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WWE has announced that there will be another draft between Raw and SmackDown after the blue brand moves to FOX on October 4.
The following week, the two-night roster changes will begin on the October 11 episode of SmackDown before continuing on the October 14 episode of Raw.
In July 2016, WWE separated the rosters between Raw and SmackDown for the first time in five years, with Superstars from opposing brands only allowed to meet at Survivor Series, Money In The Bank, the Royal Rumble and in WrestleMania Battle Royals.
Since then, there has been a post-WrestleMania Superstar Shake-Up in each of the last three years. However, the 2019 brand changes were largely meaningless due to the introduction of the ‘Wild Card Rule’, which enabled Superstars to appear on both shows on a weekly basis.
Now, with the 2019 draft on the horizon, let’s take a look at six Superstars who could realistically be the #1 pick in the next round of roster changes.
#6 Kofi Kingston
In April 2019, Kofi Kingston achieved his 11-year dream to become WWE Champion when he defeated Daniel Bryan in the Match of the Night at WrestleMania 35 to claim the company’s most prestigious title.
At the time, many fans thought that the New Day member would only have a brief reign with the title before losing it to a top heel from SmackDown. But, as it has turned out, he has defeated high-profile names including Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Randy Orton over the last five months to keep hold of his WWE Championship for longer than people expected.
Looking back at the 2016 draft, the WWE Champion at the time of the brand changes – Dean Ambrose – was the second overall draft pick, largely due to the fact that he held the top male title on both Raw and SmackDown.
Without the WWE Championship, Kingston would not be considered as the #1 draft pick ahead of October 11 and October 14. With the title, however, he might just be in with a chance.
Kofi Kingston’s 2016 draft position: #10 (w/Big E & Xavier Woods)
#5 Roman Reigns
Despite his critics, Roman Reigns is the most successful WWE Superstar of his generation and he would almost certainly be the #1 pick in the 2019 draft if he had a title around his waist.
In 2016, the draft came shortly after “The Big Dog” had been suspended for violating WWE’s wellness policy, while he had also lost the WWE Championship one month earlier against Seth Rollins.
Three years on, Reigns has not been involved in any title storylines since he returned to in-ring action in March 2019 following his battle with leukemia. However, his importance to WWE has still been highlighted in non-title rivalries, as proven at Clash of Champions when he faced Erick Rowan in the only match on the card with no title on the line.
Moving forward, the four-time WrestleMania main-eventer is bound to challenge for the WWE Championship or Universal Championship at some point before WrestleMania 36. But, realistically, it will be difficult for WWE to justify him as the #1 draft pick in the 2019 draft if, just like in 2016, he does not have a title heading into the roster changes.
Roman Reigns’ 2016 draft position: #6
#4 Brock Lesnar
Although Paul Heyman has mentioned in out-of-character interviews that he is not a fan of General Managers in wrestling, it is difficult to believe that the draft between Raw and SmackDown will go ahead without both brands being represented by authority figures.
Given the real-life Executive Director positions that Heyman and Eric Bischoff hold in WWE, it would not be at all surprising if they were to have an on-screen presence on the draft episodes on October 11 and October 14.
If that is the case, then that opens up the possibility of Brock Lesnar – Heyman’s client – being selected by the Raw decision-maker as his #1 pick in the draft.
After all, Lesnar is the only person who Heyman represents in WWE these days, so why would the former ECW owner choose anybody other than the three-time Universal Champion as his first-choice pick?
This, of course, depends entirely on whether WWE decides to introduce authority figures for the two-night extravaganza. But when you consider that Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley were in charge of Raw in 2016 and Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan made draft decisions on SmackDown, surely somebody has to be made responsible for the roster changes in 2019?
Brock Lesnar’s 2016 draft position: #8
#3 Becky Lynch
The 2016 draft took place one year after WWE’s Women’s Evolution kicked into gear with the introduction of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks to the Raw and SmackDown rosters.
At the time of the draft, big steps had been made to showcase women’s wrestling more prominently on WWE programming, but it did not seem realistic that a female Superstar could be considered the top pick by either brand.
Back then, Flair was chosen as the third overall pick in the draft, with Banks at #13 and Lynch at #14. Further down the list, Nia Jax (#25) and Natalya (#27) were included in the top 30 picks but the rest of the female Superstars’ positions were revealed in the WWE Network post-show.
Needless to say, things are very different in 2019, and Lynch is definitely a realistic contender to be the #1 pick in the upcoming draft if she still has a title by the time that the roster changes are made.
That is a big if, of course, as “The Man” will be defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Banks in a Hell In A Cell match at the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view shortly before the draft on October 6.
Becky Lynch’s 2016 draft position: #14
#2 Seth Rollins
At the time of the 2016 WWE draft, Seth Rollins had been a loyal member of The Authority for over two years, hence why Stephanie McMahon chose him as the #1 pick on the Raw roster.
If the 2019 draft took place tomorrow, “The Beastslayer” would almost certainly be the first-choice pick again, as the Universal Champion currently holds the title that headlines the majority of WWE pay-per-views.
However, without the title, Rollins no longer has a villainous authority figure there to select him in the #1 spot, so it seems unlikely that there will be a repeat of 2016 if the former Shield member fails to keep hold of his Universal Championship by the time of the upcoming draft.
Like Rollins’ real-life fiancée, Becky Lynch, he will have to defend his title at Hell In A Cell against arguably his toughest opponent of 2019 so far, Bray Wyatt.
If he retains, expect to see Rollins as first-choice pick in the draft. If he loses, the next person on this list is destined to be in that spot instead.
Seth Rollins’ 2016 draft position: #1
#1 Bray Wyatt
As noted in the Seth Rollins explanation, the holder of the Universal Championship is likely to be selected as the first-choice pick when the first night of the draft takes place on SmackDown on October 11.
The reason, quite simply, is that the top male title on Raw is usually treated as a priority when it comes to WWE’s storylines, even when the most prestigious title in the company’s history – the WWE Championship – is active on SmackDown.
This has been a talking point throughout Kofi Kingston’s five-month reign as WWE Champion, as he is yet to main-event a single pay-per-view since winning the title. Instead, the Universal Championship has headlined the last four PPVs, with Seth Rollins either being the champion or challenger in matches for the Raw title.
Now, judging by the extraordinary build that Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” character has received since WrestleMania 35, he is the clear favourite to defeat Rollins at Hell In A Cell on October 6 to emerge as the Universal Champion.
If that does indeed happen, expect to see Wyatt drafted as the #1 pick in the 2019 draft.
Bray Wyatt’s 2016 draft position: #12
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