22 March 2004 - The First Draft

The WWE draft lottery in 2004 was the first draft lottery in WWE history and it took place on March 22, 2004, on an episode of Monday Night Raw.

The draft lottery was designed to shake up the WWE rosters and create new storylines for the wrestlers. The draft was conducted as a lottery, with representatives from each of the WWE brands drawing numbers to determine the order in which they could pick wrestlers.

The draft began with Vince McMahon, the chairman of the WWE, announcing that the WWE roster would be split into two separate brands: Raw and SmackDown. McMahon then introduced Eric Bischoff, the general manager of Raw, and Paul Heyman, the general manager of SmackDown.

The draft lottery then began, with representatives from each brand taking turns to pick wrestlers from a pool of WWE superstars. The draft picks were made in front of a live audience and televised to millions of viewers around the world.

The draft lottery in 2004 was seen as a major event in the WWE, and it helped to establish the Raw and SmackDown brands as separate entities within the company. Since then, the WWE has held several draft lotteries.