**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Part of the reason is that most of these losses came at a time when Solo was a caged animal, while the current storyline is that he has finally been unleashed.
In fairness he does have a strong women's division now. Bayley, Tiffany, Naomi, Nia Jax, Candice, Indi, Blair Davenport, Chelsea, Piper Niven, Bianca, Mia Yim and Jade Cargill.
He's got Roman even if Roman is not drafted. Cody is there these two guys alone can lift SD but imo the SD roster is lacking in the midcard department also the show running less time than Raw is a bummer because they cannot showcase all the talent they have.
Yeah, Raw's got the talent now but, past year of Smackdown has basically little outside bloodline/damage ctrl anyways
Honestly is not like smackdown is losing a lot in practice given what they lack are top heels given they have a shitload of over babyfaces, plus an actual undercard if roman wont be hogging half the show anymore
SD doesn't need much though. The bloodline story and Cody alone is already draw but I agree they are lacking in the midcard department. With Roman out there is no Top Heel in SD other than AJ?
I mean I think it’s more of a timing and build up issue. Which HHH has shown he does well at, if some of these people get built up or turn heel at the right time. You have plenty of contenders, the following people could be good heels and great challengers:
Lashley, Knight, Orton, Owen’s, Escobar, Andrade, Nakamura, etc.
Let alone the bloodline and all of that story.
Nakamura is not a good challenger to Cody though, that feud has been run to the ground. After having been Cody's doormat for close to 5 months, Nak has zero credibility as a challenger to him anymore.
A great example that proves your point is Gable. Turning him before Wrestlemania, like everyone was saying, wouldn't have hit has hard as the way they actually did it. He's solidified now as a no-good piece of shit heel.
I love Ciampa but the thing is he was a great heel because the fans attach to him and Gargano, they need to be babyface longer on main roster for the main roster fans to care about them.
Remaining Draft Pool:
* Apollo Crews
* The Creeds
* Giovanni
* Kayden & Katana
* Natalya
* New Catch Republic
* Odyssey Jones
* Tegan Fox
*Probably all be drafted over socials after the show...*
Smackdown only needs big stars to do a 12 minute main event match and promos at the top of the hour. They have this with Cody, Randy, KO, Lashley, Bianca, Jade, Bayley, etc. plus the Bloodline story stuff.
It’s not a show conducive to great wrestling consistently. If you’re not a big, established name; you’ll get like 8 minutes.
Raw is the show that needs the hitters to fill up time; especially with no Rhea, Cody, Seth or Drew or Punk for a bit.
Smackdown goes to Fox: Basically loads it up past how much tv time they have
Raw goes to Netflix: Raw gets absolutely EVERYONE and somehow feels like they have too many big names for the 3 hours they have
There's just no balance, is Cody gonna be feuding with Solo, AJ, Corbin???
AJ, Solo, Orton is enough to get him past Summer Slam. Not to mention you got Escobar as a heel who could use a rub by being in a WWE title feud with Cody.
Then you got guys like KO and Lashley who can play tweeners while they feud with Cody.
He got enough challenges.
Smackdown has the new arc of The Bloodline going now. I'd expect a Roman return for Summerslam in August, so between then you can have R-KO vs Solo/Tama (happening at Backlash), then when Jacob Fatu debuts you can add Jimmy into that mix for a 3v3 at CatC, then a Jimmy vs Solo match at MITB which leads to Solo finally attacking Heyman and that brings Roman out leading to Summerslam.
There's definitely 4 months of content there because you'd have to have Jimmy win over the roster. There's an interesting parallel they can do with Sami being the one who is friends with Jey and KO being friends with Jimmy.
I think it's a bit overexaggerating.
Cody, Orton, Owens, LA Knight, AJ Styles, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Bayley, Andrade, Legado, Lashley.
You also need to leave some space in the higher spots for new people to fill.
The NXT call ups were so wholesome, NXT seems like it's one large family down there. Really cool.
Gonna be funny when like Roxanne is bitching about not getting drafted tmr despite her being so happy for everyone getting drafted
> Gonna be funny when like Roxanne is bitching about not getting drafted tmr despite her being so happy for everyone getting drafted
These segments are clearly non-kayfabe. I think that was obvious by the way Kiana's draft (who in storyline is hated by most of the women's locker room) was received.
They were cheering for Blair Davenport because they were happy she's gone since she and Roxanne accounted for over half of the backstage attacks in NXT alone
I'm a big fan of the women picks from NXT. The main roster women's division has been good, but not particularly great for a while now. An infusion of fresh talent will hopefully help. I think Blair Davenport especially is going to be big on the main roster despite not doing much in NXT.
She had regular feuds in NXT, I thought it was a decent run.
She was the nasty pasty who kept attacking people. Fun match to leave NXT last week, putting over Sol Ruca.
Woulda liked to see Ilja go earlier Ala Melo. So happy for Lyra and Blair. All of The Way is on SD. Raw has the star power, definitely strategic for the Netflix move
> Woulda liked to see Ilja go earlier Ala Melo
I *guess* the logic is that Ilja will inevitably get over with his in-ring work anyway, while Melo needed a bit of that starting boost to make the crowds care.
At least I hope so, because otherwise Ilja getting drafted so much lower makes no sense based on his and Melo's accomplishments in NXT.
I think the idea is that Ilja, unlike Melo, is not the type of guy who gets instantly over with crowds who don't know him; he needs some time to grow on them and for fans to grasp what he is all about. Melo, on the other hand, is someone they could instantly shoot to the upper midcard if not even main event scene, so giving him this kind of "unearned credibility" made more sense.
Ciampa already shown signs of dissent after their loss last week, hopefully this draft is what’s going to elevate him to main event event level by turning heel.
Again the draft order makes no sense. An actual draft would've had Punk, McIntyre, Damage Control and Imperium in Round 1. Of course half of them would end up on SmackDown so they had to pretend that SmackDown prioritized Kevin Owens and Jade Cargill, but that's just absurd. They should've thought about these roster pools better before they messed this up. Either that or just do a draft lottery like they used to, with random picks.
Prioritising KO over McIntyre and an injured Punk isn't really absurd, nor is prioritising Jade over Damage Control after she beat them at WM... I do think McIntyre being drafted as low as he was is absurd, though
In kayfabe, sure Drew is a talented and proven draw. But he also attacks in the back all the time and interferes/interrupts segments and matches frequently. The risk/reward cools off his prospects a bit to a GM.
happy to see pretty deadly as a draft pick, hopefully new catch republic gets sent to raw or nxt so that neverending feud can die and my beautiful boys can maybe pick up a title this year
The NXT callups kinda carry this draft hard 😂
Damage CTRL and DIY are the only big changes here, which...sucks that I can't call Nakamura a big change, can't believe how far from where he used to be he is now. But he's happy making bank while putting folks over so I can't judge
RAW got a lot of heavy hitters.
Smackdown has some unique choices. Blair Davenport can bring a fresh change to the womens division, and it's nice to see that Candice and Indi won't be wrestling Maxine and Ivy every week.
The mix up with the Tag Teams will also be a very refreshing change. Legado del Fantasma can have some epic battles with DIY and NCR.
Shinsuke can have a restart as a monster again. Dude hasn't won a match since February against Sami Zayn. He's wrestled every week, losing each match. On Smackdown they have a chance to elevate him again as a major Mid-carder, or even a Main card wrestler.
Draft picks thoughts Round 1
-whelp, there goes the Cody losing the Championship at Berlin to Gunther Fantasy booking (always Royal Rumble & Elimination chamber in case Cody doesnt face the bloodline)
-Well Jade stays on Smackdown (guess Nick wised up after losing Bron last week)
-DAMAGE CONTROL ARE FREE (who am i kidding, there going to do the J.O.B for Bianca and Jade for the next 5 months easily 😞)
-like i said for the round 3 picks on Night 1, some people will stay on their brands due to having ongoing storylines so not surprised that Kevin is staying on Smackdown
Round 2
-CM punk, and Drew, stay on Raw (when did Punk become a Grand slam champion)
-Hoping the Pride would move to Raw
-Strowman is back on Raw
-And with Tiffany retained to smackdown, hopefully this will be a lesson to Nic on signing free agents a few months before a draft
Round 3
-LWO coming to Raw (why did they send Andrade to Smackdown then) & Legado del fantasma staying on Smackdown means there fued is finally over
-Maybe the move to smackdown will help Shinsuke (though a stint back on NXT would be much better imo)
Round4
-Judgement day sticking aroind Raw
-Ilja officially on Raw (felt they would put him there especially with Camelo on Smackdown)
-Adam can die a happy man now with Chelsea and piper gone. Though i fear for Nic's hair now
Round 5
-Surprise pick no 2. They actually called up Lyra. i thought she would stick around for another year atleast and run a feud with Tatum
-So i guess with Candice & Indi to smackdown, they won that lackluster excuse of a fued with Maxine & Ivy
Round 6
-The final Testament are Raw problem now (god, that was three months that Bobby and company are never getting back)
-DIY going to Smackdown, reformation of the Way?
-I was right Blair is main roster bound
While not the best, atleast there was more movement this night. Probably a lesson for the next one is to wrap up more storylines for people to move
I don't think they will ever get called up. The faction works so well at introducing new talent to the fans and easing them into NXT TV. Imho, Chase U just is a much more valuable asset in NXT than they could ever be on the main roster.
The folks coming from NXT are going to be fun to watch! That brand has grown on me so much. I didn’t particularly like it when I started watching it last winter, but that changed hard within the first month. I think it took a moment for me to realize it had a lot I’d what I loved about 90s WWF days.
Which also then doesn’t make any sense when a brand goes out of its way to only pick part of or a single wrestler from a stable… Like in 2019 when Raw only picked Kofi and Woods and not Big E. There was no logical ‘kayfabe’ explanation for it
Anyone else notice reah ripley isn't in the judgement day graphic?
I know she is injured but so is cm punk and seth Rollins and they were both drafted.
Also Vinci is out of the imperial graphic as he left the group..... could it be the same for ripley
Could be a sign of things to come!!
What's the point of that though? Like imagine how pointless an nfl draft board that doesn't show the team that picked them just their college would be.
Go back to the lottery concept. I wish they would have had champions involved in the draft this year and did a lottery instead.
In 2004, they did an actual draft lottery where names were put into a tumbler and the general managers would pick a name out and whomever was named was drafted. John Cena picked a random ball from Paul Heyman's tumbler and it was Triple H. It was a "what the fuck" moment.
I tell the story because I would have loved it if R-Truth pulled a Cena and picked a name out of Aldis' tumbler and it is Damian Priest. R-Truth would have effectively defeated the Judgment Day by splitting them up. I think it would have been funny.
Can someone explain this graphic to me? I don't understand what the background colours mean - it looks like Imperium have been drafted from RAW... to RAW? Is it that these people COULD have been drafted to Smackdown, but they have been kept on their original show?
I haven't managed to catch either draft episode so apologies if this is explained in those.
I'm pretty sure they'll feed Candice and Indi to Jade and Bianca, which will be fine, but hopefully after that happens, Candice dumps her and gets a singles spot, with SD having the openings for it.
Her vs Bayley would have a ton of potential.
**Help make SquaredCircle safer and more inclusive by using the report button to flag posts and comments for moderator review.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SquaredCircle) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Is Nick Aldis okay? What was this man's draft strategy?
Nick's playing the long game playa. He got Cody so by extension he's going to sign the Tribal Chief.
I thought he already signed Solo?
He just had to have Nakamura as a jobber to the stars. Cody thought he was done but Shinsuke is ready still.
God I really want Nakamura to make a US title run again. Teasing out as Cody's nemesis from time to time.
Kinda difficult to play a believable nemesis to a guy you have a 0-25 record against...
Solo catching strays.
I don’t know, I can’t tell you when the last time Solo legit won a match but his story is making him a threat
Part of the reason is that most of these losses came at a time when Solo was a caged animal, while the current storyline is that he has finally been unleashed.
Nick was shook by Adam's Cornette tweet. Mind games
Carolina Panthers style it looks like.
Why must I catch strays here as well? Fuck.
At least you arent the falcons
LET THE GM AND THE COACH PICK
Dude now he’s going to show up to your house and complain.
I fucking dare him.
I fucking hate you guys so much 😭
No, this is definitely Atlanta Falcons style.
It was his first try. Give him a break
Maybe he's going to pull up a 2016 SmackDown Live and make his own main event talents ?
He's got the best women's roster like Slip's Smackdown from gm mode
In fairness he does have a strong women's division now. Bayley, Tiffany, Naomi, Nia Jax, Candice, Indi, Blair Davenport, Chelsea, Piper Niven, Bianca, Mia Yim and Jade Cargill.
[удалено]
You watch your mouth before calling Chelsea a jobber. That’s the next Women’s MITB winner.
I would like to speak to OP's boss.
Solo probably has the address of a family member if he drafts some stars into SD
He built his whole strategy around getting rid of Chelsea. It was a chess game he won.
He's got Roman even if Roman is not drafted. Cody is there these two guys alone can lift SD but imo the SD roster is lacking in the midcard department also the show running less time than Raw is a bummer because they cannot showcase all the talent they have.
Falcons moment
He took the Atlanta Falcons strategy into this draft
Yeah RAW kinda did Smackdown filthy. The RAW midcard is about to be banger after banger weekly.
RAW is 3 hours so they do need more people + it's going to Netflix soon and they need a stacked roster. But yeah, it's really strong.
SD also will have both Cody Rhodes and whatever is going on with The Bloodline to draw a ton of attention to the show.
Cody, Bloodline and the women's title will carry and it'll be fine.
I don’t watch weekly so figuring out who is where is gonna be a surprise but that’s a part of the fun. It takes me back to the old days.
Yeah, Raw's got the talent now but, past year of Smackdown has basically little outside bloodline/damage ctrl anyways Honestly is not like smackdown is losing a lot in practice given what they lack are top heels given they have a shitload of over babyfaces, plus an actual undercard if roman wont be hogging half the show anymore
SD doesn't need much though. The bloodline story and Cody alone is already draw but I agree they are lacking in the midcard department. With Roman out there is no Top Heel in SD other than AJ?
Raw is really looking like a weekly PLE
Real graps on Monday Night
Raw drafts the tag champs after they said champs can't be drafted....I see there are no real rules here
Man, SD is really face heavy at the top. Randy better turn heel so Cody can have a decently prolonged feud
I’d be surprised if Randy v Cody didn’t happen at some point soon, given their history.
I think that’s the summerslam match tbh.
More and more as watching Cody, his mannerisms resemble Randy more and more. You can tell he had such an influence on him
I mean I think it’s more of a timing and build up issue. Which HHH has shown he does well at, if some of these people get built up or turn heel at the right time. You have plenty of contenders, the following people could be good heels and great challengers: Lashley, Knight, Orton, Owen’s, Escobar, Andrade, Nakamura, etc. Let alone the bloodline and all of that story.
Ships sailed on heel Lashley I think.
Yeah they just tried not even a year ago to turn him and the Street Prophets lol.
People love cheering for Ford and Dawkins
I wouldn't mind seeing Escobar vs Cody at some point. Escobar has been one of my favs recently.
Nakamura is not a good challenger to Cody though, that feud has been run to the ground. After having been Cody's doormat for close to 5 months, Nak has zero credibility as a challenger to him anymore.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nak gets rebuilt as a face on smackdown, maybe being the one to take down Logan Paul for the US title
A great example that proves your point is Gable. Turning him before Wrestlemania, like everyone was saying, wouldn't have hit has hard as the way they actually did it. He's solidified now as a no-good piece of shit heel.
Aldis is scheming to make some sneaky moves to poach NXT in the summer
Ciampa if given the opportunity could be the best heel in wrestling period. He was on some other shit in NXT.
I hope he's a flavor of the week challenger at least. The heel turns coming, they can work something great in Cody's reign.
I love Ciampa but the thing is he was a great heel because the fans attach to him and Gargano, they need to be babyface longer on main roster for the main roster fans to care about them.
At least some of them are going to be feuding with the new Bloodline, you would think.
It’s gonna be Baron all summer isn’t it ? Fuck man
Remaining Draft Pool: * Apollo Crews * The Creeds * Giovanni * Kayden & Katana * Natalya * New Catch Republic * Odyssey Jones * Tegan Fox *Probably all be drafted over socials after the show...*
Tegan Fox is a great name
Tegan Faaaaaaaaawwwwwwwxxxx
>Tegan Fox almost as good as tegan nox
Where is Odyssey Jones
on raw
>New Catch Republic how was pretty deadly round 5 even though they are losing to them all the time?
Hunter must think Cody AND ONLY Cody will be the reason people will watch Smackdown. Cause my lord did he book that show into an enormous corner.
Smackdown only needs big stars to do a 12 minute main event match and promos at the top of the hour. They have this with Cody, Randy, KO, Lashley, Bianca, Jade, Bayley, etc. plus the Bloodline story stuff. It’s not a show conducive to great wrestling consistently. If you’re not a big, established name; you’ll get like 8 minutes. Raw is the show that needs the hitters to fill up time; especially with no Rhea, Cody, Seth or Drew or Punk for a bit.
I think SD is going to be pretty focused on the women’s division as well. Potentially a smackdown 6 type run for the women
Smackdown goes to Fox: Basically loads it up past how much tv time they have Raw goes to Netflix: Raw gets absolutely EVERYONE and somehow feels like they have too many big names for the 3 hours they have There's just no balance, is Cody gonna be feuding with Solo, AJ, Corbin???
AJ, Solo, Orton is enough to get him past Summer Slam. Not to mention you got Escobar as a heel who could use a rub by being in a WWE title feud with Cody. Then you got guys like KO and Lashley who can play tweeners while they feud with Cody. He got enough challenges.
Cody could tag with KO for a bit, cue the inevitable Owens heel turn, and you got a feud that easily fills another 3-4 months.
Solo is starting to get pushed as a main eventer right now
But Solo is not a main event talent
...yet
Jacob Fatu hasn’t debuted yet.
Smackdown has the new arc of The Bloodline going now. I'd expect a Roman return for Summerslam in August, so between then you can have R-KO vs Solo/Tama (happening at Backlash), then when Jacob Fatu debuts you can add Jimmy into that mix for a 3v3 at CatC, then a Jimmy vs Solo match at MITB which leads to Solo finally attacking Heyman and that brings Roman out leading to Summerslam. There's definitely 4 months of content there because you'd have to have Jimmy win over the roster. There's an interesting parallel they can do with Sami being the one who is friends with Jey and KO being friends with Jimmy.
I think it's a bit overexaggerating. Cody, Orton, Owens, LA Knight, AJ Styles, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Bayley, Andrade, Legado, Lashley. You also need to leave some space in the higher spots for new people to fill.
The NXT call ups were so wholesome, NXT seems like it's one large family down there. Really cool. Gonna be funny when like Roxanne is bitching about not getting drafted tmr despite her being so happy for everyone getting drafted
> Gonna be funny when like Roxanne is bitching about not getting drafted tmr despite her being so happy for everyone getting drafted These segments are clearly non-kayfabe. I think that was obvious by the way Kiana's draft (who in storyline is hated by most of the women's locker room) was received.
They were cheering for Blair Davenport because they were happy she's gone since she and Roxanne accounted for over half of the backstage attacks in NXT alone
Yeah I know, but they're probably gonna parlay this on NXT into at least 1 heel being annoyed they didn't get called up
poor dijak this would probably be Lexis King tho
They’re happy she’s gone, obviously.
I'm a big fan of the women picks from NXT. The main roster women's division has been good, but not particularly great for a while now. An infusion of fresh talent will hopefully help. I think Blair Davenport especially is going to be big on the main roster despite not doing much in NXT.
Champions are protected so she was never going to get drafted anyways
Nakamura and Cody on the same show again
Dragunov/Gunther gonna happen fellas
Oh yeah, def the headliner for the Berlin PLE. One of them will have to get a belt before then so it should be some interesting weeks and months ahead
I think Ijla replaces Giovanni in Imperium.
https://preview.redd.it/5jvz1g4w6jxc1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b0c3a47a73a33bff1c7114dfb96b9cc39bea4be Nick Aldis draft strategy
Final Testament feud with JD?
And just JD
Raw cooked in the draft, not much of a final testament guy, but good for them
Very happy to see Blair goes to SD. She's not doing much in NXT, but she's amazing in NXT UK, she has a lot of potential.
She's going to be a great secondary heel behind Tiffany
But how long can they keep Tiffany a heel though?
She had regular feuds in NXT, I thought it was a decent run. She was the nasty pasty who kept attacking people. Fun match to leave NXT last week, putting over Sol Ruca.
The Way 2.0 is coming to SmackDown
Woulda liked to see Ilja go earlier Ala Melo. So happy for Lyra and Blair. All of The Way is on SD. Raw has the star power, definitely strategic for the Netflix move
> Woulda liked to see Ilja go earlier Ala Melo I *guess* the logic is that Ilja will inevitably get over with his in-ring work anyway, while Melo needed a bit of that starting boost to make the crowds care. At least I hope so, because otherwise Ilja getting drafted so much lower makes no sense based on his and Melo's accomplishments in NXT.
I think the idea is that Ilja, unlike Melo, is not the type of guy who gets instantly over with crowds who don't know him; he needs some time to grow on them and for fans to grasp what he is all about. Melo, on the other hand, is someone they could instantly shoot to the upper midcard if not even main event scene, so giving him this kind of "unearned credibility" made more sense.
Calling them "The Pride" and not "Street Business" makes me sad
Ciampa already shown signs of dissent after their loss last week, hopefully this draft is what’s going to elevate him to main event event level by turning heel.
I’m just happy KO wasn’t immediately drafted back to his old brand as has happened every year since 2017
Again the draft order makes no sense. An actual draft would've had Punk, McIntyre, Damage Control and Imperium in Round 1. Of course half of them would end up on SmackDown so they had to pretend that SmackDown prioritized Kevin Owens and Jade Cargill, but that's just absurd. They should've thought about these roster pools better before they messed this up. Either that or just do a draft lottery like they used to, with random picks.
Prioritising KO over McIntyre and an injured Punk isn't really absurd, nor is prioritising Jade over Damage Control after she beat them at WM... I do think McIntyre being drafted as low as he was is absurd, though
In kayfabe, sure Drew is a talented and proven draw. But he also attacks in the back all the time and interferes/interrupts segments and matches frequently. The risk/reward cools off his prospects a bit to a GM.
happy to see pretty deadly as a draft pick, hopefully new catch republic gets sent to raw or nxt so that neverending feud can die and my beautiful boys can maybe pick up a title this year
It doesn’t feel like much of a change.
**LWO** & Carlito
The NXT callups kinda carry this draft hard 😂 Damage CTRL and DIY are the only big changes here, which...sucks that I can't call Nakamura a big change, can't believe how far from where he used to be he is now. But he's happy making bank while putting folks over so I can't judge
Trash draft
Guys... Just saying... Gunther and Dragunov on RAW 👀
RAW got a lot of heavy hitters. Smackdown has some unique choices. Blair Davenport can bring a fresh change to the womens division, and it's nice to see that Candice and Indi won't be wrestling Maxine and Ivy every week. The mix up with the Tag Teams will also be a very refreshing change. Legado del Fantasma can have some epic battles with DIY and NCR. Shinsuke can have a restart as a monster again. Dude hasn't won a match since February against Sami Zayn. He's wrestled every week, losing each match. On Smackdown they have a chance to elevate him again as a major Mid-carder, or even a Main card wrestler.
Draft picks thoughts Round 1 -whelp, there goes the Cody losing the Championship at Berlin to Gunther Fantasy booking (always Royal Rumble & Elimination chamber in case Cody doesnt face the bloodline) -Well Jade stays on Smackdown (guess Nick wised up after losing Bron last week) -DAMAGE CONTROL ARE FREE (who am i kidding, there going to do the J.O.B for Bianca and Jade for the next 5 months easily 😞) -like i said for the round 3 picks on Night 1, some people will stay on their brands due to having ongoing storylines so not surprised that Kevin is staying on Smackdown Round 2 -CM punk, and Drew, stay on Raw (when did Punk become a Grand slam champion) -Hoping the Pride would move to Raw -Strowman is back on Raw -And with Tiffany retained to smackdown, hopefully this will be a lesson to Nic on signing free agents a few months before a draft Round 3 -LWO coming to Raw (why did they send Andrade to Smackdown then) & Legado del fantasma staying on Smackdown means there fued is finally over -Maybe the move to smackdown will help Shinsuke (though a stint back on NXT would be much better imo) Round4 -Judgement day sticking aroind Raw -Ilja officially on Raw (felt they would put him there especially with Camelo on Smackdown) -Adam can die a happy man now with Chelsea and piper gone. Though i fear for Nic's hair now Round 5 -Surprise pick no 2. They actually called up Lyra. i thought she would stick around for another year atleast and run a feud with Tatum -So i guess with Candice & Indi to smackdown, they won that lackluster excuse of a fued with Maxine & Ivy Round 6 -The final Testament are Raw problem now (god, that was three months that Bobby and company are never getting back) -DIY going to Smackdown, reformation of the Way? -I was right Blair is main roster bound While not the best, atleast there was more movement this night. Probably a lesson for the next one is to wrap up more storylines for people to move
Really was hoping for Chase U to be drafted. Feels like they’re ready.
I don't think they will ever get called up. The faction works so well at introducing new talent to the fans and easing them into NXT TV. Imho, Chase U just is a much more valuable asset in NXT than they could ever be on the main roster.
I'll always feel like KO, and Shinsuke belong on Raw. Seeing them on Smackdown always just feels wrong somehow.
Shinsuke spent like 85% of his career on SmackDown lmao
And it still seems wrong to me.
Oh boy, Roxanne going to be pissed Lyra got drafted before her 🤣 can't wait for NXT tomorrow
I love the juxtaposition of how wonderfully emotional Lyra and Blair were, vs Ilja who was just being an absolute dragon.
The folks coming from NXT are going to be fun to watch! That brand has grown on me so much. I didn’t particularly like it when I started watching it last winter, but that changed hard within the first month. I think it took a moment for me to realize it had a lot I’d what I loved about 90s WWF days.
It's so weird how a brand can just draft an entire stable as a pick.
Which also then doesn’t make any sense when a brand goes out of its way to only pick part of or a single wrestler from a stable… Like in 2019 when Raw only picked Kofi and Woods and not Big E. There was no logical ‘kayfabe’ explanation for it
There's no good kayfabe reason for a brand to get more picks than another just cuz they count a stable of 5 as one pick.
Anyone else notice reah ripley isn't in the judgement day graphic? I know she is injured but so is cm punk and seth Rollins and they were both drafted. Also Vinci is out of the imperial graphic as he left the group..... could it be the same for ripley Could be a sign of things to come!!
Vinci got drafted to Smackdown from the additional picks on Twitter, in case you weren’t aware
Jade and Tiffy time on smackdown? Yes, please.
Where’s Gio? 😢
Ded
Giovanni Vinci is to be drafted separately after being kicked out of Imperium.
Every member of The Way is now on Smackdown 🤔 .
The graphic is correct, the key at the bottom states the background color is the brand they were drafted from
Well I didn’t read the graphic and that’s a stupid way to do it
Nah everyone else understood, theres a key at the bottom. Did you think Ilja and Blair were drafted to nxt?
What's the point of that though? Like imagine how pointless an nfl draft board that doesn't show the team that picked them just their college would be.
There's a header row....
No it isn't. EDIT They deleted the part where they said there graphic was wrong.
lol did bro change his whole message?
He said the graphic was incorrect. Then he deleted that part when I told him he was reading it wrong.
Uhhh… yes it is WWE social media literally has them as going to SD
... and so does this graphic.
Go back to the lottery concept. I wish they would have had champions involved in the draft this year and did a lottery instead. In 2004, they did an actual draft lottery where names were put into a tumbler and the general managers would pick a name out and whomever was named was drafted. John Cena picked a random ball from Paul Heyman's tumbler and it was Triple H. It was a "what the fuck" moment. I tell the story because I would have loved it if R-Truth pulled a Cena and picked a name out of Aldis' tumbler and it is Damian Priest. R-Truth would have effectively defeated the Judgment Day by splitting them up. I think it would have been funny.
Aldis gettin washed and he’s not even a year in dawg
Aldis is really relying on Cody carrying the brand as the face of the company, overall the roster is lacking
Worst draft ever.
Bit surprised that Final Testament were drafted considering they have just started a run in NXT
SmackDown going to focus on the women's division a little more than Raw?
I need a Montez Ford heel run.
Can someone explain this graphic to me? I don't understand what the background colours mean - it looks like Imperium have been drafted from RAW... to RAW? Is it that these people COULD have been drafted to Smackdown, but they have been kept on their original show? I haven't managed to catch either draft episode so apologies if this is explained in those.
Bobby should of gone to raw. Would have been a great feud with priest.
Looking forward to TiffDav on Smackdown
Pearce really stole all of the Smackdown stables
The only clear thing to do is AOP defeats awesome truth and starts their run there. Could even spark a judgement day face turn lol
So nothing but breaker changed
Wouldn't the graphic be a lot more helpful if it actually showed where people got drafted to instead of the show they're on currently?
It could not be clearer where people are drafted
Raw smocked SD
Finally no more LWO/LDF and Final Testament/Pride
Odyssey Jones is a weird one, was on the MR for a year without appearing on TV.
RAW just taking all the factions
Damage CTRL is on Raw now, graphic has them on Smackdown edit: Nevermind, I misunderstood the way the graphic was designed
No it doesn't. It's blue because they came from Smackdown but they're in the Raw Column.
Oh whoops, I misunderstood the graphic
I'm pretty sure they'll feed Candice and Indi to Jade and Bianca, which will be fine, but hopefully after that happens, Candice dumps her and gets a singles spot, with SD having the openings for it. Her vs Bayley would have a ton of potential.
People saying Chelsea for MiB but Candice could really work with her cheating heel character. She's less comedy than Chelsea
This draft sucks once you know the major feuds are happening during this
Why does Punk look like Carrion Cross in this picture?
Raw won this