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What's the story?
Ringside News is reporting on more news regarding the announced pay per view plans for the WWE. The rumored plan is that starting with Backlash in May, all WWE pay per views will be co-branded featuring both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live WWE Superstars. The report now talks about a potential date for the next WWE Draft.
In case you didn't know...
The last WWE Draft took place on the 11 July edition of Monday Night Raw in 2016. Seth Rollins was the first overall pick to Monday Night Raw; while Dean Ambrose was the second overall pick to SmackDown Live.
The heart of the matter
Not only is Backlash rumored to be the permanent change to a co-branded pay per view, this special on the WWE Network could also be the night of the WWE Draft. This information is according to Nick Hausman, who is the co-host of Eric Bischoff's podcast.
The idea among WWE Management is to bring the draft back at Backlash, but Hausman mentions that "nothing is set in stone". The belief among the management is that having the draft at Backlash is a good way to jump-start the change.
Backlash will take place on 6 May from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
What's next?
Before we reach the co-branded pay per views, the Monday Night Raw-branded pay per view Elimination Chamber is up next on 25 February. Both Chamber matches will make history as the men will have seven competitors to determine who faces Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. For the first time, the women will have a match with Alexa Bliss' WWE Raw Women's Championship on the line.
Author's take
Of all of the WWE Drafts that have occurred, I can't ever recall one taking place at a pay per view. It'll be really interesting to see how that show shapes up with the draft occurring in the middle.
This is something that never would have been considered in the old cable pay per view days, but with the WWE Network being the home of the pay per views, they have that flexibility to host a draft on one without much backlash (pun intended).
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