2008 WWE Draft - Aftermath

Aftermath

Jim Ross, one of the draftees, was unaware he was to switch brands during the Draft. After the Draft, Ross was on the verge of quitting his job as a commentator for WWE, as he was angry at the fact he was leaving the Raw brand, where he had commentated for over ten years. Ross stated on his official blog that he was about to quit WWE, but he decided to continue to work for the company and make the best of working on SmackDown. After the Draft, the ECW brand was left without a world championship, after the ECW Champion, Kane, was drafted to Raw. As a result of pre-draft stipulations, champions took their championships to their new brand and made them property of that brand. SmackDown, however, lost their secondary championship, after United States Champion, Matt Hardy, was drafted to the ECW brand, in the process making the title ECW property. SmackDown, however, gained another top-tier championship when WWE Champion, Triple H, was drafted to SmackDown, in the process making the title SmackDown exclusive. The result of Triple H being drafted was the loss of the Raw brand's world championship. After the draft, the ECW Championship moved back to ECW when Mark Henry defeated Kane and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match at Night of Champions, leaving Raw without any top-tier championships. On the June 30, 2008 episode of Raw, the Raw brand regained a world championship, after Raw superstar and Money in the Bank contract holder, CM Punk, cashed in his contract and defeated the World Heavyweight Champion, Edge, who was a SmackDown superstar. Lastly, the United States Championship returned to SmackDown after Shelton Benjamin defeated Matt Hardy at The Great American Bash pay-per-view on July 20. Trevor Murdoch and Big Daddy V were both later released from WWE prior to their first appearances on SmackDown after being drafted. Chuck Palumbo was also later released from the WWE prior to his first appearance on Raw after being drafted.

The Draft helped increased the television ratings of Raw, which was one of the main purposes of the Draft. The television rating for the three hours was 3.40 TVR, as it earned 2.78 TVR for the first hour, 3.46 TVR for the second hour, and 3.95 TVR for the final hour. In its regular time slot, the show would have garnered a 3.7 rating. Both ratings were higher than the week's previous rating of a 3.3 TVR.