The 8 Ball: Top 8 WWE Draft Takeaways

We’re fresh off the first WWE Draft in five years and there is a lot to talk about. With former world champions Mick Foley and Daniel Bryan taking the reins for Raw and Smackdown alongside their McMahon allies, the draft delivered on the intrigue it promised for both shows going forward.

With Battleground, the last joint brand PPV ever, right around the corner, the entire WWE is ready to be reshaped and forward to Summerslam with a fresh new program that guarantees to get everyone talking. Whether you agreed with where each superstar ended up in the draft or not, it certainly got you talking about it.

After Smackdown was finished, the draft continued on the WWE Network to fill out each roster with those who there wasn’t time to draft on the two-hour show. Seven new NXT Superstars were called up to the main roster, hoping to fellow alumnus in chasing their way to the top of the ladder. The entire landscape has changed, and whether you consider that a regression to an older idea or progression into the promised new era, we’re all hoping it allows for a better product than what we’ve had these past few months. Here are eight things to take away from the WWE Draft going forward.

Number Eight – The Shield Divide: And now it becomes crystal clear why we’re receiving The Shield triple threat match at Battleground instead of Summerslam. This Sunday will be the last time we see these three men on the same show for a while, with reigning champion Dean Ambrose being the first draft for Smackdown whilst challengers and former teammates Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will join Stephanie McMahon’s show on Raw.

This will give Ambrose the chance to finally establish himself as the main eventer he always deserved to be, rather than the dark horse of the trio that has been so frequently pushed to the side. Whether he retains the title or not, going forward with his own show and his own platform will give him the chance to shine in a way that has previously been unavailable to him, with new opponents to face on Smackdown and new stories to tell at the head of the show.

Meanwhile on Raw, the dynamic between Rollins and the billionaire princess will continue to develop, either cementing him as the top heel of Monday nights, or switching with a betrayal on either side to make Rollins the face the fans want him to be. Either way, as the number one draft pick of 2016, the future looks bright for Crossfit Jesus.

Last and not least in the trio is Roman Reigns, whose return from suspension will leave everyone wondering how WWE will handle bringing him back into the main event scene. Will he be heel? Will they continue to fight for him to be the face of Raw? How will he interact with McMahon and Foley? And how will his rivalry with Rollins develop? Undoubtedly the draft kicked things off with a bang by separating The Shield, opening new doors for all three men to walk through.

Number Seven – Carmella as a Solo Act: The future looks brighter and brighter for Enzo Amore and Big Cass, their introduction to the main roster being so hot they’ve already been entered into a program with John Cena for this Sunday. Joining Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on Raw, they have the chance to continue this feud and run with it through the summer. Alternatively, they can start a feud with The New Day and enter into contention for the coveted tag titles. As one of three tag teams picked in the draft to lead the tag division on Monday nights, they have the chance to really prove themselves as the showrunners of the company, and can help tag team wrestling move forward within the company.

Meanwhile on Tuesday nights, we now know we can rely on Carmella as one of the women to help bolster the women’s division, thanks to reveal on the WWE Network. For those that don’t watch NXT, these three individuals were a unit for several years in the developmental product. Always coming down to the ring together, Carmella managed the two from 2014 to their call up to the main roster in April 2016. While Enzo and Cass moved up, the Staten Island Princess stayed behind, continuing to develop her in ring and mic skills as she received a singles push, eventually earning the right to challenge for the NXT Women’s Championship.

Now the Women’s division has become spread out over two shows, each group becoming smaller as a by-product. The need to build and develop this part of the company as something that can be taken seriously by the fans necessitated several call-ups from NXT to both Raw and Smackdown. Amongst them is Carmella, but not on the same show as her former teammates. It seems that WWE Creative wants to focus on her moreso as a singles star rather than a valet. Hopefully this will give her the chance to further build her skills and push her into the title picture in the future.

Number Six – The Club is Over: After Battleground his finished, after their match against John Cena, Enzo Amore + Big Cass has been settled, The Club will officially go their separate ways, with AJ Styles being drafted to Smackdown, and Gallows and Anderson being drafted to Raw.

After using the The Club as a way to turn Styles heel, he has been firmly placed in the top echelon of stars the company has to offer. Challenging for the world title on back to back PPVs, and feuding with the leader of the Cenation ever since, Styles has become such a strong antagonist to the top faces of the company, his stock in the company was revealed as the number two draft pick for Tuesday nights, directly behind the world champion himself.

It is highly likely that with The Phenomenal One and Big Match John on the same show, their program will run into a singles one through to Summerslam, finally with no Club members to back Styles up. Cena will finally get the match that he’s been asking for week after week. When the dust settles, Styles will have proven he can hang with the man that has held the company on his shoulders for well over a decade. Whatever feud awaits Styles after that will guarantee to entertain in the upper card.

The question remains of what will happen to Gallows and Anderson on Raw? The two men haven’t yet been established as a strong force by themselves, being used primarily as henchmen for Styles rather than a threat to the tag titles. Their feud with The Usos underwhelmed, and made them feel less like monsters and more like just another tag team. So, what next?

The answer is, surprisingly, anything can happen now. With no real story afterwards, they have several different ways that they can be rebuilt and re-established as a force to be reckoned with. They could continue to feud with Enzo + Cass, putting on great tag team matches and using heel tactics to put one over on the heroes. They could challenge for the tag titles, becoming a threat to The New Day despite no longer having the numbers game to rely upon. They could team with Finn Balor, becoming the Balor Club that was promised so long ago and following him into whatever feud awaits him. They could even start their own rampage, squashing the majority of tag teams in the division and attacking them after the match is over, spending some time to prove how destructive they can be. There are several paths for them to walk down, it’s just a waiting game to see which one WWE Creative lays before them.

Number Five – No Bayley: As I mentioned earlier, with the women’s division being spread out over both rosters, each side has been left relatively thin, which demanded NXT be raided to accommodate the need for fresh faces. Among the call ups were Nia Jax to Raw, and Carmella and Alexa Bliss to Smackdown. Noticeably missing was the women that everyone has been expecting to get called up since WrestleMania. The fourth horsewoman of NXT. The former NXT Women’s Champion. Bayley.

Since losing the belt to Asuka on NXT TakeOver: Dallas, Bayley has had no real direction within the developmental programming. Having lost Nia Jax since then in a rematch of their title bout, Bayley had done the favours for the major players in NXT’s women’s division, and was expected to make her debut for the main roster to join her fellow horsewomen at long last. It still hasn’t happened.

The argument could be made that the women that have been called up ahead of her weren’t ready to make the jump. Eva Marie returned to the main roster despite critics slamming her wrestling ability. Dana Brooke similarly is entertaining but still feels green in her matches. Nia Jax has fast improved since her onscreen debut, but in longer matches shows signs of weariness and isn’t as technically skilled as fans would like her to be. Nevertheless, despite criticism, these women have arrived and Bayley has not.

Who knows when Bayley will make the jump, or why Vince is holding back on having her appear. One of the main attractions for NXT, selling vast amounts of merchandise, even appealing to men whose age is beyond her “I’m a hugger” demographic, Bayley has won over the hearts of the fans with her drive and ability, and will continue to attract attention whether in NXT or WWE.

Number Four – Wyatt Stands Alone: Prior to the draft a number of rules were made about how the selections would be made for each show, amongst those rules it was declared that teams would be selected as a unit, unless a Commissioner picked a single member specifically. This rule was exercised twice, both times by Shane McMahon. First with AJ Styles, and then with Bray Wyatt.

Whilst Wyatt was selected as an individual, the continuation of the draft on the WWE Network revealed that Braun Strowman was selected for Raw and Erick Rowan for Smackdown. It should also be noted that Luke Harper was omitted from the draft, most likely due to his injury, which means that we currently have no idea which show he will return to when he is cleared to reappear.

Whilst Rowan could continue as Wyatt’s disciple, it is likely that they picked Wyatt on his own because they intend to keep him on his own. The Family has been split up before, with Rowan having a short-lived face run whilst Harper aligned with The Authority to briefly hold the Intercontinental Championship. This creates a new situation where all the different members have the chance to be repackaged slightly into their own characters, rather than sheep following Wyatt’s commands.

Strowman may struggle on his own, with no mouthpiece to do his talking for him, he’s very inexperienced on the mic. His ring work is also still rusty, usually meaning his time spent in matches doesn’t exceed a few minutes so as not to overexpose him. It will interesting to see how Strowman is utilised by WWE Creative in a singles run, but I’m wary, with WWE’s bad reputation as using big men as monsters one minute, then jokes the next (see The Great Khali, Tensai, Brodus Clay, Mark Henry, Big Show, Kane, Vladimir Kozlov, the list goes on and on).

Left standing on his own is Bray Wyatt, who, despite an incredible ability and character in the ring, as well as a unique delivery on the mic, has stagnated in WWE’s hierarchy. As is always the case with The Eater of Worlds, it’s all going to come down to how well he used. The creative team often find themselves not knowing what to do with him, which leads to them doing nothing of real relevance or making him lose again and again to different big names. There needs to be a sense of direction with Wyatt going forward in this split, or he will continue to get pushed to one side, something which he doesn’t deserve to be.

Number Three – Lesnar vs Orton Will Be Cross-Brand: So long as his drug test issues don’t transfer over to WWE’s wellness policy, The Beast will be facing The Viper at Summerslam. This is a match I don’t think has ever happened before (if it has please let know where I can find it in the comments) and I find myself, surprisingly, looking forward to see these two men go at it. Randy Orton is a relatively underrated veteran in the business, lacking a certain charisma on the mic but consistently delivering good match after good match.

Orton will be a good dancing partner for Brock Lesnar in their match. What’s more the storyline writes itself, two men who were pushed to have the company on their shoulders from day one. Both were the youngest world champion ever when they won the belts. Emphasize the likenesses in their careers and make the story focus purely on both wanting to prove that they are the better man in the ring.

The issue, of course, with having both men on different rosters, is that they won’t get to be in the same ring as each other until Summerslam. The only that they can approach this is having each man appear on their respective shows to talk trash, only for the other one to respond on a different day. This could create a lot of problems and potentially kill the momentum going into it, but if handled correctly, utilizing Paul Heyman’s golden tongue and putting Orton in squash matches to build him strong, the match could generate real buzz.

What makes this interesting is that both men have been drafted to opposing sides. When the two finally square off, Lesnar will be representing Raw and Orton will be representing Smackdown. With Orton having turned face by leaving Stephanie McMahon and The Authority behind him, this could play an interesting dynamic into how WWE Creative go about this feud. This could be the embodiment of Smackdown vs Raw if they allow it to be, emphasizing that the brand split is real and there is a genuine battle for superiority.

Number Two – Women’s Divisions Focus on Raw: Whilst the women’s division has been split relatively evenly in respect of numbers, the ones that matter are all on Raw. Charlotte, accompanied by her sidekick, Dana Brooke, has entered into a feud with the returning Sasha Banks, which will likely culminate in a title match between the two at Summerslam. The two stalwarts for the division who will be feuding over the belt for next few months are both on Raw. Whilst Smackdown did gain some strong entertainers in Becky Lynch and Natalya its Raw that has the head of the division.

Even in the NXT call ups, Nia Jax has received more of a push than Alexa Bliss or Carmella already, being the only one who was selected live on Smackdown, and the only one who received a title shot for the NXT Women’s Championship on an NXT TakeOver event. Her appearance on Raw will guarantee to bring something new and she will likely be in contention for the belt in a matter of months.

At this point, as far as the women’s division is concerned, Smackdown has essentially become the B-Show for women’s wrestling. This comes as a surprise as it was previously announced that Raw would receive its very own Cruiserweight division. It would have made sense to see Smackdown gain control of the women’s division to contract that, similarly to what occurred in the original draft, with both divisions becoming entirely brand exclusive.

Maybe Lynch and Natalya will impress, using this as an opportunity to create their own platform and show how much they deserve the belt over Charlotte and Banks. But as of right now, on paper, Raw is in the lead.

Number One – Cesaro is Still Underrated: With all the good that came from the WWE draft, there were several bad moments. One such moment came when Cesaro was selected as the penultimate draft pick for Raw.

The Swiss Superman has been the darling of the WWE Universe, with such dedicated fans that they started their own “Cesaro Section” when in attendance, demanding he received the push he deserved for the work he puts in. Year after year he was kept in the lower midcard, given no direction and being forced to make something out of nothing time and time again. Wrestling Observer Newsletter awarded him with the Most Underrated Award for three years in a row. Any more years and they’ll be forced to name it the Cesaro Award.

When Shane McMahon began to run Raw after WrestleMania, he promoted the dawn of a new era, and introduced a repackaged Cesaro as “The Professional”. The crowd erupted with cheers and the whole world embraced Cesaro as the face of this new era, celebrating that WWE’s most underrated superstar would finally receive the platform he deserves. Fast forward to the WWE draft and Big Show is getting picked before him. It’s really tragic to see his push fizzle out so quickly. He went from feuding with The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship, and being part of match of the year candidates consistently on every PPV he appeared in, to becoming a placeholder for the actual storylines.

This isn’t the downfall of the WWE draft, but the constant mistake of WWE Creative that appears to reoccur with Cesaro every time he gets some momentum. The reason this appears as number one on this list is because it evidences that despite all of the promises that have been made for change and improvement in the WWE product, the company still continues to make the same mistakes.

The WWE Draft might change the landscape of the programming, and might give new stars the chance to showcase themselves as the next big thing, but unless Vince gets behind what the fans really want, unless the creative team works to meet people’s expectations, unless the company genuinely hungers to improve the product they currently have, nothing will really change. And that’s a really worrying thought to take away from all of this.

So what did you take away from the draft? Anything I missed? Do you know when Lesnar and Orton squared off in the past? Let us know in the comments section below what you’re looking forward to and dreading about the WWE Brand Extension.