WWE has been long overdue for a roster shakeup. The last installment of the Draft took place in October 2021, over 18 months ago. In that time, Triple H assumed creative control of the company, which led to the rules of the Brand Split being completely ignored. They weren't exactly enforced prior to that point, but the Brand Split is essentially deemed dead by end of last summer. If there was ever a time to bring it back, post-WrestleMania season made the most sense, so I'm glad they waited until now to hold the Draft.
Night 1 is in the books as of Friday's SmackDown, and although it was an eventful evening, I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a success, at least not yet. In short, a lot of mind-boggling picks were made for Raw and SmackDown, but the biggest problem with the format was that there were no authority figures making the selections, just guest presenters for each round. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed seeing Rob Van Dam and others, but why would they ecare about who goes where? In the past, we were told the decisions were largely made by "network executives," and that was ridiculous as well. Bringing back general mangers would be a simple solution. The picks themselves were questionable, to say the least. I'll get into each round momentarily, but I was left with more questions than answers, and not in a positive way. Are we in for yet another silly belt swap with the women's championships with Bianca Belair taking the Raw Women's Championship to SmackDown? Are Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns really going to separated for good? How will the NXT titles be dealt with? Sure, I was shocked by multiple draft picks, but shocking isn't always what's best in these sorts of situations. Maybe Night 2 will clear things up, but I wasn't left overly optimistic once Night 1 concluded. On the bright side, no tag teams or stables were split (is that a first?), so that was refreshing. Triple H mentioned that the new rosters will go into effect after the Backlash pay-per-view, which takes place on Saturday, May 6. Apparently talent can be traded, but WWE hasn't done that too often. The first four rounds were televised on Friday's SmackDown with additional draft picks taking place on The SmackDown LowDown the following Saturday morning and a handful of stars declaring themselves as free agents. Below, you'll find my in-depth analysis for all of the Raw and SmackDown selections. My Night 2 analysis should be up sometime this coming week. Round 1
GSM's Analysis: You had to know FOX would want to retain Reigns (despite there being rumors of USA Network wanting him as well). Sikoa and Heyman will join him as they should, but the question remains whether The Usos will stay on SmackDown as well seeing as how they aren't eligible until Night 2. Them going to a separate show might be interesting, but personally, I'd prefer to see them stick together. Rhodes remaining on Raw was puzzling. Yes, it was logical for him to go early because he's the biggest babyface in the company, but I would have swapped him and Belair. The reason being, how can Rhodes "finish the story" if Reigns is on the opposite brand and Raw will be getting the World Heavyweight Championship soon? No, Rhodes becoming the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion is not a proper conclusion to the storyline. It's possible he'll win the men's Money in the Bank Ladder match or next year's men's Royal Rumble match (again) to earn another opportunity, but that might be giving WWE too much credit. Time will tell with this one. Belair going to SmackDown with the Raw Women's Championship is also problematic. In 2021, Lynch and Charlotte Flair had to literally swap belts because they were SmackDown and Raw Women's champions at the time and were drafted. It made for a terrible television segment, not to mention it's asinine for them to start a new reign with the other belt. Let's avoid that this year, shall we? It would also be a bummer for Belair's run, which has lasted over a year and is nearly record-breaking, to end in such lame fashion. IYO SKY will contend for the championship at Backlash, but she too finds herself on SmackDown now, so that isn't the answer. WWE should rebrand the women's titles to avoid this issue this year and in the future, but I don't have faith that's going to happen. Lastly, Lynch is staying put on Raw. I was actually hoping she'd return to SmackDown, where she didn't have much of a Raw in 2021 before returning to Raw in the Draft. I suppose it's a positive she's separated from Belair and Damage CTRL, and her rivalry with Trish Stratus probably won't be affected, but a change of scenery would have been nice for her. Alas, this confirms her husband Seth Rollins will be Raw bound in Night 2 of the Draft. Round 2
GSM's Analysis: I love The Street Profits, but what's the logic in them being picked before the Intercontinental Champion, or multiple former world champions like Edge, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles? It was an obvious pick with Montez Ford's wife Bianca Belair already being drafted to SmackDown, so maybe they wanted to get it out of the way early. There was a lot of talk among fans that Ford and Angelo Dawkins would be broken up in the Draft. I'm happy that didn't happen, but it'd be nice if they started pursuing singles stuff on SmackDown without turning on each other. As entertaining as they are, they really don't have anything left to accomplish in the tag team ranks. Imperium to Raw is an interesting one. That would seem to suggest that Austin Theory and the United States Championship are SmackDown bound, unless he loses it to Lashley (now on SmackDown) or Bronson Reed (who could be drafted to SmackDown on Monday). What's important is that they're still a unit. Gunther has been outstanding on SmackDown this past year and I like him on Raw because he can be slotted as the top heel, with or without the Intercontinental Championship. If he isn't World Heavyweight Champions within the next year, something is seriously wrong. Edge can be on either brand and it wouldn't really matter, but I enjoyed him being on SmackDown in 2021 before being drafted to Raw and thus I'm glad he's back, especially since that's where he had his greatest success earlier in his career. The same can be said about Riddle in that he'll do well wherever he goes, but his rivalry with The Bloodline has run its course and, as a member of the Raw roster, he'll be away from them. Hopefully an RK-Bro reunion is in the cards once Randy Orton is cleared to return. Round 3
GSM's Analysis: I really love Lashley on SmackDown as he hasn't been a member of the blue brand since 2006. You read that correctly. 2006! He debuted in WWE on SmackDown in 2005 and became United States Champion a short while later but moved to ECW in late 2006. He was on Raw in 2007 and returned to WWE on Raw in 2018, where he's been ever since. Lashley vs. Reigns eventually would be awesome, even if Lashley has no chance of winning. We haven't seen them cross paths one-on-one nearly five years. For Reigns and Styles, it's been even longer. They had a pair of exceptional matches for the then-WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2016, both won by Reigns. They've largely been separated by the Brand Split since then, so I'm all for Styles being back on SmackDown. The rest of The O.C. doesn't much of a difference, but what were they going to do without him? They're better together than apart, anyway. Welcome back, AJ! Raw has Rhodes in its ranks, and with Rollins almost guaranteed to remain in the Raw main event mix as well, McIntyre going to Raw is a curious choice. On one hand, I appreciate that he's away from Reigns because he's not beating him. On the other, will he, Rhodes and Rollins all be top babyfaces simultaneously? Maybe Rhodes on Raw is a ruse after all, or maybe McIntyre goes heel at some point. Either way, color me intrigued. Meanwhile, The Miz has never been more irrelevant, and that's coming from a fan of his. He'll likely still be stuck doing nothing on Raw and therefore I can't bring myself to care. Round 4
GSM's Analysis: Damage CTRL not being broken up is a head-scratcher. I thought the Draft was a perfect opportunity to send one of them to SmackDown and have the other two go their separate ways on Raw, but I guess you can't break up only one stable in the Draft. What's worse is that SKY is on SmackDown along with Belair (her Backlash opponent), so the chances of a title swap are indeed high, unfortunately. Speaking of which, are Belair and Bayley/Damage CTRL destined to feud forever? God, let's hope not. Amazingly, Nakamura has never been on Monday nights before, at least not regularly/officially. He got called up to SmackDown in April 2017 and that's where he stayed for six years. He just returned and started a feud with Karrion Kross, and although they're facing off on SmackDown this coming week, I'd actually like to see that storyline continue on Raw because Kross could benefit from a move as well. We then had our only NXT picks of the night (at least until The SmackDown LowDown on Saturday): Fyre and Dawn to SmackDown and Hartwell to Raw. These were baffling for different reasons. Dawn is decent and Fyre is more than capable of a move to the main roster, but why would they win the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship at Stand & Deliver only to get called up a month later? Hartwell is in the exact same situation. Hell, she defended her title on Tuesday's Spring Breakin' episode, got injured and was still booked to retain, so that tells me this was a last-minute move, or Shawn Michaels just had no idea. Either way, NXT losing all of its women's champions at once is... not ideal. Realistically, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter should have been called up before Dawn and Fyre, but that's just me. Another run for them as NXT Women's Tag Team Champions? Meh. Additional Draft Picks
GSM's Analysis: Viking Raiders were previously on SmackDown and had been since the last Draft. No real change there. Lumis and LeRae staying on Raw means all babyface members of The Way will now be on Raw (as Johnny Gargano obviously won't be split from his wife). That can't be a coincidence, right? No word on where Alpha Academy is going, but I'd be disappointed to see Otis' storyline with Maximum Male Models end because of the Draft. They were quietly moved to Raw a few months ago, so them staying on Raw is logical. Hit Row has sadly been a bust since returning. I would've rather seen them get a fresh start on Raw over Viking Raiders, but oh well. Better yet, I would be interested in seeing them back in NXT, where they didn't spend nearly enough time together. Who knows, that could still happen. Green and Deville will remain linked on Raw (the better fit for them) and Natalya will be another addition to the Raw women's division. No thoughts on that one, along with Evans on SmackDown. Does anyone honestly care? We got three NXT call-ups in this round: Stark, McDonagh and Crews. Needless to say, Crews has been called up once before, so this is more of a return than anything, but I'm worried for him. He's been on Raw and SmackDown a bunch and has been marginalized more often than not, so it'd be a bummer if he ended up on Main Event again. He'd be a great potential challenger for Gunther, though. Stark and McDonagh fall into the same category of super skilled workers who may not get beyond a certain level but should give a lot of people their best matches. They've been toiling in NXT for a while now, so those moves were expected and hopefully they won't get lost in the shuffle on Raw.
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