Night one of the WWE Draft 2024 has ended and it was a choice with some fans calling it wasteful and others intrigued on the upcoming potential possibilities of some NXT callups.
Friday Night SmackDown aired from the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, OH and parts of the NXT Performance Center, where the production team offered a fresh look of the draft. Popular wrestlers (we no long have to call them Superstars) from all three brands were eligible for tonight’s draft.
However, were some rules and a declaration from Paul Heyman that Roman Reigns removed himself from the eligible Draft Pool:
- On SmackDown there will be four rounds with 16 total picks
- On RAW, there will be six rounds with 24 total picks
- Champions on each brand are protected
- Women’s Tag Team Champions are eligible
- SmackDown will pick first on Friday
- RAW will pick first on Monday
- Roster lock on Monday, May 6th
As seen in the video above, our Entertianment Editor Dana Abercrombie and our Editor-In-Chief Richard Bailey Jr. give their thoughts on Night 1 of the WWE Draft, what they hope this means for all three brands and how it can affect current and future storylines/feuds.
Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque was joined by the Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes to announce the first-round picks. From there, the show saw appearing from Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, The Dudley Boys, Teddy Long, Nick Aldis and more.
The first pick of the night belonged to SmackDown, and the “EST” Bianca Belair remains on the SmackDown brand. Monday Night Raw then decided to keep Jey Uso on the red brand for its first pick.
SmackDown picked former NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes as the brand’s second pick, while Raw decided to keep Seth Rollins on its roster.
Round two saw the blue brand maintain Randy Orton. Monday Night Raw acquired Bron Breakker. SmackDown snatched Nia Jax from Raw, while Raw retained Liv Morgan. In round three, the blue brand kept LA Knight and The Bloodline. Raw kept Ricochet and Sheamus.
Lastly, SmackDown kept AJ Styles and grabbed Andrade from Raw. The red brand retaining Alpha Academy and shocked everyone by drafting the now former NXT talent Kiana James.
Suddenly, with no advertisement, WWE announced more draft picks following Friday Night SmackDown.
Round 1
– Bianca Belair drafted to SmackDown.
– Jey Uso drafted to RAW.
– Carmelo Hayes drafted to SmackDown.
– Seth Rollins drafted to RAW.
Round 2
– Randy Orton drafted to SmackDown.
– Bron Breakker drafted to RAW.
– Nia Jax drafted to SmackDown.
– Liv Morgan drafted to RAW.
Round 3
– LA Knight drafted to SmackDown.
– Ricochet drafted to RAW.
– The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga & Paul Heyman) drafted to SmackDown.
– Sheamus drafted to RAW.
Round 4
– AJ Styles drafted to SmackDown.
– Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Akira Tozawa, Maxxine Dupri & Otis) drafted to RAW.
– Andrade drafted to SmackDown.
– Kiana James drafted to RAW.
