There’s big things afoot in the WWE right now, with everything changing tonight on the first-ever SmackDown Live. The brand split is coming back, with SmackDown and RAW having a draft to make unique rosters of Superstars. Who will be going to each show, and more importantly, how will this all work? Let’s figure it out.
WWE Draft Rules
The rules for the WWE draft are as follows:
Raw has the first overall pick
Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and Raw is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, Raw will receive three picks
Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team
Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster
To clear up some potential confusion, there are six TOTAL call-ups allowed from NXT. That means there could be three NXT stars on RAW and three on SmackDown, or maybe even two on one show and four on the other.
General Managers
On RAW last night, both Shane and Stephanie announced who the General Managers will be for the shows. In an interesting surprise, Stephanie picked WWE legend Mick Foley to help her run RAW. As expected based on leaks, Shane picked Daniel Bryan for GM of SmackDown.
Predictions
Nothing is certain in the WWE, but here are our best guesses about what will happen tonight during the draft. There are a few things to note: the Wyatt family is not listed as a tag team, and the Lucha Dragons have decided to split ways. Speaking of the Wyatts, Luke Harper isn’t even mentioned as an eligible draftee, but this is likely due to his injuries.
RAW Draft Predictions
Seth Rollins
Roman Reigns
The New Day
Alberto Del Rio
Baron Corbin
Big Show
Jack Swagger
Brock Lesnar
Chris Jericho
Kalisto
Sasha Banks
Paige
Samoa Joe
Nia Jax
Sami Zayn
The Ascension
Charlotte
Shinsuke Nakamura
Neville
The Dudley Boyz
Alicia Fox
Eva Marie
Bray Wyatt
Mark Henry
The Usos
Titus O’Neil
The Miz
Golden Truth
Simon Gotch
Summer Rae
Braun Strowman
Erick Rowan
Shining Stars
Dolph Ziggler
SmackDown Draft Predictions
Dean Ambrose
AJ Styles
Natalya
John Cena
Kevin Owens
Kane
Rusev
Enzo and Cass
Cesaro
Darren Young
Tye Dillinger
Naomi
Aiden English
Randy Orton
Finn Balor
Breezango
Social Outcasts
Apollo Crews
Becky Lynch
Sheamus
Zack Ryder
Dana Brooke
Bayley
Sin Cara
Gallows and Anderson
In these predictions, only one tag team gets split up: The Vaudevillains. This is speculation, but seeing as how they recently lost to Golden Truth, things aren’t looking good for the olde-tyme wrestling team. This prediction also has nothing to do with draft order as well.
The predictions also see Bayley, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Nia Jax, Tye Dillinger and Shinsuke Nakamura all make it up to the big leagues. Joe and Nakamura especially are getting up there in age, so if they are going to be in the main roster for WWE, now’s the time.
I also may have done some math incorrectly and gotten the wrong number of Superstars for each show. Anyway, it’s roughly a 3/2 split, in favor of RAW.
Be sure to check out iDigitalTimes’ live coverage of the WWE Draft tonight starting at 8 p.m. EDT.
So what do you think? Are you excited for the WWE Draft tonight? Who do you think will end up on RAW and SmackDown? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
