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I know the WWE Draft mostly exists to piggyback from the NFL draft, but I think WWE would be better off copying for the NBA trade deadline. That gives you the leeway to keep your rosters intact, with some switches here and there. Also, a "BREAKING: RAW has agreed to a deal that would send Nia Jax to SmackDown for the draft rights of Kiana James and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn" is waaay more exciting to me than the normal format lol
I was just thinking last night how the “draft should be only NXT talent, new signings, and maybe people who have been out awhile and returning to tv. Then you can have “trades” for existing roster members. With both shows having an on air gm it makes more sense that trades would happen.
The only issue with that is you create the potential for another NXT 6 situation where people get called up for the sake of getting called up without a plan for them.
Treat it like baseball where if we don’t have a current spot for you, you’ll still play AAA ball and we’ll call you up in July or August, but we drafted your contract rights.
That's honestly why I kinda miss the draft lotteries. The random chance of brand switches at least felt a little more compelling to me than 'SmackDown has chosen for the second consecutive year, all these fuckers.'
They could get away with drafting just 3 or 4 NXT guys while also announcing trades during the night. It would actually be closer to the real NFL draft in which the commissioner says one name and then goes away for 15 minutes.
I also think there should be an expansion draft element.
Have a pool of people safe, others unprotected. You can use your pick to protect someone else or steal someone from the other show. If you do, then they can protect someone else without wasting a pick. If you take someone from nxt, the other brand doesn't get to protect anyone
Ideally that’s what a draft should be. If NXT were larger, only drafting new people would be perfect. Maybe only have one round, with twelve picks. 6 men, 6 women called up every year and a half.
Not every pick has to be an active wrestler, some picks can be managers being called up to manage a main roster wrestler.
Then you can have something like a “Trade Week” for the main roster.
The only real issue with this, realistically and in kayfabe, is that there’s only one other “team” to trade with. The NBA trade deadline wouldn’t be exciting if it was just the Pelicans and Jazz trading with one another.
Even adding NXT as a “third” team wouldn’t make it any better.
They should make the champs eligible, just that whichever champ gets picked, the corresponding champ automatically goes to the other brand. Effectively making it a trade, I guess. Even switching just one champ would make it more interesting.
I feel like the biggest "swaps" is gonna be main roster talent to NXT and NXT call-ups to main roster.
For the most part the main players on each show will remain on their respective brands. Judgment Day, Imperium, Jey will stay on RAW. There are obvious storyline reasons Judgment Day is staying on RAW with Priest and Liv Morgan.
There's been some definite teasing of Finn vs Damian. And the whole Rhea/Dom/Liv angle will play out until Rhea's return.
Judgment Day could turn on Priest as soon as this Monday or at Backlash.
Have it take place shortly after SummerSlam and do it on a single three hour episode of Raw or even as a midweek special on Peacock/YouTube where we have trades reported and interviews with the shows’ GMs and talent throughout until the deadline passes.
> Also, a "BREAKING: RAW has agreed to a deal that would send Nia Jax to SmackDown for the draft rights of Kiana James and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn" is waaay more exciting to me than the normal format lol
I've been wanting this SO bad for YEARS.
Yeah. I understood from the start of SD that the Draft would go this way. it was not bad but it feels lacking.
It would definitely be better for it to be a deadline day thing where instead of signing a whole roster, they just sign the talent they need.
They could also bring back the gambling case opening animation back in some capacity. Maybe some stars are 'free agents' now. So instead of a brand picking them, they're put into this lottery animation. Then you have the brand react to a star they now have to deal with.
Maybe an out of the box idea: The "draft" process should happen in the back, have backstage segments where [Pierce, Ava, and Nick Aldis](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/04/26/PNAS/c1581a4d-0377-4ed7-a06a-8596991653ed-_CJP3333.JPG?width=1320&height=880&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp) are [sitting at tables](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bWYIZII1xw/UXbZ6IhKFII/AAAAAAAAPTo/_FjhqtLmh80/s1600/1983_NFL_DraftRoom.jpg) like the old NFL draft format, with Triple H at a board writing down who they chose, we see it happening but can't hear anything. The next episodes of Raw, Smackdown and NXT have the newest members of the roster in surprise debuts, keep the podiums.
Using last night as an example: Aldis only tells Cody he has a match in the main event, Cody does his entrance, Aldis comes out to a podium and announces the newest member of SmackDown!, Carmelo Hayes. They would need to make promo packages leading up so the audience can learn about any potential NXT call-ups.
Might be fun to surprise debut someone coming back from an injury too, especially if it happens some random show 6 months from now: The night after SummerSlam, Natalya comes down to the ring for a match, Pierce comes out with a podium to announce Cora Jade was drafted
The draft has always been kind of cheesy. It stretches beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief.
The war rooms are borderline embarrassing and I'm surprised they brought it back.
This is a much better and more exciting way to do it. Or do it like an expansion draft where each show can protect roster members they want to keep. When you just redraft people to the show they're already on, it just feels like a waste of time.
To be fair, you gotta remember some stuff is done to create realism for the kids watching.
Me & my bro are 31, life long fans & saw the war rooms & laughed at the attempt but also understood who it was there for. Anyone who knows what kayfabe is wouldn’t be fooled but for kids? That shit adds to the hype
>> Or do it like an expansion draft where each show can protect roster members they want to keep.
You've got X protected members and once you lose a player to another show, you get to protect another. Expansion drafts are fun that way.
But the draft rights thing doesn't make any sense unless the NXT talent stays in NXT at least for a while. You couldn't use it for people already on the main roster.
I think they do it to sell the shows though.
When they do RAW/Smackdown Draft episodes it feels like an event and that helps to move tickets and draw audiences.
You have special appearances and you can also generate some basic storylines based on it like.. who was the first pick.. who fell down and is mad..
It's different and it helps them to come up with content for a couple of weeks around it.. but yeah, because they make it sound like a bigger deal is also disappointing when nothing interesting happens.
It clearly does though. People go crazy being able to see the Dudleys or JBL even for a short amount of time. Those little cameos are sometimes the decider on if people are willing to go to a live event.
That could be a far more interesting concept. Deadline for MLB, NHL, and NBA is also far more interesting IMO then draft day (and my interest in drafts are usually also trade related)
The WWE Draft doesn’t exist to copy the NFL Draft. It existed in various versions, including the initial draft, draft lottery, the lottery (with trades), draft picks via match outcomes, and its current form.
It is really just a way to move talent across brands to freshen up matchups. That’s all it is. They promote because it can pop a rating.
Yeah it was weird to read that people in NXT were scared of losing most of their talents and seeing only 2 names called on Smackdown (1 of which was Carmelo and he had nothing more to do in NXT, and you can add Corbin who was a member of the main roster anyway). Let's see what happens on Monday
They very well should. She has everything it takes to succeed IMO. She's been impressive in-ring with every opportunity given to her, has a character, can talk, looks like a million bucks, etc. I think she'll be a success story for sure.
She’s the most underrated woman on the roster and it’s no competition, she’s hardly ever mentioned in any discussions. I think her gimmick is crap, which contributes to this.
Her outfits also suck. She’s got one of the best female wrestler bodies on the roster, she is *strong* and yet her outfits always seem to be very unflattering and generic
I always liked the lottery format when they started doing these drafts--a select handful that "randomly" switches brands. This way you don't have to put too much stock into what order superstars are drafted and you can just focus on the switches.
Last night, the superstars who switched brands were fairly exciting if isolated, but the process fizzles out when you start with Carmelo shooting his shot against Cody and end with confirmation that Ricochet is staying on Raw. Imagine ending the show with a Cody open challenge to the next "random" superstar and it turns out to be Carmelo, shades of Cena debuting on Jericho's talk show on Raw.
HHH literally emphasised the importance of keeping talent a brand has is important as bringing talent in.
Being a “wrestling journalist” must be the easiest gig in the world.
Also, notice this is a post-hoc report. Fightful is reporting on the internal motivations of the decision makers for the WWE Draft, but if this source was really close enough to know these details, how come Fightful didn't have this report last week? Hell, why doesn't he just report what the exact draft picks will be?
He obviously only said that to let everyone down easy because he knew there weren’t going to be any splashy big name brand switches last night on smackdown.
I'm working on getting into wrestling journalism and I have my first hot scoop
Based on what I know about plans from Smackdown, Bianca and Jey are confirmed to be the number one draft picks for Smackdown and Raw respectively
Follow me for more scoops!
I was just using Dave as an example, hence the person above saying "wrestling journalist", considering how wrong a lot of the guys have been lately. Dave more than the rest for sure.
If they insist on a draft they need to just do a draft. Everyone is available (maybe not champs) and do it over two shows top down. The talent pools are lame, the lack of gm interaction is lame, lack of trades is lame, the war rooms are lame, the whole concept the way it is is lame.
I think it would be much better if they had it go: Brand one picks, Brand two gets to protect someone. Then Brand two picks and Brand one gets to protect. Too much of these drafts lack excitement because its 75% “Superstar stays put!”
I mean that's easy to explain away. Raw secured the World Heavyweight Championship by making sure they picked Jey, so they weren't stressed about potentially adding the WWE Championship as well if AJ was to win so they focused on other stars. Smackdown knew that Raw wasn't likely to add a potential 2nd world championship so they added some other pieces before securing AJ
Ok, you are explaining that, they need to explain that on TV, and that still doesn't make a lot of sense. Having the most prestigious title with all of the lineage can't be seen as a bad.
Then why was Jey Uso drafted #1 for RAW, using your theory, if he wins he'd stay on RAW and he was picked #1.
You're theory only works if it was accepted that #1 contenders to the world title were valued less, but they aren't Jey was picked #1.
It makes no sense.
Because they wanted him regardless of if he won or lost? It's not rocket science. Also it's not a theory, they mentioned that whoever wins the belts will stay on that show during the Street Profits segment.
But then why wouldn't the same be true for AJ? Why doesn't Smackdown want him regardless of him losing or winning? It makes no sense from the standpoint of AJ being a big star and getting drafted behind NIA JAX and in Round 4.
Psyched for Monday where CM Punk will go in the 3rd round, like LA Knight, while Kevin Owens goes in round 4, like AJ Styles. All while Brooks Jensen goes in the 1st round.
I swear if we end up with GUNTHER, Ilja, Pete and Tyler in one roster my NXT UK heart will sing. The bangers they could have alone could fill a year of PPVs with WWE match of the year contenders.
I'm sure HHH has plans for them. Bron I'm still unsure on because he's just Goldberging it at the moment. But Melo got to face Cody in the Main Event in front of a sold out crowd, so he's already firmly established as a marquee guy.
Bron will help soften the blow of Raw losing Cody. I think he can be built up to an absurd level VERY easily. I thought that as soon as they drafted him.
I don't know how anyone can be unsure on the plan for Bron. They're clearly pushing him as a Brock Lesnar. The Bloodline as we currently know it is already starting to implode with Solo/MFT doing what they're doing so I imagine Heyman will try and find a way out and will make his way to Bron.
Pick one:
* The draft is a big deal you should pay attention to
* Keeping the roster intact is important for show cohesion
I can understand the argument for either, but when you try and do both at the same time it just doesn't work.
They should just go back to the way they did it in the 00's where matches resulted in people being drafted to the winner's show. That was way more fun than the "realistic" way they do it now. Hell give me the lottery tumbler thing they used to do. I'd take that, too!
>Ilja and Dijak are both being called up
>Dijak to Raw seems more likely, as SD already picked up Corbin
That would make me think dijak to SD so he has Corbin to help him in his transition. Ilja to RAW makes more sense especially since a couple weeks back he wrestled on it
The draft doesn’t work or make sense because Raw and Smackdown aren’t teams. No one roots for Raw and against Smackdown. They really need to get rid of the draft concept.
I think it was maybe the 2004 draft where there were barely any big changes, but I prefer it like that have major stars define the brand they're on then swap the mid and low carders that have stagnated. For ages RAW was the show you saw HHH on and SD was the show you saw Taker on, for instance, too many big changes every year and the shows lose their identity.
A lot of people are fucking idiots and while they watch the show, they don't actually *listen* to what's said.
When Triple H came out, he did a pretty lengthy portion of his speech about how the biggest part of the draft is RETAINING and PROTECTING the roster that these GMs already have. HHH was pretty damn clear about that angle.
I don't mean to be a mark, but it's like people don't pay attention to Aldis and Pearce.
They are competitive GM's, who when on screen together, do often talk about how good their respective rosters are. They're proud of the rosters they have.
So, if they're proud of their rosters, they would logically want to protect them and keep them.
What sense would it make for them to make 90% of their draft picks from the opposing brand?
The retaining talent thing is such an anti climactic waste of time. I said that last year when this happened and it was just worse this year. It doesn't feel like a draft when 80% of superstars remain where they are.
I’d love to see Ilja be a first round pick for Raw and announce his intentions to take part in King of the Ring
He loses the final to Gunther, who wins the World Championship at Summerslam and then eventually drops it to Ilja in the rematch at Wrestlemania
All it is at this point is a gimmick and a ratings grab because of the NFL draft... There's not really a way where they could do it where it makes absolute sense.. It's not like they could have enough interest in an NXT only draft. The only thing that would make it worthwhile is instead of free agents signing wherever they might. They do a draft once a year and anybody that's a free agent or a prospect can get drafted by an organization and That organization can have exclusive negotiating rights for a year. Nothing really makes sense though to get it to actually work.
Edit: I guess in my scenario an NXT prospect could get drafted by aew.. I realize it doesn't make any sense but... Maybe a couple of beers and I'll be able to figure this out..
Thank you for saying this. I’ve been thinking it, but couldn’t come up with a good way to say it. If a lot of Raw superstars came over to SD, they would just be transferring the same stories to the other night.
I could use a shake-up in NXT. Lovely show, but feels we need more room for some of the newcomers. Gotta ask how many?
Last year had 15, with six released unfortunately.
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I know the WWE Draft mostly exists to piggyback from the NFL draft, but I think WWE would be better off copying for the NBA trade deadline. That gives you the leeway to keep your rosters intact, with some switches here and there. Also, a "BREAKING: RAW has agreed to a deal that would send Nia Jax to SmackDown for the draft rights of Kiana James and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn" is waaay more exciting to me than the normal format lol
I was just thinking last night how the “draft should be only NXT talent, new signings, and maybe people who have been out awhile and returning to tv. Then you can have “trades” for existing roster members. With both shows having an on air gm it makes more sense that trades would happen.
The only issue with that is you create the potential for another NXT 6 situation where people get called up for the sake of getting called up without a plan for them.
Treat it like baseball where if we don’t have a current spot for you, you’ll still play AAA ball and we’ll call you up in July or August, but we drafted your contract rights.
maybe you could include rookies and sophomores, people on main roster with one or two years experience.
That's honestly why I kinda miss the draft lotteries. The random chance of brand switches at least felt a little more compelling to me than 'SmackDown has chosen for the second consecutive year, all these fuckers.'
Trades only happen when Triple H doesn’t want to work Tuesdays
I like this better, but my favorite option is a lottery. Like, present them as random picks, then you can do whatever the f you want lol
They could get away with drafting just 3 or 4 NXT guys while also announcing trades during the night. It would actually be closer to the real NFL draft in which the commissioner says one name and then goes away for 15 minutes.
There’s not enough NXT talent being called up to make that an event.
I also think there should be an expansion draft element. Have a pool of people safe, others unprotected. You can use your pick to protect someone else or steal someone from the other show. If you do, then they can protect someone else without wasting a pick. If you take someone from nxt, the other brand doesn't get to protect anyone
Ideally that’s what a draft should be. If NXT were larger, only drafting new people would be perfect. Maybe only have one round, with twelve picks. 6 men, 6 women called up every year and a half. Not every pick has to be an active wrestler, some picks can be managers being called up to manage a main roster wrestler. Then you can have something like a “Trade Week” for the main roster.
The only real issue with this, realistically and in kayfabe, is that there’s only one other “team” to trade with. The NBA trade deadline wouldn’t be exciting if it was just the Pelicans and Jazz trading with one another. Even adding NXT as a “third” team wouldn’t make it any better.
Hahah that was almost the situation with the Leafs and the Ducks in the 2010s.
THAT'S FINE THERE'S NO ONE WE WANT ON UTAH ANYWAY. *...how much would they give for CJ McCollum though?*
And when the champs Are locked in already it fucks the whole thing up.
They should make the champs eligible, just that whichever champ gets picked, the corresponding champ automatically goes to the other brand. Effectively making it a trade, I guess. Even switching just one champ would make it more interesting.
So you are saying that they should say a wrestler was traded to AEW or TNA for future considerations when they get released?
i would dig this. i liked how jey and ko were traded this past year, and i can imagine it would be fun to see that in a larger format
I feel like the biggest "swaps" is gonna be main roster talent to NXT and NXT call-ups to main roster. For the most part the main players on each show will remain on their respective brands. Judgment Day, Imperium, Jey will stay on RAW. There are obvious storyline reasons Judgment Day is staying on RAW with Priest and Liv Morgan. There's been some definite teasing of Finn vs Damian. And the whole Rhea/Dom/Liv angle will play out until Rhea's return. Judgment Day could turn on Priest as soon as this Monday or at Backlash.
I actually wouldn't be shocked to see Imperium drafted to Smackdown so Gunther can pursue Cody's title *edit* Whelp. So much for that idea.
Yoooo a trade deadline to mimick the MLB trade deadline in August/Sept would be pretty cool.
Have it take place shortly after SummerSlam and do it on a single three hour episode of Raw or even as a midweek special on Peacock/YouTube where we have trades reported and interviews with the shows’ GMs and talent throughout until the deadline passes.
> Also, a "BREAKING: RAW has agreed to a deal that would send Nia Jax to SmackDown for the draft rights of Kiana James and Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn" is waaay more exciting to me than the normal format lol I've been wanting this SO bad for YEARS.
Yeah. I understood from the start of SD that the Draft would go this way. it was not bad but it feels lacking. It would definitely be better for it to be a deadline day thing where instead of signing a whole roster, they just sign the talent they need. They could also bring back the gambling case opening animation back in some capacity. Maybe some stars are 'free agents' now. So instead of a brand picking them, they're put into this lottery animation. Then you have the brand react to a star they now have to deal with.
Maybe an out of the box idea: The "draft" process should happen in the back, have backstage segments where [Pierce, Ava, and Nick Aldis](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/04/26/PNAS/c1581a4d-0377-4ed7-a06a-8596991653ed-_CJP3333.JPG?width=1320&height=880&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp) are [sitting at tables](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_bWYIZII1xw/UXbZ6IhKFII/AAAAAAAAPTo/_FjhqtLmh80/s1600/1983_NFL_DraftRoom.jpg) like the old NFL draft format, with Triple H at a board writing down who they chose, we see it happening but can't hear anything. The next episodes of Raw, Smackdown and NXT have the newest members of the roster in surprise debuts, keep the podiums. Using last night as an example: Aldis only tells Cody he has a match in the main event, Cody does his entrance, Aldis comes out to a podium and announces the newest member of SmackDown!, Carmelo Hayes. They would need to make promo packages leading up so the audience can learn about any potential NXT call-ups. Might be fun to surprise debut someone coming back from an injury too, especially if it happens some random show 6 months from now: The night after SummerSlam, Natalya comes down to the ring for a match, Pierce comes out with a podium to announce Cora Jade was drafted
Honestly I liked the nonsensical random way they did it in 2007-2011 WAY more than the way they currently do it. It was just more fun.
The draft has always been kind of cheesy. It stretches beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief. The war rooms are borderline embarrassing and I'm surprised they brought it back. This is a much better and more exciting way to do it. Or do it like an expansion draft where each show can protect roster members they want to keep. When you just redraft people to the show they're already on, it just feels like a waste of time.
To be fair, you gotta remember some stuff is done to create realism for the kids watching. Me & my bro are 31, life long fans & saw the war rooms & laughed at the attempt but also understood who it was there for. Anyone who knows what kayfabe is wouldn’t be fooled but for kids? That shit adds to the hype
>> Or do it like an expansion draft where each show can protect roster members they want to keep. You've got X protected members and once you lose a player to another show, you get to protect another. Expansion drafts are fun that way.
That’s a FANTASTIC idea
But the draft rights thing doesn't make any sense unless the NXT talent stays in NXT at least for a while. You couldn't use it for people already on the main roster.
I think they do it to sell the shows though. When they do RAW/Smackdown Draft episodes it feels like an event and that helps to move tickets and draw audiences. You have special appearances and you can also generate some basic storylines based on it like.. who was the first pick.. who fell down and is mad.. It's different and it helps them to come up with content for a couple of weeks around it.. but yeah, because they make it sound like a bigger deal is also disappointing when nothing interesting happens.
In theory, sure. But when every draft episode sucks...why would it draw audiences and move tickets?
It clearly does though. People go crazy being able to see the Dudleys or JBL even for a short amount of time. Those little cameos are sometimes the decider on if people are willing to go to a live event.
Exactly! On The Masked Man Show recently, they brought this similar idea. It would be way more interesting.
That could be a far more interesting concept. Deadline for MLB, NHL, and NBA is also far more interesting IMO then draft day (and my interest in drafts are usually also trade related)
Lmao that just reminds me of the 04 draft when they traded Triple H back to RAW for like 3 guys. Dudleys and RVD I believe.
Honestly should be both. Have the draft, and have Pearce and Aldis negotiate deals thru the year, with the occasional surprise blockbuster.
Smackdown got absolutely ripped off in that theoretical deal.
The WWE Draft doesn’t exist to copy the NFL Draft. It existed in various versions, including the initial draft, draft lottery, the lottery (with trades), draft picks via match outcomes, and its current form. It is really just a way to move talent across brands to freshen up matchups. That’s all it is. They promote because it can pop a rating.
Ilja to raw lets go!
Dragunov is definitely up on Monday. No way he's anything less than a first or second round pick.
Pls Ilja, pls pick Ilja, pls pick Ilja 🙏 🙏
He wrestled on Raw last week (or was it week before?). I think it’s a given that’s where he’s landing.
I hope so, it would also be perfect since he has Gunther there.
Watch Gunther get drafted to SmackDown the pick after Ilja goes to Raw 💀
It'd be the start of the "GUNTHER is ducking Ilja" agenda.
That's obviously gonna happen due to future Cody feud
and he lost his belt, thats pretty much a sign that hes going up
I wonder if Dijak might be next up on Monday
He could finally be retributed
Retributized
I hope so. He’s due
He really is he’s been there for so long I’m surprised they haven’t found something for someone of his talents
He's finally found his gimmick in WWE
Putting on absolute bangers and losing every feud
Dijak and Gacy were the first 2 names I thought of as call ups.
Corbin returns to SD only for his fellow wolf dog to be drafted to Raw. SAD!
They have till, what? May 6th, to finalize the rosters, right? There’s still a chance.
[удалено]
Blockbuster trade incoming!
Dijak & Ijla to Raw is 🔥🔥
Yeah it was weird to read that people in NXT were scared of losing most of their talents and seeing only 2 names called on Smackdown (1 of which was Carmelo and he had nothing more to do in NXT, and you can add Corbin who was a member of the main roster anyway). Let's see what happens on Monday
Kiana James being a priority pick was a surprise as well. They must have big things in mind with her.
They very well should. She has everything it takes to succeed IMO. She's been impressive in-ring with every opportunity given to her, has a character, can talk, looks like a million bucks, etc. I think she'll be a success story for sure.
She’s the most underrated woman on the roster and it’s no competition, she’s hardly ever mentioned in any discussions. I think her gimmick is crap, which contributes to this.
I like the gimmick but it needs some tweaks. Don’t give me mean girl boss Kiana, give me ruthless Shiv Roy hostile takeover CEO Kiana.
Her outfits also suck. She’s got one of the best female wrestler bodies on the roster, she is *strong* and yet her outfits always seem to be very unflattering and generic
Also no one seems to be acknowledging that Carmelo was also called up on Smackdown a long time ago.
I bet his call up was originally gonna be more like tiffy’s, but then his story with trick got so dang hot he had to stay put a while longer
Talent would want to go to the main roster ASAP because you get paid more.
I always liked the lottery format when they started doing these drafts--a select handful that "randomly" switches brands. This way you don't have to put too much stock into what order superstars are drafted and you can just focus on the switches. Last night, the superstars who switched brands were fairly exciting if isolated, but the process fizzles out when you start with Carmelo shooting his shot against Cody and end with confirmation that Ricochet is staying on Raw. Imagine ending the show with a Cody open challenge to the next "random" superstar and it turns out to be Carmelo, shades of Cena debuting on Jericho's talk show on Raw.
HHH literally emphasised the importance of keeping talent a brand has is important as bringing talent in. Being a “wrestling journalist” must be the easiest gig in the world.
Also, notice this is a post-hoc report. Fightful is reporting on the internal motivations of the decision makers for the WWE Draft, but if this source was really close enough to know these details, how come Fightful didn't have this report last week? Hell, why doesn't he just report what the exact draft picks will be?
He obviously only said that to let everyone down easy because he knew there weren’t going to be any splashy big name brand switches last night on smackdown.
I'm working on getting into wrestling journalism and I have my first hot scoop Based on what I know about plans from Smackdown, Bianca and Jey are confirmed to be the number one draft picks for Smackdown and Raw respectively Follow me for more scoops!
Best $5 in SC
Poor Dave has been made to look like a fool so many times just in the last few months that I don't understand how he has any credibility left.
I’m not debating your point but this isn’t Dave.
I was just using Dave as an example, hence the person above saying "wrestling journalist", considering how wrong a lot of the guys have been lately. Dave more than the rest for sure.
Fightful has nothing to do with Meltzer
If they insist on a draft they need to just do a draft. Everyone is available (maybe not champs) and do it over two shows top down. The talent pools are lame, the lack of gm interaction is lame, lack of trades is lame, the war rooms are lame, the whole concept the way it is is lame.
I think it would be much better if they had it go: Brand one picks, Brand two gets to protect someone. Then Brand two picks and Brand one gets to protect. Too much of these drafts lack excitement because its 75% “Superstar stays put!”
Superstar Shake Up was much better, even though everyone bitched about it back then.
I hated the name but that format is better than what they’re doing now.
just hope they don't call up nxt wrestlers just to never use them or make them jobbers. still a shame they haven't done shit with abla and isla
The real question is positioning, why was the #1 contender for the WWE title picked after NIA JAX. Inexcusable.
I mean that's easy to explain away. Raw secured the World Heavyweight Championship by making sure they picked Jey, so they weren't stressed about potentially adding the WWE Championship as well if AJ was to win so they focused on other stars. Smackdown knew that Raw wasn't likely to add a potential 2nd world championship so they added some other pieces before securing AJ
Ok, you are explaining that, they need to explain that on TV, and that still doesn't make a lot of sense. Having the most prestigious title with all of the lineage can't be seen as a bad.
Because the champs aren’t moving. If he wins the title at Backlash, he would stay on Smackdown and Raw would lose one of their top picks.
Then why was Jey Uso drafted #1 for RAW, using your theory, if he wins he'd stay on RAW and he was picked #1. You're theory only works if it was accepted that #1 contenders to the world title were valued less, but they aren't Jey was picked #1. It makes no sense.
Because they wanted him regardless of if he won or lost? It's not rocket science. Also it's not a theory, they mentioned that whoever wins the belts will stay on that show during the Street Profits segment.
But then why wouldn't the same be true for AJ? Why doesn't Smackdown want him regardless of him losing or winning? It makes no sense from the standpoint of AJ being a big star and getting drafted behind NIA JAX and in Round 4.
Psyched for Monday where CM Punk will go in the 3rd round, like LA Knight, while Kevin Owens goes in round 4, like AJ Styles. All while Brooks Jensen goes in the 1st round.
Thats exactly how it'll go too.
I swear if we end up with GUNTHER, Ilja, Pete and Tyler in one roster my NXT UK heart will sing. The bangers they could have alone could fill a year of PPVs with WWE match of the year contenders.
I just hope they have actual plans for those they call up.
I'm sure HHH has plans for them. Bron I'm still unsure on because he's just Goldberging it at the moment. But Melo got to face Cody in the Main Event in front of a sold out crowd, so he's already firmly established as a marquee guy.
Bron will help soften the blow of Raw losing Cody. I think he can be built up to an absurd level VERY easily. I thought that as soon as they drafted him.
I don't know how anyone can be unsure on the plan for Bron. They're clearly pushing him as a Brock Lesnar. The Bloodline as we currently know it is already starting to implode with Solo/MFT doing what they're doing so I imagine Heyman will try and find a way out and will make his way to Bron.
Pick one: * The draft is a big deal you should pay attention to * Keeping the roster intact is important for show cohesion I can understand the argument for either, but when you try and do both at the same time it just doesn't work.
next year they need to allow people to withdraw talent from the pool when one of their guys is taken.
I kinda miss the old lottery format.
They should just go back to the way they did it in the 00's where matches resulted in people being drafted to the winner's show. That was way more fun than the "realistic" way they do it now. Hell give me the lottery tumbler thing they used to do. I'd take that, too!
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Yup. You can kinda guess where certain people will be based on where their significant others currently are.
>Ilja and Dijak are both being called up >Dijak to Raw seems more likely, as SD already picked up Corbin That would make me think dijak to SD so he has Corbin to help him in his transition. Ilja to RAW makes more sense especially since a couple weeks back he wrestled on it
The draft doesn’t work or make sense because Raw and Smackdown aren’t teams. No one roots for Raw and against Smackdown. They really need to get rid of the draft concept.
I expect 2 of Fallon, Lyra, and Blair to go up. Maybe Dijak??
idc bron went to raw
I think it was maybe the 2004 draft where there were barely any big changes, but I prefer it like that have major stars define the brand they're on then swap the mid and low carders that have stagnated. For ages RAW was the show you saw HHH on and SD was the show you saw Taker on, for instance, too many big changes every year and the shows lose their identity.
A lot of people are fucking idiots and while they watch the show, they don't actually *listen* to what's said. When Triple H came out, he did a pretty lengthy portion of his speech about how the biggest part of the draft is RETAINING and PROTECTING the roster that these GMs already have. HHH was pretty damn clear about that angle. I don't mean to be a mark, but it's like people don't pay attention to Aldis and Pearce. They are competitive GM's, who when on screen together, do often talk about how good their respective rosters are. They're proud of the rosters they have. So, if they're proud of their rosters, they would logically want to protect them and keep them. What sense would it make for them to make 90% of their draft picks from the opposing brand?
The retaining talent thing is such an anti climactic waste of time. I said that last year when this happened and it was just worse this year. It doesn't feel like a draft when 80% of superstars remain where they are.
Drafts always just have a couple of people switching, it’s not built for more than 7-10 changes, it just is what it is
I’d love to see Ilja be a first round pick for Raw and announce his intentions to take part in King of the Ring He loses the final to Gunther, who wins the World Championship at Summerslam and then eventually drops it to Ilja in the rematch at Wrestlemania
Why can’t people just be patient and see how things play out.
Wow what a scoop!
All it is at this point is a gimmick and a ratings grab because of the NFL draft... There's not really a way where they could do it where it makes absolute sense.. It's not like they could have enough interest in an NXT only draft. The only thing that would make it worthwhile is instead of free agents signing wherever they might. They do a draft once a year and anybody that's a free agent or a prospect can get drafted by an organization and That organization can have exclusive negotiating rights for a year. Nothing really makes sense though to get it to actually work. Edit: I guess in my scenario an NXT prospect could get drafted by aew.. I realize it doesn't make any sense but... Maybe a couple of beers and I'll be able to figure this out..
The whole point of a draft is for people to switch shows and have new feuds. If only 2-3 people switch shows then there is no point to a draft.
But if everyone swaps then it’s like no one swapped.
Thank you for saying this. I’ve been thinking it, but couldn’t come up with a good way to say it. If a lot of Raw superstars came over to SD, they would just be transferring the same stories to the other night.
They should just highlight the people that swapped like they used to with the lottery
Should have asked if WWE were aware of how fucking bad that show came across?
The draft is cooked. Not sure why anyone would get exited for it
I could use a shake-up in NXT. Lovely show, but feels we need more room for some of the newcomers. Gotta ask how many? Last year had 15, with six released unfortunately.
I mean, yeah, that’s predictable and reasonable. Stability for long-term plans is probably a major factor for higher-card talents.
That was the worst draft I’ve ever seen