Tag: Wwe Draft 2023

Ring announcers change brands in WWE Draft

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The 2023 WWE Draft also includes a change in ring announcers for Raw and SmackDown.

WWE.com notes that Samantha Irvin will now be the ring announcer for Raw, while Mike Rome is moving to SmackDown. They had previously been assigned to the opposite brand.

Irvin is engaged to WWE wrestler Ricochet, who is also moving to the Raw roster. Ricochet and his tag team partner Braun Strowman were selected by Raw during night two of the draft on Monday.

The new rosters will officially take effect following WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view. The PPV is being held in San Juan, Puerto Rico this Saturday (May 6).

Here’s the full list of picks from both nights of the WWE Draft:

Raw —

Night one picks:

  • 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

Night two picks:

  • SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley
  • Seth Rollins
  • Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
  • Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan
  • New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)
  • Trish Stratus
  • Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
  • Braun Strowman & Ricochet
  • Bronson Reed
  • Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis)
  • Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
  • Akira Tozawa
  • Garza & Humberto
  • Dana Brooke
  • Emma
  • Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga & Veer Mahaan)
  • Johnny Gargano
  • Nikki Cross
  • Odyssey Jones
  • Piper Niven
  • Riddick Moss
  • Tegan Nox
  • Xia Li

SmackDown —

Night one picks:

  • 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

Night two picks:

  • United States Champion Austin Theory
  • Charlotte Flair
  • The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso)
  • The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
  • Asuka
  • The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
  • Karrion Kross & Scarlett
  • LA Knight
  • Shotzi
  • Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson)
  • Rick Boogs
  • Cameron Grimes
  • Grayson Waller
  • Tamina

Brock Lesnar, Omos, Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, Von Wagner, Baron Corbin, Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander, Elias, and Xyon Quinn have been announced as “free agents.”

WWE Raw video highlights: Final night of the WWE Draft

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE’s new rosters were finalized as night two of the draft took place on Monday.

With the first pick of the night, SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley moved over to Raw. It was later announced that the rest of Judgment Day will also be on Raw with her.

United States Champion Austin Theory, Seth Rollins, and Charlotte Flair were the other draft picks from the first round.

Brock Lesnar was one of the biggest names eligible to be drafted last night, but it was announced that Lesnar had renegotiated his deal to become a free agent. Lesnar will be able to appear on both Raw and SmackDown.

Ahead of Backlash, Cody Rhodes attempted to ambush Lesnar last night. Rhodes dropped Lesnar with a punch before Lesnar rolled out of the ring and Rhodes was stopped by security.

Six rounds of draft picks were made on Raw, with the draft then continuing on Raw Talk. The selections included Pretty Deadly, Katana Chance & Kayden Carter, Cameron Grimes, Grayson Waller, Indus Sher, and Odyssey Jones being called up from NXT. It was also announced that Xyon Quinn is now a free agent.

More coverage from last night —

WWE Raw video highlights —

Triple H reveals night two’s first-round draft picks

Seth Rollins will show everyone what a real World Champion looks like

Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez vs. Damage CTRL

Second-round draft picks

Braun Strowman & Ricochet vs. Alpha Academy

Video package highlights the feud between Bad Bunny and Damian Priest

Cody Rhodes launches an attack on Brock Lesnar

Third-round draft picks

Matt Riddle vs. Jimmy Uso

IYO SKY hype video

Jey Uso wants to know why Solo Sikoa wasn’t at ringside for Jimmy’s match

Fourth-round draft picks

Shinsuke Nakamura appears on Miz TV

Omos destroys Anthony Alanis

Fifth-round draft picks

The LWO aren’t running away from Judgment Day

LWO vs. Judgment Day six-person tag match

Cody Rhodes knows he has to win at Backlash

Bianca Belair says Damage CTRL has done nothing but hold IYO SKY back

Sixth-round draft picks

Seth Rollins vs. Solo Sikoa

Raw Talk: More draft picks revealed

Raw Talk: Judgment Day, Austin Theory, Elias & Rick Boogs appear

Raw fallout: MVP says Omos is the biggest talent in the history of WWE

Raw fallout: Damage CTRL want all of the gold

SmackDown draws big ratings for night one of WWE Draft

Posted on by Paul Fontaine

Friday’s episode of SmackDown (the first night of the WWE Draft) averaged 2.473 million viewers on Fox, up 13.7 percent from the previous week. It’s the best audience total for the show since January 27

SmackDown topped all of network television with a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 24.1 percent from last week. The show was fifth on TV in the demo, trailing NBA playoff and NFL Draft coverage on ESPN.

SmackDown also topped network TV with a 0.45 rating in the 18-34 demo.

As compared to the same week in 2022, SmackDown was up 26.6 percent in overall viewers and up 76.3 percent in 18-49. A WWE Draft did not take place last year.

Listed below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership and 18-49 demo ratings for SmackDown, along with the 10-week averages in both categories. This week’s show was up six percent in overall viewers and up 9.8 percent in 18-49 as compared to the recent averages.

WWE announces additional draft picks, more NXT wrestlers called up

Posted on by Joseph Currier

While night one of the WWE Draft may be over, some additional picks have been revealed.

The draft continued with more selections being announced on Saturday’s episode of The SmackDown LowDown. There were 14 people drafted to Raw on Saturday and four drafted to SmackDown.

Here are the selections that were announced:

Raw —

  • 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 —

  • Hit Row (Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab)
  • Lacey Evans

It was also announced on The SmackDown LowDown that Omos (with MVP), Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, and Von Wagner are now “free agents.” It was said that Omos is a free agent because of smart negotiations by MVP to maximize Omos’ visibility on both brands.

Stark, McDonagh, and Wagner are being called up to the main roster for the first time, while Crews is now back on the main roster following a stint in NXT.

NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn were also called up from NXT on night one of the draft. Hartwell is joining the Raw roster. Fyre & Dawn will be on SmackDown.

The WWE Draft will continue on Monday’s episode of Raw. The new rosters will then officially take effect following WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view on Saturday, May 6.

Listed below are all of the draft picks that have been announced thus far:

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 —

  • 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

WWE SmackDown video highlights: WWE Draft night one

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The WWE Draft kicked off with 16 wrestlers being drafted to SmackDown and 10 being drafted to Raw last night.

The following wrestlers were selected by SmackDown: Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa (with Paul Heyman), Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford), Edge, Bobby Lashley, The OC (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows & Michin), Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY), and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn.

Raw’s draft picks were: Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci), Matt Riddle, Drew McIntyre, The Miz, Shinsuke Nakamura, and NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell.

The draft will conclude on Monday’s episode of Raw. WWE’s new rosters will then officially take effect after Backlash on Saturday, May 6.

More coverage from last night —

WWE SmackDown video highlights —

First-round draft picks

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn face-to-face confrontation with The Usos

Butch vs. LA Knight

Second-round draft picks

The Street Profits vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet vs. The LWO

Third-round draft picks

Zelina Vega vs. Sonya Deville

Rey Mysterio gives Zelina Vega advice ahead of Backlash

AJ Styles returns, The OC brawl with The Viking Raiders

Fourth-round draft picks

NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Fyre & Dawn are coming to SmackDown

NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell is headed to Raw

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles

SmackDown fallout: The Street Profits react to being drafted to SmackDown

SmackDown fallout: Chelsea Green questions why she wasn’t drafted

WWE reveals wrestlers eligible for each night of 2023 Draft

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE has revealed the wrestlers eligible for each night of the 2023 Draft. 

One pool of wrestlers will be eligible to be selected on the Friday, April 28 SmackDown, while a separate pool will be eligible to be chosen on night two on the Monday, May 1 Raw. 

Tag teams and stables will be drafted as units, with two notable exceptions: 

The Bloodline have been split into two separate groups for the Draft, with Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa listed as one unit, and The Usos as a separate entity. 

Rhea Ripley is listed separately from The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Finn Balor, who are listed as a unit.

Unspecified “Select NXT Superstars” are listed as eligible for the Draft. 

The pools as announced on WWE.com: 

Wrestlers eligible to be drafted on WWE Draft night one, Friday, April 28 on SmackDown —

  • 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)
  • Select NXT Superstars

Wrestlers eligible to be drafted on WWE Draft night two, Monday, May 1 on Raw–

  • Akira Tozawa
  • Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
  • Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
  • Asuka
  • Austin Theory
  • Baron Corbin
  • Braun Strowman & Ricochet
  • Brock Lesnar
  • Bronson Reed
  • Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin
  • Charlotte Flair
  • Dana Brooke
  • Elias
  • Emma
  • Johnny Gargano
  • Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
  • Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett)
  • Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
  • LA Knight
  • Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
  • Nikki Cross
  • Piper Niven
  • Rhea Ripley
  • Rick Boogs
  • Riddick Moss
  • Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
  • Seth Rollins
  • Shotzi
  • Tamina
  • Tegan Nox
  • The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
  • The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
  • The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
  • The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso)
  • Trish Stratus
  • Xia Li
  • Select NXT Superstars

Tiffany Stratton ‘would like to stay a little longer’ in WWE NXT

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tiffany Stratton talked about the upcoming WWE Draft.

On Busted Open Radio, Stratton said that while she still needs to work on her wrestling skills, she’s ready for a call-up to the main roster if her name pops up during the WWE Draft that begins this Friday on SmackDown.

“I definitely think for my career, I would like to stay a little longer and hone in on my wrestling skills before getting called up,” Stratton said. “But if I do get the call up, I’m ready. I will make the most of it, I will rise to the occasion, I’ll be ready.”

Earlier in the interview, she told Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer that psychology and selling are two of the things she would like to improve on the most.

“I think I lack in the ring, obviously. I think in the ring I lack my selling and my psychology, I think that’s where I need to improve quickly,” she said.

Stratton will compete at NXT Spring Breakin’ on Tuesday in a triple threat match for the NXT Women’s Championship. She will square off against champion Indi Hartwell and Roxanne Perez.

This year’s WWE Draft begins on SmackDown and will continue the following Monday on Raw.

VIDEO: Why is WWE doing a draft?

Posted on by F4W Staff

Talk regarding the upcoming WWE Draft took place on Wrestling Observer Radio Monday morning.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer were reviewing WWE SmackDown when Alvarez started to talk about the draft, pointing out that there’s more evidence to suggest the shows are better without a brand split than with one.

“In the last eight months, after Vince left, this [brand split] was done,” Alvarez said. “Guys worked wherever they needed to work, whenever they needed to work, and I have seen zero evidence in the last eight months that life was better when the [brand split] was strict. Zero evidence.”

“The whole company has been carried by The Bloodline feud, so they gotta be on every show,” Meltzer said. “Given the success of these shows, it would be absolute insanity if they kept people on separate rosters after this draft.”

Meltzer explained that it would be insanity to go back to having split rosters when evidence is clear that, if anything, WWE has benefitted from having everyone work on both SmackDown and Raw, specifically mentioning Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and The Usos.

This year’s WWE Draft begins this Friday on SmackDown and continues the following Monday on Raw.

Dates revealed for 2023 WWE Draft

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The dates for the 2023 WWE Draft have been revealed.

During Friday’s SmackDown, a commercial aired revealing this year’s draft will begin on the April 28 edition of SmackDown, and will continue through the May 1 edition of Raw.

WWE had been vague regarding the dates for the draft. On last week’s SmackDown, Triple H announced that the draft would begin “in a few weeks,” which was also said on this past Monday’s Raw. Triple H also said that “every WWE Superstar” would be eligible. He concluded by saying that when it is all said and done, the upcoming draft will truly “change the game”.

WWE did not hold a draft last year. The last time a draft was held was in the fall of 2021. Some notable jumps include Charlotte Flair, Drew McIntyre, The New Day, and Jeff Hardy going to SmackDown and Bianca Belair, Edge, and Rey & Dominik Mysterio heading to Raw. Hit Row, Aliyah, and Austin Theory were also called up from NXT.