The Slow Death of the WWE Draft

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The WWE Draft used to be one of the most fun parts of the business, both for fans and the talent. The WWE Draft was known to shake things up and give a fresh start to the roster after a certain interval of time. But how did it lose its relevance? Watch this video for the full details.
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[@RomaroBrandon]

The draft died when they stopped doing brand exclusive PPV and WWE made it worse when they made NXT a development brand again then had main roster talent winning NXT titles. How does that make sense? Why would someone who made it to the main roster want to go back to NXT if it's no longer a third brand? That's like going to AEW or WWE after a few years on the Indies then choosing to go back to the Indies. Or if John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista wanted to go back to OVW in 2010.

[@jeremiasnolasco-uw2lt]

Also when they mostly announced that stars were staying on their respective brand instead switching, since nowadays barely anybody changes brands anymore.

[@RonWeassly]

Difference is, NXT is on national cable TV and OVW was restricted to just one state. And NXT today, IMO is better than the Indy black and gold era. There’s now more stories and legit athletes. Also, if we’re to buy into the fictional world of WWE, Becky wanting to cross off the NXT title as the big one she missed, makes sense. Every wrestler doesn’t just want to hold one title. They want to be able to say that they’ve held every title in WWE possible.

[@RomaroBrandon]

@@RonWeassly I'll give you that with the "one title she's never had" however I will also counter it with Dominik Mysterio because why did they give him the North American Championship. Don't say so everyone in Judgment Day can have a belt because JD McDonagh didn't unless I'm wrong about when he was an official member. Also back to the NXT Women's Championship because Becky Lynch winning it doesn't make her an eight time Women's Champion like it should but if it did Charlotte Flair would have tied or surpassed Ric Flair's record which is what WWE wants to do so why not make it a world title? NXT has the same number of championships as Raw and SmackDown if you exclude the women's tag titles. There's no reason to say it's developmental and have main roster talent on that brand, not even by WWE's logic.

[@BigmanDogs]

​@@RomaroBrandonThe reason Dom won the belt was to give NXT exposure since most WWE fans dont watch NXT. And because he's too weak tow in the IC or US title, even by cheating.

[@RomaroBrandon]

@BigmanDogs he wasn't too weak, JD McDonagh is too weak. Dominik couldn't win the Intercontinental Championship because Gunther was champion and he couldn't win the US Championship because he wasn't on SmackDown. But if you really want to expose NXT have the North American Champion defend the title on Raw or SmackDown because Dominik rarely defended the title. I think he did once successfully before dropping it and even then it happened on NXT. There was no reason outside of everyone having a belt for Dominik Mysterio to win the North American Championship. Plus they stripped Solo Sikoa over the same title after he joined SmackDown officially as part of The Bloodline in 2022.

[@GregoryBrown-ey4vz]

I always thought the draft was designed to bring somebody in and not somebody that's already there

[@kelseykjarsgaard5774]

Both

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Free Agent Heath Slater was a great storyline

[@2d_enjoyer]

It really was, you couldn't help but root for the guy 🤣

[@Mintycommenter6000]

They need to get rid of the draft and just have nxt call ups.

[@alifnajmi1997]

Brands Splits won't be as serious as before if HHH and WWE itself wouldn't be stricts as they're should be and sticks the rosters at their designed brands until next year's draft (WWE also need to enforces the consequences for them if there's a rosters decided to made any appearances on opposite brands)

[@magtastic1757]

I like the idea of the draft only having nxt superstars and raw and smackdown make trades during the drafts days like the nba or nfl

[@silvershadow8405]

Yeah, then it would actually be like a draft.

[@khesipresents1885]

I like the idea of actually having a plan for a nxt wrestler before calling them up

[@tylervincent8424]

I like the idea of the draft and I remember as a kid being shook when a Smackdown guy showed up to raw and vice versa. They have the roster to do it, but they never stick to it

[@snakeeyes2551]

I always wanted The Undertaker to be drafted to Raw and Shawn Michaels to be drafted to Smackdown, but then I found out why that never happened.

[@AfternoonDaydream8809]

Why didn’t it happen

[@tylervincent8424]

@@AfternoonDaydream8809 Smackdown was taped on a particular day that HBK would go to church with his family or something like that. Never heard a reason for Taker

[@snakeeyes2551]

@@tylervincent8424 The reason why The Undertaker was never drafted to Raw was because his character required a lot of effects that were easier to pull off on SD since it was a tape show and Raw was always live.

[@justingochioco1121]

Give me Smackdown, I’d draft for the men , Braun Strowman, Roman reigns , Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins . For the women , Bayley , Nia Jax , Jade cargill , Bianca belair , and Charlotte flair .

[@redlightingwolf1985]

WWE Draft is boring now because the transfer concept is something new if done right

[@justingochioco1121]

@@redlightingwolf1985 The draft is not boring as I do it after every WM in GM mode in WWE 2k24 and I update the roster during universe mode based on real life

[@AxelStrife7]

Having wrestlers switch brands WITHOUT announcing it ahead of time makes too much sense. People hate being surprised.

[@conradojavier7547]

WWE should stick to the 03-04 Era with The Brand Split Cemented in People's Minds.

[@railfanqld]

The WWE Draft peaked in 2004. It's the only one that has felt "random" with the picks.

[@judasfire2]

The 2024 draft was just a simple troll show by WWE , nothing else.

[@cerebralfanatic]

Agreed the draft should be its own entity outside the MNR & SD weekly shows With WWE production they can make it feel important like NBA/NFL draft day And it should be centered around NXT call-ups

[@GuyWhoConquersMain]

The 2016 draft will forever be the best modern draft as it felt special and helped big time for Smackdown that had a stacked women and tag division.

[@TheManish767]

Instead of Draft, they should have an auction. With both drafts having a certain purse and you'll have to auction for the wrestlers. It's seems much more interesting

[@milesomoruyi9435]

That’s a thing. It’s called slavery

[@PavitKalra-w6w]

No it's boring

[@vinpar5557]

The draft died when they started wasting draft picks on superstars that's just gonna stay on the same show for example Seth Rollins is part of the Raw brand then why waste a draft on him is he's already part of that brand not moving. "Seth Rollins part of Monday Night Raw has been drafted to Raw" that doesn't make any sense and that's not a draft. The whole point of the draft is to move superstars to another brand for a fresh start not waste draft picks on them if they're just going to stay on the same show. Last few years of the draft has sucked. I hope they break outta this habit and make things fresh again.

[@GuyWhoConquersMain]

I feel like the reason why the brand split died is because they stop doing brand PPV, so it didn’t matter no more. But I think they should bring it back to help showcase all of their talents.

[@JohnDoe003]

If I could pick any 5 superstars to draft it'd have to be: 1 CODY RHODES 2 SETH "FREAKIN'" ROLLINS 3 CHAROLETTE FLAIR 4 THE MIZ 5 KOFI KINGSTON

[@TanvirAhmed-ik4gl]

If all of WWE'S shows end up on Netflix it probably be a good idea to totally end the brand split soon after & have one World Championship, one mid card championship & one pair of World tag team championships for mens & women's division & maybe bring back the cruiserweight championship back to the main roster minus the cheesy purple straps and lighting .

[@matmyers8123]

Gunther Ilja Dragonov Bron Breakker Jacob Fatu Cody Rhodes

[@doyadirty3804]

I hated the brand split when it first came in. I just wanted them to utilise WCW properly

[@OzMoney]

Fixing the WWE Draft would be easy by simply making it for NXT call ups only. The Raw and Smackdown rosters could be refreshed by trades (superstar transfer window), and free agency (by having superstars become free agents at certain times of the year).

[@SamCalderas-nt6lv]

The 1st draft died the moment Vince came up with the stupid "talent exchange" in 2008, AND they had Cena, who was on Raw at the time, went to Smackdown then to Raw in one full night. Then they killed the 2nd draft with the meaningless Superstar Shakeup, because they (Vince), didn't trust Raw to survive without his baby Roman.

[@TheNightTyrant]

Since NXT is a developmental brand and not main roster so AEW's real competitors are Raw and Smackdown and not a developmental show.

[@ayhamahmad2277]

They not competitive aew can't even beat nxt

[@criminalmindsgirl2936]

The 2002 and 2004 were the best drafts. Except for splitting up certain tag teams

[@rafaelmartinez6447]

The Paul Heyman and Eric Bichoff eras draft were the best years.

[@christopher7804]

They need to bring it back for this new era on netflix

[@WPGJetsf3sion2008]

The Draft sucks,no changes to impact in title reigns,that could get different opponents,something that would keep the reings interesting. I understand why they don't change the main champions,but it cost to change Mid Card titles champs?

[@AS-eh6ql]

Everyone complaining in comments, how about you admit HHH booking can sometimes suck as much as Vince's booking in his last years? HHH ruined MITB AND the Draft.

[@Pyro_Might]

Instead of a strict draft, a superstar is only allowed to go for a title on a certain brand. Otherwise, they can wrestle on any brand they want.

[@BmanTheChamp]

I would draft AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Bron Breakker, Gunther and Cody Rhodes for the men, and Asuka, Kairi Sane, Iyo Sky, Natalya and Liv Morgan for the women.

[@lordlaughypants5889]

Not "loser leaves" but "winners choice" And NXT could be where a GM shows up and says "I want X and X to fight and whoever wins comes to my brand."

[@irvgotti9737]

You mean who ever loses ?

[@lordlaughypants5889]

@@irvgotti9737 What? Why would you want the loser of a match? And shouldn't the winner get the prize of choice?

[@lordlaughypants5889]

@irvgotti9737 No, the GM of Raw or Smackdown goes to NXT and the winner of the match their goes to the GM's brand.

[@Pduarte79]

A transfer window concept makes a draft pointless.

[@gustavomiranda5218]

The Draft needs be change for number 1 show of Year , new Year new Brands with someone Geral Maneger Hage with Survivor Series results

[@hungryalmighty7156]

I think the transfer window should be the new wwe draft that way you have all the wrestlers you need in specific brands for wrestlemania season.

[@wolfhowl983]

If I was drafting just five wrestlers... Rhea Ripley (As first Women's Champion) Drew McIntyre (As Men's Champion) The War Raiders (as Tag Champions) Tiffany Stratton as first contender for Rhea's championship. Trades I would like to see. CM Punk to NXT (Cause I don't watch NXT) Seth Rollins & Drew to Smackdown for the anti-Bloodline story. A-town Down Under to Raw to feud with the Raiders.

[@brandonalloway7128]

So the whole concept of a "Brand split" came out of the idea that smackdown was seen as the secondary show but started having great matches with guys like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle and others so they felt they should get as much respect as Raw back then most of those guys hadn't spent a considerable amount of time on both shows so it felt fresh. At this point the draft should be only for NXT call-ups like an actual sport calling up young stars from developmental.

[@pulledporkribs]

I started getting into wwe again this yr since 2016 and I have no idea who is in which brand anymore. They keep on moving the wrestlers from each brand and sometimes the wrestles come on both brands in the same week. With the world championships it doesn’t make it easier, if a wrestler from smackdown won a world title how would someone on raw get it? How would they do the storyline to get it? I get why they keep hopping the wrestlers from brand to brand but then what defines each brand? What makes the brands different from each other? The only defining thing is see is the colours. I think to help things out if they are still going to be doing brand rosters they should make the wrestlers have a dress code, wear the brands theme. I don’t wanna see warm colours on sd and cool colours on raw (that includes the producers and execs). And lean into the whole sd vs raw thing again, they were fun.

[@TelvinKipapa]

RAW draft Top 5 picks: The Rock, CM Punk, Rhea Ripley, AJ Styles, & New Day.

[@BigmanDogs]

I don't think the draft is bad. They just need to spend less time on drafting people who are staying and more time on backstage segments. Like when Kurt Angle kept being undrafted.

[@gtrour4]

Dude, if Charlotte Flair (💎) returns? It's time to bring up Stephanie Vaquer {{V}}, Sol Ruca (☮️), Kali Armstrong (💪🏾), Petrovic (🌀), Cora-Jade (🦋), Lainey Reed (💪) and Tyra Steele (💪🏾)......

[@DWtechfan]

Idk why WWE even still does the drafts or the brand split because they don't stick to them. The first few years were easily the best and the competition between Bischoff on Raw and Stephanie McMahon on Smackdown was the height of the brand split. WWE even smartly made it seem like there was competition between Raw and Smackdown with superstars jumping to the other show. If the brand split were enforced and used in the way it was before with the competition between the two brands, it would be great. As it exists now, WWE would be better off to just use all superstars on all shows. That opens up so many feud possibilities and the Attitude era is proof that one continuing story across all the shows equals more people watching to see what happens next.

[@khesipresents1885]

Because fans foolishly keep taking the draft's seriously

[@DWtechfan]

@@khesipresents1885 *drafts*

[@deeyoutube4]

The Whole Concept Of A Transfer Window Like Football Is Brilliant. Problem Is The Thing Is Run By Americans So They Wouldn't Even Try It. That's The Whole Reason They Went For "Draft" Instead.

[@shawnstanley9620]

This yr draft should better .since most of talent on raw and nxt are healthy.smackdown is short on main event players last yr the draft sucked because everybody was injured.hopeful this yr will be different in triple h era

[@triplehkingofkings5883]

How could the draft get so bad.... "Raw selects Seth Rollins..." who already was on Raw :D

[@Seth_-lq1rr]

With both shows going to 3 hours, the rosters are gonna need to be sort of equal, a normal Draft after Mania would work. However, after that it should just be trade windows throughout the year, till the next time a draft is necessary

[@MrBigd2829]

True I agree with all of that but make the normal draft every 3 or 4 years

[@redlightingwolf1985]

WWE transfer concept is something new if done right can WWE super ⭐ can you get a fresh star and change things up is good.

[@mikemartin8461]

To make thing interesting again have the brands have matches against each others to get draft picks and make sure there's no more wrestlers just jump ship when they want to and bring back Raw&Smackdown own PPV'S and at survivor series like the good old days

[@JonathanPalfrey]

I think the issue is the lack of discipline to keep brands exclusives and only having three brands (really just 2) where wrestlers can go. In any other sports you have loads of teams a player could go through whether from a draft or transfer.

[@khesipresents1885]

Wwe isn't a sport

[@madisonfortin6535]

If they wanted to keep the tge whole drafting of NXT talent aspect, do it on NXT. Makes it a cool episode, you can have cameos from current and old gms and still run some matches for guys not ready to move up, but want to put on a good show while extra eyes are on NXT

[@ericgilbert56]

An NXT draft show probably sounds good but would probably be a bad idea as well. Because they would only draft the stars that bring interest to NXT. IF you know the top talent is leaving then you automatically cool off NXT.

[@jBeanz92]

And it makes no sense to mention a draft that isn't really a draft, you just wasted a slot by showing somebody staying on the same brand, you should only show new drafts which is somebody moving to a different brand.

[@NottyGurlStyle]

I never fully paid attention to the Drafts until year and I found it stupid when they made a big production on talent that’s staying on their brand show… Why even bother. The only time Drafts makes sense is if the call up new talent from NXT. But even that has been a waste because those who were called up are not being used at all and others are not being booked properly… just wasting peoples time.

[@emeraldninjalink6312]

I think wwe should do a ple for the draft, and each match means something. For example, the first match would be a superstar from raw and smackdown(and nxt) in a match and the winner gets the first pick. Maybe they’re fighting to stay on their brand, because if they go to the other one they’re gonna get screwed

[@gtrour4]

Well, if the Draft is ending? Then maybe make (NXT) a Main Roster.....🤔💭

[@johnmichael2692]

The draft should end now and just have superstars both appear both raw and smackdown, especially I would like to see miz get hunted and destroyed from both Wyatt sicks and final testament since cross should be pissed at miz for getting the Wyatt’s moved to smackdown and the Wyatt’s win their feud with miz and final testament since having them lose was a stupid mistake

[@stingrey1571]

In sports, you draft from college and the minor. WWE should do the same. They should only draft from nxt and the wwe ID program.

[@im1817]

What’s the backing music being played at 9 minutes? Thank you

[@ericgilbert56]

I hated the draft from the first. It only drew interest when the storylines were crap and it was still stupid. It's wrestling not football or basketball. If their were wrestling teams, (which god no don't do that) it might make sense but no it's just an etch--a-sketch approach to changing bad stories.

[@Highrollinhunter]

WWE was better as WWF because there was no draft in the WWF days and the roster was better back in the attitude era.

[@blinkq_530]

i always loved the draft it was at its best when they was all in the locker room

[@MikeScriver-o7h]

No way you could pick five

[@jBeanz92]

Stop having the draft every year how about once every 3 years maybe with the occasional appearance far and few in between like a call up from NXT.

[@RoboMusic12]

Both draft and aew Rampage got ended.

[@就活-z9m]

It’s easy question, because all star is garbage. Except AJ styles and Orton, every wrestler is worse than njpw. And story and rule is boring. Go back WWF ATTITUDE.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Von Wagner and Odyssey Jones both got drafted in 2023 and never showed once(Von Wagner) or for nearly 2 years (Odyssey Jones)

[@ayhamahmad2277]

Odyssey got released

[@jBeanz92]

3:42 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣💀

[@JoyAmarikwa]

Why don't they have a draft pay per view

[@keltners613]

they already have enough PPV. having a draft on regular shows guarantee a couple of shows with high viewership.

[@jakirali2371]

First 🎉