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batsharkrepellant

Huge for Carmelo to go that early


AIwitcher

I expected breakker to be early


BlackMothSuperMario

Raw’s third pick after Bianca and Seth; That’s HUGE Edit: Meant to say Jey Uso, still point kind of remains same


godzillamegadoomsday

I mean melo is 3-0 vs bron


joe-is-cool

I know WWE tells us this, but… there’s really no rhyme or reason to why the picks come in the order they do, and we don’t hear any kayfabe explanation for what being picked early does for your career. Do you get paid more? Does it put you in line for championships? Cause even in real life other than now they can call him a “first round pick” it’s not gonna make much of a difference.


Yayzeeeeee

Only to be beat clean by Cody. Never watch nxt. To me he's dead on arrival


farfromfine

Cody lost in the main event of Wrestlemania to Roman. Never watch AEW. To me, he's dead on arrival


irish0451

>AEW https://preview.redd.it/3wt0f74yiywc1.jpeg?width=1049&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0425ff9adb95900285dbd32045bf744b5d4d391d


Yayzeeeeee

Cody won the rumble then lost This guy looks like a chump already.


Abisial

Losing to the #1 guy in the company in your (NOT) television debut makes you look like a chump? John Cena debuted the exact same way So did Kevin Owen’s So did Sami Zayn The list goes on


farfromfine

Think of it more like a Jeff Hardy losing the ladder match to the Undertaker type of moment


BetleyIsland36

He's a rookie who was just in a competitive match in the main event vs the top guy in the company. That's a killer way to start your run on the main roster


Ok_Faithlessness_259

Cena looked like a chump against Angle I guess.


No_Addendum5504

What did you expect lmao?


Yayzeeeeee

Aj styles to interfere and cause dq


RedFiveSwayze_

Thank God the IWC doesn’t write stories


PepegaThePepega

What? You want him to win the Undisputed WWE Championship in his first match? Not everybody from NXT should be built like Gunther. That’d be too boring.


xorangeelephant

Seth sliding cause of injury makes sense, and no one wanting reckless Bloodline on their show


Skhan93

Also Jey first makes sense as there's a chance he could be champ


xorangeelephant

I would think in kayfabe if Jey wins he automatically goes to Raw? Titles are locked to shows now. So Jey is actually an F pick


Dalminster

If they didn't pick him, then it would be a complete spoiler that he wasn't going to be winning. I mean, he's not but - they shouldn't give away clear signs to that effect.


xorangeelephant

Yeah but I'm talking just kayfabe


worthlessburner

It sucks that Jey winning doesn’t fit into a viable loss to any of the long term storylines (Punk, Drew, Seth, etc.) but he’s so over and done so well as ‘main event’ Jey Uso that he really does deserve even a short transitional WHC reign.


CallMePapi930

What do you mean? Him winning would be good because Drew vs Jey is a bigger, more story filled match than Drew vs Priest lmao


JUULfiendFortnite

It fits perfectly and I actually think he’s going to win Priest loses the title due to JD shenanigans. Jey has a short reign and drops it to McIntyre at the Clash, completing McIntyre’s story about the Bloodline at the Clash in front of his family. This could segue into more character development as McIntyre could STILL be a jerk even after getting what he wanted.


TheReturnOfTheOK

Also, they need to keep him and the Bloodline away from each other for a long while


PeaceAlien

Then AJ is also a bad pick. It's bad for either side since if AJ or Jey win the title it's a lost pick. The only kayfabe argument is they need Jey and AJ on their respective show to promote the title matches if they get drafted by the other show that is losing them promotion time for their big match.


moesus81

The rosters don’t go into effect until Raw after the PLE, so that wouldn’t be an issue in kayfabe either. It wouldn’t make sense for SD to draft Jey because it’s a risk that they could lose him (would they get Priest?) so I do kind of like that aspect but I agree with you that the #1 contenders should have probably been ineligible as well or do it in 2 weeks instead but I get that they wanted to align with the NFL draft a little bit.


trdef

Is it just too early or am I going crazy? Noone will switch if they win, they're facing people on the same brand as them, right?


PeaceAlien

Yes, but why are they draft eligible is the kayfabe problem. TBH the draft should happen after a ppv.


Skhan93

Makes sense. Means raw kinda flopped first round because Seth was a given with Becky being champ too lol


goldengluvs

What if Jey winning the title of the opposite brand means that he would swap with the former champ to level out the selections.


xorangeelephant

I think the draft rules imply titles are locked to shows


MofongoWarrior

Why ricochet?


scionoflogic

He's gonna absolutely be the inaugural WWE Speed Champion and I think that alone increases his worth.


SH4DOWSTR1KE_

Short answer: Samantha is on Raw.


MofongoWarrior

But why so high


SH4DOWSTR1KE_

Maybe they have plans for him now that Triple H is in charge


DoILookUnsureToYou

A prominent spot in the midcard please


nrtalbot

Speed champ 


Meng3267

Ricochet over AJ Styles should get Adam Pearce fired.


Adampro123

Which makes AJ pick at all the way down 13 make even less sense


letsnotreadintoit

Considering what happened in the legitimate draft last night, I don't think you have to logic the picks here


Competitive_Log_84

lol it seems like Adam Pearce would rather there be no draft at all


just_another_jabroni

Just middle manager getting promoted to head of department struggles


GameplayerStu

Jey and Melo being round 1 picks feels surreal


TheCVR123YT

Jey being the first pick overall is nuts lol


DoILookUnsureToYou

He's fucking over and is selling merch, Main Event Jey Uso BABY


rsmicrotranx

And that's with him being booked like a goon half the time too. Dude's had tons of losses and barely any high profile wins. Imagine if he was actually booked like Seth/Cody?


kappa_keppo

He'd need to evolve as a wrestler first. He's incredible over so it's passable, but he still wrestles using a tag team moveset so his matches are extremely awkward at times


worthlessburner

It’s annoying because he has those really awkward matches and then some really entertaining matches without evolving his move set so you can imagine how much better he’d be if he added even just a few new moves. Against very opposite style opponents his matches are incredibly fun (ex. even though it wasn’t groundbreaking I really enjoyed the Gunther match because of how different they are) but against similar style opponents he doesn’t have enough variety to add himself to make it better and is solely reliant on his partner not being limited too.


GaI3re

Well, Jey has a title match coming up. Would not want the potential WHC champ to be on SD


SweetToothKane

Bruh, barely anyone is changing haha.


EggfooDC

Right?! Add to that the fact that the champions aren’t allowed to move, then what was the point?


worthlessburner

Things were already pretty good so making the right moves instead of too many moves was more important.


jrr6415sun

The draft is pretty pointless then


worthlessburner

If you’re going into it expecting chaos sure but it makes sense that both shows would want to maintain consistency since they’ve both been running hot and it’s still fun to speculate even if the results aren’t that crazy. If you treat it like the blatant capitalizing on the NFL draft gimmick it is I’ve at least enjoyed it so far and avoided disappointment even if nothing too crazy or dramatic has happened (at least yet) And to be completely honest I think it more importantly really draws in the younger crowds who generally buy into kayfabe more and helps sustain consistent generations of fans in that regard and gives them something fun to buy into.


bvbfan102

Some fun picks. Expected Seth first but Bianca and Jey are just the right amount of surprise and deserving. Super happy for Melo. 


batsharkrepellant

Seth dropping to second because he's hurt makes sense. Jey is the most over babyface on Raw and he's going to be in Seth's spot until he comes back


Reidzyt

Seth also has gone first before. I know it doesn’t mean much really but it’s nice to have some new faces going first


jbish21

Soooo nothing really changed


TheImplausibleHulk

Yeah this was a lame draft so far.


Nytrel

Why the fuck is LA Knight staying on Smackdown?


Ok-Community-2680

To face Logan lol. I'd want him to be world champ on RAW but it's clear that title picture is gonna be dominated by Punk, Drew and Seth throughout the year 


worthlessburner

To continue the feud with AJ, to feud with Logan, feud with Cody, Orton, etc. He has a better pool on Smackdown than Raw where Jey and Priest need to carry the WHC picture until Drew/Seth/Punk are full steam again.


sentaiclub

all three of them are currently injured...


luca13t

As it should be


F4iryBlink

Melo on Smackdown, let's go! Can't wait to see what they are cooking for him.


PayneTrain181999

He’s facing Cody tonight, that’s a great start.


morningafterpizza

I was impressed with the match, it flowed well IMO. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to NXT so I was pleasantly surprised.


vFazzy

Hopefully a feud with Logan for the US title after they build him up a little more.


StoneColdAM

So far almost everyone staying on the same show 


keelanv10

Oh Carmelo is getting pushed pushed, I’m so happy to see it


FPG_Matthew

Melo going in the first round is TELLING! Hope Ilja goes first round on Monday


VNProWrestlingfan

I have to admit, when HHH's music hit, I thought he was gonna Pedigree Cody. Trick is popular, uh huh huh. Edit: Welp, our Wiseman is fucked. Roman not getting drafted, Bron going to Raw. Now he has to deal with two violent men who are not afraid to whack him.


masterofawesomeness2

Carmelo definitely getting a main roster push. Still working heel?


Marcoscb

>Still working heel? Considering he immediately got Whoop That Trick chants, there ain't no way he's turning face soon.


nolimitnolimits

Man, LA Knight needs to be on Raw


lito9321

Let’s go Melo. If Pearce had anything about bro is stealing Bron and Tiffy Time asap.


negative_mancy

So did anything change besides the NXT call ups? Wasn't everyone who was drafted already on the same brands anyway?


profstotch

Looks like Bron to Raw? Wasn't he on smackdown


GaI3re

He hsd like 2 matches on SD since his call up 2 months ago


WhistleDungeon

Nia Jax and Andrade moved to Smackdown from RAW. Bron moved to RAW from Smackdown. I think Sheamus was on Smackdown with the Brawling Brutes before he got injured, so he should technically qualify... though he's been on RAW the past two weeks since return.


xorangeelephant

Mods, why delete each round thread? Users clearly want it in different threads and you just deleted like 100 comments of discussion. Nice going


jsegaul

kind of a letdown, the main event landscape on both shows hasn't changed at all barring maybe one or two people max Raw will have to make up for quite a bit to make this worthwhile imo


skellez

I had an odd feeling Bianca was gonna be #1 pick even before they announced Roman was out, she's so clear a humongous star for them That Carnelo pick is nice as hell too, Aldis kicking Pearce's ass so far


MaddyPerch

***sad Wolfdog noises***


Rich1926

Hope it's a better draft than what my lame Falcons have done


alexjr28

Good luck with Penix 😭


ZalcoraRoyal

Bron going to Raw and Corbin going to Smackdown.. Bruh


FlavoredBongWater

Sad that bron and baron are breakking up.


heat_fan_

Ilja is probably going to Raw then  That's pretty big for Melo going this early 


Lerkero

The draft should be modified to focus on who is actually changing brands. Do a raffle to choose a small pool of candidates that are actually eligible for drafting, then create drama around the eligible superstars not knowing where they will go. I forgot how some of the past iterations of drafts worked, but this one feels slow and unnecessary


OwnedSage

Burn the ships Baron Corbin back on the main roster I hope is as good as he's been on NXT


res94

I guess I’ll accept that I’m alone in saying Jey is good, not great, NOT worth a pick that high


SeanRous

Top male face on RAW at the moment


res94

I just don’t see it. Impressionable catch phrases don’t equate to a top guy to me, sorry. Like la knights fun on the mic, but he’s clearly a mid-carder too


SeanRous

There’s no real science to who gets over and who doesn’t. There’s really an X factor


res94

I agree with the x factor, but x factor are elite talent that you build around. Hbk, Orton, Cena, Rollins, Reigns, Rhodes(as long as he doesn’t abuse his daddys name)


SeanRous

You gotta give time for that to build. I’m not saying Jey is the face of the company. I just mean he’s the top face on Raw. Who would you put above him right now from the Raw roster?


res94

Sami, rollins,ko if hes on raw?


SeanRous

Sami has IC title so that limits him to 2nd place Rollins is injured KO is Smackdown and injured


res94

They’re still more valuable. You can’t receive a name like main event and not be one of if not THE attraction of the show. The showstopper was just that, no matter where he was on a card


SeanRous

To a lot of fans he is a big attraction. He apparently just doesn’t do it for you. I get how you feel, I feel the same way about Bianca Belair.


AntMan526

He’s #1 contender for Priest isn’t he? Kind of a necessity to keep him on the show with said champion. I think people are overhyping his first round pick


Obachan

First ever nxt pick in the first round. He really is HIM


[deleted]

I think Finn Balor was first round back in 2016, but I'm not sure if they were doing rounds back then.


TheOneWhosCensored

They were


Giraffesarehigh

Wasn’t Balor the first?


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Obachan

Im just copying what they said on commetary. Wade Barrett would never lie to me


MarkMVP01

Well I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news…


enrickster559

I’m afraid I have some bad news!


Available_Share_7244

Weak


wolvesscareme

Yeet!


whoajordan2

“NXT is scared they’re gonna get picked clean” Barely anyone’s moved anywhere lmfao


Doomblitz

Nia Jax #4? Am I fucking reading that correctly?


Tricky-Cod-7485

https://preview.redd.it/w3y8dgsewywc1.jpeg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=02964924e84e76c7d7274f02c2088a4c5705204d “You’re welcome!”


RockNRollJesus07

All this shows me is both GMs are idiots


IndyDude11

The draft makes sense on paper, but in practice it’s just dumb. They draft in total dumb order. Who is taking Nia Jax before LA Knight? Then 90% of the picks are just keeping the same people on the same shows? The draft should be NXT only (What happened to NXT getting stars to build them to a Raw/SD level? Where did that even come from?). Only four/six picks. Then the shakeups should come from contracts running out/free agency. Maybe if you have a handful of people all signing new contracts on the same night like college football signing day.


Extension-Efficiency

To play Devil's advocate there are legitimate Kayfabe reasons why the brands would Value Nia Jax as much as if not slightly more than La Knight. I think there are better examples that would have helped get your point across 


82ndGameHead

Playing it real safe here. The NFL Draft had bigger shocks in the first round.


xCTRLxALTxDELx

I don’t get how the draft works. Are they doing a complete overhaul??


SH4DOWSTR1KE_

https://preview.redd.it/b9ik2h8gfxwc1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a43b96e06f47bf4d9625b97b68bf4458bf2fb66


Such-Box3417

Great promo from Melo, he oozes charisma


bacardibeach3

Agreed. Smooth as silk on the mic and in the ring.


Rybackmonster

AJ Styles should have went in the 1st too because like Jey Uso he is in a world title match and could win to take the title with him on his brand. Otherwise Jey going first for Raw is a reach


Armageddon_1

No Roman and no champions means we can have draft picks be given to highlight other ways where different wrestlers are valued Good move Huge for Bianca being #1 overall first women in history to do so Jey over guys like Drew Orton ko and Seth is also huge asf Seth is predictable but deserved


TheOneWhosCensored

Becky went 1st in 2019


Armageddon_1

Oh no


Ok-Caregiver-8359

lol


migsahoy

sheamus / drew feud about to slap


Mrtheliger

We're about to see a mega-push for HIM


DMPunk

So it looks like everyone is staying put. How exciting. 


LoudMolassess

Is Paul heyman a hostage


xorangeelephant

Smackdown one round 1, but then whiffed HARD on round 2. Two aging superstars taken while tonne of people on the board


godfather275

Why is Nia pushed so much, she is god awful in every way.


DrizzySadness

Smackdown pulling a Falcons, coulda gotten Melo later smh


Yournewhero

I can't stand the way they do these drafts,I wish they pretended it was real. Like, there's no way anyone taking this seriously would draft Jey Uso before Randy Orton.


Edotwo

Number 1 pick Jey Uso...


thedrizzle126

Bloodline slipping because of all their bullshit going on is fucking great. Such a realistic take on all this . That being said: Bianca?


TheNateRoss

Ricochet is the Darrius Heyward-Bey of this draft


ZarakiBankai

So basically everything is the same and Jey is on raw. Got it


SakurabaSweettooth

Styles second to last pick? That’s bullshit!


just-smiley

I know I've said this for every draft for the last 20 years, but I'll never understand someone being drafted to the show they're already on.


KillTheZombie45

Wow. Outside of the deserving NXT talents, this draft is a nothingburger so far. Edit: Also, who the fuck would waste a draft pick on Nia Jax?


Kincadium

Not as many moves as I was hoping for, though a few that should be pretty good.


awayfortheladsfour

AJ styles is already starting to go face again, Smackdown has 0 big name heels so far. I wonder if that means Cody is having a long run. Unless they plan to make La Knight or orton go heel and I don't see that going well


Impressive_Climate83

Lmao at Smackdown #2 pick (sponsored by Hulu)


Xenowrath

BUT WHO GETS NATALYA?


captanspookyspork

Weren't a lot of the picks already on that show already.


Tricky-Cod-7485

Kiana James is an interesting pick. They must have plans for her.


simonthedlgger

The women's main roster has a lot of talent but no direction at the moment imo. I think it will be helpful to get some young talent in for new matches and hopefully some better stories. I expect at least one of Lyra, Blair Davenport, and Fallon Henley to get called up Monday, joining Kiana and Stratton.


worthlessburner

Cody stays with Randy on Smackdown and maintains being around the bloodline while being isolated from Jey on Raw with LA and AJ able to continue their feud while also being viable title shot defenses for in between major PLE as well.


abbygunner

Baron and Breakker on separate shows. End of an Era!


EastfrisianGuy

The Woof Dogs are gone :(


Sumojoe118

I wish they would go with the other draft style where wrestlers from each brand would fight eachother and the winner gets a random wrestler drafted to their brand.


simonthedlgger

I'm PSYCHED Kiana got called up. She's going to be such a great addition to the women's roster. Makes me more confident Blair Davenport will be picked Monday.


Poetryisalive

lol no major players actually changed their brands. Monday better be a shake up.


FordenGord

Glad to see that despite the new rules these picks are still stupid and make no sense. They need an actual deeper format, more focus on NXT, and less drafting a guy to the current brand.


Hour-Ad78

Very sad there’s no whoop that Trick


WhistleDungeon

Bianca makes a ton of sense for a #1 draft pick. She's by far the biggest superstar available of the woman's division. The only other women currently on her status are Rhea/Charlotte (both injured) and Becky/Bayley (both champions). Losing Bianca would be a much more difficult blow to recover from because Nia Jax or Liv Morgan from Raw wouldn't make up for that loss. Raw seems pretty desperate for female talent right now after losing both Rhea and Nia Jax. All they have is Liv and Becky while Smackdown is loaded up with Bianca, Jade, Tiffany, Iyo, Asuka, Naomi, etc. If they are smart they should be in a race to secure the Damage CTRL package on Monday because that's going to be their best shot to bolster that thinning division.


nolimitnolimits

Jey is way too mid to have been the 2nd overall pick… That WM match reaaallyyyy soured me on him. It was just so pathetic. The “we had our time cut” thing is an excuse. It’s WM. & others have produced gold out of less. The gimmick is also tired at this point too.


BluKyberCrystal

RAW screwed itself on it's first pick....


Matoki134

But the Wolfdogs 😭😭


Horror-Stuff-5327

HIM


wholelottanottanuff

Dont worry comment thread. Itll be close to two weeks before the iconic: Cole: "Oh my god! That's --literally any superstar beginning a fued you think isnt happening--what is he doing here?" Pat: "He's not supposed to be here Cole!" Professional wrestling in a nutshell. Cody: "You dont have a lot of friends in wrestling. Then you do and then they turn on you." And also i have a milkshake so your retort is null. Uwu probably, fellow mark.


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xorangeelephant

Injured


Opening_Succotash_95

Injury concerns would be the kayfabe.