WWE RAW vs SmackDown: Which Brand won the 2020 Draft? 

By Kartik Arry
Modified Oct 13, 2020 22:42 IST
The 2020 WWE Draft saw some interesting changes being made to both RAW and SmackDown
The 2020 WWE Draft saw some interesting changes being made to both RAW and SmackDown

Now that this year's WWE Draft is over, it's time to analyze which brand made best use of the 2020 Draft.

Keep in mind that there are still some free agents who haven't been allotted to RAW or SmackDown, but most of them are currently inactive or injured. Click here to check out the full roundup from this year's WWE Draft event.

As for this article, some important criteria will be considered to establish fair and objective boundaries to determine which brand fared better in the 2020 Draft.

#5 WWE Draft Criteria: Relevant feuds/storylines

Relevancy is an important criterion to ensure that either WWE brand won't enter a period of staleness after the Draft.

Judging by the current roster, the three biggest feuds or storylines on SmackDown are as follows:

  • Roman Reigns vs Jey Uso (Universal Championship).
  • Bayley vs Sasha Banks (SmackDown Women's Championship).
  • Seth Rollins vs The Mysterio Family/Murphy.

Although The Mysterio Family's feud against Rollins was a RAW-specific rivalry, Seth Rollins was drafted to SmackDown. Dominik, Rey Mysterio and Murphy were drafted to SmackDown as well, which indicates that the consequences of this personal feud will be felt across the Blue brand from now onwards.

The three biggest feuds or storylines on RAW are listed as follows:

  • Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre (WWE Championship)
  • Alexa Bliss and The Fiend's storyline
  • The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION

Although both shows feature engaging storylines to some extent, the Red brand lacks in the department of long-term feuds after the Draft. Stars who were involved in long-term feuds like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Aleister Black, and Murphy were all drafted to SmackDown.

Stars like Asuka have been shifting between different opponents without any long-term goal. There is potential to build stable storylines with RAW's new acquisitions, but WWE fans will have to wait a while for that to happen.

On the other hand, the Universal Title and the SmackDown Women's Title scenarios on SmackDown have been unanimously praised by fans and critics alike, which is rare nowadays. So the Blue Brand did a good job in retaining the stars pertaining to the aforementioned feuds.

Winner for this criteria: SmackDown

#4 WWE Draft Criteria: Tag Teams/Factions

Listed below are all the tag teams or factions on WWE RAW after the Draft:

  1. New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (WWE RAW Tag Team Champions)
  2. Miz and Morrison
  3. Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado)
  4. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (WWE Women's Tag Team Champions)
  5. Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke
  6. The Hurt Business
  7. RETRIBUTION

Here are all the tag teams on WWE RAW after the Draft:

  1. The Street Profits (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions)
  2. Dominik and Rey Mysterio
  3. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
  4. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode
  5. The Riott Squad

Even though SmackDown has got more number of male tag teams than RAW, the Red brand managed to secure the only two factions that operate on WWE's main roster. The advantage of having factions is that members of these large groups can add numbers to the singles as well as the tag team division.

Moreover, Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan are the only female tag team on SmackDown. Since SmackDown doesn't have the third pick during every round of the Draft, the Blue brand should have invested more in a faction or tag teams to increase their numbers.

Winner for this criteria: RAW

#3 WWE Draft Criteria: Fresh Talent w/ immense potential

This category will focus on which WWE brand did a better job of picking stars with great long-term potential.

WWE RAW retained some athletes who could potentially get their big-break by the time next year's Draft arrives. Some of these stars would be Peyton Royce, Keith Lee, Angel Garza, to name a few.

WWE SmackDown acquired stars with huge future potential from RAW like Bianca Belair and Murphy. SmackDown's Shorty G and Billie Kay could have a good future ahead of them as well, but their current momentum doesn't exactly make them a hot commodity, with all due respect.

RAW went one step ahead and even recruited some stars who may become WWE mainstays in the next few years such as Dabba-Kato, Arturo Ruas, and Riddick Moss.

This isn't saying that SmackDown should have invested in younger talent more, it's just that the Blue brand already had one less pick than RAW, and they chose SmackDown mainstays like King Corbin over someone who has been earning some momentum, like Peyton Royce.

From an overarching perspective, the competition in this criteria was very close, but RAW won by a slight margin, thanks to their RAW Underground picks.

Winner for this criteria: RAW

#2 WWE Draft Criteria: Fewer blunders in terms of draft picks

Contrary to the title, it's important to look at which WWE brand made the most mistakes to find out which brand fared relatively better in the same category.

WWE RAW's major mistakes:

  1. Night 1, Round 2: Naomi was picked over Bianca Belair in the same round. Although Naomi isn't a bad pick at all, she has been in the title scene quite frequently over the years, while Belair has more hype behind her at the moment.
  2. Night 1, Round 3: Ricochet was picked at an early stage over Dominik and Rey Mysterio, Big E, and Murphy.
  3. Night 1: WWE RAW wasted two picks by choosing Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke separately, even though they're already a tag team.
  4. Night 1, Round 4: Dana Brooke was picked before Otis was retained by SmackDown. RAW could have chosen Otis instead to renew one of the most popular storylines of 2020.
  5. Night 1, Round 4: RAW had the option to pick 'New Day' with Kofi, Xavier Woods, and Big E. Yet, they only chose Kofi and Woods for some strange reason.
  6. Night 2, Round 2: Matt Riddle was picked at a very early stage over Kevin Owens and Aleister Black. Riddle is talented, but his main roster run hasn't been flawless and he is in hot water away from the ring too.
  7. Night 2, Round 6: Titus O' Neil was retained instead of Aleister Black in the same round.

WWE SmackDown's major mistakes:

  1. Night 1: No tag teams were picked apart from Dominik and Rey Mysterio.
  2. Night 1, Round 5: Kalisto was picked separately instead of The Lucha House Party as a whole.
  3. Night 2, Round 3: SmackDown's mindset in this round was completely wrong. They picked Lars Sullivan and King Corbin, whilst RAW got RETRIBUTION, Keith Lee, and Alexa Bliss.
  4. Night 2, Round 4: Sami Zayn was drafted at a relatively low position for a champion. SmackDown could have earned more interesting choices by retaining Sami Zayn in Round 3 instead of Lars Sullivan or Corbin.

Winner for this criteria: SmackDown

#1 WWE Draft Criteria: Individual/tag team star power in 2020

WWE RAW had an extra draft pick, which is why the collective star power of a particular brand can't be considered here. Besides, a show doesn't need more than 10 top-tier picks because not everyone can be the biggest star of the show.

Tag Teams will be regarded as a single draft pick, just like the 2020 Draft.

Here are WWE RAW's 5 biggest Draft picks in terms of individual/tag team star power:

  • 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Alexa Bliss
  • Randy Orton
  • Asuka

Thanks to Night 2 of the Draft, the Red brand is stacked with so many stars that Superstars like Charlotte Flair and AJ Styles couldn't even make it to the above list. Alexa Bliss is up there because of her fantastic work with The Fiend, which has garnered positive reception and a lot of attention.

Here are WWE SmackDown's 5 biggest Draft picks in terms of individual/tag team star power:

  • Roman Reigns
  • Sasha Banks
  • Seth Rollins
  • Bayley
  • Rey/Dominik Mysterio

Overall, SmackDown doesn't have a roster as stacked as RAW, but the Blue brand picked the one Superstar that matters the most in terms of individual star power, Roman Reigns. The Tribal Chief is the biggest Superstar from the current generation, and his stock is higher than ever thanks to his new attitude in WWE.

They often say that an opponent makes the champion relevant, but Roman Reigns and Jey Uso's feud has proved that The Tribal Chief only needs to bank on his own star power every week.

Sasha Banks might be the biggest female star to attract mainstream attention right now, due to her appearance in Season 2 of Disney's The Mandalorian, as well as her long-term storyline with Bayley.

People had no idea that Rey and Dominik Mysterio were an actual tag team, but since they were drafted together as one, Rey Mysterio's legendary credentials, as well as his father-son equation with Dominik, makes them the biggest WWE 'tag-team' in terms of star power right now.

Even as the biggest Fiend fan, this writer has to admit that The Fiend's current momentum can be partly attributed to Alexa Bliss, and vice-versa. Asuka is the top female champion on RAW, but she is slightly behind in terms of star power than most names mentioned in the above lists.

This shouldn't take anything away from the Red brand's top picks, which are excellent in their own right. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to the best of the best in terms of this category.

Winner for this criteria: SmackDown

Overall WWE Draft 2020 Winner: WWE SmackDown (3-2).

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