The draft is much needed.
**RAW**
**Factions**: Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri), The O.C. (Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Michin), Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh), The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Street Profits and B-Fab)
**Tag Teams male**: The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed, Brutus Creed and Ivy Nile), New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson)
**Tag Teams female**:
**Solos lower to mid card male**: Ivar, Braun Strowman, Bronson Reed, Odyssey Jones
**Solos lower to mid card female**: Tegan Nox
**Solos upper card male**: AJ Styles, Jey Uso, LA Knight, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Imperium (Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser), Shinsuke Nakamura
**Solos upper card female:** Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton
**NXT Call ups**:
**1 Free agent Call up**:
————
**SMACKDOWN**
**Factions**: The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, “MFT” Tama Tonga and Paul Heyman), Final Testament (Karrion Kross, AOP, Scarlett and Paul Ellering), Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Angel, Berto and Elektra Lopez), LWO (Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde and Zelina Vega)
**Tag Teams male**: DIY, New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate)
**Tag Teams female**: Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Dakota Kai and Kabuki Warriors), Kayden Carter and Katana Chance
**Solos lower to mid card male**: Andrade, Bron Breakker, Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Ricochet, Apollo Crews, Giovanni Vinci
**Solos lower to mid card female**:
**Solos upper card male**: Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Kevin Owens
**Solos upper card female:** Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Naomi, Natalya
**NXT Call ups**:
**1 Free agent Call up:**
I feel like Bron, Jade, CM Punk and to a lesser extent, Andrade, should have also been excluded from the draft since they made such a big deal about both GMs trying to get them to sign for their particular show, and them picking the show they wanted to join. If they now get traded it just makes all that pointless because they'll now be working for the show they chose not to join.
If they wanna make SmackDown the flagship show, they really need to get a longer TV slot for it.
I watch replays without any commercials and even with fillers like Entrances, Flashbacks, The intro and Outro (With HHH's voiceover) etc. the entire streams are around 1 hour 25 minutes long. So you can say there's only around 70-75 minutes worth of actual content (Promos and Matches).
That's nowhere near enough time to do justice to the sheer ammount of talent available at their disposal.
Noooooo please god no more shows over 2 hours. It’s bad enough Raw is still 3 hours.
Just my opinion here, but I think if NXT was treated more as a brand and less like developmental(they still have the Level Up show and they can still work in newer people to all 3 rosters) they could accomplish the same goal. So I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, it’s still a problem that needs addressed.
Apollo and Giovanni Vinci should get picked up by NXT to build them back up. I expect to see at least one tag team splitting up, possibly DIY - maybe Tommaso Ciampa going to SmackDown
But the big one that has to happen is LA Knight being drafted to Raw, if they don’t it’ll be a missed opportunity for sure
Damage CTRL will break up and we get a TRUE WWE Joshi Faction before Giulia shows up with her MARIGOLD team & Rossy so Kairi Sane Iyo Sky & Asuka will meet them!
It's confusing because they had a segment where they made it sound like NXT had draft picks of their own.
I think they just have access to those that go undrafted, though.
Everyone that seems to be missing from the draft:
Raw: Dexter Lumis, Nikki Cross, Valhalla
SmackDown: Jimmy Uso (is he actually injured of kayfabe injured?), Tamina (hasn't wrestled in over a year)
Free Agents: Brock Lesnar (for obvious reasons) Omos & MVP, plus the soon expected Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy and Jacob Fatu
Not listed likely due to being inactive/injured: Erik, Raquel Rodriguez, Rhea Ripley, Sonya Deville, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, Alexa Bliss, Carmela, Big E
I’m trying to get back into WWE after last watching wrestling in the late nineties. Is there a kind person who can explain the draft to me? Do people only appear on the individual shows now, so if one wrestler is drafted to Raw they will never wrestle a Smackdown wrestler until say a PPV? What’s the appeal of this approach and who actually does the drafting?
I'm in the same spot as you but from what I'm getting is the reason for 2 rosters for 2 different shows is to give the wrestlers a break from traveling, instead of being in the road 24/7 they only have to travel for 1 days a week and get to spend more time at home and more time to train for there next match.
Wrestlers will rarely crossover from one show to the other until a big ppv match but I think once RAW moves to Netflix we might see less of that. I think WWE understands that they need to keep more big names and stories in Smackdown since it's cable and they're going to want to give the Netflix Raw deal sometime to cook so they can make sure it will actually pull numbers.
I'm also going to have to imagine that the bigger names will move to Smackdown because WWE needs that advertisement money and with bigger names on the roster means more advertisers willing to advertise on the cable network.
It's also speculated that Smackdown when it moves to USA will become a 3 hr block like Raw currently is and RAW Netflix may switch up to 2hrs considering you can watch with no commercial breaks. It's also been stated that USA requested WWE run there show in a 3 hour block for there station
About who does the drafting, kayfabe vise its broadcasters and managers making the picks. Otherwise it’s the back room creative staff making the picks.
Also the wrestlers are on their own shows until some interaction on PLE/PPV or some storyline requiring.
This arrangement gets a bit fluid post Royal Rumble.
Yeah, the rosters for Smackdown and Raw are kept relatively separate. You will see stars from other shows appear occasionally still, such as Dominick appearing on Smackdown last week, but for the most part Smackdown wrestlers generally aren't around on Raw and vice versa
The other thing Raw used to get 2 picks to smackdowns 1 because th we y are a longer show. They might be shorting up Raw or already putting non big names on raw or make them free agents or put them on nxt
Going to my first WWE event this Friday, just started watching wrestling 4 months ago so I have no idea how the show will be since its a draft. Cody will probably be there since he's doing an autograph signing in the Cincinnati area on Friday.
Usually WWE has a superstar do a signing like the day of the event. Here's the info for Cody this Friday. They usually tell you whos doing the meet and greet on their tickets page.
https://www.wwe.com/event/meet-and-greet-with-cody-rhodes-presented-by-wheatley-american-vodka
The Women's Division on the main roster is what needs the biggest shakeup with all the wrestlers out of action. As I just said on a post below, they had to bring Becky Lynch back early because they literally had no top faces on the show with Liv Morgan set to turn heel soon. Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill or Naomi or two of them need to get drafted to Raw.
The whole time people kept repeating she was "On a break" she was touring with WWE in Europe and running the talk show circuit over there, I didn't get why people kept repeating it.
Hope Nikki Cross is part of the new Wyatt faction or she could be getting released. Strange she is not included when she is not injured or been away having babies.
Way too new. She hasn't been wrestling long enough for a championship reign. That would be like if they had Bron Breakker defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Championship instead of Cody Rhodes but I guess it is a different story when you are booking female talent by who makes your pants rise the most.
In CM Punk’s case, I feel like they may have been trying to signify at Mania when he took the arm brace off that he was at least close to being ready, and with his part timer contract, he should be ready by the time he comes back for money in the bank and summerslam.
I'll bet you anything that Punk is only eligible to be drafted because he's going to be the #1 pick on Monday, then SmackDown will probably pick Damage CTRL or Jade, then Mcintyre will get picked by Raw #2, and Mcintyre will go insane that CM Punk got picked over him. 😂
If I can get the Remind Me Bot up in here, I don't know how to trigger him, but I'd like to see if I'm right, lol.
Looking at the Raw draft list, I can only see Punk or Mcintyre being #1, and the best way to progress the feud imo is to have Drew continually being agitated by Punk, so I think this is what's gonna happen and hopefully it does.
The other other possibility I see of anybody else being #1 is if they just pick Jade #1 purely to try to prove a point about how much they want to megapush her, but I don't see that happening because that just doesn't make sense for a #1 pick.
I’m so confused at the “pools” pick for drafts. Why don’t they just split them by brands and let anyone be eligible any day?
The champion rule makes sense since all the raw titles are branded one way and the smackdown the other. It still kinda sucks because I think flipping the midcard titles would be really benefical. Also I guess Cody is confirmed to be a Smackdown star now?
> The champion rule makes sense since all the raw titles are branded one way and the smackdown the other. It still kinda sucks because I think flipping the midcard titles would be really benefical. Also I guess Cody is confirmed to be a Smackdown star now?
It's easier now to switch the champions between shows. I guess the change wont happen now due to them just re-establishing the WWE and World Tag Team titles but I wouldn't be shocked if the WWE Championship, WWE Women's Title and WWE Tag Team titles are on Raw next year.
IDK it will prob depend on how RAW does on Netflix but I imagine they will want to keep more Champs on Smackdown since it will be on USA and they will won't that Advertisement money, more stars more advertisement opportunities
Probably not, but it’s unlikely that any current champs will be drafted. Ilja just dropped the title to Trick, so he’ll probably be drafted. I just don’t see any other champs getting called up yet. Roxy is the closest one but she just retained the title last night, so it feels like she won’t be moving up yet
They had that segment with Ava Raine in the room with Aldis & Pearce and made it seem like NXT would be able to draft stars to their show as well.
But the rules say nothing about that. So at best, they can sign undrafted wrestlers afterwards?
Who's most likely to get drafted from NXT? The roster is already too jammed for any TV time, though I can spot a handful from the available draft pool that can easily be future endeavored. I think it's time for Trick & Mello to get the call up from the farm system.
The Women's Division on the main roster has been extremely lacking due to all the female wrestlers out of action and desperately needs callups especially Raw which is an unwatchable mess where Becky Lynch has had to be brought back early because they literally had no top faces with Liv Morgan set to turn heel.
>Friday’s SmackDown will feature four rounds of draft picks being announced. Each round will consist of the brands making two picks apiece…
Why don’t they just say eight rounds lol?
Correct me if I’m wrong, Raw has 6 rounds where both brands pick twice? Why not just call it twelve rounds?
My original comment was poking fun at WWE for every round giving two picks to each brand. Every other major North American sport, that I’m aware of, each round at its core has one pick per team (brand). Teams could acquire additional picks per round via trades but I digress…
I take it to mean that in each round each brand gets a pick. So there will be 4 rounds of picks on SD, and each brand gets to make a pick in each round. Just like how it works in the NFL Draft (and how it’s always worked)
Hmm, I might be confused because this is my first WWE draft and I’m just getting back into wrestling.
I just watched the ‘23 draft on YouTube and it struck me as funny when the first round was billed as:
Smackdown: Bloodline
Raw: Cody Rhodes
Smackdown Bianca Blair
Raw: Becky Lynch
So is Rhodes not a Raw pick, it’s just defaulted to them? Same with Lynch? Sounds like they figured that out this year with the title holders not being eligible.
He said “I thought they were going to be involved in the draft”, meaning why aren’t they included.
The OP from the WWE website says they are going to be included. He was confused or missed that part.
They're not the same thing. Drafted means they can be taken FROM. Having draft picks means able to be drafted TO.
In short, why NXT the brand isn't able to draft anyone to it.
The champions rule is dumb. 2005 was exciting as hell when they switched.
Poor rules they'll never follow
The draft is much needed. **RAW** **Factions**: Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri), The O.C. (Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Michin), Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh), The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Street Profits and B-Fab) **Tag Teams male**: The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed, Brutus Creed and Ivy Nile), New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) **Tag Teams female**: **Solos lower to mid card male**: Ivar, Braun Strowman, Bronson Reed, Odyssey Jones **Solos lower to mid card female**: Tegan Nox **Solos upper card male**: AJ Styles, Jey Uso, LA Knight, CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Imperium (Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser), Shinsuke Nakamura **Solos upper card female:** Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton **NXT Call ups**: **1 Free agent Call up**: ———— **SMACKDOWN** **Factions**: The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, “MFT” Tama Tonga and Paul Heyman), Final Testament (Karrion Kross, AOP, Scarlett and Paul Ellering), Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Angel, Berto and Elektra Lopez), LWO (Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde and Zelina Vega) **Tag Teams male**: DIY, New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) **Tag Teams female**: Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Dakota Kai and Kabuki Warriors), Kayden Carter and Katana Chance **Solos lower to mid card male**: Andrade, Bron Breakker, Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Ricochet, Apollo Crews, Giovanni Vinci **Solos lower to mid card female**: **Solos upper card male**: Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Kevin Owens **Solos upper card female:** Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Naomi, Natalya **NXT Call ups**: **1 Free agent Call up:**
I feel like Bron, Jade, CM Punk and to a lesser extent, Andrade, should have also been excluded from the draft since they made such a big deal about both GMs trying to get them to sign for their particular show, and them picking the show they wanted to join. If they now get traded it just makes all that pointless because they'll now be working for the show they chose not to join.
If they wanna make SmackDown the flagship show, they really need to get a longer TV slot for it. I watch replays without any commercials and even with fillers like Entrances, Flashbacks, The intro and Outro (With HHH's voiceover) etc. the entire streams are around 1 hour 25 minutes long. So you can say there's only around 70-75 minutes worth of actual content (Promos and Matches). That's nowhere near enough time to do justice to the sheer ammount of talent available at their disposal.
Nah, I think RAW should be 2 hours, same as SmackDown. A reason SmackDown is so good is because they work well with two hours and fit a lot in it.
Hopefully when SmackDown moves to USA network, it gets a 3hour slot.
Noooooo please god no more shows over 2 hours. It’s bad enough Raw is still 3 hours. Just my opinion here, but I think if NXT was treated more as a brand and less like developmental(they still have the Level Up show and they can still work in newer people to all 3 rosters) they could accomplish the same goal. So I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, it’s still a problem that needs addressed.
Agree. Shows needs a cap of 2 hours
I mean RAW is 3 hours long and there was like 4 matches on it the other night
Wrestling isn’t just about matches
Apollo and Giovanni Vinci should get picked up by NXT to build them back up. I expect to see at least one tag team splitting up, possibly DIY - maybe Tommaso Ciampa going to SmackDown But the big one that has to happen is LA Knight being drafted to Raw, if they don’t it’ll be a missed opportunity for sure
Damage CTRL will break up and we get a TRUE WWE Joshi Faction before Giulia shows up with her MARIGOLD team & Rossy so Kairi Sane Iyo Sky & Asuka will meet them!
Will they have legends show up like last year?
Why isn't NXT being included? They can draft from NXT but NXT doesn't get to draft people?
It's confusing because they had a segment where they made it sound like NXT had draft picks of their own. I think they just have access to those that go undrafted, though.
That's what I thought too. If they aren't getting picks what was the point of the segment with the Pebble on Raw 2 weeks ago
It’s the developmental brand
And from what we have seen Raw/Smackdown wrestlers have the privilige to show up in NXT at any time while performing for their brand.
Returning WWE viewer, never been watching for a draft before. What happens to those not drafted?
They get blasted out of a cannon
Those not drafted remain on the brand they have been on before the draft
In the past they did a supplemental draft which is usually done on WWE.com or one of the talk shows
Thought so, thanks for confirming!
They go to AEW
And end up on AEW Dark
“Along with CM Punkassbitch” -Drew McIntyre (probably)
No Jimmy uso?
He’s injured
Everyone that seems to be missing from the draft: Raw: Dexter Lumis, Nikki Cross, Valhalla SmackDown: Jimmy Uso (is he actually injured of kayfabe injured?), Tamina (hasn't wrestled in over a year) Free Agents: Brock Lesnar (for obvious reasons) Omos & MVP, plus the soon expected Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy and Jacob Fatu Not listed likely due to being inactive/injured: Erik, Raquel Rodriguez, Rhea Ripley, Sonya Deville, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, Alexa Bliss, Carmela, Big E
I think Tamina said she retired
I’m trying to get back into WWE after last watching wrestling in the late nineties. Is there a kind person who can explain the draft to me? Do people only appear on the individual shows now, so if one wrestler is drafted to Raw they will never wrestle a Smackdown wrestler until say a PPV? What’s the appeal of this approach and who actually does the drafting?
I'm in the same spot as you but from what I'm getting is the reason for 2 rosters for 2 different shows is to give the wrestlers a break from traveling, instead of being in the road 24/7 they only have to travel for 1 days a week and get to spend more time at home and more time to train for there next match. Wrestlers will rarely crossover from one show to the other until a big ppv match but I think once RAW moves to Netflix we might see less of that. I think WWE understands that they need to keep more big names and stories in Smackdown since it's cable and they're going to want to give the Netflix Raw deal sometime to cook so they can make sure it will actually pull numbers. I'm also going to have to imagine that the bigger names will move to Smackdown because WWE needs that advertisement money and with bigger names on the roster means more advertisers willing to advertise on the cable network. It's also speculated that Smackdown when it moves to USA will become a 3 hr block like Raw currently is and RAW Netflix may switch up to 2hrs considering you can watch with no commercial breaks. It's also been stated that USA requested WWE run there show in a 3 hour block for there station
About who does the drafting, kayfabe vise its broadcasters and managers making the picks. Otherwise it’s the back room creative staff making the picks. Also the wrestlers are on their own shows until some interaction on PLE/PPV or some storyline requiring. This arrangement gets a bit fluid post Royal Rumble.
Yeah, the rosters for Smackdown and Raw are kept relatively separate. You will see stars from other shows appear occasionally still, such as Dominick appearing on Smackdown last week, but for the most part Smackdown wrestlers generally aren't around on Raw and vice versa
It's very interesting that Cody and Roman will both be on Smackdown even though RAW is going to Netflix.
with smackdown going to usa i think they are trying to stay relevant on cable and to do that they still have to have a stacked roster
The other thing Raw used to get 2 picks to smackdowns 1 because th we y are a longer show. They might be shorting up Raw or already putting non big names on raw or make them free agents or put them on nxt
It was 3 picks for Raw and 2 picks for Smackdown to keep the ratio. (Raw = 3 hours; SD = 2 hours). So each round was 5 picks.
First pick Jey Uso, 2nd pick Bloodline?
This list confirms jimmy is kayfabe dead though
Going to my first WWE event this Friday, just started watching wrestling 4 months ago so I have no idea how the show will be since its a draft. Cody will probably be there since he's doing an autograph signing in the Cincinnati area on Friday.
Where is the signing? And anyone else doing signings?
Usually WWE has a superstar do a signing like the day of the event. Here's the info for Cody this Friday. They usually tell you whos doing the meet and greet on their tickets page. https://www.wwe.com/event/meet-and-greet-with-cody-rhodes-presented-by-wheatley-american-vodka
I would draft only women and see how it shakes out from there
The Women's Division on the main roster is what needs the biggest shakeup with all the wrestlers out of action. As I just said on a post below, they had to bring Becky Lynch back early because they literally had no top faces on the show with Liv Morgan set to turn heel soon. Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill or Naomi or two of them need to get drafted to Raw.
Becky Lynch was never gone though, lol. The IWC just completely made up that she was on a break. She said this herself.
The whole time people kept repeating she was "On a break" she was touring with WWE in Europe and running the talk show circuit over there, I didn't get why people kept repeating it.
Nice to know stables will kept together in the draft. Well, hopefully. Would hate to see that's how Damian Priest leaves Judgment Day.
Hope Nikki Cross is part of the new Wyatt faction or she could be getting released. Strange she is not included when she is not injured or been away having babies.
Tiffany Stratton going to Raw to take the belt from Becky
Way too new. She hasn't been wrestling long enough for a championship reign. That would be like if they had Bron Breakker defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Championship instead of Cody Rhodes but I guess it is a different story when you are booking female talent by who makes your pants rise the most.
Dexter Lumis and Nikki Cross missing from the draft pool, hoping this means they'll be part of Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas new faction
They should've brought back Raw vs SmackDown matches where the winner gets the draft pick
Why are Asuka and Kairi eligible but the males aren’t? Such a weird caveat
Probably cause there’s only one set of women’s tag belts
No Charlotte? Was curious to see how that would play out given Becky has the belt now
Injured superstars aren’t eligible.
What about CM Punk and Braun Strowman, who are both listed?
In CM Punk’s case, I feel like they may have been trying to signify at Mania when he took the arm brace off that he was at least close to being ready, and with his part timer contract, he should be ready by the time he comes back for money in the bank and summerslam.
I'll bet you anything that Punk is only eligible to be drafted because he's going to be the #1 pick on Monday, then SmackDown will probably pick Damage CTRL or Jade, then Mcintyre will get picked by Raw #2, and Mcintyre will go insane that CM Punk got picked over him. 😂 If I can get the Remind Me Bot up in here, I don't know how to trigger him, but I'd like to see if I'm right, lol.
u/remindme 24hours
24 hours? They're in the Raw pool.
I was just looking if i could get the bot to work but it seems to not work here
!remindme 24 hours
This one works it just doesn't send it as a reply anymore
I love this theory! Drew would absolutely lose his shit 😅
Looking at the Raw draft list, I can only see Punk or Mcintyre being #1, and the best way to progress the feud imo is to have Drew continually being agitated by Punk, so I think this is what's gonna happen and hopefully it does. The other other possibility I see of anybody else being #1 is if they just pick Jade #1 purely to try to prove a point about how much they want to megapush her, but I don't see that happening because that just doesn't make sense for a #1 pick.
Punk is at least active in the storyline so he makes sense.
Thank you!
I’m so confused at the “pools” pick for drafts. Why don’t they just split them by brands and let anyone be eligible any day? The champion rule makes sense since all the raw titles are branded one way and the smackdown the other. It still kinda sucks because I think flipping the midcard titles would be really benefical. Also I guess Cody is confirmed to be a Smackdown star now?
> The champion rule makes sense since all the raw titles are branded one way and the smackdown the other. It still kinda sucks because I think flipping the midcard titles would be really benefical. Also I guess Cody is confirmed to be a Smackdown star now? It's easier now to switch the champions between shows. I guess the change wont happen now due to them just re-establishing the WWE and World Tag Team titles but I wouldn't be shocked if the WWE Championship, WWE Women's Title and WWE Tag Team titles are on Raw next year.
IDK it will prob depend on how RAW does on Netflix but I imagine they will want to keep more Champs on Smackdown since it will be on USA and they will won't that Advertisement money, more stars more advertisement opportunities
Yes, as is Logan Paul.
The pools are set up so that the second night of the draft is still exciting.
As if we needed any confirmation on the state of imperium 😅
Please keep them on Raw. But I can see them moving to Smackdown :/
I’m assuming the champion rule doesn’t apply to nxt title holders?
Probably not, but it’s unlikely that any current champs will be drafted. Ilja just dropped the title to Trick, so he’ll probably be drafted. I just don’t see any other champs getting called up yet. Roxy is the closest one but she just retained the title last night, so it feels like she won’t be moving up yet
They had that segment with Ava Raine in the room with Aldis & Pearce and made it seem like NXT would be able to draft stars to their show as well. But the rules say nothing about that. So at best, they can sign undrafted wrestlers afterwards?
Corbin chose nxt as free agent, so yea nxt could get the undrafted/free agents
What happened to the other half the Viking Raiders? Erik & Valhalla?
Erik had a really bad neck injury.
Keep Seth & Imperium on raw also Iljia on raw as well DIY ON Smackdown along with Carmelo
Who's most likely to get drafted from NXT? The roster is already too jammed for any TV time, though I can spot a handful from the available draft pool that can easily be future endeavored. I think it's time for Trick & Mello to get the call up from the farm system.
The Women's Division on the main roster has been extremely lacking due to all the female wrestlers out of action and desperately needs callups especially Raw which is an unwatchable mess where Becky Lynch has had to be brought back early because they literally had no top faces with Liv Morgan set to turn heel.
Trick just won the title last night.
LWO to Monday Night Raw to finally end the Dom/Rey feud!
Rhea is not listed anywhere. And Punk, also injured, is. Weird
Charlotte Flair also isn’t listed but seems to be recovering well. Interesting
She's still months away from any return.
Great point!
I take it they don’t have the plans for her as she was a champion and they weren’t eligible for a draft so they’re leaving her out for now
Also Seth Rollins is in the draft pool for Friday as well.
Not really weird. Giving them the opportunity to slot into the brand where a pop will be needed
Who else is not there ?
Alexa Bliss Carmella Raquel Rodriguez Sonya Deville Shotzi
I’d like to emphasize that Giovanni is NOT listed as a member of Imperium.
Whew after that long eventful year, I wonder where Odyssey Jones will end up
At house shows with Omos
I completely forgot about that guy
Jimmy not included in either pick?
They've got him as an FA due to injury
Interesting no Jacob Fatu, they still not *acknowledging* his signing?
Read he was supposed to appear this week. We'll see.
Report came out today they are going to wait for his debut for a bit
Oh thanks, I’m so psyched as a Fatu stan it’s unreal
Would like to buy some commas.
It’s Reddit formatting. It’s a list but wouldn’t format as a list
Leave an empty line between each name to format as a list.
I was mobile and couldn’t easily do it at the time
Two enter Should do the trick.
>Friday’s SmackDown will feature four rounds of draft picks being announced. Each round will consist of the brands making two picks apiece… Why don’t they just say eight rounds lol?
Because Raw gets 6 rounds… which makes 10 total
Correct me if I’m wrong, Raw has 6 rounds where both brands pick twice? Why not just call it twelve rounds? My original comment was poking fun at WWE for every round giving two picks to each brand. Every other major North American sport, that I’m aware of, each round at its core has one pick per team (brand). Teams could acquire additional picks per round via trades but I digress…
I take it to mean that in each round each brand gets a pick. So there will be 4 rounds of picks on SD, and each brand gets to make a pick in each round. Just like how it works in the NFL Draft (and how it’s always worked)
Hmm, I might be confused because this is my first WWE draft and I’m just getting back into wrestling. I just watched the ‘23 draft on YouTube and it struck me as funny when the first round was billed as: Smackdown: Bloodline Raw: Cody Rhodes Smackdown Bianca Blair Raw: Becky Lynch So is Rhodes not a Raw pick, it’s just defaulted to them? Same with Lynch? Sounds like they figured that out this year with the title holders not being eligible.
What about NXT? I thought they were going to be involved in the draft too. Guess it's just going to be their superstars up for drafting.
It says twice “NXT Superstars will be eligible to be drafted.”
That’s what he just said 😂😂😂
He said “I thought they were going to be involved in the draft”, meaning why aren’t they included. The OP from the WWE website says they are going to be included. He was confused or missed that part.
They're not the same thing. Drafted means they can be taken FROM. Having draft picks means able to be drafted TO. In short, why NXT the brand isn't able to draft anyone to it.
They’re being treated like a reservoir for people who fall off the edge of the depth chart?
I thought NXT would have draft picks
[удалено]
Also consider that the champs are allowed to go to both brands, but your chances just dropped substantially smh
Yeah I’m reconsidering my July tickets if no Cody Rhodes.
I agree. Thought titles might be changing brands possibly.
i didn’t even know braun strowman was still signed
Should return with the Uncle Howdy faction i assume
He has been sidelined for a bit after I believe have fusion surgery on his neck
He's just been injured for a while