WWE is revamping the Raw and SmackDown rosters now that SmackDown has officially moved to Friday night's on FOX, and it'll be interesting to see which new feuds will arise when it's all said and done.
The company will hold a two-night Draft special starting with the October 11 edition of SmackDown Live, which will be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The draft will continue on the October 14 edition of Monday Night Raw taking place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
As announced by the WWE on Thursday, Friday's episode of SmackDown will kickoff with a match between WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins (representing Raw) and Roman Reigns (representing SmackDown), with the winner earning the first overall selection for their brand.
According to the WWE press release, the Draft Rules are as follows:
- More than 70 Superstars, including Tag Teams, have been placed into this year’s WWE Draft pool.
- 30 Superstars will be eligible to be drafted tomorrow night while 41 Superstars will be eligible on Monday Night.
- Since Friday Night SmackDown is a two-hour show and Monday Night Raw is a three-hour show, for every two SmackDown picks, Raw will get three.
- Tag Teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick one Superstar from the team.
- Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing.
Wrestling Observer Radio's Dave Meltzer also shed some light on what to expect, including how the whole thing will be designed to resemble a real sports draft.
“It was never going to be NXT. There was never even any consideration of it. It’s going to be people actually picking like a football draft. It’s going to be a rep or reps from USA and a rep or reps from Fox that will be doing the picking as opposed to authority figures from WWE. They don’t want authority figures right now.”
“This could change but the whole draft is already done. They got their battle plan. I have no idea what it is and nobody is going to know until the day of, they’re not going to tell the talent.”
According to the WWE press release, superstars from both the red and blue brands will appear along with the personalities from FOX and NBCUniversal, who will announce select picks from each brand.