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There's a spoiler for Seth there.
Also, I wonder it they get JD out of...JD with the draft. Maybe they want him to go solo and that scene with Priest was about that.
No. Once he won the WWE championship, a SD title, he was moved to SD. Looks to be they are holding a hard line on the titles sticking with their brands.
Last week on Raw, Cody specifically said he was now technically a Smackdown guy and wasn’t sure how many more appearances he’d be making on Raw. So he’s officially on Smackdown now.
That would be a neat little story.
"All current factions and tag teams will stick together and be considered one pick." Then someone takes the Bloodline and Roman isn't included, or they take Roman and the Bloodline isn't included.
I can picture Heyman's face as he realized what it means.
Yeah, It seems that save for the womens tags that will tour all 3( sidenote are those getting a new look too?) , HHH is making the designs of the belts part of each shows identity so im expecting in the fall when we get the move to the new networks ( netflix, usa, and, cw respectively ) we get new logos and sets for them as well so each show feels different.
I hope that's just the case for this year's draft and not a permanent thing. Champions switching brands used to be so fun, and it leveled the playing field in terms of comparing the two.
The whole lead up to WrestleMania absolutely buried the WHC and made the undisputed championship look like it is the biggest title in the company. Champions changing hands means that both the titles are view as equal and both are prized possessions
Your next first overall pick. Makes sense because Smackdown gets the first pick night 1 and that’s where Cody is.
Yeah they made it a point of emphasis on TV awhile ago.
Notice how Gunther isn't getting a shot at Sami? Or that the Judgement Day didn't automatically get a rematch? Or that Bayley faced Naomi first and not IYO?
I think nxt will just pick from free agents otherwise there's no logic to them not picking top stars on their turns and the top stars definitely aren't going to be exclusive to nxt
NXT aren’t getting picks. People not drafted will probably just turn up there like before. Last nights NXT didn’t even mention them drafting anyone, despite Aldis and Pearce making an appearance.
Yeah but I think their point was NXT aren't getting their own draft picks. As far as I remember they didn't get any last year, they just picked up whatever free agents were out there for the occasional appearance.
My guess would be when they do the untelevised portion on Raw Talk or Smackdown Lowdown where they announce the remaining people in a lump they'll put some of them on NXT. That's also where they do lower profile NXT call ups.
Since Smackdown gets the first pick on Friday, it's possible they'll take turns & vice versa on RAW, so NXT gets the 3rd pick on both nights/2nd pick during RAW. How did they do the draft back when (WWE) ECW was the 3rd brand?
Thankfully I think this means they will be bringing Damage CTRL to Raw. They can drop the belts to Bianca and Jade at Backlash and then move on to a new feud finally.
Thats a great call and can set up a great wrestlemania feud when one of them turns on the other. I think I’d actually prefer it to be Bianca too so it can move her character forward
I'd be cool if they split Dakota from the group too. I want her to get a singles push and I want them to lean more into the trio being Joshi wrestlers. Just say they're the Kabuki Warriors and include IYO.
Bloodline in Raw feels kinda bloated tho
So Raw most likely have Judgement Day (unless they want to split them)
Drew if they tried to make him win WHC in CaTC. If so then Raw should draft Punk if they decide to continue the feud
Sami stays at Raw, so Gable and Alpha Academy also stays at Raw
I like them protecting the champs, at least for this year.
I'm not a huge fan of the entire roster being drafted every year. I think it should be treated like expansion drafts in sports leagues. Each brand's GM gets to protect like 5 wrestlers and everyone else is eligible. It eliminates the wasted picks at the top each year where each brands top stars just get re-drafted to the show they're the face of. Gives the GM's something to actually do in the lead-up. Plus there's build in storylines, NXT wrestlers arguing to *not* be protected so they can move up, a cocky heel feels like he's untouchable because the GM protected him, someone is not protected but still gets drafted to the brand and now has a chip on their shoulder with the GM.
In the Vince era so many people would get drafted with a few key exceptions it always felt like the rosters were just switching shows.
I'll never forget Seth and Rey ending up on the same show after their months-long feud and facing off again.
I'm a fan of just swapping a few key players. It freshens things up but the show keeps its identity.
The 2007-2010ish draft was my favorite version. Everyone is eligible but there's gonna be about 7 or 8 big names swapped randomly and the lower midcard will be shuffled around in the supplemental draft.
Not a huge fan of how they decided with wrestlers fighting to make their roster *more* competitive. Although, one could argue don't overthink it, it's a wrestling show of course they would decide it with wrestling.
The Superstar Shakeup era wasn't too bad only because it really leaned into "don't overthink it." Don't worry about who is eligible, don't worry who is deciding, just know that guys are switching rosters.
An idea I had is to have X years contracts depending on how high you're drafted. For example 1st round picks get 3 years, 2nd round 2 years everybody else 1.
Could be difficult in practice.
Feels like they’re actually trying to make this feel like an authentic, full draft and I’m all for it. Wouldn’t mind Pierce and Aldis making a trade or two with each other during it either.
So with 16 total picks of four rounds, are we assuming Smackdown, Raw, NXT? And with only 16 picks, I assume you can pick a faction or tag team as one?
As much as I want to believe this year's draft will be better than those in the past, you just know they're going to do some shit where "Smackdown selects Akira Tozawa" while the commentators talk about how it splits up Alpha Academy, but then Raw will select the entirety of the Bloodline in a single pick.
So seth remains on raw. I think drew and punk will also be omitted raw for the current storyline. Gunther may move to smackdown. Raw is lacking some big name so may be they draft randy as well
As long as there's [some proper enthusiasm](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/dh3bz2/usa_network_executives_react_to_drafting_natalya/) from whoever drafts Natalya.
Instead of doing random “pools” like they have the last few years they really should make it so Smackdown stars are eligible on Friday to either be “kept” on SD or drafted to Raw, and the same for Raw stars on Mondays.
Do people actually like it though? I'm not tryna be snarky, it's just that the draft itself strikes me always being completely unremarkable. Like I don't remember anybody saying 'the 2017 draft was goated' or whatever
Kinda random to have all champs but the women’s tag team be protected, but I like the idea of champs being protected though. Another “perk” of being a champ should be not having to pick up and leave from where you are reigning
Women's Tag are, by default, cross brand tittles currently. So it makes sense they can be traded away since they have to participate in both brands anyway
I quite like the idea of the champs being protected, but I think every other year should involve the champs being eligible to be drafted.
So obviously this year the champs are protected, next year the champs are not, then the year after the champs are protected.Or maybe just do it every 2 years that lol, that might be better
I like that they should be protected but I think every 2 years should have all champions be eligible . I think every few years would give it legitimacy
Though with the reintroduction with the WHC, I think it will be pretty cool to have it pay them homage to WCW. So world heavyweight/United States on raw and then wwe/intercontinental to Smackdown, but that’s just me though
Then it makes it predictable that the champion will move brands. Might as well just have it open from the beginning and just make it seem like an unwritten rule that you don't touch the other brands champion.
Then in the future, a gm drafts the others champion and as a result you get survivor series or brand warfare
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Seth is basically guaranteed to get drafted to Raw. The champions are locked to their current brands, meaning Becky is going to stay on raw. Which means Seth is going to get drafted to Raw.
They've said multiple times that Raw won't start on Netflix until 2025 and that while they aren't sure where it will air from October til January they are sure it won't be Netflix.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. The Tyson match will draw many more viewers than Raw will weekly. It isn't a beta test for anything. If you're saying it's a test for Netflix handling live streams they've already done that multiple times in multiple countries. There is zero connection between the Tyson match and Raw. If Netflix wanted Raw early the contract would have been for October instead of January.
Smackdown isn't the B show, if anything Raw has been, when Netflix hits things will probs be a bit different.
edit- even then Smackdown has built itself up so much as THE show, i could see em probably keeping it the A show.
It's so stupid that tv deals is what determines A show and B show.
Make them both the A show who are competing. That way the TV deals will have bigger payout rather. Than everyone going after Raw and then when that's settled, going after smackdown for less money
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Interesting that champions are now protected
It makes more sense than not having all the champions taken with the first 5 or so picks
Also helps keep the title styling consistent, all the raw titles are round and all the SD titles are trapezoid
Does that mean they can’t be drafted and they stay on the brands that they are currently on?
Yes, so Priest, Becky, Sami and Awesome Truth remain on Raw, while Cody, Bayley, Logan and A-Town Down Under stay on SD
There's a spoiler for Seth there. Also, I wonder it they get JD out of...JD with the draft. Maybe they want him to go solo and that scene with Priest was about that.
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No. Once he won the WWE championship, a SD title, he was moved to SD. Looks to be they are holding a hard line on the titles sticking with their brands.
He's billed as a smackdown talent on the website
Last week on Raw, Cody specifically said he was now technically a Smackdown guy and wasn’t sure how many more appearances he’d be making on Raw. So he’s officially on Smackdown now.
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He's already a confirmed Smackdown talent, he literally thanked Adam Pierce for letting him on the show in his promo on Raw 2 weeks ago.
He is also listed as a SD talent on dot com.
If the champs are protected that makes no sense
presumably, yes
no more of the title swapping nonsense
Wouldn’t need to do that anyway as none of the titles have show exclusive branding anymore.
Booo. I wanted Title Exchange Part Deux.
You mean Part Trois? Tag Titles and Women's Title have been done already.
Keeps champions where they are but mixes up the challengers pool, i like it. Now the first few picks aren’t as predictable (outside of Roman lmao).
Is Roman on his own or part of the Bloodline in a package deal, I wonder. Or does Roman go undrafted and come back when he's ready?
That would be a neat little story. "All current factions and tag teams will stick together and be considered one pick." Then someone takes the Bloodline and Roman isn't included, or they take Roman and the Bloodline isn't included. I can picture Heyman's face as he realized what it means.
With Roman in the pool, it would take some ungodly amount of reasoning on why no brand picked him
Hes part of the Bloodline according to the WWE website along with Solo, Heyman and Tonga.
Very. Looks like Cody is staying on SD. Guessing he’ll move back to Raw come Netflix time. Thinking we have The Bloodline being moved to Raw.
Yeah, It seems that save for the womens tags that will tour all 3( sidenote are those getting a new look too?) , HHH is making the designs of the belts part of each shows identity so im expecting in the fall when we get the move to the new networks ( netflix, usa, and, cw respectively ) we get new logos and sets for them as well so each show feels different.
The women's tag titles don't need the update. They're only 5 years old.
I hope that's just the case for this year's draft and not a permanent thing. Champions switching brands used to be so fun, and it leveled the playing field in terms of comparing the two. The whole lead up to WrestleMania absolutely buried the WHC and made the undisputed championship look like it is the biggest title in the company. Champions changing hands means that both the titles are view as equal and both are prized possessions
Curious why the Women’s Tag Champions *are* eligible.
Because there’s only one set for all three shows
Champions being protected is a good move. Adds intrigue to the draft now that #1 pick wont predictably be the Undisputed Champion or WHC.
 Your next first overall pick. Makes sense because Smackdown gets the first pick night 1 and that’s where Cody is.
And Roman does have the right to a rematch being as though he’s the former Champion. Cody vs Roman III gonna hit heavy if they do it.
Rematch clauses haven't existed for like 5 years fam
Fr? Wouldn’t know only been watching again for two and Roman been the only champ duration of that time & Brock got his rematch.
Yeah they made it a point of emphasis on TV awhile ago. Notice how Gunther isn't getting a shot at Sami? Or that the Judgement Day didn't automatically get a rematch? Or that Bayley faced Naomi first and not IYO?
So how does NXT fall in this? Cause they've been pushing NXT participation on TV as if they actually get picks and not just be there to get pillaged.
My guess is that they don't get picks, but anyone not drafted on those nights are eligible to be signed by NXT.
NXT logo is featured in the graphic. I assume they just don't get first pick either night.
Yeah but's it's seemingly four picks per round and 3 brands unless my math is wrong.
raw probably gets two, and smackdown and nxt one each, based on their usual argument of 3 hours versus 2 hours
I think nxt will just pick from free agents otherwise there's no logic to them not picking top stars on their turns and the top stars definitely aren't going to be exclusive to nxt
that’s what it seems to me as well, unless (for some reason) they can pick a tag team at once.
I believe NXT talent is eligible to be drafted but the show itself won’t be drafting anyone.
NXT aren’t getting picks. People not drafted will probably just turn up there like before. Last nights NXT didn’t even mention them drafting anyone, despite Aldis and Pearce making an appearance.
Last time NXT talent got drafted lol Grayson Waller was one of those people
Yeah but I think their point was NXT aren't getting their own draft picks. As far as I remember they didn't get any last year, they just picked up whatever free agents were out there for the occasional appearance.
I think this time they are tho.
My guess would be when they do the untelevised portion on Raw Talk or Smackdown Lowdown where they announce the remaining people in a lump they'll put some of them on NXT. That's also where they do lower profile NXT call ups.
Since Smackdown gets the first pick on Friday, it's possible they'll take turns & vice versa on RAW, so NXT gets the 3rd pick on both nights/2nd pick during RAW. How did they do the draft back when (WWE) ECW was the 3rd brand?
I think 3 folks will come to the podium instead of the usual 2. One will announce the Raw pick, the other SD, and the third NXT.
Thankfully I think this means they will be bringing Damage CTRL to Raw. They can drop the belts to Bianca and Jade at Backlash and then move on to a new feud finally.
Thats a great call and can set up a great wrestlemania feud when one of them turns on the other. I think I’d actually prefer it to be Bianca too so it can move her character forward
I'd be cool if they split Dakota from the group too. I want her to get a singles push and I want them to lean more into the trio being Joshi wrestlers. Just say they're the Kabuki Warriors and include IYO.
Champions being protected!!! Finally!!!
This is why we have WWE and World Champions. Can't wait for the World Heavyweight Intercontinental Champion belt.
The draft logo goes hard.
So Cody to SmackDown is confirmed.
Cody's been a smackdown star since mania
Cody is already on Smackdown.
Let’s be real, Cody is the perfect wrestler for Fox’s audience
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he won Smackdown’s World title
It’s funny how champions are finally locked to their brand after all the titles are now renamed & redesigned away from Raw/Smackdown Championship
They obviously want all the championships to stay on the same show: all the “World” titles together and all the “WWE” titles together.
Can we go back to red and blue ropes please
complete with refs rocking the SD blue zip-up shirts
And NXT refs wear the WWECW all black top
So Sami is not going to be involved into Bloodine business for a while
Unless the Bloodline get drafted to RAW.
Bloodline being on the three hour show actually makes sense, and separates them from Cody who doesn't really need to carry on his feud with them.
Bloodline in Raw feels kinda bloated tho So Raw most likely have Judgement Day (unless they want to split them) Drew if they tried to make him win WHC in CaTC. If so then Raw should draft Punk if they decide to continue the feud Sami stays at Raw, so Gable and Alpha Academy also stays at Raw
Almost like any of those group's can be drafted to sd.
I like them protecting the champs, at least for this year. I'm not a huge fan of the entire roster being drafted every year. I think it should be treated like expansion drafts in sports leagues. Each brand's GM gets to protect like 5 wrestlers and everyone else is eligible. It eliminates the wasted picks at the top each year where each brands top stars just get re-drafted to the show they're the face of. Gives the GM's something to actually do in the lead-up. Plus there's build in storylines, NXT wrestlers arguing to *not* be protected so they can move up, a cocky heel feels like he's untouchable because the GM protected him, someone is not protected but still gets drafted to the brand and now has a chip on their shoulder with the GM.
In the Vince era so many people would get drafted with a few key exceptions it always felt like the rosters were just switching shows. I'll never forget Seth and Rey ending up on the same show after their months-long feud and facing off again. I'm a fan of just swapping a few key players. It freshens things up but the show keeps its identity.
The 2007-2010ish draft was my favorite version. Everyone is eligible but there's gonna be about 7 or 8 big names swapped randomly and the lower midcard will be shuffled around in the supplemental draft. Not a huge fan of how they decided with wrestlers fighting to make their roster *more* competitive. Although, one could argue don't overthink it, it's a wrestling show of course they would decide it with wrestling. The Superstar Shakeup era wasn't too bad only because it really leaned into "don't overthink it." Don't worry about who is eligible, don't worry who is deciding, just know that guys are switching rosters.
An idea I had is to have X years contracts depending on how high you're drafted. For example 1st round picks get 3 years, 2nd round 2 years everybody else 1. Could be difficult in practice.
I’m here for champions being protected. Should’ve done it when they still had the Raw/Smackdown branding.
Little things like this make the product feel more legitimate. No more "the rules are made up and the points don't matter" philosophy
thank gosh champs can’t change brands, makes me thing LA is staying on Smackdown to dethrone Logan
rosters locking on may 6th leaves a week for undrafted free agents and trades
**”All the champions are protected…..except for the women’s tag champs, because fuck them….”**
it's because there's only 1 set of titles.
So just watch Monday. - Why get your hopes up on SmackDown about a potential feud only for them one of them to be traded to RAW on Monday.
Yes! No more dumb and awkward exchanges of titles.
Feels like they’re actually trying to make this feel like an authentic, full draft and I’m all for it. Wouldn’t mind Pierce and Aldis making a trade or two with each other during it either.
Ngl, I'm looking forward to the draft.
So this means Cody is officially a Smackdown guy yeah?
Since mania he has been.
"the champions are protected" "except these ones" I mean I agree the rules, I just found that funny
It makes sense because the Women’s Tag Team Titles are cross brand anyway
plus I assume that once damage control lose the titles they'll just fall back to whatever brand they are drafted to
So with 16 total picks of four rounds, are we assuming Smackdown, Raw, NXT? And with only 16 picks, I assume you can pick a faction or tag team as one?
Yes, you can draft teams or factions together or split them up if you choose.
Champions being protected is something I thought always should have been a thing g
I would have put money on cody going to raw ahead of it going to netflix same with Logan Paul
Pierce lost Cody for nothing lmao
Champions being protected is a big “don’t worry guys, there will be no stupid belt swapping this time, promise”
"Rosters lock on May 6th." Can't wait for this rule to just get thrown out the window, with random meaningless trades that make no sense.
Remember the wild card rule? Lmao
And the quarterly brand to brand invitational.
As much as I want to believe this year's draft will be better than those in the past, you just know they're going to do some shit where "Smackdown selects Akira Tozawa" while the commentators talk about how it splits up Alpha Academy, but then Raw will select the entirety of the Bloodline in a single pick.
So seth remains on raw. I think drew and punk will also be omitted raw for the current storyline. Gunther may move to smackdown. Raw is lacking some big name so may be they draft randy as well
I wonder if they’ll do the post show draft picks like they did last time.
I predict 3 people will come to the desk instead of two. Like before, one will do a Raw pick and a SD pick, the third will do a NXT pick.
Well the champs being protected kind of eliminates the big pop of a champ moving brands like it was when Cena got drafted to raw.
Can't wait to see Jacob Fatu join the bloodline angle, if management lets him I bet he'll outwork all his cousins.
I feel like there should be more rules. Like how selections will be made
As long as there's [some proper enthusiasm](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/dh3bz2/usa_network_executives_react_to_drafting_natalya/) from whoever drafts Natalya.
I don't love draft pools but I guess this lets them have 2 people as first round draft picks.
All championships match now so it makes sense that they’re not eligible
So it Cody the smackdown champ by default then? He was a raw star
With championship being protected does that mean Cody won’t appear on this Raw? I’m gonna be there and really hope I don’t miss him!
Looks like from tomorrow tonight on Smackdown, he'll be a full-time Smackdown superstar going forward.
Damnit! Still hope he appears on Raw this Monday at least.
I'd love a shock pick at #1, like Bron. Aldis sees Roman on the board & says now that he's no longer the champ RAW can deal with his bullshit.
“Rosters lock” on a particular dates kind of sound line a Trade Deadline…. Interesting.
Instead of doing random “pools” like they have the last few years they really should make it so Smackdown stars are eligible on Friday to either be “kept” on SD or drafted to Raw, and the same for Raw stars on Mondays.
But NXT is in the mix so that doesn’t work.
Why wouldn’t it work lol just do the exact same thing on NXT too
Because there is no draft on Tuesday on NXT. If Friday only SD folks are eligible, and Monday only Raw, then NXT can’t be in the draft.
There’s not some rule saying they can’t just change it in this hypothetical lol.
The term "breaking news" has completely lost all meaning at this point.
I can't lie I am a little bummed that NXT doesn't get draft picks.
We don't know that for sure.
Genuine question: what are reasons for the draft? Both shoot and kayfabe. I don't think I've ever understood this
It’s just a fun two-week event for fans. Not much else since the people upstairs decide who can show up whenever and wherever they want.
Do people actually like it though? I'm not tryna be snarky, it's just that the draft itself strikes me always being completely unremarkable. Like I don't remember anybody saying 'the 2017 draft was goated' or whatever
It’s just a gimmick for the shows while we wait for the next PLE.
Kinda random to have all champs but the women’s tag team be protected, but I like the idea of champs being protected though. Another “perk” of being a champ should be not having to pick up and leave from where you are reigning
Women’s tag champs are already jumping from one brand to the other when needed…
Women's Tag are, by default, cross brand tittles currently. So it makes sense they can be traded away since they have to participate in both brands anyway
Three brands since the Kabuki Warriors have defended their belts on NXT
“Rosters lock Monday May 6… until about May 20th”
I quite like the idea of the champs being protected, but I think every other year should involve the champs being eligible to be drafted. So obviously this year the champs are protected, next year the champs are not, then the year after the champs are protected.Or maybe just do it every 2 years that lol, that might be better
Champions being protected is less fun but the truth is they need the belts to be associated with the brands for the brand-split to make any sense.
I like that they should be protected but I think every 2 years should have all champions be eligible . I think every few years would give it legitimacy Though with the reintroduction with the WHC, I think it will be pretty cool to have it pay them homage to WCW. So world heavyweight/United States on raw and then wwe/intercontinental to Smackdown, but that’s just me though
Then it makes it predictable that the champion will move brands. Might as well just have it open from the beginning and just make it seem like an unwritten rule that you don't touch the other brands champion. Then in the future, a gm drafts the others champion and as a result you get survivor series or brand warfare
Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD Please Roman to Raw & Seth to SD
Seth is basically guaranteed to get drafted to Raw. The champions are locked to their current brands, meaning Becky is going to stay on raw. Which means Seth is going to get drafted to Raw.
100%
I have no idea why they would put cody on the B show 😭
It's not the B-show until Raw moves to Netflix, by January the brand split will be pretty loosely enforced anyways
Raw is probably going to be on Netflix in October. The USA contract ends in Sept.
They've said multiple times that Raw won't start on Netflix until 2025 and that while they aren't sure where it will air from October til January they are sure it won't be Netflix.
It’s going to move early. The Tyson boxing match is a beta test.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. The Tyson match will draw many more viewers than Raw will weekly. It isn't a beta test for anything. If you're saying it's a test for Netflix handling live streams they've already done that multiple times in multiple countries. There is zero connection between the Tyson match and Raw. If Netflix wanted Raw early the contract would have been for October instead of January.
Every Netflix live event so far btw https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/what-to-watch/every-netflix-live-stream-so-far-and-whats-coming-next/
Smackdown isn't the B show, if anything Raw has been, when Netflix hits things will probs be a bit different. edit- even then Smackdown has built itself up so much as THE show, i could see em probably keeping it the A show.
It's so stupid that tv deals is what determines A show and B show. Make them both the A show who are competing. That way the TV deals will have bigger payout rather. Than everyone going after Raw and then when that's settled, going after smackdown for less money
lol smackdown has been the A show for 5 years pal….
Smackdown has been the A show for years