What if John Cena and Batista hadn’t swapped brands in the 2005 WWE Draft?

#3 John Cena vs. The Great Khali happens earlier

John Cena and The Great Khali may have been on a collision course on SmackDown

Had John Cena stayed put on SmackDown, his slate of challengers may well have looked different. He may have had another world title defense or two against JBL. Maybe WWE would have moved one or more of his other eventual challengers to the blue brand to still pose obstacles for Cena to overcome.

One SmackDown talent whom Cena probably would have crossed paths with sooner on SmackDown, though, would have been The Great Khali.

Cena and Khali did ultimately feud in 2007. Khali had largely done all he could on SmackDown by that point, and WWE got one more main event run out of him over on Raw, opposite The Champ.

However, in this altered timeline, it seems quite feasible that Khali would have crossed paths with Cena much sooner on the blue brand, likely as not with the WWE Championship on the line.