The recent WWE brand extension draft was one of the most anticipated televised wrestling events in some time. The prospect of a second live WWE show, new rosters, new talent and even new titles had the wrestling world buzzing.
Once the event happened, it lived up to that noteworthy build as WWE Champion Dean Ambrose went to SmackDown alongside guys like John Cena while other talent went to Raw. But what might be even more interesting are the things we didn’t immediately know about the draft. Here are five such rumors.
Brock Lesnar No. 1 Pick
One of the most prevalent ways the WWE fans get hyped up for a brand extension draft is predicting where each talent will go, and Brock Lesnar was no different. While his real-world skill and dominance make him No. 1 material, his light schedule would make the creative team second guess.
Still, the rumor is that the Beast Incarnate was all set to be the No. 1 pick, especially once he brought attention to the WWE with his victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 200. That all changed, of course, when he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, and Seth Rollins became Raw’s top pick instead.
Mojo Replaced Jose
Drafting Mojo Rawley onto the SmackDown roster made a great deal of sense. His tag team partner, Zack Ryder, has been working both shows for a little while now, both during a brief move into the Intercontinental Championship picture and a United States title feud. If Ryder is going to stay on the main roster, why not bring Mojo up to join him?
Except the word on the wrestling streets is that No Way Jose was originally set to get that spot on the main roster. While Jose doesn’t have a very long career, either in WWE or elsewhere, he is a very popular superstar in NXT.
Originally Planned for MITB
The brand split was announced in late May, at first through an announcement that SmackDown was moving to Tuesday and would be live with a unique roster. From there, fans learned more and more details about the draft and how it would work.
According to an Inquistr article, though, that announcement came earlier than Vince McMahon was planning. His original intent was to wait until the night after the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, which would’ve been much closer to the draft and may have brought more of a surprise to the announcement.
Bayley Never Planned for Draft
As the WWE brand split drew nearer, fans learned that there would be six NXT talents drafted to the two show rosters. Because of that, certain names were immediately assumed to be on that list of six, and Bayley was a popular pick.
The former NXT women’s champion’s name was never called, though, and it seems like she was never in the mix. Instead, she’s been gearing up for another run at the NXT belt for some time now, aside from Sunday’s foray into the main roster to team with Sasha Banks at BattleGround.
Cesaro Was Shooting
Wrestling angles and interviews fall into two categories – works and shoots. A work is anything that was planned and scripted, while a shoot occurs when a wrestler goes off script to do his or her own thing.
And that’s exactly what Cesaro was doing when he reacted to being drafted late in the televised portion of the draft to Raw, when he wanted to be on SmackDown, the “real wrestling show” of the two. He expressed displeasure with the pick and even railed about the focus on Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley in his decidedly real rant.
