I decided to wait until after both draft nights were done before I went over the draft. That way you can get everything at once.
Here’s who was drafted to RAW. Names highlighted in Blue came from Smackdown. Bolded Names came from NXT.
- Cody Rhodes
- Becky Lynch
- Imperium
- Matt Riddle
- Drew McIntyre
- The Miz
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Indi Hartwell (Current NXT Women’s Champion)
- The Viking Raiders and Valhalla
- Dexter Lumis
- Candice LeRae
- Maximum Male Models
- Zoey Stark
- JD McDonaugh
- Apollo Crews
- Natalya
- Sonya DeVille
- Chelsea Green
- Rhea Ripley (Current Smackdown Women’s Champion)
- Seth “Freakin” Rollins
- Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens (Current Undisputed RAW and Smackdown Tag Team Champions)
- Finn Balor, Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio + Ripley (The Judgement Day)
- Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (Current Women’s Tag Team Champions)
- The New Day
- Trish Stratus
- Rhonda Rousey and Shayna Baszler
- Braun Strowman and Ricochet
- Bronson Reed
- Alpha Academy
- Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
- Akira Tozawa
- Garza and Humberto
- Dana Brooke
- Emma
- Idus Sher
- Johnny Gargano
- Nikki Cross
- Odyssey Jones
- Piper Nivens
- Riddick Moss (FKA Madcap Moss)
- Tegan Knox
- Xia Li
As a reminder, RAW gets more picks due to it being a 3-hour show. Not a whole lot of movement but the gains will for sure infuse the roster with new life. More so those coming from NXT. Baba Tunde staying on NXT is interesting but not surprising. Hopefully he will be competing for the North American Championship sooner than later.
Indi Hartwell is the current NXT Women’s Champion and she got injured during her title defense last week. She’s gonna be in a bit of a weird place for that reason. We’ll probably have a better idea after this week’s NXT. She could vacate the title–feels the most likely to me personally–or be booked to drop the title. We’ll see. That aside. The Garganos, Hartwell and Lumis on RAW. We could see The Way back together!
Kofi Kingston, who is currently out with an injury was drafted with Xavier Woods. Their third stable mate Big E is reportedly going to return SOON so we’ll see. Jinder Mahal reformed Indus Sher on NXT with himself as the centerpiece. Veer Mahan also had a solo run on RAW last year. Things are sure to be real interesting now that Indus Sher has been repackaged and is much more dangerous.
Here’s who was drafted to Smackdown. Names highlighted in Red came from RAW.
- The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman)
- Bianca Belair (Current RAW Women’s Champion)
- The Street Profits
- Edge
- Bobby Lashley
- The OC (AJ Styles, Mia Yim. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows)
- Damage CTRL
- Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn (Current NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions)
- Hit Row
- Lacey Evans
- Austin Theory (Current U.S. Champion)
- Charlotte Flair
- The Usos
- LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Zelina Vega, Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde)
- Asuka
- The Brawling Brutes
- Karrion Kross and Scarlett
- LA Knight
- Shotzi
- Pretty Deadly
- Rick Boogs
- Cameron Grimes
- Grayson Waller
- Tamina
No surprises with most of the pickups from RAW. Oh and yes, we’ll likely see a title swap between Belair and Ripley sometime after Backlash. We all remember the imfamous title swap involving Charlotte and Becky Lynch from last year. Belair and Ripley were ready to fight each other after ‘Mania. It will be interesting to see how their exchange happens.
Lashley I would assume to be one of Roman Reigns’ next challengers. I could also see Tamnia formally join The Bloodline as a check to LWO’s Zelina Vega, The OC’s Mia Yim and of course, The Judgement Day’s Rhea Ripley. We’ll see.
The NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships might not change hands anytime soon. I know they won’t mind going between NXT and Smackdown either. I do think they were moved to help build the Smackdown Women’s Tag Division so it’s sure to be interesting.
Bianca Belair and Charlotte do have a history with each other from early 2020 when Belair was still in NXT. Hopefully we see Flair vs. Belair at Summer Slam!
Here’s who is now a Free Agent and can appear on both RAW and Smackdown. Bold indicates they come from NXT.
- Brock Lesnar
- Omos w/ MVP
- Mustafa Ali
- Dolph Ziggler
- Von Wagner
- Baron Corbin
- Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander
- Elias
- Xylon Quinn
Lesnar’s been a Free Agent since the Draft was a thing. No surprise there. Omos + MVP, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander also being Free Agents? That’s definitely not a coincidence. The Hurt Business getting back together has been heavily teased leading up to ‘Mania. It could reform with Omos instead of Lashley. We’ll see.
They’re out due to injury but we can’t forget Randy Orton and R-Truth. New recently broke regarding Robert Roode. He is not expected to be back until sometime next year. He’s out with an injury for those who don’t know.
As for Carmella, she just announced she’s pregnant on Tuesday. Some of you may remember she broke the news online she suffered a miscarriage via an ectopic pregnancy late last year. She vowed to get pregnant this year and now that she’s passed some hurtles, she’s going public with her pregnancy now. It also expains why she was suddenly swapped with Sonya DeVille a few weeks before Wrestlemania for a tag team opportunity alongside Chelsea Green (Green likely knew about her pregnancy at that point).
Carmella is due sometime in November and will likely be back either just in time for Wrestlemania 40 or right after it if she doesn’t take extended time off. Otherwise she could be back for Summer Slam next year which would align with Becky Lynch’s return in 2021 which was 8 months after she gave birth to her daughter. This will be Carmella’s first child but Corey Graves’ third. Graves has two kids from a previous relationship.
Wrestling fans have noted for three years now, someone involved in a storyline with Asuka has ended up having to go on maternity leave eventually. Those people so far being Becky Lynch in 2020, Lacey Evans in 2021 and Carmella in 2022 (as well as 2023). You can’t help but wonder if Bianca Belair might be next!
Although she doesn’t publicly talk about it or on social media, Asuka actually is married and has a son. That’s probably a surprise to a lot of people given how active she is on social media but it’s well known she does have a child. She keeps her private life private and there’s nothing wrong with that. Most wrestling fans give a knowing chuckle every year when WWE acknowledges Mother’s Day and Asuka is omitted. It’s not that people don’t know but she has a higher public profile in Japan than in the U.S. like Meiko Satomoura does. She has things she has to be mindful of weather folks in the U.S. and elsewhere like it or not.
I don’t think we’re done seeing roster movement especially from NXT. I say that knowing NXT lost all three of its current women’s Champions via the draft.
Here’s a few more NXT names that can and should move before the dust fully settles:
- Meiko Satomoura
- Tyler Bate
- The Creed Brothers + Ivy Nile
- Andre Chase + Duke Hudson + Thea Hale (Chase U)
- Boa (yes, he’s still under NXT contract)
- Wendy Choo
For those who might not know, Meiko Satomoura runs a wrestling school in Japan and most of her time is focused there. This is why she hasn’t been around much since coming over from NXT UK. She may not be willing to move to RAW/Smackdown because of how that could potentially impact her obligations in Japan.
I don’t really see much for Tyler Bate to do in NXT at this point. That’s just me. Same for Diamond Mine. They are more than ready to move on and Ivy Nile would have more to do on the main roster. Chase U is probably being kept back to give Duke Hudson and Thea Hale more time to develop.
Boa hasn’t really been used since shortly after Xia Li was drafted to the main roster two years ago. I know he’s still under contract with NXT though. I feel like Wendy Choo is in a weird place with her Slumber Party gimmick. On the one hand, a changeup would do her a lot of good. On the other hand, she should stay in NXT if her gimmick isn’t changing. I would love to see something done with her personally.
We basically got confirmation Bron Breakker is staying on NXT for now last week. The main event picture is obviously more focused with the departures of Waller and McDonaugh in particular. I could see Dijak and Ilia Dragonov moving up to the main event soon as well.
Gallus staying makes sense as they will be what the Creed Brothers were last year: Anchors to rebuild the Tag Team Division around. The Women’s Division is pretty stacked so it’s just a question of who Indi Hartwell will drop the title to and when. As for the women’s tag side, honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if NXT Women’s Tag titles are unified with their main roster counterparts. More so given most of NXT’s Women’s Tag Teams were getting broken up over the last 8 or so months.
What’s more likely is some new talent are about to make their debut on NXT and room is being made with this round of callups. 18 NXT slots were vacated via the draft and like I said before, I think there will be a few more to follow. The draft assignments are not final until after Backlash meaning we will see superstars from both brands on Smackdown on Friday.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention there’s been talk of WWE considering bringing back brand-exclusive PPVs. WWE did it for a few years between 2015 and 2018 but stopped mostly because it was a logistical hell planning two PPVs a month. As for why they may be considering bringing that back, one reason is likely because both rosters are now STACKED post-draft.
I think WWE can pull it off this time personally. They can stagger PPVs so they’re at least two weeks apart per month or even hold them in the same weekend ala Wrestlemania: One PPV on Saturday night, the other Sunday Night. Either method could work. I look forward to seeing how things play out moving forward.
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