I know this is staged and I bet they had thought this through but if there is really a GM running this draft, then I want to question the dude leading the charge on the Raw side.
In terms of quality and quantity, the WWE Raw picks just bombed.
With that said, I really want the WWE Draft to focus on the NXT brand. This is an idea that can also be a storyline. Let’s have the NXT folks get their boyhood or girlhood dreams of making the WWE main roster. From the NXT event after Wrestlemania to the NXT event leading to the succeeding Wrestlemania, the NXT brand will try its best to garner momentum for a main event call-up. In some ways, Stand and Deliver can be a way to showcase their main roster potential just like how the G-League All-Star Game is a way to sway the NBA scouts. If they can replicate the reactions of Alba Fyre, Isla Dawn, and Indi Hartwell, then they can have a great pre-main event visual that can also lead to storylines. It can be the rise of upstarts, setting up a main roster rivalry that started during their NXT days, and the rise and fall of a main roster bust.
But I get the hard reset. Maybe they can separate the NXT call-ups from the main roster switchers.
Anyway, I thought the first night of the WWE Draft was leaning towards Smackdown than Raw. There might have been four rounds and sixteen picks but Smackdown ended up with 17 personalities as compared to Raw’s 10. Furthermore, Shinsuke Nakamura was absent in seven premium live events, Matt Riddle only had two PPEs, The Miz’s most significant PPV run was when he fought Logan Paul at Survivor Series and basically, the Imperium pick is just for Raw to cash in on Gunther. I know AJ Styles and the rest of The OC are inactive prior to the draft but Smackdown also had The Bloodline, Street Profits, Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley, and Damage CTRL. Edge might be a part-time guy for now but the same can be said with Brock Lesnar, who’ll most likely end up on Raw.
Also, if this is a hard reset to further brand exclusivity, then this destroys the underdog story of Cody Rhodes. The reason why it was okay for Cody to lose to Roman Reigns is for him to get the win in the next Wrestlemania. Yes, there is a chance for Rhodes to win another Royal Rumble or request a trade so they can face off against each other but then that would just mess up the idea of the WWE Draft.
In some ways, having Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, and Gunther in one brand would give them a chance to make the newly-minted World Heavyweight Championship. With that said, this would also make the championship a consolation prize for every Roman loser since he held the title 1000 days ago. I think they can switch the championships to Raw and Smackdown if the brand has no main event champion but they still need to eventually make Roman’s championship the bigger one between the two.
Anyway, here are the picks from the first night.
