split the roster between Raw and SmackDown.
The first-ever WWE Draft took place in March 2002, and the brand split remained in place until August 2011 when it was scrapped. However, it was brought back in 2016 and has stayed intact ever since.
The draft has featured NXT every year since 2016, aside from 2017. While stars aren’t drafted to the developmental brand, they are often moved up to the main roster.