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