The Draft
 

Starts tonight on SmackDown, concludes on Raw.

Who’s excited? Any predictions?

Too many people will move. Instead of moving a few key pieces to create fresh matchups, they’ll move far too many people and it’ll feel more like a palette swap than a refresh.

Kevin Owens will move. Again.

Drew will lose to Big E on Raw and move to Smackdown.

NXT talent will be called up with no specific plan for them, and will be “lost in the shuffle” before years end.

I have a hard time getting excited about any of their drafts because of this. They claim they want to "shake things up" but when too much gets shuffled, it's just messy.

I tried to be optimistic about the draft two years ago with the Fox move, figuring they’d put the effort into making both shows feel different and actually not have people crossing over left and right.

Made a topic with a long post about who I’d draft where and basically every response to the thread was “lol, can’t imagine putting this much thought into the draft”

Oh yeah and of course within like two weeks they were starting the Survivor Series build and everyone showed up everywhere anyway. Fighting for “brand pride” on a show they only just went to.

Pointless.

Yeah there is literally no point to the draft anymore. They need brand exclusive PPVs to truly make the brand split matter. NXT being involved does nothing but add more people they won't use to the mix.

Furthermore, they haven't anybody left that hasn't already workd both brands. Drew goes to Smackdown and what, fueds with Roman, Seth, and Corbin again?

Shinsuke Nakamura and Carmella are one of the few who haven't been drafted since the 2016 roster split. I'm looking forward to the reactions in the war rooms when Natalya gets drafted to RAW.

I think WWE is a mess so I am not excited and I do not plan to watch SD or RAW

But if I were guessing who they'd move, I would assume the following

SD - AJ, Omos, Orton, Riddle, Drew, Lashley, Asuka, Damian Priest

RAW - Balor, KO, Sami, Corbin, Ziggler, Sasha, Bianca, Nakamura

Yeah, this is the biggest flaw with how they've been doing drafts recently.

They really should be having their annual Draft much earlier in the year so enough time can pass where those newly drafted people can build up their pride for their new brand.

If Mania is meant to be the end of a storyline year in WWE, then the week after the following PPV would be the best time to do it since that PPV is usually meant to tie up any loose ends from Mania.

“Shocking” NXT call-ups: Rex Steiner, Von Wagner and The Creed Brothers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WWE Draft Rules:<br><br>- Half of the roster eligible tonight, half on Raw. Who is eligible was not specified.<br><br>- Undrafted Superstars become free agents<br><br>- Changes take effect October 22, the night after Crown Jewel. <a href="https://t.co/hyl4NZwp44">pic.twitter.com/hyl4NZwp44</a></p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1444041392515391490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That's weird, why not just hold the Draft after Crown Jewel if the actual swaps won't matter until then.

There was a few other things Fightful reported about this year's Draft stuff that makes it sound like a bigger mess than usual.

Because now they get to put guys on both shows for a bit.

Haven't they always (or often, at least) done the draft right before a PPV and said "well okay, the changes will be after this" making the whole spectacle pointless?

Yep. Probably my #1 issue with the draft.

Usually only for certain feuds if they were already booked for an upcoming PPV and as a way to hype up if a belt that wasn't drafted will be changing brands but not at this level where everyone stays frozen for a few weeks.

Giving Vince that many weeks before it goes into effect seems like a really bad idea considering his infamous habit of constantly changing plans.

I'd honestly be more excited thinking about my next Bowel movement. :$

will fox have the robot this year?

they will prob do that weird thing where they draft people to shows they are already on

'FOX has drafted Roman Reigns to SD' etc

if everyone undrafted goes into "free agency" then drafting people on your show is pretty imortant isnt it? or am i missing something? i only follow the product in passing

Haven’t been watching but if it’s anything like the last couple of years...everyone is already assigned to a show and they basically re-draft the rosters every year.

It leads to half the roster being drafted to the show they were already on but I think the idea is October or so is the new “league year” for the company, coinciding with when they first went to Fox.

I’d imagine they’d make a few big names like Brock, Cena, Edge etc “undraftable” which in theory would be a big deal as it allows them to show up wherever they need to. But the truth is they already have people showing up on the other brand all the time without explanation.

Sort of since its meant to symbolize who WWE considers as important stars to get the tv picks treatment but a good chunk of those picks get quickly forgotten once the intital luster wears off or stay on their brand anyways making their draft picks moot.

Only reason WWE does supplemental picks and free agency is because they don't use up a whole SD and RAW show just for draft picks and coverage like a normal sports draft show does.

Hope Droford is enjoying this show live from Baltimore, Maryland.

they moved my smackdown for highschool football guess i will just dvr it.

LOL I love when they just draft people already on their show.

Smackdown picks ROMAN REIGNS!

Oh are Becky and Charlotte just gonna trade belts like New Day and Street Profits did last year?? Lol

I like this better than other drafts. It means everyone is in a pool and they have to be picked. Not just people who aren’t picked stay on their old brand.

plus if they dont draft their top guys wouldnt the other brand just draft them? is there anyway around drafting current roster mainstays?


...maybe something like each brand gets 3 guys to exempt from the draft but that kills as much excitement as wasting draft spots to secure current roster...


not seeing a solution to this. bit of an unavoidable evil to having a draft the effects current roster unlike actual sports drafts

The Suplexorcist

Even if it kills some of the excitement, locking a few guys per brand would resolve the problem of top picks being wasted on just keeping the same guys on a brand.

3 as the limit sounds right but I'd add the rule of only 1 champ being allowed to be locked in. Would give some storyline incentives for pre-draft deals to be made so an extra champ or big name star could be locked in at the expense of fewer draft picks. Could also do deals during the show itself so brands could get some of their big stars back at the expenses of other big stars and draft picks.

Yeah I like that, like a franchise tag

HUMBERTO CARILLO HAS BEEN DRAFTED TO SMACKDOWN!! OH MY!!! THE LANDSCAPE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE!!!

thats a marketable way to sell it right there

you could have a lot of drama around both the announcement of who is going to get franchised and maybe have a match for the 3rd slot in some cases. kinda writes itself

and all that airtime just works to further advertise the sweeps event. its a win win

Anybody else feel like Owens already told WWE he is leaving? They haven't done much of anything with him lately.

I like the idea of guys jockeying to get a franchise tag.

ANGLE: commedy jobber challenges arrogant franchisee and wins. names himself the franchise player. becomes insufferable arrogant heel he once defeated. possibly ends with dark realization and suicide.


...im not married to that blowoff but i dont hate it :lol:

LMAO Kofi and Xavier to Smackdown, splitting them from Big E again. AHAHAHAHAHA

Edge looks so much healthier than he did when he came back. Face not nearly as sunken as before.

God WWE is so stupid

Edge's house looks cool.

Don’t refrigerate apples

Cmon Edge

LOL I just watched a clip of the draft on Twitter, crowd rightfully booing the shit out of New Day being split again.

Seriously in love with that house.

What am I supposed to boo about Gable and Otis? Extremely likable and natural baby faces. I do not get it.

Because Otis shaved and got a haircut, so he is clearly a heel :rofl:

LOL come on, Naomi wouldn't get picked in the 4th round

Ok, Naomi REALLY wouldn't get picked before Jeff Fucking Hardy lol

LOL what? Austin Theory was already on Raw, first with Andrade and Garza, then Rollins and Murphy. That wasn't a long time ago, do they think we just forgot?

Oh ok. Becky is just doing a McGregor impression. I get it.

WWE should be ashamed and disgusted with themselves after tonight. Pure garbage company.

I legitimately meant to be post that Charlotte Flair would be drafted to SmackDown as Raw Women’s Champion then didn’t. Just knew that would happen. Austin Theory being called up doesn’t surprise me. Nor does Hit Row. Kind of felt Bianca and Street Profits going to Raw. SmackDown will be the Four Horsewomen show, Raw will be for the “next wave,” women’s teams and possibly some joshi action (predict Io Shirai will go up to work with Asuka). I think Toni Storm and Liv Morgan will end up over there too. At least Toni.

I think WALTER and Timothy Thatcher end up on Raw. I think they’ll put some technicians there. Cesaro to get into that mix.

Kind of pissed I didn’t say that I think Rey & Dominik would end up on Raw, because I did. Damian Priest and Nakamura & Boogz will trade spots. Priest is a good candidate to win the Rumble. It’ll be between him and McIntyre.

Jeff Hardy to SmackDown was obvious. Edge going to Raw were my first thoughts, but I backed off from that because he and Jeff could do fun stuff. Also thought Rex Steiner might end up an Edge ally.

It all makes sense. Weirdest move to me so far is New Day to SmackDown, which I didn’t call. But I thought New Day on Raw together helps them all. I guess they want Big E to stand on his own. Big E is too weird to be champion. I would book Karrion Kross as the next WWE Champion immediately.

Not sure if AJ and Finn are Raw or SmackDown, but I think they end up on the same brand. I would like to see Balor get a full-time supernatural gimmick.

Keith Lee is someone I thought might go to SmackDown, but he fits what I think they’ll do to Raw. And Mia fits Raw’s Women’s Division better than SmackDown’s. The Bearcat name is dumb though. He should really be Wildcat Keith Lee.

Have Alpha Academy been drafted? I think/hope they go to Raw.

Owens & Zayn to Raw too. Probably Ziggler & Roode. I think Sheamus stays on Raw.

Santos Escobar and his crew will end up on Raw. They’ll put together a lucha thing with them, Rey & Son, Lucha House Party and The Garzas. Damian Priest will fill the Rey slot for a Hispanic star on SmackDown.

Raw will also have a “technical division” I think. Not an official one, at least I hope not, but Raw is the place you’ll go to see Cesaro and WALTER beat the shit out of each other, Timothy Thatcher wrestle Drew Gulak, etc. Maybe a guy like Tyler Bate. It will be somewhere between NXT UK, the guys with amateur backgrounds (Gable, Otis, Ziggler, etc.) and heavy hitters with European backgrounds (Cesaro, Sheamus, WALTER).

Orton, Big E, Lashley, Riddle, Edge and maybe AJ and Finn will hold down the main event side.

Possible Becky and Seth change sides too, but I had them figured in for SmackDown.

Had this idea ages back that Charlotte would be drafted, and she’d kind of spit on Raw for letting her go. She’d threaten to throw the Raw Women’s Title down but Bianca would challenge her as a “last shot for Raw.” Bianca would win the belt and then be all “Look, I love it here, love being Raw Champ, but I gotta get at Becky.” She enters the Women’s Rumble to win as Raw Champ to go against Becky for “Two Belts” at Mania. She kicks ass in the Rumble (they usually use her well in it), but Rhea eliminates her in the end: “You’re looking past me.” Becky, Sasha and Charlotte have a Triple Threat like they did at Mania 32 now years on. Bianca and Rhea fight.

Women’s Tag is a new gimmick that is four corners elimination, but after the first fall, the champions enter. Ends up being Asuka & Io (w/ surprise return Kairi) vs. Toni & Liv. I had Nia and Shayna in there getting eliminated first when Shayna turns face, but I guess that isn’t happening now. Oh, and Nattie would team up with Beth. They’d eliminate Shayna & Nia. They’d go next. Dakota & Raquel (the favorites) would go next by Kabuki 2.0. That would leave you to believe Toni & Liv (the champs) would be retaining, but Kabukis take it. Champs are protected when Nia loses her shit on Shayna’s betrayal and attacks Toni & Liv on their way down. After Shayna saunters past them on their entrance and remarks “Nice ass” to Toni.

Uhhh, what? I’m optimistic about this draft. I think Vince is just annoyed enough about the bullshit optics that people present that he will actually try to make both shows good. They probably won’t play out that way, but the potential is definitely there.

The thing I’m angry about is that he doesn’t have to. AEW is no threat. He can literally do whatever he wants.

By the way, this draft totally has Paul Herman’s fingerprints all over it. I can totally see Vince calling Heyman, Prichard, Hayes, Triple H and Stephanie into a room and asking them how they can be different to shut up this AEW talk. Heyman would speak loudest and lay out a vision for each show:

Raw does AEW stuff as good or better than AEW can. They’ve got the Lucha Bros and The Young Bucks? We’ve got REY MYSTERIO, the legendary Gran Metalik, the prodigies in Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo.

They have an emerging Women’s Division? They like joshi? We’ve got Asuka vs. Io Shirai. We’ve got Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm and Bianca Belair.

They like tag teams? Say hello to those lucha teams. Owens & Zayn, Ziggler & Roode, The Bar, Street Profits, Imperium, Edge & Rex Steiner.

Oh, what can’t they do? Technical wrestling. They’ve got Bryan Danielson? Here comes Timothy Thatcher, Drew Gulak, Cesaro, Matt Riddle, Dolph Ziggler, Chad Gable, WALTER.

Raw isn’t going to necessarily have the Match of the Year every week. But it can be set up to have Match of the Week every week.

SmackDown gets the stars and the ready-made acts.

Gable Steveson is coming through. Set up a roster that can work with him for him. Amateur guys, technical guys, experienced workers you have burnt through with Reigns on Raw.

Nothing “stupid” about this draft...so far.

My big “wild” prediction is that Raw becomes the “wrestling show.” Way more wrestling than we’re used to. It’s three hours. You’ve got time. There will be the silly 24/7 stuff sprinkled through, but you can change perception by simply letting Thatcher and Gulak go out there and wrestle for a quarter. How can WOR talk shit about that? Hmm?

That’s what I’d be pitching anyway. I can imagine Heyman doing the same. A three hour variety show doesn’t work. It’s too long for anything to register. You need to limit it in the way that it goes three hours, but the three hours count like they could be abridged to two, or even one.

I’m doubtful this happens in execution, but the plan is the best thing for Raw, and also SmackDown. Load SmackDown up with stars that can hold your attention for two hours, while Raw thrives as a hub for guys to actually go out and do shit that online commentators have to pay respect to.

i like seeing noids imagination on fire

Thanks, man. I act like an ass because fuck people’s uninformed opinions, but at the core of it is a wrestling fan. I love this shit so much. I see it go haywire and know it’s going down the tubes. It makes me sad, but I have trouble placing it in a here and now sense. I guess. I think (I think I know), I see past the “everyone has jobs, they get to do what they want” point, and I see the “no one gives a shit and in a few years this won’t have a platform at all” point people get called a troll for.

Wrestling, at its best, is a perfectly digestible form of light entertainment to break up the week for the layman. At its worst...it’s as dead as the circus for mistreating animals. It’s what the person you wouldn’t sit next to on the bus watches and still has faith in. I hate that. And there are enough smart people involved in it to change it, but will they? Who knows? They seem happy taking their fictional wins.

It's cool that you care. But it's counterproductive to lash out at people who you believe to have uninformed takes. There's so much wrestling out there at the moment, I love to pick and choose what I watch. It's suppose to be entertaining, not something that causes such stress. Like everything in life, wrestling's going to evolve and change. Whether we like it or not. Personally, I love the idea of RAW housing the best technicians. I don't care if people tune out and the ratings tank. I couldn't care less as long as it is compelling stuff.

Why wouldn't you just post that as Skeletor

It doesn’t cause me stress at all. That’s why I’m annoyed. Because I should care way more. And being uninformed is fine. But when you’re a prick and uninformed? I’ll call a spade a spade on that one.

Apparently they did further drafts during Talking Smack.


Raw

* Nia Jax
* Doudrop
* Zelina Vega (brand change)
* John Morrison
* WWE 24/7 champion Reggie
* R-Truth
* Drake Maverick
* T-Bar
* Akira Tozawa
* Alpha Academy (brand change)
* Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez (brand change)

SmackDown

* Toni Storm
* Aliyah (NXT call-up)
* Mace (brand change)
* Drew Gulak (brand change)
* Mustafa Ali and Mansoor (brand change)

No idea why Raw got twice as many picks as SmackDown. No idea why Mace & T-Bar are the only team to not be drafted together (so far). I was hoping they’d just moved Dijakovic to SmackDown and start again. Aliyah is truely awful.

Boo to Gulak on SmackDown.

Positive could be it removes him from the 24/7 bullshit.

Yeah, I guess that’s true.

Raw should have just had a Gulak vs. Thatcher match next week to wash that away.

I don't think that's healthy. It's like faking it?

Not everyone is combative here. Simply not true. I don't adhere to scoops and all popular trends. Still civil and friendly.

Aliyah finally making it to the big time!!!!

Maybe T-Bar can go back to being Dijakovic (he won’t be Dominik with Mysterio there), that guy is really good and deserved better than being in that terrible ass RETRIBUTION stable

He's such a "Vince guy". Why they saddled him with that gimmick is beyond me

What possible better gimmick is there than T-BAR? Who are you to besmirch the name of T-BAR?!

Still true after like 8 years.

I was really hoping they’d just quietly leave T-Bar undrafted and then have him return as Dijakovic. I’m not even into him as a talent really but at least give the guy a fighting chance.

With Charlotte being on SD! as the for-now RAW Women's Champion and Becky and Seth as an off-screen couple, it's clear that the latter two will be drafted to RAW and Becky and Charlotte will just swap their belts.

Rename him Crossbar and have a segment where some random superstar kicks him in the nuts every week. #RATINGS

Eh, I know they did that with the tag titles, but I don’t think they do that to the women. If they change show, I can see them just appearing on both until they lose their respective belts. But I think Becky and Seth are staying on SmackDown.

WWE should just rename T-Bar “Pete.” I bet Vince would love to have a wrestler named “Pete.”

Terrence Barr, Esq. incoming.

TJ Barr.

Tyson James

They’ll do something with his name. Mace will be “Mace” someone. Maybe just Mace Maddin to play off his run as Dio Maddin. I don’t know if Mace Maddin and Madcap Moss can exist in the same universe though.

I’m not a major fan of either, but Keith Lee vs. Dijak every couple of weeks on Raw seems like a pretty digestible suggestion.

Dijak, to me anyway, seems like the sort of guy Vince would prefer to see with a Scarlett Bordeaux. Fun fact: Dijak is younger than Kross.

Alright, here are some predictions, we’ll see how much sense I’ve really made of it.

-Damian Priest and Nakamura/Boogs swap places. Nakamura has been on SmackDown since 2017, and SmackDown will need a Latino star.

-Seth and Becky stay on SmackDown. Talking about married couples, Carmella goes to Raw. Mia Yim to Raw. The Usos on Smackers. Would be kind of interesting if Jey got drafted to Raw, so when The Usos lost the belts, that was it for them as a team. Hmm. Not calling that.

-Cesaro, Owens & Zayn to Raw. I can see Cesaro and Sheamus putting their team back together in a pinch. I can see Owens & Zayn as a tag team.

-AJ Styles and Omos to SmackDown. I think Styles can plug in with virtually anybody. Wouldn’t surprise me to see him feuding with Finn Balor or even helping him out as a face.

-Ziggler & Roode could be anywhere. I think they would fit the developing Raw style more than SmackDown, but you could potentially have quite the loaded division already there, and you’ll need heel teams for faces to beat on SmackDown. Hmm.

-Raw gets Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez and MAYBE Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Karter and Franky Monet, but they might stay in NXT for a while longer.

-SmackDown gets Io Shirai (and maybe Zoey Starks). I wish it were to Raw to have matches with Asuka, but I think the WWE will want a Japanese star to smooth over Nakamura being moved. Is there a Japanese guy in NXT that Vince would like? Maybe it is time to give Tajiri a call?

-I was being quite bold with my picks of Rex Steiner and The Creed Brothers earlier. I do think that Timothy Thatcher getting a spot is not out of the question though. I don’t know if that will work better on Raw or SmackDown now though. Hmm. I’ll still go Raw, maybe with an affiliation with The Hurt Business.

* Santos Escobar and his crew to Raw. I can actually see MSK fitting that division too. I think LA Knight is likely to be called up if he is ever going to be given a shot.

* I’m going to stick with my bold prediction of WALTER to Raw.

* Could see one or two Chinese personalities called up. Boa and Xia Li to Raw?

* Harry Smith to Raw too.

I like the idea of drafting Smith because it would actually feel like a draft pick rather than a roster reshufffle.

I’d say “too many picks from NXT” for them to handle well but I’m not sure they really worry about that.

who kicks the crossbar?

In many cases it’s just young bodies for the roster.

HOLY SHIT THEY ARE ACTUALLY DOING THE SAME THING AGAIN, and AMAZINGLY WITH THE SAME FUCKING GUY????

How does Jeff Hardy have a title match for a Raw title when he got drafted to Smackdown? At least this time it wasn't booked by the Raw GM, but still for fuck's sake.

Hardy gonna win the belt here. Nakamura going to get drafted to RAW with the IC title.

Sheamus prob gonna cost Damian the title in this match.

This is very dumb. But it’s a sloppy excuse to put two good workers in a match with “stakes”

Let the boys work.