 Despite WWE not having the strongest track record with the annual Draft shows in terms of how they're typically structured, I thought Night 1 was a success all things considered. The formatting was tweaked a bit compared to previous installments with SmackDown getting the first overall pick (for the first time since 2011 I believe) and there only being four picks per round with two going to Raw and two going to SmackDown. We'll see if Raw gets the first pick come Night 2, but either way, this makes much more sense compared to how WWE has done the Draft in the past. My biggest knock against the Draft this year was that unlike in 2019 and 2020, the draft pool was not announced ahead of Night 1. For Night 2, anyone who wasn't selected on Night 1 is obviously eligible, but the list of eligible Superstars wasn't made clear prior to Friday night, leaving a lot of fans to question where certain stars where and whatnot. We were also told that NXT Superstars were eligible, but again, it was never made clear who exactly. For example, why would Austin Theory be picked before Samoa Joe, Johnny Gargano or almost anyone else on the roster? We still don't have a clear-cut answer on who exactly has input on these decisions outside of "network executives" and the usual nonsense. and that's the problem you run into when you don't have on-air general managers assigned to each brand (I barely count Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville). There was never any talk of trades or why certain stables and groups could be selected as a single picks and others could not, but I've come to expect that sort of thing from the WWE Draft every year. On the bright side most of the moves made were the right ones. There were some surprising selections, including a few that I'm slightly skeptical of on the surface, but I don't have a ton to complain about coming of Night 1 as far as the draft picks go. Night 2 could be entirely different story, of course, but I'm content with what we've gotten so far and hope that trend continues on Monday night. Here's my full analysis of each round from Night 1 (including the additional draft picks made on Talking Smack on Saturday) and who went where. As WWE noted multiple times, these moves will not go into effect until the October 22nd edition of SmackDown, which is the day after the Crown Jewel pay-per-view. Round 1
GSM's Analysis: Reigns and Big E are exactly where they need to be. Reigns has been the life blood of SmackDown since becoming Universal Champion over a year ago and it would have killed the blue brand for him to return to Raw at this stage. There are plenty of more opponents for him to face on Friday nights and thankfully he'll be holding down the fort there for the foreseeable future. As for Big E, he just captured the WWE Championship and is the perfect person to be leading the charge on the red brand going forward, especially with Drew McIntyre switching shows. Flair going to SmackDown was the first and perhaps the most puzzling pick of Night 1, at least until the possible reason was reported later on. Apparently Flair was wanted by FOX, so I suppose her on SmackDown makes sense, but as the Raw Women's Champion, I'm not sure what will happen with the title. Swapping the SmackDown and Raw Women's belts (not unlike what WWE did last year with the tag titles) would be lazy, so I hope WWE has a plan in mind for Flair to lose it at some point in the next few weeks, preferably to Shayna Baszler. Belair returning to Raw just one year after leaving for greener pastures on SmackDown is concerning to me. She was on Raw for a solid six months last year upon getting called up from NXT and did nothing of note whatsoever. Obviously, she's coming back to the brand having won the women's Royal Rumble, headlined WrestleMania and held the SmackDown Women's Championship, but I really hope this doesn't hurt her current level of popularity or standing on the card. Round 2
GSM's Analysis: People (myself included) have been predicting McIntyre moving to SmackDown for months and that came to fruition on Night 1 of the Draft. That's a hell of a pickup for SmackDown and the best move WWE could have made with him. Not only was he a member of Raw since returning to the main roster in April 2018, SmackDown was the show he debuted on back in 2009 and, as he said himself, he has unfinished business there, as well as a fresh batch of opponents to work with and new stuff to accomplish. He'll fit right in on Friday nights. Both members of RK-Bro staying right where they are on Raw makes total sense. They've been the best part of that program all year and had no business switching shows. Kingston and Woods did, though, as I'm totally fine with New Day not fully reuniting yet. They were for a week or two, but Big E should be on his own on Raw while Kingston and Woods spice up the SmackDown tag team scene. As for Edge, he's only active a few months out of the year anyway, so him going to Raw won't make a massive difference, but if AJ Styles stays on Raw, that's a match I'd love to see at WrestleMania 38. Round 3
GSM's Analysis: Yes, Madcap Moss is the new name for the now-former Riddick Moss, though I can't bring myself to care about the name change because he never did anything for me in the first place. Corbin going in the third round can be considered questionable choice, but regardless, he's a better fit for SmackDown than he is for Raw. The same can be said for Ripley and Nikki. I realize they can float between brands as the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, but once they inevitably lose the titles, this means they'll be exclusive to Raw. Hit Row going to SmackDown makes me happy as well as concerned. It's awesome they're getting their big break within months of coming together, but as everyone knows, NXT call-ups tend to fail more than they succeed, or at least don't have the level of success that they should. I really, really hope Hit Row are the exception because they're absolute money. WWE would be foolish to drop the ball with them without even giving them a shot, but it's happened before, so time will tell if WWE will utilize them to their full potential. Lee returned to Raw just this past week. He's only ever been exclusive to Raw, and considering he has yet to accomplish much of anything, he may as well stay put. The jury is still out on his heel turn and whether it will end up being the best thing for him. For his sake, I hope it is because he's too talented to keep getting sidelined and overlooked for opportunities. Round 4
GSM's Analysis: Naomi getting picked during the televised portion of the Draft was a pleasant surprise, especially given some of the names that were moved on Talking Smack the next day. I mean, it made perfect sense given her recent bad blood with Sonya Deville (who had to announce her pick), but WWE doesn't always do what's logical, so I appreciated that. She's a SmackDown Superstar through and through and has had her best moments on the blue brand, much like Hardy. He was someone I desperately wanted to see switch shows and I couldn't be happier that he did. His Raw run was a complete flop and with how beloved he still is, he can easily be positioned as a challenger to Reigns' Universal Championship at some point in the coming months. The Mysterios moving back to Raw was weird. I liked them being on SmackDown, and if anything, I would have put them on separate shows because I don't have high hopes for this impending feud, but we'll see how it plays out. Maybe they can get back on the same page and chase the Raw Tag Team Championship for a little while? Otherwise, I don't know what else you do with them. Finally, Theory returning to Raw was an interesting choice. The kid has a ton of potential, but WWE clearly had no idea what to do with him the first time he was on Raw in 2020, so what will make this stint on the show any different? Yes, he was prominently featured on NXT recently but as a comedy character, so I honestly envision him being relegated to Main Event until WWE brushes him off for the occasional match on Raw. I'd love to be wrong, though. Additional Draft Picks
GSM's Analysis: These picks were announced on Saturday's edition of Talking Smack. It was basically what WWE called the Supplemental Draft back in the day on WWE.com, and it was not officially referred to as Round 5 this year. From the looks of it, no one went undrafted (though it's impossible to know for sure because the pools weren't announced), so that's an improvement over the last two years. I'm not bothered by these guys and girls moving in the online portion of the draft because they haven't been positioned as anyone important, but some moves caught my attention. Tozawa has been a part of Raw on and off since starting with WWE in 2016 as part of the Cruiserweight division. It would have been nice to see him escape the 24/7 Championship campiness for once and go to SmackDown, but no such luck. Alpha Academy should add to Raw's tag team division and I'd enjoy seeing them work with RK-Bro. Crews and Azeez going to Raw could be seen coming after Crews failed to regain the Intercontinental Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura, and maybe he'll make for a quality challenger to Damian Priest's United States Championship one of these days. Doudrop hasn't been a part of Raw for very long, so I have no issue with her staying. Reggie, R-Truth and Maverick are involved in the 24/7 title crap weekly, so those weren't too shocking. Morrison and Jax staying on Raw was fine and I see Vega being in the same spot she was in on SmackDown. The Raw draft pick I'm most excited about is T-Bar, who can hopefully go back to being Dominik Dijakovic, or maybe just Dijakovic or Dijak because you have to know WWE isn't going to want two guys named Dominik on the same roster. If it wasn't already obvious, SmackDown got far less picks because it's a smaller show. Let's hope Storm gets more television time coming out of the Draft because she's been absolutely wasted on SmackDown so far. Gulak is a non-factor and has been for a while now. Mansoor and Ali should add to SmackDown's tag team ranks and I think a series of matches between them and The Usos could be fun. Mace is on his own as previously mentioned and I don't have any aspirations for him as a singles star. Aliyah was SmackDown's "surprise" pick, even though it was reported months ago she was main roster bound. I've always found her to be abysmal, but who knows, maybe she'll exceed expectations on SmackDown. Kudos to her on finally getting that call-up, but I assume she'll fill in the role Vega leaves behind.
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