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The 2019 WWE roster draft is officially in the books, and WWE also aired a somewhat newsworthy special episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 this past Tuesday night, and following the draft episodes of SmackDown and Raw, plus WWE Backstage, the landscape of WWE has changed drastically.
Below are the full results of the roster draft, which includes a trade that was announced on WWE Backstage which will see Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross head back to SmackDown in exchange for "future considerations."
Special Trade Announcement on WWE Backstage - 10/15/19
- SmackDown: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Monday Night Raw - Night 2
Round 1
- Raw: Seth Rollins
- SmackDown: Brock Lesnar
- Raw: Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown: The New Day
- Raw: Andrade (with Zelina)
Round 2
- Raw: The Kabuki Warriors
- SmackDown: Daniel Bryan
- Raw: Rusev
- SmackDown: Bayley
- Raw: Aleister Black
Round 3
- Raw: Cedric Alexander
- SmackDown: Shinsuke Nakamura
- Raw: Humberto Carillo
- SmackDown: Ali
- Raw: Erick Rowan
Round 4
- Raw: Buddy Murphy
- SmackDown: Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
- Raw: Jinder Mahal
- SmackDown: Carmella
- Raw: R-Truth
Round 5
- Raw: Samoa Joe
- SmackDown: The Miz
- Raw: Akira Tozawa
- SmackDown: King Corbin
- Raw: Shelton Benjamin
Round 6
- Raw: Rey Mysterio
- SmackDown: Shorty Gable
- Raw: Titus O’Neil
- SmackDown: Elias
- Raw: Liv Morgan
SmackDown - Night 1
Round 1
- Raw: Becky Lynch
- SmackDown: Roman Reigns
- Raw: The O.C.
- SmackDown: "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
- Raw: Drew McIntyre
Round 2
- Raw: Randy Orton
- SmackDown: Sasha Banks
- Raw: Ricochet
- SmackDown: Braun Strowman
- Raw: Bobby Lashley
Round 3
- Raw: Alexa Bliss
- SmackDown: Lacey Evans
- Raw: Kevin Owens
- SmackDown: The Revival
- Raw: Natalya
Round 4
- Raw: The Viking Raiders
- SmackDown: Lucha House Party
- Raw: Nikki Cross
- SmackDown: Heavy Machinery
- Raw: The Street Profits
#5 The brand split is not yet over
Despite Seth Rollins previously being announced as the captain of Team Hogan at the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel PPV, the company did a 180 and announced that Seth Rollins will face Bray Wyatt in a Falls Count Anywhere Universal title match at the PPV in Saudi Arabia.
With Wyatt being drafted to SmackDown and Seth Rollins being drafted to Raw, it looks like the brand split is not yet over given the upcoming inter-brand matchup at WWE Crown Jewel.
#4 WWE spoils its own draft then attempts to recover
According to the online response, fans were not entirely pleased with the 2019 WWE roster draft, with many fans and pundits agreeing that the draft was a bit chaotic, and entailed several unnecessary details such as the over-the-top WWE Raw and SmackDown "war rooms" which were meant to spoof actual sports drafts.
Additionally, WWE might have shot themselves in the foot before the draft even started, as a draft pool list was released on the company website that inadvertently spoiled the first night of the draft on SmackDown.
The draft order issued on the WWE.com list ended up being the exact same draft order announced on SmackDown, and the explanation of the botch is that someone in the WWE.com department was told to list the names on the list alphabetically, but he or she did not. Instead, the list was published in draft order, thus spoiling the draft results ahead of SmackDown.
WWE attempted to recover from the big botch by shifting the order of things for night two of the draft on Raw, but in the end, the company left little surprises for fans with the top talents being somewhat predictable in the draft.
#3 Two talents have already been traded following the draft and undrafted talents land on Raw and SmackDown
WWE.com announced today that the talents who went undrafted during SmackDown and Raw have been signed to the following brands:
Superstars headed to Monday Night Raw
- No Way Jose
- Mojo Rawley
- Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
- Peyton Royce & Billie Kay
- Sarah Logan
Superstars headed to Friday Night SmackDown
- Luke Harper
- Cesaro
- Drake Maverick
- Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose
- Dana Brooke
Given the above, it looks like the newly reunited team of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan have been broken up, with Harper now on SmackDown and Rowan now on Raw.
Additionally, there have been rumblings that Cesaro might be making the permanent jump to NXT, following in the footsteps of Finn Balor, but The Swiss Cyborg has been drafted to SmackDown meaning his future on WWE TV is very much in question.
It's also worth noting that a big trade took place on the special episode of WWE Backstage this week, as Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross have been moved back to SmackDown. The duo was originally drafted separately to Raw, then traded as a team back to SmackDown in exchange for "future considerations" for the Raw brand.
#2 Drake Maverick vs R-Truth coming to an end?
During the 2019 WWE roster draft, the company made it a point to note that the Women's Tag Team Championships will still be defended across both brands in WWE, meaning that The Kabuki Warriors, who were drafted to Raw, will continue to defend the titles against both Raw and SmackDown brand opponents.
What WWE did not make clear, however, is how the 24/7 title will be defended going forward, and whether or not current Champion R-Truth will be defending the titles on both Raw and SmackDown.
Truth was drafted to the Raw brand, meaning the 24/7 title could become exclusive to Raw, but an official announcement was never made regarding the title so it's possible Truth will be showing up on SmackDown as well in order to defend the title that can be defended anytime and anywhere.
One of the more entertaining feuds since the inception of the 24/7 title has been that of Drake Maverick vs R-Truth, however, Maverick has been drafted to WWE SmackDown, meaning the popular Maverick vs Truth feud is effectively over if Truth is not also defending the 24/7 title on SmackDown or against blue brand opponents at PPV events.
#1 Ronda Rousey might not be back in WWE anytime soon
Prior to the 2019 WWE roster draft, one of the biggest looming questions pertained to the future of Brock Lesnar and which brand he might end up on.
Lesnar shocked WWE fans by defeating Kofi Kingston for the WWE title in just seven seconds at the premiere of SmackDown on FOX, and fans speculated that with the title win Lesnar would be drafted to SmackDown in order to represent the brand as the WWE Champion.
Following the draft, we now know that The Beast is indeed a member of the SmackDown roster while Seth Rollins will remain on Raw, and there appears to be a reason why Lesnar was moved from his previously long-standing home on Monday Night Raw.
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, FOX executives really wanted Ronda Rousey on FOX when SmackDown made it premiere on the network, but with Rousey not ready to return to WWE, the spot went to Brock Lesnar, who FOX and WWE felt to be the logical replacement for Rousey on SmackDown.
With Lesnar being the crossover MMA/sports name on SmackDown instead of Rousey, it might be an indication that Rousey is not planning to return to WWE TV anytime soon.
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