 Much like I said after Night 1, I thought the 2021 WWE Draft was well done on the whole this year. Trust me, it's far from a perfect process and I'm still left questioning why certain moves are made and why certain stables aren't picked all together, but I wasn't left scratching my heads this year as much as I have been in the past. Baby steps, I suppose. The biggest issue with the 2021 WWE Draft was that the draft pools were never announced ahead of time, even though they were in 2019 and 2020. Granted, there was never any justification for why certain Superstars were eligible on certain nights and why others weren't eligible at all, but at least it made things a bit easier to follow. We didn't get that at all this year. Worse yet, they didn't bother to put a pool together before Raw telling fans who was left to be picked coming out of Night 1. Nothing! We were left to figure that out ourselves, which tells you how late they stated putting this stuff together. Nevertheless, you'll find that I was a fan of most of the moves made and what round they were drafted in. The inevitable swapping of the Raw Women's Championship and the SmackDown Women's Championship is going to be dumb (and is another reason why we shouldn't have brand-specific titles), but I'd say both rosters made out well and are fairly even. Raw definitely comes away stronger and with more star power, but what they'll do with those competitors remains to be seen. Here's my full analysis of each round from Night 2 (including the additional draft picks made on Raw Talk on Monday night) and who went where. As you probably know by now, these moves will not go into effect until the October 22nd edition of SmackDown, the day after the Crown Jewel pay-per-view. Round 1
GSM's Analysis: It was fairly obvious that Lynch was headed back to Monday nights when Charlotte Flair got drafted to SmackDown on Friday, but I still don't like the move. I was enjoying Lynch's return to SmackDown and thought she fit in well in that landscape. She'll be perfectly fine on Raw, of course, and at least her feud with Bianca Belair won't be interrupted. Banks will have to stay put on SmackDown, which is the right call, and maybe she'll have better luck beating Flair for her belt. The Usos remaining on SmackDown wasn't surprising at all, though you never be too sure with WWE. It would have been booking malpractice to break up The Bloodline at this point, but I figured they would milk the Paul Heyman tease (and him having to suffer Roman Reigns' wrath if The Usos went to Raw) a bit more. As for Lashley, I fully expected him to go to SmackDown with Seth Rollins moving to Raw, but no such luck. Beyond finishing up his feud with Goldberg at Crown Jewel, I'm not sure what's left for him to accomplish on Raw now that he's failed to regain the WWE Championship and already had a lengthy reign as United States Champion. Round 2
GSM's Analysis: As soon as Lynch officially swapped brands with Flair, it was pretty predictable that Rollins would join her on Monday nights because, well, WWE is at least nice when it comes to keeping couples together on the same show. If it weren't for that, though, I absolutely would have had him stay on SmackDown. After spending his entire career on Raw up until his move to SmackDown in 2020, I think he could have had a longer run there, especially since those teases for him against Reigns never ended up leading anywhere. I was among those who wanted to see Nakamura and Priest switch shows, if only because I feel Priest could be the one to ultimately dethrone Reigns as Universal Champion. I guess that could still come to fruition if he wins the Royal Rumble, but I don't see that happening, and now he remains on Raw. He's one of the few people WWE has actually gotten right on Raw, so hopefully he can continue to ascend up the card. Nakamura has always been a SmackDown guy, so it would have been nice to see him in a new environment, but maybe next year. Sheamus returning to SmackDown so soon after being drafted to Raw is slightly surprising. I can't say him being on the same show as Drew McIntyre again is overly exciting given how many times we've seen that match this year, but this move does allow him to chase two titles he's never held before: the Universal Championship and more specifically the Intercontinental Championship. Him and Nakamura can be a lot of fun. There can be no doubt he's been an MVP of WWE for the last year and a half as far as his in-ring work goes, so he should be rewarded with a run as Intercontinental Champion sooner rather than later. Round 3
GSM's Analysis: Part of me really wanted to see Styles and Omos split up in the Draft with Styles returning his home on SmackDown and Omos remaining on Raw, but I'm well aware Omos isn't ready for any sort of a singles push yet, so I understand keeping them together for a little longer. I just want Styles back in the main event scene and as an opponent for Reigns, dammit! At the very least, can we please move on from them against RK-Bro over the Raw Tag Team Championship? That would be wonderful. Baszler being drafted to SmackDown was one of my favorite picks of the night. She's been a Raw Superstar since officially moving to the main roster in early 2020 and she's done very little in that time due to bad booking. Okay, so she held the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship with Nia Jax for quite a while, but I don't really count that because those tag titles are virtually meaningless. Regardless of whether she wins this Queen's Crown tournament or not, she should be positioned toward the top of that division on SmackDown and become champion before long. It's way overdue. Owens returning to Raw should come as a shock to absolutely nobody who has been following his career. He has switched shows literally every year since the Brand Extension was reinstated in 2016, so everyone should have expected this. His SmackDown run in 2021 has been abysmal, though I'm not sure him going back to Raw will change his fortunes much. I honestly feel like him leaving for AEW when his contract expires would be his best bet. Hell, Xia Li is bound to be more successful on SmackDown with how officials have been on her in NXT over the last year. She's improving and should be better off without the rest of Tian Sha. The group piqued my interest at first, but I feel they've been holding her back lately. Now that she's on her own again, I'm curious to see what she can do. Round 4
GSM's Analysis: As previously noted, it's rare WWE doesn't keep couples together, so it was a guarantee that Montez Ford would also be drafted to Raw with his wife Bianca Belair. It was more a question of whether WWE would split up Street Profits after Ford's impressive outing against Reigns recently on SmackDown, but I'm happy they resisted that urge and instead opted to keep them a team. They can now go after the Raw Tag Team Championship they never technically lost last year. I called Viking Raiders going to SmackDown because they've been on Raw since April 2019 and it was time for a change. They haven't held gold in almost two years, so maybe they'll have some better luck on SmackDown and become champions over there. Balor going back to Raw already seemed like a strange move because he just returned to SmackDown from NXT, not to mention I felt he was a better fit on Friday nights than Mondays. With the amount of star power Raw picked up in the Draft, I'm not too sure he won't get lost in the shuffle eventually. As another guy who has never been on the blue brand before, Ricochet going to SmackDown was a smart pick. He's been doing a whole lot of nothing on Raw since losing the United States Championship in 2019. Of course, it's entirely possible he'll be just another lower-midcarder on SmackDown and not receive a ton of television time, but a change of scenery never hurts. I'm willing to give it a chance, even though he already feels like damaged goods because of everything WWE has and hasn't done with him since his move to the main roster. Round 5
GSM's Analysis: Karrion getting selected in the fifth round should tell you everything you need to know about how WWE views him. Sure, he's been winning a bunch of matches lately, but without a clear direction, I'm not too sure he has a very bright future ahead of him on the red roster. The same can be said for Cesaro, who is also staying put right where he is. I'd usually be in favor of Cesaro staying on SmackDown, but there's nowhere he really fits in at the moment now that his big singles push has come and gone. I'd love to see him as Intercontinental Champion for the first time, but I don't see that happening any time soon with Nakamura being a babyface. I've actually been enjoying Garza and Carrillo as a team as of late. They're legitimately cousins, so they have that built-in chemistry and work well together. WWE basically drafted both of its tag team divisions from one show to the other, but maybe they'll be inserted into the SmackDown Tag Team Championship picture in the near future. It's strange that the inactive Alexa Bliss was drafted and others weren't, but maybe it's because she's popular and people would have complained if her name wasn't called? Or she isn't expected to be out for too long? Nonetheless, she's been on both shows several times, so it didn't really matter where she winded up. The supernatural stuff with her does nothing for me, but her against Lynch and Belair at some point could be interesting. Round 6
GSM's Analysis: WWE's intent with the last round of the televised Draft was to get people think and they definitely accomplished that. Carmella was the sole SmackDown Superstar from the 2016 WWE Draft to never go to Raw, but that streak is now over. Her current character is now fine, but I have zero desire to see her continuing to cross paths with Lynch, Belair, Zelina Vega and Liv Morgan. Zayn being picked last was obviously done on purpose, but he's another guy I don't see doing much more on SmackDown. He'll never be pushed toward the world title picture and has already done the Intercontinental Championship thing, so unless he finds a tag team partner (which Owens would have been perfect for), I don't know what the future holds for him on Friday nights. Holland and Steveson were two of the biggest surprises of the entire Draft. I believe Holland has a ton of potential, but he's still inexperienced and it was way too soon for a call-up. Here's hoping WWE takes their time with him on SmackDown as well as Steveson on Raw, who literally just signed with the company a month ago. I don't think he'll have a presence on the show until at least next year, but if the plan is for him to have his first match at WrestleMania, fingers crossed he's ready by then and isn't overexposed before he has a chance to really get going. He can be a massive breakout star, but WWE needs to not rush his progress. Additional Draft Picks
GSM's Analysis: Miz missing the televised portion of the Draft is a new low for him. I understand he's not on WWE TV currently, but neither is Bliss, so that's no excuse. Granted, he wasn't doing a whole lot of note before leaving to do Dancing with the Stars, but the guy was WWE Champion just earlier this year! That's pretty lame. I also would have moved Morgan in the televised portion of the Draft given how frequently she's been featured this year and the potential she has. Miz staying on Raw (where his partner-turned-rival John Morrison is) makes sense, but I'm not too thrilled about Morgan going to Monday nights. That means more matches between her and Carmella and I have no desire to see that whatsoever. The rest of the picks were standard stuff. Ziggler and Roode are always switching shows, so I don't see this latest move to Raw making much of a difference. They're dead in the water no matter what. I have no idea why Alexander and Benjamin weren't drafted along with Lashley and MVP if it was going to be on the same night (reinforcing the rumors it won't be a full-blown Hurt Business reunion which is stupid), but at least they're all on the same show and weren't split up. Brooke is a non-factor and will be more of a mainstay on Main Event along with Ryker and Tamina, who are abysmal. Yim being included in the Draft was a genuine surprise seeing as how she hasn't appeared on WWE TV since the split of RETRIBUTION back in March, but whether she'll actually resurface remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Nox and Shotzi have already been split up despite only teaming for a few months, and they never got their rightful shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship despite beating the champs three times. I want to see them succeed, but I fear they won't get a chance to shine on their respective shows. I truly hope I'm wrong, though. Veer being drafted separate of Mahal and Shanky was a weird one. They're another example of a group that wasn't together for very long at all, and I'm not dumb enough to think that WWE may actually have plans for him on this own considering it's happened many times before and rarely does it pan out well for that person. However, I think he can be something with more seasoning. He has a really cool backstory if WWE bothered to explore it on TV. Finally, Natalya and Tamina have been broken up as well, and although that means WWE's women's tag team division is all but dead, I can't say I'm too devastated over their split because both of them bore me to tears and I was never a fan of their time as a team. Natalya is better off putting people over on the SmackDown side of things in singles competition. Undrafted
GSM's Analysis: Lesnar established on the October 1 edition of SmackDown that due to Heyman, he was now a free agent and isn't assigned to either brand. I like that explanation because a part-timer like him should be allowed to go wherever he wants if the story calls for it. It beats the hell out him getting drafted to SmackDown two years ago, only to quit and return to Raw less than a month later. None of these undrafted names are too surprising, but it is strange that WWE would draft some inactive/injured talent but not others. For example, Nia Jax was drafted to Raw on Talking Smack the day after Night 1, but Eva Marie wasn't drafted, even though she got put on the shelf by Baszler around the same time. I'm not complaining, but it is weird. Speaking of Eva, let's just assume she stays on Raw, like it even matters. I think Bayley will join her on the red roster upon her return as well now that SmackDown has both Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks. With that said, SmackDown lacks top female faces, so I'm going to guess Asuka wins up on SmackDown, despite me having zero desire to see her rekindle her rivalries with either Flair or Banks. There isn't a lot left for her on Raw, either, so it doesn't matter where she winds up. If Evans hasn't already had her baby, she should soon, so she won't be back for a while. When she does return, she'll probably remain on Raw. She doesn't need to be switching shows again already. Elias hasn't been mentioned in months, but when WWE decides to bring him back, he should stay on Raw as he was never a good fit on SmackDown. There was no official draft pool from WWE this year, but I included Maryse because she was apparently eligible. She hasn't wrestled in three years, but she'll appear on whatever show Miz is a part of, which is Raw. Lucha House Party are reportedly dissatisfied with their spot in the company at the moment, so the fact they didn't get drafted doesn't surprise me. Expect them to receive their releases sooner rather than later. Thorne recently resurfaced in a SmackDown dark match with a totally new gimmick, which doesn't speak too well to his future with the company. If he does return, SmackDown is probably the better bet for him. Lastly, O'Neil hasn't wrestled regularly in years and I'd be content if he never wrestled again, but he's always been a Raw guy and that's probably where he'll stay.
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