The 8/27 AEW All In show at Wembley Stadium in London became one of the fastest-selling tickets in pro wrestling history this past week.
As of late Thursday in the U.K., the night before tickets went on sale to the general public, the show had sold 50,000 tickets for $6.5 million. It will likely break the record for the largest non-WrestleMania first-day ticket sales set for the 1992 SummerSlam event at the old Wembley Stadium, which was 55,000. It will likely beat the total paid attendance WWE got for Clash of the Castle last year on the first day of general public sales, which is the big shocker.
Granted, AEW has advantages, never having been to Europe and Wembley Stadium was a larger metropolitan area to draw from by far than Cardiff. The total paid attendance for each night of WrestleMania this year was about 60,000, so there is a good chance this will be the largest paid attendance for a pro wrestling event not only this year but the largest since 2016 at AT&T Stadium.
The remaining members of the WWE roster that were not drafted on Monday’s Raw were drafted on the Raw Talk post-show that aired immediately after the conclusion of Monday’s show.
Those drafted to Raw include:
Nikki Cross
Dana Brooke
Johnny Gargano
Angel Garza
Humberto Carrillo
Akira Tozawa
Piper Niven
Xia Li
Tegan Nox
Emma
Riddick Moss
Indus Sher & Jinder Mahal
Odyssey Jones
SmackDown gets:
Tamina
Grayson Waller
In addition Baron Corbin, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, NXT’s Xyon Quinn, and Elias were named free agents on Monday, enabling them to work on both shows. At the start of Monday’s Raw, Triple H announced that Brock Lesnar had negotiated in his contract that he remain a free agent.
Here is the full list of draft picks from both nights:
Raw —
Cody Rhodes
Becky Lynch
Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Matt Riddle
Drew McIntyre
The Miz
Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell
The Viking Raiders & Valhalla
Dexter Lumis
Candice LeRae
Maximum Male Models (Mace, Mansoor & Maxxine Dupri)
Natalya
Apollo Crews
Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green
Zoey Stark
JD McDonagh
SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley
Seth Rollins
Undisputed Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and Damian Priest)
Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston)
Trish Stratus
Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
Braun Strowman & Ricochet
Bronson Reed
Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
Nikki Cross
Dana Brooke
Johnny Gargano
Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
Akira Tozawa
Piper Niven
Xia Li
Tegan Nox
Emma
Riddick Moss
Indus Sher
Jinder Mahal
Odyssey Jones
SmackDown —
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa (with Paul Heyman)
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford)
Edge
Bobby Lashley
The OC (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows & Michin)
Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY)
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn
Hit Row (Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab)
Lacey Evans
United States Champion Austin Theory
Charlotte Flair
The Usos
The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Zelina Vega, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde)
Asuka
The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Butch, and Ridge Holland)
Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the first night of the WWE Draft on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Alvarez began by saying some of the top stories from the first night of the draft, which took place on Friday’s SmackDown, include Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns being put on different shows, none of the tag teams so far have been split up, and that with Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair going to SmackDown, they may have to do another title transfer if SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is drafted to Raw.
“Boy did that go great the first time around,” Alvarez said.
Meltzer noted that with Intercontinental Champion Gunther going to Raw, we could be seeing United States Champion Austin Theory going to SmackDown. With the Usos’ loss on Friday, it is possible that they could be drafted to Raw on Monday, keeping them away from Reigns on SmackDown.
Meltzer also talked about the new NXT call-ups, saying while JD McDonagh may not get a strong push due to Vince McMahon, Von Wagner is something that may get a lot of chances due to his size.
“He’s going to need to show a lot more, or…I don’t know. I don’t know that he’s ready,” Meltzer said.
The key people on Raw, who will get the new World Heavyweight Championship, seem to be Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre. Meltzer suggested McIntyre could be a future feud for Rhodes, as Brock Lesnar is likely to be a one-time match.
“Lesnar’s just going to be this pay-per-view,” Meltzer said.
Two notable names not in the draft are Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss. The latter’s exemption from the draft may be a sign the two are still set to be connected with one another whenver Wyatt returns.
Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the first night of the WWE Draft on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Alvarez began by saying some of the top stories from the first night of the draft include Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns being put on different shows, none of the tag teams so far have been split up, and that with Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair going to SmackDown, they may have to do another title transfer if SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley is drafted to Raw.
“Boy did that go great the first time around,” Alvarez said.
Meltzer noted that with Intercontinental Champion Gunther going to Raw, we could be seeing United States Champion Austin Theory going to SmackDown. With the Usos’ loss on Friday, it is possible that they could be drafted to Raw on Monday, keeping them away from Reigns on SmackDown.
Meltzer also talked about the new NXT call-ups, saying while JD McDonagh may not get a strong push due to Vince McMahon, Von Wagner is something that may get a lot of chances due to his size.
“He’s going to need to show a lot more, or…I don’t know. I don’t know that he’s ready,” Meltzer said.
The key people on Raw, who will get the new World Heavyweight Championship, seem to be Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre. Meltzer suggested McIntyre could be a future feud for Rhodes, as Brock Lesnar is likely to be a one-time match.
“Lesnar’s just going to be this pay-per-view,” Meltzer said.
Two notable names not in the draft are Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss. The latter’s exemption from the draft may be a sign the two are still set to be connected with one another whenver Wyatt returns.
The first night of the 2023 WWE Draft begins on SmackDown Friday.
WWE has announced that a pool of talent will be available to be drafted on Friday, with another pool eligible on Raw this Monday. NXT talent will also be drafted on both nights.
SmackDown’s pool consists of Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley, Candice LeRae, Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville, Cody Rhodes, Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai), Dexter Lumis, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Edge, Hit Row (Top Dolla & Ashante “Thee” Adonis w/ B-Fab), Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci), Lacey Evans, Matt Riddle, Maximum Male Models (Mace, Mansoor & Maxxine Dupri), Mustafa Ali, Natalya, Omos (w/ MVP), Shinsuke Nakamura, The Bloodline (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa), The Miz, The OC (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Michin), The Street Profits, The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar w/ Valhalla), and select NXT Superstars.
It was noted prior to the first round that the new rosters will go into effect starting the Raw following Backlash, May 8.
Follow along throughout the night as the names listed above are drafted to either Raw or SmackDown.
Night one picks —
Raw:
Cody Rhodes
Becky Lynch
Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludvig Kaiser, Giovanni Vinci)
Matt Riddle
Drew McIntyre
The Miz
Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell
SmackDown:
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, and Paul Heyman
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford)
Edge
Bobby Lashley
The OC (AJ Styles, Michin, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows)
Damage CTRL (IYO SKY, Bayley, Dakota Kai)
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn
