The Draft Heard Round the World
In June 2005, shortly after becoming WWE Champion, John Cena was drafted to Monday Night Raw, quite possibly the single biggest draft pick in WWE history. This was the moment you knew WWE was ready to take him all the way. He was no longer the up-and-comer. He didn't have the safety of a pre-recorded Smackdown to experiment. John Cena and the WWE Championship had come home to Monday Night Raw, the WWE's flagship program.
In terms of significant moments, this is pretty high up there. Cena has remained on Raw, with very little exception, since 2005. What if he had stayed on Smackdown? Would he have become the Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin legacy character that he is today? Or would he have become another Batista – a world class star who is hugely popular, but not "the guy" that carries the entire pro wrestling world on his shoulders.
Cena coming to Raw was a signal that the WWE landscape was ready for a change. And a change they would get. It was on Raw that John Cena had one of the greatest rivalries of his career with Edge, making him a Hall of Fame level Superstar. It was on Raw that Cena went 60-minutes with Shawn Michaels, slammed Kevin Federline, honored a retiring Ric Flair, and began a career-defining feud with Dwayne "The RocK" Johnson.
This was the move that changed everything.
