WWE DRAFT RECAP

This year's WWE Draft night one competed against the NFL Draft and we all know that the only draft that mattered was the WWE Draft. The WWE Draft, as in previous years, had their War Rooms similar to the NFL. But the WWE's War Rooms included WWE Hall of Famers and the General Managers for each brand. Some of this year's guest draft announcers included former Smackdown GM Teddy Long, former WWE champion JBL, former WWE women's champion Alundra Blayze, Bubby Ray and D-Von Dudley and even a special appearance by Stephanie McMahon. Much like previous year's installments, this year's draft featured rules which included locking the champions to their specific brands. Let 'sreview the WWE Draft rules for this year and then dive into Night One of the Draft on Smackdown. 

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Rules of the Draft:

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- Champions on each brand will be protected and are not eligible to be drafted. The WWE Women's Tag Team Championships are the exception to this rule. If the Kabuki Warriors drop their titles they are locked into the brand that drafted them and then the new champions are free to move between Smackdown and Raw. 

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- Friday’s SmackDown will include four rounds of draft picks. Each round will consist of the brands making two picks for a total of 16 picks being announced (8 for SmackDown and 8 for Raw). 

Monday’s Raw will include six rounds of draft picks. Each round will consist of the brands making two picks a piece for a total of 24 picks (12 for Raw and 12 for SmackDown). 

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- SmackDown will have the first pick on Friday, and Raw will have first pick on Monday.

The new rosters will go into effect on Monday Night Raw following WWE's first PLE from France. 

Let's dive into Night One of the WWE Draft that took place on Smackdown. 

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NIGHT ONE:

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Round 1 

SmackDown - Bianca Belair 

Raw - Jey Uso 

SmackDown - Carmelo Hayes 

Raw - Seth "Freakin" Rollins 

Round 2 

SmackDown - Randy Orton 

Raw - Bron Breakker 

SmackDown - Nia Jax 

Raw - Liv Morgan 

Round 3 

SmackDown - LA Knight 

Raw - Ricochet 

SmackDown - The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Paul Heyman) Raw - Sheamus

Round 4 

SmackDown - AJ Styles 

Raw - Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa, and Maxxine Dupri) 

SmackDown - Andrade 

Raw - Kiana James 

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Following Smackdown, the WWE's social media team announced the following off-air draft picks:

 

SmackDown - The O.C. (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) SmackDown - Baron Corbin 

SmackDown - Cedric Alexander and Ashante Thee Adonis Raw - Shayna Baszler 

Raw - Zoey Stark 

Raw - Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn 

Raw - Ivar 

 

Night One was a wild night on SmackDown with notable highlights of Paul Heyman announcing Roman Reigns was removing himself from the Draft and Kiana James being called up from NXT. Also, we are getting the return of the lone wolf, Baron Corbin to Smackdown. Let's dive into Night Two of the Draft. 

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NIGHT TWO:

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Round 1 

Raw - Imperium (Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser) 

SmackDown - Jade Cargill 

Raw - Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Dakota Kai) SmackDown - Kevin Owens

Round 2 

Raw - CM Punk 

SmackDown - The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins, B-Fab) 

Raw - Braun Strowman 

SmackDown - Tiffany Stratton 

Round 3 

Raw - The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Zelina Vega, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, and Carlito) 

SmackDown - Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Angel, Berto, and Elektra Lopez) 

Raw - Drew McIntyre 

SmackDown - Shinsuke Nakamura 

Round 4 

Raw - The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh) 

SmackDown - Naomi 

Raw - Ilja Dragunov 

SmackDown - Chelsea Green and Piper Niven 

Round 5 

Raw - The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) 

SmackDown - Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) Raw - Lyra Valkyria 

SmackDown - Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell

Round 6 

Raw - The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Akam, Rezar, and Paul Ellering) 

SmackDown - #DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) Raw - Bronson Reed 

SmackDown - Blair Davenport 

Following Raw the WWE's social media team announced the following off air draft picks. 

SmackDown - Apollo Crews 

SmackDown - Giovanni Vinci 

SmackDown - Tegan Nox 

Raw - Natalya 

Raw - Kayden Carter and Katana Chance 

Raw - Odyssey Jones 

Raw - Dijak 

Raw - Julius Creed, Brutus Creed, and Ivy Nile 

Raw - New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) 

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Night two proved just as wild as night one. Carlito was drafted with the LWO even as his betrayal of Rey Mysterio and the LWO. Some notable moves on night two were Ilja Dragunov, Lyra Valkyria, Blair Davenport, Odyssey Jones and Dijak getting called up to the main rosters. 

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There were a lot of movers and shakers over the two day draft event but there are still some free agents on the market who were ineligible for the Draft either due to injury or currently just inactive.

Free Agents of the 2024 WWE Draft 

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Big E (Injured) 

Bobby Roode (Injured) 

Brock Lesnar (Inactive) 

Dexter Lumis (Inactive) 

Erik (Injured) 

Gable Steveson (Inactive) 

Jimmy Uso (Injured) 

John Cena (Hollywood) 

MVP (Inactive) 

Omos (Inactive) 

Roman Reigns (Hiatus) 

The Rock (Hollywood) 

Uncle Howdy (Teasing return) 

Alexa Bliss (Maternity Leave) 

Carmella (Maternity Leave) 

Charlotte Flair (Injured) 

Nikki Cross (Inactive) 

Raquel Rodriguez (Injured) 

Rhea Ripley (Injured) 

Shotzi (Injured) 

Sonya Deville (Injured) 

Tamina (Inactive) 

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The WWE draft is always a good time. My personal favorite part of the draft is watching the NXT superstars get their call ups to the main roster. There wasn't too many main roster moves, but I really hope in the future the WWE will shift from moving superstars around to focusing on NXT superstars getting called up to the main rosters.

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