What’s the story?
If the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio is anything to go by, Brock Lesnar and John Cena were originally meant to be the first two draft picks in July 2016. The WWE’s original plan comes as no surprise considering Cena has been the promotion’s poster boy for a long time and Brock Lesnar had whipped up a publicity storm after his victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 200.
In case you didn’t know...
The draft for the WWE brand split in July last year turned out quite differently from the original plans. Seth Rollins was the first pick to go to Raw followed by Dean Ambrose to SmackDown Live. John Cena and Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, were drafted seventh and eight respectively.
The heart of the matter
In The Miz’s promo about John Cena and Nikki Bella’s ‘plastic’ relationship on this week’s SmackDown Live, he hammered in the point that John Cena gets whatever he wants yet again. While he spoke, the A-lister made a pertinent observation pointing out it was John Cena’s idea to be drafted fifth.
The Beast had been flagged for violating anti-doping regulations by the USADA and had become a liability of sorts for the WWE while Cena wasn’t around enough to justify him being the first draft thus pouring water over their initial plans.
What’s next?
There’s not much to be done about how the draft played out. In fact, it was a faithful reflection of the promotion and its best talents of the time. However, another draft seems to be in the offing and it should be a good indicator of where each of the WWE superstars ranks in the hierarchy.
Sportskeeda’s Take
There’s no point in ignoring the truth. John Cena and Brock Lesnar are both part-timers with a good chunk of their time dedicated to other pursuits. Drafting Lesnar and Cena would have been blatant pandering and the WWE Universe is better off with the way things turned out eventually.
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