SD to go live, Brand Split Returns

latest from the Observer
WWE has been in contact with a lot of names in recent weeks, whether for Raw, Smackdown or NXT. It’s very clear they want more people with established names for undercards and top fill time and put people over on television. Dave did name Carlito, MVP & Stevie Richards being 3 of the people that been called a few days back.

The basic reaction is that the WWE money offers aren’t great, and one person noted they’re making considerably more not only than the WWE offer on the outside, but more than they made their last few years of working a full-time schedule in WWE, and are working far less dates to make that money. Some are saying they aren’t going, others saying they won’t unless the offers are higher. Some are offered full-time deals and others deals where they can still work indies that don’t have television similar to the Tommaso Ciampa deal. One person was asked to debut at TV this week, and obviously wasn’t there.

Carlito I get, you can make him a shining star. MVP is ok I guess. But STEVIE RICHARDS?!

SBR wrote:Carlito I get, you can make him a shining star. MVP is ok I guess. But STEVIE RICHARDS?!

Richards is still in great shape, while he would probably fit better in an player-coach role in NXT, i can see him also working well putting talent over on the C shows.

I saw on a wrestling site recently that Stevie Richards was offered a role as a coach in the Performance Center, as apparently some of the coaches will likely move up to serve as agents due to the brand split needing to maintain 2 full-time rosters.

Stevie can still go in the ring as well, based on his recent appearances in ROH. He's the perfect fit to use a veteran who can help develop younger talent both in and out of the ring.

New PPW schedule for the rest of the year:

7/24 Battleground from Washington, DC
8/21 SummerSlam from Brooklyn
9/11 Backlash form Richmond, VA (Smackdown brand show)
9/25 Clash of Champions from Indianapolis (Raw)
10/9 No Mercy from Sacramento (Smackdown)
10/30 Hell in a Cell from Boston (Raw)
11/20 Survivor Series from Toronto
12/4 TLC from Dallas (Smackdown)
12/18 Roadblock from Pittsburgh (Raw)

from wwe.com

With this Tuesday's WWE Draft on the premiere of SmackDown Live on USA Network fast approaching, WWE.com answers the biggest questions of the WWE Universe with a breakdown of the official rules, regulations and procedures for one of the biggest nights in WWE history — including a major update that will change the face of NXT as well.

The rules for the WWE Draft are as follows:

RAW has the first overall pick
Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and RAW is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, RAW will receive three picks
Tag Teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team
Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster

The list of current WWE Superstars eligible for the WWE Draft will be as follows:

Male Superstars

AJ Styles
Alberto Del Rio
Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
Big Show
Braun Strowman
Bray Wyatt
Brock Lesnar
Cesaro
Chris Jericho
Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)
Dean Ambrose – WWE Champion
Demon Kane
Dolph Ziggler
Erick Rowan
Jack Swagger
John Cena
Kalisto
Kevin Owens
Mark Henry
Neville
Randy Orton
Roman Reigns
Rusev (w/ Lana) – United States Champion
Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins
Sheamus
Sin Cara
The Miz (w/ Maryse) – Intercontinental Champion
Titus O’Neil
Zack Ryder

Tag Teams

Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze)
Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass)
Gallows and Anderson (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth)
Shining Stars (Epico and Primo)
Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater)
The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley)
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) – Tag Team Champions
The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)
The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)

Female Superstars

Alicia Fox
Becky Lynch
Charlotte – WWE Women’s Champion
Dana Brooke
Eva Marie
Naomi
Natalya
Paige
Sasha Banks
Summer Rae

Based on the way the Draft rosters work, there's no reason for ANY team to be split up, even from a storyline perspective. Odd to see the Lucha Dragons not included in the teams roster, but it's pretty clear they value Kalisto far more as a singles wrestler.

What does that whole every 2 picks Raw gets 3 picks thing even mean?

The Rosters after the Draft
RAW
Face Side                    
#5 Finn Balor      
#6 Roman Reigns    
#11 Sami Zayn    
#23 Big Show      
#26 Neville      
#28 Cesaro      
#33 Titus O'Neil      
#36 Darren Young    
#38 Sin Cara       #58  Curtis Axel
#40 Jack Swagger
#46 Mark Henry

Tag Teams
#10 Tag champs New Day                    
(Big E. & Kofi  & Xavier )
#20 Enzo Amore & Big Cass                
#31 Golden Truth (R-Truth & Goldust)

Women
#8 Sasha Banks
#35 Paige                
#54 Alicia Fox        
   
Heel Side
#1 Seth Rollins
#8 Brock Lesnar
#15 Chris Jericho
#16 U.S. champion Rusev(w/Lana)
#18 Kevin Owens
#30 Sheamus
#48 Braun Strowman
#50 Bo Dallas
#58 Curtis Axel

Tag Teams
#21 The Club (Anderson & Gallows)           
#42 The Dudleys (Bubba Ray & Devon)
#52 Shining Stars (Epico & Primo)

Women
#3 Women's champion Charlotte
#25 Nia Jax
#44 Summer Rae
#56 Dana Brooke

Broadcast Team - Michael Cole, Corey Graves, & Bryon Saxton

Smackdown
Face Side
#2 WWE champion Dean Ambrose    
#7  John Cena    
#9  Randy Orton      
#24 Dolph Ziggler    
#37 Kalisto    
#43 Zack Ryder    
#45 Apollo Crews    
#57 Mojo Rawley

Tag Teams
#22 American Alpha  (Jordan & Gable)    
#32 The Usos  (Jimmy & Jey)                
                                       
Women
#14 Becky Lynch
#59 Carmella        
 
Heel Side
#4 A.J. Styles
#12 Bray Wyatt
#17 IC champion The Miz (w/Maryse)
#19 Baron Corbin
#29 Alberto Del Rio
#34 Kane
#55 Erick Rowan

Tag Teams
#41 The Ascension (Konner & Viktor)
#49 Tyler Breeze & Fandango
#53 The Vaudevillians (English & Gotch)

Women
#27 Natalya                           
#39 Naomi
#47 Alexa Bliss
#51 Eva Marie

Broadcast Team - Mauro Ranallo, JBL, & David Otunga

Undrafted
Heath Slater
Luke Harper (injured)
Tyson Kidd (injured)
Ryback (injured & waiting for contract to end)
Nikki Bella (injured)
Emma  (injured)
Tamina (injured)

Jerry Lawler & Booker T will be analysts for Pre-Shows on WWE Network

Typical WWE, they had a chance to retool things and try something different and they defaulted back to their old shit like always

Anything new that came out of the draft Raw got, they got Balor, they got the crusierweight division(which is probably a bad idea anyway) and they got Graves

SD got all the retreads and boring guys, SD has AJ, Dean, American Alpha and NOTHING else, it's a wasteland

And Raw isn't even that much better

I think before we sour on SmackDown, we got to remember that WWE is bringing back a bunch of guys. Tajiri was first and I think Kendrick is also back.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Carlito, Shelton (X) Benjamin, Chris Masters, etc. Also, Kota Ibushi and some others from the CWC have been signed.

I think they screwed the draft rounds up, Smackdown should have had 3 picks each round like Raw for the first 4 rounds not the last 4 rounds like they did. It really gave Raw a advantage when the brands are suppose to be equals.  They also should have made it clear that Regal had a certain number of people he could keep from being drafted from NXT.

I am hoping we will see a trade or two announced in the next week that would fix things a little bit.
I would like to see something like Zayn, Cesaro, Paige, Golden Truth,& Sin Cara to Smackdown while Orton, Kalisto, Crews, Vaudevillians and Carmella goes to Raw.

I still think talent like Bayley, Joe, Revival and others I mentioned a page back will get called up before the end of year, and with Raw likely getting a number of cruiserweight classic talents, there a good chance a majority of the NXT talent will go to Smackdown.

Joe5150 wrote:I think before we sour on SmackDown, we got to remember that WWE is bringing back a bunch of guys. Tajiri was first and I think Kendrick is also back.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Carlito, Shelton (X) Benjamin, Chris Masters, etc. Also, Kota Ibushi and some others from the CWC have been signed.

Guys calm it down TAJIRI AND BRIAN KENRICK will fix Smackdown!!!

Anwyay, I actually like getting JBL away from Cole. I think depending on how JBL plays it he could be great w Mauro. But maybe thats just wishful thinking. I don't think Graves can save Cole/Byron though. Never heard Otunga on commentary but I mean how bad could he be.

Also really shows you how WWE, or specifically Vince, views people like Orton and Wyatt. They're "stars" but actually no one cares about them. Like why is Shane drafting Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin when Raw is drafting Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, The Club, Enzo and Cass, New Day...so on and so on.

Ambrose, Styles & Cena is a good top three but the shit below them is just like....who are they gonna feud with? Who are they gonna put on these SD only PPVs?!

Orton is clearly getting a renewed focus as a top star on SD, given his SummerSlam match with Brock is still intact, and Cena is apparently winding down his schedule to work primarily TV and virtually no house shows.

SD definitely got crushed in terms of not getting an overly deep roster, but they certainly have something they can work with. They did get the WWE Champion and Cena after all. Plus, when more NXT wrestlers get called up in the fall after Takeover: Brooklyn 2, perhaps some of them end up going to SmackDown.

Raw got a lot of the smark favorites, but that was almost a necessity because they need to have a reason for that audience to keep interest in the show. Plus, with it being 3 hours, they need to have wrestlers with strong workrate to fill the time. I fear for how well the Cruiserweight division may fare by being on Raw rather than SD, but it's a wait and see approach for this, as well as the brand split as a whole.

Honestly they should have had RAW take the cruisers and get first pick, then have it be an "even" draft. This overly convoluted mess is pretty much the issue with WWE writing. No real direction, overly complicated and trying to look "sportsy" without an understanding of the aspects of sports people enjoy.

Short story: I hated it. All of it.

So my two favorite parts of SD were Heath's promo and Eva's voice over intro, not a strong start to say the least

I'm only interested in Shelton if he brings the rest of Suzukigun with him

Inadvertently or not, Heath Slater really came up on something that could work very well for him. That's easily the best reaction he's received, probably ever, and Slater showed a ton of fire in the role. Hopefully he gets a legit opportunity to run with this new persona.

The main event showed that SD is certainly lacking in legitimate top stars, but by featuring guys like Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin, it certainly shows that they are at least trying to feature new talent in top roles.

Ziggler winning the 6-Pack Challenge is also evident of guys who got lost in the shuffle getting renewed focus and big opportunities in wake of the brand split. I just hope he makes tweaks to his persona and look to coincide with this chance in the spotlight, because he has been coasting as far as his character work goes for a long time now.

Speaking of Suzuki Gun, I would love to see Killer Elite Squad on SD. Archer & Smith in their new personas would definitely be perfect for WWE TV, compared to their previous runs in the promotion.