This is a historic week for WWE, as it will change the landscape of the next several years (at the very least). This Tuesday, Smackdown will air its first live episode ever, as well as switching days of the week for the second time in about a year. With the move of Smackdown also comes the Brand Extension, which means that both Monday Night Raw and Tuesday Night Smackdown will have their own specific rosters. These unique rosters will be determined this Tuesday on Smackdown in the WWE Draft.
WWE has just announced the rules going into the WWE Draft, as well as who is eligible for drafting. The rules are as follows:
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Raw has the first overall pick
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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
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Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team
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Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster
The first two rules make a lot of sense. Raw is the bigger show, and the “flagship” show of WWE, so it deserves the first pick, as well as more picks to fill more time. The tag team rule helps draft efficiency while also adding a layer of strategy. Does WWE want Bubba Ray Dudley to have a similar run that he had as Bully Ray in TNA? Does Stephanie McMahon want to ruin everything and split up Enzo Amore and Big Cass? Whatever the choices are, this draft has gotten more interesting every day.
What has added a huge twist in this draft, however, is the last rule on the list. Assumedly, there will be six total picks from NXT, and not six NXT Superstars per Commissioner. That being said, it could be split 3-3, or for example, Shane McMahon (the symbol of “The New Era”) could grab tons of NXT Superstars while Stephanie focuses on the main roster.
As wrestling tends to do, this leads itself to one thing: speculation. Who should we expect to be drafted?
Who I Expect to Be Drafted
1) Finn Balor
All signs point to Finn Balor making his way to the main roster. Balor dropped the NXT Championship to Samoa Joe right after NXT TakeOver: Dallas, and lost the cage match where he tried to regain the championship. Since then, Finn Balor took on Shinsuke Nakamura last week on NXT, and The King of Strong Style continued his undefeated streak. It seems like there is only one thing that can be next for Finn Balor: being drafted to the main roster.
2) American Alpha
American Alpha has had a very similar path as Finn Balor over the last couple months. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan won the NXT Tag Team Championships from The Revival, and managed to lose two consecutive Tag Team Championship matches after. With American Alpha completely out of the title picture, it looks like the next Tag Team Championship competitors are Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, or The Authors of Pain. Gable and Jordan are incredibly popular with the NXT fans, and now is a good time to capitalize on this opportunity. Since they are a team, this can count as one pick.
3) Bayley
Bayley has been ready to join the main roster for about a year. She is the only member of the Four Horsewomen of NXT who is not on Raw or Smackdown. The other three (Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks) debuted a little over a year ago to start the “Divas Revolution,” while Bayley has sat back in NXT. Bayley lost her NXT Women’s Championship to Asuka at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, and she can be on the main roster while also finishing up her time in NXT (like Kevin Owens). Hopefully this would give us Bayley/Sasha III in the near future.
4) Austin Aries
Aries has not been in NXT for very long, but he has years of experience performing regularly on television. Aries is someone who is not expected to get a main event push on the main roster, but he could produce some great matches in the midcard with guys like Cesaro, Rusev, Dolph Ziggler, and so on. This is kind of a long shot, considering Aries’s veteran status is very valuable in NXT, but NXT is incredibly stacked, and the roster might be filled out with Cruiserweight Classic competitors.
5) Nia Jax
Jax has improved in the ring a ton over the last several months. If you look at her matches a year ago and compare them with her Women’s Championship match against Asuka, it is night and day. The women’s division on the main roster is pretty bare, and Jax has the size and intimidation factor to make a big splash along with Bayley. Since Jax has lost two Women’s Championship matches already in NXT, it is time for her to get a fresh start on Raw or Smackdown.
6) Shinsuke Nakamura
This does not seem likely, considering Nakamura just started his pursuit of the NXT Championship, but WWE needs him on the main roster sooner than later. Nakamura is already 36 years old, and he is already a worldwide “Superstar.” He can be thrown into a midcard title feud, or even a top tier feud with someone like John Cena, and it would make a ton of sense. Nakamura has the star power to be on top of WWE for years. 2016 has been fascinating for wrestling, and it can only be better if we saw John Cena feud with AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in the same year.
Like my Pay-Per-View predictions, I could be completely right, completely wrong, or somewhere in the middle. No matter who gets drafted from NXT, this does something that is hard to do nowadays in wrestling: create excitement for the unknown.
