The 18th annual WWE Draft took place on Friday Night Smackdown this evening. With the draft comes all types of intrigue as the rosters assigned to Raw and Smackdown receive an overhaul. Superstars currently on the NXT brand of WWE will be eligible to be drafted by one of the two featured shows in the 2024 draft. All Champions are ineligible to remain on their current show.
WWE MAIN EVENT TIME – TOP EIGHT PICKS
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WWE’s feature show on Fox is SmackDown, and they received the first selection as the host show. Here is a look at the rules for the 2024 WWE Draft selection process. For the TL: DR version, each show will take 2 superstars per “round” for a total of 8 choices for each brand.
Before the draft could begin, recent WWE Hall-of-Fame inductee Paul Heyman announced that Roman Reigns removed himself from the draft selection process via the Wise Man. WWE’s Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, aka. Triple H made the first-round selections for the Blue-branded show of Friday Night Smackdown. Standing next to him for the Raw’s choices was newly crowned WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
Bianca Belair was the first draft choice for Smackdown, while “Main Event” Jey Uso was selected by Raw. The biggest stunner of the night was Triple H taking former NXT-Champion Carmelo Hayes 3rd overall, and Seth Rollins was selected right after with the 4th selection. WWE does its best to keep wrestlers in relationships on the same show, so Monday Night Rollins was not a shock.
WWE DRAFT – ROUNDS TWO THROUGH FOUR
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As an attendee of WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I can attest to how popular the next pick for SmackDown was. LA Knight sparked a “yeah!” reaction with every strike in his fight with AJ Styles. Also retained on the Blue Brand is The Bloodline trio of Solo Sikoa, Tama Tanga, & Heyman. Nia Jax & Andrade are new additions on Friday.
Raw also elected to retain talent already featured on their show. For the most part, Liv Morgan, the Alpha Academy, and Ricochet are staying on Monday nights. Sheamus and Bron Breakker will join the crew on Friday evenings, along with an import from NXT, Kiana James. “KJ” has excelled in Shawn Michael’s NXT, particularly as a heel.
After SmackDown’s live show finished, several additional roster moves were shared on WWE’s social media. Baron Corbin, The O.C., Cedric Alexander & Ashante “Thee” Adonis will appear on Friday nights going forward. For Raw, Ivar, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, and the Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn team will be joining the roster of the longest-running weekly episodic TV shows in the US.
WWE MONDAY NIGHT DRAFT WAR
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An entirely new roster of performers will be available for the draft process on Monday night. Available stars include CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, and Jade Cargill as options from the NXT roster. Here is the entire list of choices direct from WWE:
#DIY, Apollo Crews, Braun Strowman, Bronson Reed, Candice LaRae & Indi Hartwell, Chelsea Green & Piper Niven, CM Punk, The Creed Brothers & Ivy Nile, Damage CTRL feat. Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, Asuka and Kairi Sane, Drew McIntyre, Final Testament feat. Karrion Kross & AOP, Giovanni Vinci, Imperium feat. Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser, Jade Cargrill.
Judgement Day feat. Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh, Kayden Carter & Katana Chance, Kevin Owens, Legado Del Fantasma feat. Santos Escobar, Angel, Berto & Elektra Lopez, the LWO feat. Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega, Naomi, Natalya, New Catch Republic feat. Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate, New Day feat. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods, Odyssey Jones, Pretty Deadly feat. Elton Prince & Kit Wilson, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tegan Nox, The Pride feat. Bobby Lashley, the Street Profits & B-Fab, Tiffany Stratton.
Monday Night Raw will be broadcast live from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, beginning at 8 p.m. EST on 04/29.
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