It's the first episode of "WWE SmackDown Live" on Tuesday nights, and as promised, the company held its first WWE Draft since the 2011 edition. Coming off a unified roster, a lot of big moves and picks were inevitably made, some teams were split, and some foes stayed together while others were broken apart, and I'm here to break it down for you.
To recap, the WWE Draft provided three picks for "WWE RAW" and two picks for "WWE SmackDown Live," as "RAW" had three hours to "SmackDown"'s two. Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and her general manager Mick Foley picked for "RAW," and commissioner Shane McMahon and his general manager picked for "SmackDown."
First, here's what "WWE RAW" drafted:
- Seth Rollins
- Charlotte
- Finn Balor
- Roman Reigns
- Brock Lesnar
- The New Day
- Sami Zayn
- Sasha Banks
- Chris Jericho
- Rusev (with Lana)
- Kevin Owens
- Enzo and Cass
- Gallows and Anderson
- Big Show
- Nia Jax
- Neville
- Cesaro
- Sheamus
- The Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth)
- Titus O'Neill
- Paige
- Darren Young
- Sin Cara
- Jack Swagger
- The Dudley Boyz
- Summer Rae
- Mark Henry
- Braun Strowman
- Bo Dallas
- Shining Stars
- Alicia Fox
- Dana Brooke
- Curtis Axel
It's quite undeniable that "WWE RAW" pretty much won the WWE Draft—and they pretty much had to, considering the amount of time they had to fill with a bigger half of the whole roster. What's interesting, however, is despite the fact that the WWE Champion Dean Ambrose is on "WWE SmackDown Live," and the blue show's reputation for being the brand with the up-and-coming talents, it seems as though "RAW" is taking this role now.
By choosing to anchor their main event around Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, and reinforcing it with guys like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Neville, the New Day, the Club, Finn Balor (!), and Sasha Banks, and supporting it with relatively fewer veteran talents in Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho, they subtly became the "younger" show, if you will. Adding a Cruiserweight division (which may or may not have a championship attached to it) is also only going to help.
How "WWE RAW" moves forward from here will be very interesting, because the biggest question surrounding the show is whether the WWE will actually maximize the depth of talent they have on the brand. It's not a matter of whether they can, but a matter of whether they will choose to.
Meanwhile, here's the roster "WWE SmackDown Live" is getting:
- AJ Styles
- John Cena
- Randy Orton
- Bray Wyatt
- Becky Lynch
- The Miz
- Baron Corbin
- American Alpha
- Dolph Ziggler
- Natalya
- Alberto Del Rio
- The Usos
- Kane
- Kalisto
- Naomi
- The Ascension
- Zack Ryder
- Apollo Crews
- Alexa Bliss
- Breezango
- Eva Marie
- The Vaudvillains
- Erick Rowan
- Mojo Rawley
- Carmella
In contrast with "WWE RAW," "WWE SmackDown Live" will be anchored by Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, John Cena, and possibly Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. There is a bigger veteran presence on the show, and in hindsight, it might make sense—the show really needs to rate well for the USA Network, and Cena and co. might be the way to do that.
There are some really good choices in here, such as American Alpha and Apollo Crews, and with a tighter runtime, "WWE SmackDown Live" might maximize its depth a lot better than "WWE RAW." The blue brand may seem to have lost the Draft, but in its history, it has never needed that much more to make great things happen, and with a blockbuster top holding down a solid middle, it might still prove to be the better show between the two. We'll see how it goes next week.
