As they do every year, WWE chose once again to shake up their 3 rosters for their TV product to allow for fresher storylines, new matches and rivalries, and more unique opportunities that will come in the following year. The two-night event took place this past Friday and Monday to see who would go where. All 3 brands were affected, with Raw and Smackdown gaining new pieces to freshen things up, while NXT lost some long-time top talent for good, as they got the call-up to try and make it big on the main roster. So, after all is said and done now that the draft is over, let’s look at where WWE went wrong, where they went right, and what we can expect from the year to come!
Let’s start by recapping the draft picks made by Monday Night Raw:
- World Heavyweight Champion – Damian Priest
- Women’s World Champion – Becky Lynch
- World Tag Team Champions – The Miz & R-Truth
- Intercontinental Champion – Sami Zayn
- Jey Uso
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins
- Bron Breakker
- Liv Morgan
- Ricochet
- Sheamus
- Alpha Academy
- Kiana James
- Shayna Baszler
- Zoey Stark
- The Unholy Union
- Ivar
- Imperium
- Damage CTRL
- CM Punk
- Braun Strowman
- The LWO
- Drew McIntyre
- The Judgement Day
- Ilja Dragunov
- The New Day
- Lyra Valkyria
- The Final Testament
- “Big” Bronson Reed
- Natalya
- Kayden Carter and Katana Chance
- Dijak
- Odyssey Jones
- The Creed Brothers & Ivy Nile
- New Catch Republic
This extensive list of stars saw several members of the roster stay put, with the champions along with the likes of Punk, Rollins, McIntyre, and more. However, it also saw some acquisitions from Smackdown, like Bron Breakker, the LWO, and the Final Testament. They also made some hefty NXT call-ups, like the aforementioned Breakker, Lyra Valkyria, Dijak, and Ilja Dragunov. All in all, Raw did really well in the call-up department. The additions of Breakker and Dragunov to the midcard and world title scenes will create a ton of fun matches down the line. The possibility of seeing GUNTHER renew hostilities with one of his greatest rivals in Ilja or Bron getting the opportunity to face off with big boys like McIntyre and Sheamus, all make people salivate. The downside to this is that Raw (especially on night one of the draft) seemed to mainly be re-drafting people who were already there when many wanted the draft to focus on show changes. Overall, this is a key portion of the draft, as not everyone can switch shows, and it succeeded in creating a fresh set of players for those who were already on Raw to interact with. It will be a fun year to come for the flagship show of WWE, especially since the next “WWE year” will end once the Netflix deal begins.
Over on the Smackdown side of things, here’s how their draft shook out:
- Undisputed WWE Champion – Cody Rhodes
- WWE Women’s Champion – Bayley
- WWE Tag Team Champions – Austin Theory and Grayson Waller
- United States Champion – Logan Paul
- Bianca Belair
- Carmelo Hayes
- Randy Orton
- Nia Jax
- LA Knight
- The Bloodline
- AJ Styles
- Andrade
- The O.C.
- Baron Corbin
- Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis
- Jade Cargill
- Kevin Owens
- The Pride
- Tiffany Stratton
- Legado Del Fantasma
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Naomi
- Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
- Pretty Deadly
- Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell
- #DIY
- Blair Davenport
- Apollo Crews
- Giovanni Vinci
- Tegan Nox
Smackdown saw a real shakeup near their main event scene, one that has been dominated by Roman Reigns for nearly 4 years. By virtue of Cody Rhodes’ Wrestlemania win, that was a massive shakeup in itself, and the draft only fortified that. We have Andrade and Carmelo Hayes coming in from elsewhere, plus the likes of Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and LA Knight remaining on Smackdown. Things are looking up for their main event scene for the first time in a long time. Their women’s division also has a ton of new blood as Bayley has to navigate a new sea of contenders like Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, and more. Smackdown has always been a sentimental favorite of WWE’s TV product, and this eclectic crew certainly leads them to remain as such going forward.
Finally, a look at NXT and how they shaped up after a crazy month of departures from their top talent over the last few years. The reboot to NXT 2.0 saw the emergence of young players like the aforementioned Stratton, Breakker, Hayes, and Dragunov on primetime TV. Together, they led by example through the learning pains of 2.0’s journey to what NXT is today: a beautiful hybrid of what the black-and-gold NXT embodied coupled with the developmental concept of what 2.0 was meant to be. Now, for the first time since that 2021 reboot of the show, none of those stars will be there, as they’ve all been called up to show the main roster what they’ve got. Will NXT survive? I think so because there is still so much great talent itching for that main stage breakthrough that NXT can afford them, just like it afforded to those names from before. With stars like Trick Williams and Oba Femi, plus Roxanne Perez (who isn’t far from a call-up herself) and Tatum Paxley, NXT is truly in very good hands, and their TV product will only continue to shine brightly as the new WWE year goes on! So, with all of that said, let’s see where things go from here!
