WWE already held a Superstar Shake-up in 2019 right after WrestleMania 35 in April, but due to SmackDown moving to Fox, the company has opted to start afresh with another draft.
Management is making this out to be a big deal since the Wild Card Rule will be disbanded after both rosters are set in stone.
Celebrities will be in attendance on both Raw and SmackDown, but the real attraction is finding out which of your favorite Superstars will stay on their current brand and which ones will move somewhere new.
WWE.com has released the preliminary draft pool, and there are a few interesting things to note. Tag teams will be considered one pick unless a brand only wants one of the people from the duo, Raw will get 41 picks to SmackDown's 30, and whoever is left undrafted will get to pick their own brands.
With 205 Live being folded into NXT, it's going to be interesting to see where the cruiserweights end up. Many are listed as part of the draft pool but not the entire division, so some people may become part of the developmental brand's roster.
Before we jump into creating new rosters, let's lay down a few ground rules:
- Only the Superstars listed in the draft pool will be used in this article.
- Tag teams will remain intact.
- We will try to adhere to the number of picks chosen for Raw (41) and SmackDown (30), but there will be a slight discrepancy since only 68 picks are possible.
- Championships will not factor into whether someone stays or moves since WWE can have titles change hands whenever it wants to rebalance the shows.
- Picks will be divided into the tag team, women's and men's singles divisions.
Let's go through the roster and create the ideal locker rooms for the red and blue brands.
Raw Tag Team Division
Here are the six teams that would make up the Raw tag team division after the draft.
- The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar)
- The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins)
- The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods)
- Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode
- Heavy Machinery (Tucker and Otis)
- Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder
This would give Raw an even split, with three sets of former tag team champions and three sets of Superstars who are still waiting for their time in the sun.
SmackDown Tag Team Division
Here's how the SmackDown tag team division would look after the draft.
- The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder)
- Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado)
- The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
- The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel)
- AOP (Akam and Rezar)
This setup would also rely on The Usos choosing to remain on SmackDown since they are not listed in the draft pool.
The blue brand would have two three-man groups with The O.C. and Lucha House Party as well as the soon-to-be featured AOP.
Raw Women's Division
Here is a snapshot of the Raw tag team division at the end of the mock draft.
- Carmella
- Liv Morgan
- Natalya
- Becky Lynch
- Sarah Logan
- The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce)
- The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane)
- Tamina
This lineup gives Becky Lynch some former champions, such as Natalya, Carmella and Asuka, to challenge her while others like Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan and the rest work toward being in the title scene.
Since the women's tag titles are able to move around, Asuka and Sane would remain on Raw if they ever lost the belts.
SmackDown Women's Division
This is how the blue brand's women's division would look after everything is done.
- Sasha Banks
- Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
- Bayley
- Dana Brooke
- Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville)
- Lacey Evans
- Charlotte Flair
Just like Raw, SmackDown would have two tag teams and a few former champions alongside Superstars who have yet to win gold.
Raw Men's Division
Here is a lineup of the Raw men's division after everything is said and done.
- Roman Reigns
- "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
- Ricochet
- Bobby Lashley
- Cesaro
- Kevin Owens
- Sin Cara
- EC3
- Chad Gable
- Heath Slater
- Brock Lesnar
- Shinsuke Nakamura (with Sami Zayn)
- Aleister Black
- Luke Harper
- Erick Rowan
- King Corbin
- Samoa Joe
- Rusev
- R-Truth
- Apollo Crews
- Andrade
- Jinder Mahal
- Mojo Rawley
- Shelton Benjamin
- Drake Maverick
This lineup has a good mix of main eventers, midcard names and people who are still working their way toward their first championship in WWE.
With champions being eligible for the draft, management having the WWE and universal champions switch brands is a serious possibility.
Rollins could always trade the red strap for a blue strap while Lesnar keeps the WWE title with its classic black look.
SmackDown Men's Division
And finally, here is the SmackDown roster after this mock draft.
- Drew McIntyre
- Randy Orton
- Braun Strowman
- Humberto Carrillo
- Akira Tozawa
- Eric Young
- Drew Gulak
- Seth Rollins
- Titus O’Neil
- Daniel Bryan
- The Miz
- Ali
- Elias
- Cedric Alexander
- Rey Mysterio
- Buddy Murphy
- No Way Jose
Like Raw, SmackDown would have a good mix of Superstars from top to bottom.
With U.S. champion AJ Styles listed as part of the blue brand's tag team division alongside The O.C. for the purposes of this draft, SmackDown would have a full set of titles.
Final Thoughts
It is interesting to note how WWE has stated Raw will get 41 draft picks to SmackDown's 30, but the draft pool only lists 68 names when tag teams are counted as one pick.
This means we will either see a few teams get broken up or WWE has some surprises planned for people who might be returning soon, such as The Usos.
This mock draft gives each show a solid lineup in all three divisions. Some people are switching brands, some are staying, and a few people are being moved away from 205 Live and NXT and on to the Raw and SmackDown rosters.
The draft is a chance for a fresh start after SmackDown's move to Fox. With any luck, the changes WWE has planned will make for some interesting possibilities moving forward into 2020.
Who do you hope gets moved in the WWE draft?
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