WWE reveals draft rules, list of celebrities set to appear, Preliminary draft pools announced
Posted: Oct 10th, '19, 17:05
Source: f4wonline.com
Ahead of it kicking off tomorrow, WWE has revealed the rules for this year's draft:
Over 70 Superstars, as well as tag teams, are eligible for selection in this year’s WWE Draft
SmackDown will draft 30 Superstars, and Raw will select another 41 Superstars
Since SmackDown is a two-hour show and Raw is a three-hour show, for every two picks SmackDown makes, Raw will receive three
Tag teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick only one Superstar from the team
Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing
The draft will begin on tomorrow's SmackDown at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will then conclude with night two taking place on Monday's Raw at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
Tomorrow's SmackDown will open with Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns. Rollins is representing Raw in the match, while Reigns is representing SmackDown. The stipulation is that -- if Rollins wins -- Raw will get the first overall pick. SmackDown will get the first pick if Reigns wins.
When the draft was first announced, it was noted that personalities from FOX and NBCUniversal would be appearing across the two nights. WWE has revealed that the following list of celebrities will be making appearances:
Alex Rodriguez -- FOX MLB analyst
Michael Che & Colin Jost of "Saturday Night Live"
Christian Slater of "Mr. Robot"
Joe Buck & Troy Aikman -- NFL on FOX commentators
Jim Cramer of "Mad Money"
Kevin Burkhardt & Frank Thomas -- FOX MLB analysts
Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson & Tony Gonzalez -- FOX NFL Sunday
Ronde Barber, Charles Davis, Chris Spielman & Daryl Johnston -- FOX NFL analysts
Charissa Thompson, Michael Vick & Peter Schrager -- FOX NFL Kickoff
Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart & Urban Meyer -- Big Noon Kickoff
Joel Klatt -- FOX College Football analyst
Dule Hill of USA’s “Psych” and “Suits”
James Roday of “Psych”
Marcus Lemonis of “The Profit”
Margaret Josephs & Melissa Gorga of “Real Housewives of New Jersey”
Rodney Harrison & Chris Simms -- Football Night in America
Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Mustoe & Kyle Martino -- Premier League Live
Post Wrestling's John Pollock reported on the role the celebrities will play: "The celebrities will be doing spots but not actually making the picks, they are said to be spots discussing strategy/analysis. Stephanie McMahon will be in the role of announcing all the picks like a league commissioner would."
Che and Jost were involved in a storyline with Braun Strowman earlier this year, with it leading to them being entrants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 35 pre-show. Strowman won the match by last eliminating Che and Jost.
WWE is hyping that "For the first time, executives from FOX and USA Network have direct influence over the WWE Draft as it will determine the Superstars competing for either Raw or SmackDown."
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The draft will begin on tomorrow's SmackDown and then conclude on Monday's Raw. The draft pools are a list of wrestlers who are eligible to be selected on each night.
The pools are:
Night one (October 11 episode of SmackDown) --
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
Roman Reigns
The O.C. (United States Champion AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
Drew McIntyre
Randy Orton
Sasha Banks
Ricochet
Braun Strowman
Bobby Lashley
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Lacey Evans
The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar)
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
Natalya
The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado)
Cesaro
Kevin Owens
Humberto Carrillo
Akira Tozawa
Sin Cara
Eric Young
EC3
Chad Gable
Heath Slater
Drew Gulak
The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)
Tamina
Night two (October 14 episode of Raw) --
Universal Champion Seth Rollins
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
Titus O’Neil
Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (with Sami Zayn)
Aleister Black
The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods)
Daniel Bryan
Bayley
Luke Harper
Erick Rowan
The Miz
Ali
King Corbin
Elias
Raw Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
Samoa Joe
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane)
Rusev
Cedric Alexander
Rey Mysterio
R-Truth
Carmella
AOP (Akam & Rezar)
Heavy Machinery (Tucker & Otis)
Apollo Crews
Andrade
Liv Morgan
Jinder Mahal
Buddy Murphy
Mojo Rawley
No Way Jose
Dana Brooke
Shelton Benjamin
Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder
The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce)
Sarah Logan
Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Drake Maverick
The wrestlers in the first pool are eligible to be drafted by Raw or SmackDown on night one, and the wrestlers in the second pool are eligible to be drafted by Raw or SmackDown on night two.
The rules for the draft and the list of FOX/NBC Universal personalities who will be appearing were also revealed today. Due to Raw being a three-hour show, the brand will pick 41 wrestlers in the draft. SmackDown will select 30 wrestlers. Tag teams will count as one pick "unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick only one Superstar from the team."
WWE noted that "any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing."
Rollins vs. Reigns will open tomorrow's SmackDown, with Rollins representing Raw and Reigns representing SmackDown. The stipulation for the match is that Raw will get the first overall pick in the draft if Rollins wins, and SmackDown will get the first pick if Reigns wins.
Ahead of it kicking off tomorrow, WWE has revealed the rules for this year's draft:
Over 70 Superstars, as well as tag teams, are eligible for selection in this year’s WWE Draft
SmackDown will draft 30 Superstars, and Raw will select another 41 Superstars
Since SmackDown is a two-hour show and Raw is a three-hour show, for every two picks SmackDown makes, Raw will receive three
Tag teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick only one Superstar from the team
Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing
The draft will begin on tomorrow's SmackDown at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will then conclude with night two taking place on Monday's Raw at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
Tomorrow's SmackDown will open with Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns. Rollins is representing Raw in the match, while Reigns is representing SmackDown. The stipulation is that -- if Rollins wins -- Raw will get the first overall pick. SmackDown will get the first pick if Reigns wins.
When the draft was first announced, it was noted that personalities from FOX and NBCUniversal would be appearing across the two nights. WWE has revealed that the following list of celebrities will be making appearances:
Alex Rodriguez -- FOX MLB analyst
Michael Che & Colin Jost of "Saturday Night Live"
Christian Slater of "Mr. Robot"
Joe Buck & Troy Aikman -- NFL on FOX commentators
Jim Cramer of "Mad Money"
Kevin Burkhardt & Frank Thomas -- FOX MLB analysts
Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson & Tony Gonzalez -- FOX NFL Sunday
Ronde Barber, Charles Davis, Chris Spielman & Daryl Johnston -- FOX NFL analysts
Charissa Thompson, Michael Vick & Peter Schrager -- FOX NFL Kickoff
Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart & Urban Meyer -- Big Noon Kickoff
Joel Klatt -- FOX College Football analyst
Dule Hill of USA’s “Psych” and “Suits”
James Roday of “Psych”
Marcus Lemonis of “The Profit”
Margaret Josephs & Melissa Gorga of “Real Housewives of New Jersey”
Rodney Harrison & Chris Simms -- Football Night in America
Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Mustoe & Kyle Martino -- Premier League Live
Post Wrestling's John Pollock reported on the role the celebrities will play: "The celebrities will be doing spots but not actually making the picks, they are said to be spots discussing strategy/analysis. Stephanie McMahon will be in the role of announcing all the picks like a league commissioner would."
Che and Jost were involved in a storyline with Braun Strowman earlier this year, with it leading to them being entrants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 35 pre-show. Strowman won the match by last eliminating Che and Jost.
WWE is hyping that "For the first time, executives from FOX and USA Network have direct influence over the WWE Draft as it will determine the Superstars competing for either Raw or SmackDown."
-------------
The draft will begin on tomorrow's SmackDown and then conclude on Monday's Raw. The draft pools are a list of wrestlers who are eligible to be selected on each night.
The pools are:
Night one (October 11 episode of SmackDown) --
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
Roman Reigns
The O.C. (United States Champion AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt
Drew McIntyre
Randy Orton
Sasha Banks
Ricochet
Braun Strowman
Bobby Lashley
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Lacey Evans
The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar)
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
Natalya
The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)
Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado)
Cesaro
Kevin Owens
Humberto Carrillo
Akira Tozawa
Sin Cara
Eric Young
EC3
Chad Gable
Heath Slater
Drew Gulak
The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)
Tamina
Night two (October 14 episode of Raw) --
Universal Champion Seth Rollins
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
Titus O’Neil
Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura (with Sami Zayn)
Aleister Black
The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods)
Daniel Bryan
Bayley
Luke Harper
Erick Rowan
The Miz
Ali
King Corbin
Elias
Raw Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
Samoa Joe
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane)
Rusev
Cedric Alexander
Rey Mysterio
R-Truth
Carmella
AOP (Akam & Rezar)
Heavy Machinery (Tucker & Otis)
Apollo Crews
Andrade
Liv Morgan
Jinder Mahal
Buddy Murphy
Mojo Rawley
No Way Jose
Dana Brooke
Shelton Benjamin
Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder
The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce)
Sarah Logan
Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville)
Drake Maverick
The wrestlers in the first pool are eligible to be drafted by Raw or SmackDown on night one, and the wrestlers in the second pool are eligible to be drafted by Raw or SmackDown on night two.
The rules for the draft and the list of FOX/NBC Universal personalities who will be appearing were also revealed today. Due to Raw being a three-hour show, the brand will pick 41 wrestlers in the draft. SmackDown will select 30 wrestlers. Tag teams will count as one pick "unless FOX or USA Network specifically wants to pick only one Superstar from the team."
WWE noted that "any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing."
Rollins vs. Reigns will open tomorrow's SmackDown, with Rollins representing Raw and Reigns representing SmackDown. The stipulation for the match is that Raw will get the first overall pick in the draft if Rollins wins, and SmackDown will get the first pick if Reigns wins.