The draft is upon us! The time of year where we see wrestlers bounce from brand to brand and start afresh, not like we see them appearing on the other shows anyway. The last few weeks, we’ve seen Braun and Bray on RAW and Kevin Owens on Smackdown for not much reason at all. The beauty of the draft is it gives wrestlers who are dwindling on their current brand the opportunity for a fresh start, it gives tag team wrestlers who get split the chance to flourish on their own and in recent years, it gives NXT wrestlers the chance to try their luck on the ‘main brand’. The important thing for those wrestlers getting a fresh start is they are utilized properly and given a sufficient storyline to get stuck into. There are heaps of wrestlers that could do with the fresh start, whether the reason being poor booking or just simply, they’ve run their course on that brand or have nowhere to go with a storyline.
Billie Kay – RAW to Smackdown
After the unfortunately forced breakup of the Iiconics, and the rumours that Peyton is the chosen one of the two, it leaves Billie in a bit of a sticky situation. Moving Billie over to Smackdown would allow both women to remain friends and have no one turn on each other but also would bring up those moments down the line, specifically in a Royal Rumble if they were to star numbers one and two.
Billie is viewed as the weaker of the two IIconics. Her moving over to Smackdown would allow her to hone her skills under the radar, as the women’s title is going to be locked up in a feud between Bayley and Sasha Banks for the next few months. It will also allow Peyton to flourish on her own on RAW without discrediting Billie and making her look weak, a move over will give a breath of fresh air to the women’s midcard and soon, the main event scene.
Ricochet – RAW to Smackdown
Ricochet is now fully on his own. Cedric Alexander has turned and joined the Hurt Business and Mustafa Ali has been revealed as the leader of Retribution. A move to a new brand would be fantastic for him, he’s been on RAW since he moved from NXT in 2019 where it felt a bit flat after he and Aleister Black stopped teaming. There’s no point having Ricochet fight against Retribution, he’s effectively joining the Hurt Business if they did that. Having him move over to Smackdown gives him a fresh start and give the Intercontinental Championship an extra contender, possibly reigniting his brilliant series of matches with AJ Styles from last year. He feels a bit left outside in the rain; I know he had a small alliance with Apollo Crews but it was never completely serious. But you never know, they can both go to Smackdown or both stay on RAW and I wouldn’t complain about them forming a tag team. Both brands need them, they both need the exposure so it works as win-win.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch – NXT to RAW
Another team that can bolster the tag team division because I’m bored of watching the Street Profits compete against Andrade and Angel Garza. Lorcan and Burch have competed as singles stars but they’re mainly known as a team and a very good one at that. RAW is in dire need of tag teams, with the brand having only 2 actual teams; War Raiders, both are injured and the current champions, the Street Profits. We’ve had makeshift teams; Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Dominik and Humberto Carillo, Andrade and Garza and Seth Rollins and Murphy. However, the final one is on the way out and to split, Dom and Humberto could work and Andrade and Garza have had way too many chances. Bringing in a new team will shake things up, give the champions some fresh contenders and allows Burch and Lorcan to prove themselves on another brand. They’ve only had one or two chances at the NXT titles, unsuccessfully. They and the Street Profits have only faced off once, in a fatal four-way ladder match at NXT Takeover: XXV, the match won by the current RAW tag champs.
Otis – Smackdown to RAW
Mr Money in the Bank needs a fresh storyline, if he cashes in on Smackdown, he’s not walking out of the Thunderdome, or wherever they are, as the Universal Champion. He and Tucker are not going to continue as a team, which is sad to see someone like Tucker left to dwindle wherever he ends up. Having Otis on RAW shakes up the WWE Championship picture, instead of seeing Randy Orton challenge Drew McIntyre constantly. As well, he’ll be reunited with Mandy Rose and away from The Miz and John Morrison, who keep trying to get the contract off him. I could never see Otis cashing in for the Universal Champion, he’d be challenging Braun Strowman, The Fiend and now Roman Reigns, three humungous stars. On RAW, he can cash in on whoever is champion and at least hold a World title. I wouldn’t be against seeing him win the title, thanks to the briefcase, then lose it with Mandy turning on him. Mandy could form a heel tag team with Dana Brooke, they’ve teamed together the last few weeks, or be a heel contender for Asuka.
Aleister Black – RAW to Smackdown
The most unlikely one to happen out of these five because his wife, Zelina Vega, is also on RAW and WWE’s policy is keeping couples together. However, draft them both and coupling them up would be phenomenal. Zelina is no longer partnered with Andrade and Angel Garza leaving her as an in-ring competitor, which she should be but having her doing a double role as manager of Aleister and wrestler would get the best out of her. Black turned heel on Kevin Owens after being blinded by Seth Rollins but the feud between Black and Owens has been very meh. Black on Smackdown would be such a different site to see, you’d have the spooky full-time character whereas The Fiend is only there sporadically. Like Otis, I don’t believe we’d see Black go straight for the main title as he’s a heel and so is Reigns but having him destroy everyone on Smackdown before going for the Intercontinental Championship or leapfrogging that and going for a big spooky showdown with The Fiend. Eventually, Reigns will lose the title, hopefully to Big E, and I would love to see Black be the first heel looking to foil that title reign.
WWE always has a weird way of dealing with drafts, like that time Cena drafted to Smackdown and back to RAW in the same night, but the roster they have is fantastic and any wrestler who moves should be given a brilliant storyline to get their teeth stuck into. Just hope they don’t try and draft the entire Retribution stable to Smackdown…