The Draft

**Evil Vito** · 10-08-2019, 11:45 PM

With the draft coming up on Friday, the word continues to be that they're going to be pretty strict about keeping cross-brand stuff to a minimum at the behest of the networks who don't want to cross-promote another network, especially FOX who are pushing for a stricter sports presentation.

It's certainly an "I'll believe it when I see it" thing. I think the second SmackDown ratings sag, Vince will dive back into the usual bag of tricks of trying to bring in legends or convince the network to let him use the whole roster, because clearly the Wild Card Rule worked wonders!

But I digress. Let's assume they're actually going to stick with it. Who's going where?

It stands to reason that SmackDown is going to get a lot of "star power", but I don't think Vince will completely neglect his baby (Raw) especially since USA is still paying them big bucks too and they've got an extra hour to fill.

All that said, here's what I came up with with how I can see it shaking out.

Champions

I thought for sure that Seth and Becky were going to the blue side, but with them still having their titles I'm no longer as certain. There's still time for them to do some fuckery with the belts over the two nights of the draft, but I'm actually starting to think Vince really would love to push Charlotte as the face of the women's division on FOX. Becky might've gotten the moment with The Rock on the premiere, but Charlotte won the first match. Similar logic would apply to Seth, this is Vince's chance to get Roman back into the top spot on the new A show and I think he'll take it.

So the way I see it going down, the Universal/Raw Women/Raw Tag and WWE/SD Women/SD Tag champs are exempt from the draft and assigned to those brands automatically.

SD will need a singles champion to put out there when Brock's not around, so that's where AJ winds up and I think they might load up the babyface side on the brand to give him a steady diet of challengers. The logical counter then would be Shinsuke to Raw.

As for the two floating championships, if they're going to become brand-specific I see the Women's Tag belts and most of the female teams going to Raw. One because there's more time to fill, two because they just started a feud between the Kabuki Warriors and Becky. The 24/7 title goes to SmackDown for comedy segments involving FOX personalities.

Notable People

If my theory that Brock/Seth/Becky/Charlotte end up draft exempt is right, I see Roman getting the rub for being the #1 draft choice to SmackDown. Raw's logical counter for their first pick would be Daniel Bryan or The New Day, my money is on the latter. I feel like they're going to want to nip the idea of any sort of Kofi redemption story in the bud immediately and so they'll get him as far away from Brock as possible.

Rusev and Lashley have started a feud on Raw that has Heyman's fingerprints all over it, so they'll be on the red brand. Rollins and Rusev are part of Team Hogan at Crown Jewel so if there's any credence to not wanting to do cross-brand stuff, I see Orton and Corbin ending up there too.

For similar reasons, Rey Mysterio and Braun Strowman end up on SmackDown. You have to figure that FOX will want the Cain Velqsquez/Tyson Fury stuff on their show so moving them there would make sense. Rey's someone I saw going to SmackDown anyway because he's so recognizable.

The Fiend stays on Raw because after that god awful non-finish at HIAC it sure seems like he's gonna have another match with Seth.

Kevin Owens ends up on SmackDown, but admittedly if he got sent to Raw right after spending months and months trying to get Shane off of SmackDown that would be fucking hilarious.

The Miz goes to Raw because he's got a show on the USA Network that will need promotion once the new season launches.

Sasha and Bayley both end up on SmackDown, giving the A Show 3/4ths of the Four Horsewomen.

Post-Draft Rosters

Just threw these together fairly quickly:

Raw

Men's Roster:

Ali
Apollo Crews
Big E
Bo Dallas
Bobby Lashley
Bray Wyatt
Buddy Murphy
Curtis Axel
Dolph Ziggler (Raw Tag Team Champion)
Epico Colon
Erick Rowan
Erik
Gran Metalik
Heath Slater
Ivar
Kalisto
King Corbin
Kofi Kingston
Lince Dorado
Luke Harper
Matt Hardy
Mike Kanellis
No Way Jose
Primo Colon
Randy Orton
Ricochet
Robert Roode (Raw Tag Team Champion)
Rusev
Sami Zayn
Samir Singh
Seth Rollins (Universal Champion)
Shinsuke Nakamura (Intercontinental Champion)
Sunil Singh
The Miz
Xavier Woods

Women's Roster:

Alexa Bliss
Asuka (Women's Tag Team Champion)
Becky Lynch (Raw Women's Champion)
Billie Kay
Ember Moon
Kairi Sane (Women's Tag Team Champion)
Lana
Mandy Rose
Nikki Cross
Peyton Royce
Sarah Logan
Sonya Deville

SmackDown

Men's Roster:

AJ Styles (United States Champion)
Akam
Aleister Black
Andrade
Angelo Dawkins
Braun Strowman
Brock Lesnar (WWE Champion)
Cedric Alexander
Cesaro
Chad Gable
Curt Hawkins
Daniel Bryan
Dash Wilder (SD Tag Team Champion)
Drake Maverick
EC3
Eric Young
Jey Uso
Jimmy Uso
Karl Anderson
Kevin Owens
Konnor
Luke Gallows
Mojo Rawley
Montez Ford
Otis
R-Truth (24/7 Champion)
Rey Mysterio
Rezar
Roman Reigns
Scott Dawson (SD Tag Team Champion)
Shelton Benjamin
Sin Cara
Titus O'Neil
Tucker
Viktor
Zack Ryder

Women's Roster:

Bayley
Carmella
Charlotte Flair(SD Women's Champion)
Dana Brooke
Lacey Evans
Liv Morgan
Naomi
Natalya
Sasha Banks
Tamina
Zelina Vega

Injured Reserve (Exempt from draft, brand to be decided upon return)

Drew McIntyre
Elias
Jeff Hardy
Jinder Mahal
Lars Sullivan
Nia Jax
Ruby Riott
Samoa Joe
Sheamus

---

During the last draft, Raw got 3 picks for every 2 SmackDown picks because of the extra hour. I don't see that happening this time. Not sure if everyone listed will be part of the draft but that worked out to 47 picks per brand. SmackDown doesn't really need a roster that big but a whole bunch of those guys are geeks who will be relegated to chasing the 24/7 title anyway.

10-08-2019, 11:45 PM	#1
Evil Vito President of Freedonia Posts: 58,167	The Draft With the draft coming up on Friday, the word continues to be that they're going to be pretty strict about keeping cross-brand stuff to a minimum at the behest of the networks who don't want to cross-promote another network, especially FOX who are pushing for a stricter sports presentation. It's certainly an "I'll believe it when I see it" thing. I think the second SmackDown ratings sag, Vince will dive back into the usual bag of tricks of trying to bring in legends or convince the network to let him use the whole roster, because clearly the Wild Card Rule worked wonders! But I digress. Let's assume they're actually going to stick with it. Who's going where? It stands to reason that SmackDown is going to get a lot of "star power", but I don't think Vince will completely neglect his baby (Raw) especially since USA is still paying them big bucks too and they've got an extra hour to fill. All that said, here's what I came up with with how I can see it shaking out. Champions I thought for sure that Seth and Becky were going to the blue side, but with them still having their titles I'm no longer as certain. There's still time for them to do some fuckery with the belts over the two nights of the draft, but I'm actually starting to think Vince really would love to push Charlotte as the face of the women's division on FOX. Becky might've gotten the moment with The Rock on the premiere, but Charlotte won the first match. Similar logic would apply to Seth, this is Vince's chance to get Roman back into the top spot on the new A show and I think he'll take it. So the way I see it going down, the Universal/Raw Women/Raw Tag and WWE/SD Women/SD Tag champs are exempt from the draft and assigned to those brands automatically. SD will need a singles champion to put out there when Brock's not around, so that's where AJ winds up and I think they might load up the babyface side on the brand to give him a steady diet of challengers. The logical counter then would be Shinsuke to Raw. As for the two floating championships, if they're going to become brand-specific I see the Women's Tag belts and most of the female teams going to Raw. One because there's more time to fill, two because they just started a feud between the Kabuki Warriors and Becky. The 24/7 title goes to SmackDown for comedy segments involving FOX personalities. Notable People If my theory that Brock/Seth/Becky/Charlotte end up draft exempt is right, I see Roman getting the rub for being the #1 draft choice to SmackDown. Raw's logical counter for their first pick would be Daniel Bryan or The New Day, my money is on the latter. I feel like they're going to want to nip the idea of any sort of Kofi redemption story in the bud immediately and so they'll get him as far away from Brock as possible. Rusev and Lashley have started a feud on Raw that has Heyman's fingerprints all over it, so they'll be on the red brand. Rollins and Rusev are part of Team Hogan at Crown Jewel so if there's any credence to not wanting to do cross-brand stuff, I see Orton and Corbin ending up there too. For similar reasons, Rey Mysterio and Braun Strowman end up on SmackDown. You have to figure that FOX will want the Cain Velqsquez/Tyson Fury stuff on their show so moving them there would make sense. Rey's someone I saw going to SmackDown anyway because he's so recognizable. The Fiend stays on Raw because after that god awful non-finish at HIAC it sure seems like he's gonna have another match with Seth. Kevin Owens ends up on SmackDown, but admittedly if he got sent to Raw right after spending months and months trying to get Shane off of SmackDown that would be fucking hilarious. The Miz goes to Raw because he's got a show on the USA Network that will need promotion once the new season launches. Sasha and Bayley both end up on SmackDown, giving the A Show 3/4ths of the Four Horsewomen. Post-Draft Rosters Just threw these together fairly quickly: Raw Men's Roster: Ali Apollo Crews Big E Bo Dallas Bobby Lashley Bray Wyatt Buddy Murphy Curtis Axel Dolph Ziggler (Raw Tag Team Champion) Epico Colon Erick Rowan Erik Gran Metalik Heath Slater Ivar Kalisto King Corbin Kofi Kingston Lince Dorado Luke Harper Matt Hardy Mike Kanellis No Way Jose Primo Colon Randy Orton Ricochet Robert Roode (Raw Tag Team Champion) Rusev Sami Zayn Samir Singh Seth Rollins (Universal Champion) Shinsuke Nakamura (Intercontinental Champion) Sunil Singh The Miz Xavier Woods Women's Roster: Alexa Bliss Asuka (Women's Tag Team Champion) Becky Lynch (Raw Women's Champion) Billie Kay Ember Moon Kairi Sane (Women's Tag Team Champion) Lana Mandy Rose Nikki Cross Peyton Royce Sarah Logan Sonya Deville SmackDown Men's Roster: AJ Styles (United States Champion) Akam Aleister Black Andrade Angelo Dawkins Braun Strowman Brock Lesnar (WWE Champion) Cedric Alexander Cesaro Chad Gable Curt Hawkins Daniel Bryan Dash Wilder (SD Tag Team Champion) Drake Maverick EC3 Eric Young Jey Uso Jimmy Uso Karl Anderson Kevin Owens Konnor Luke Gallows Mojo Rawley Montez Ford Otis R-Truth (24/7 Champion) Rey Mysterio Rezar Roman Reigns Scott Dawson (SD Tag Team Champion) Shelton Benjamin Sin Cara Titus O'Neil Tucker Viktor Zack Ryder Women's Roster: Bayley Carmella Charlotte Flair(SD Women's Champion) Dana Brooke Lacey Evans Liv Morgan Naomi Natalya Sasha Banks Tamina Zelina Vega Injured Reserve (Exempt from draft, brand to be decided upon return) Drew McIntyre Elias Jeff Hardy Jinder Mahal Lars Sullivan Nia Jax Ruby Riott Samoa Joe Sheamus --- During the last draft, Raw got 3 picks for every 2 SmackDown picks because of the extra hour. I don't see that happening this time. Not sure if everyone listed will be part of the draft but that worked out to 47 picks per brand. SmackDown doesn't really need a roster that big but a whole bunch of those guys are geeks who will be relegated to chasing the 24/7 title anyway.