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WWE plans on bringing back Draft in October 2020

WWE is reportedly planning to shake things up in their programmes via hosting another Draft between Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown, according to what Dave Meltzer said on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.

By Raja
Stephanie McMahon during 2019 Draft (image courtesy WWE.com)

Bengaluru, August 5: As WWE TV ratings and viewership are constantly taking a hit, critics and fans blame it on the company's ways of ignoring the young talents. And finally, it looks like the company has realized the same and some of the superstars could be set for new opportunities in the coming months.

WWE is reportedly planning to shake things up in their programmes via hosting another Draft between Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown, according to what Dave Meltzer said on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. Originally, five different dates were being considered for the new edition, but two possible dates have been shortlisted in October.

Meltzer also noted how WWE wanted to carry out the Draft at some point in August. There’s still a chance that it may end up being moved to September, but the bottom line is that a Draft is happening in the coming months, whenever the date may be. WWE creative hasn't even made up their mind yet to insert it perfectly into the schedule.

Fightful also reports that WWE has sketched its plans to hold a Brand Extension Draft in 2020, several times. But they are yet to 'pull the plug' on them. They previously wanted to run it in June, but that didn’t go as planned. Then they changed the date to August, and then probably to September.



Now the idea is that October could be a perfect time which marks the one-year anniversary of SmackDown moving to FOX and WWE bringing back the tradition of Draft replacing the Superstar Shakeup. USA Network chose Raw superstars and FOX chose the SmackDown stars giving it a Football like feel to the audience.

"A draft was originally set for the end of August, before being moved to September. After it was set for September, it was moved to October, then back and forth again. The original source that we heard the story from in June had noted WWE had informed some broadcast partners of both Draft plans and live event plans, the latter of which was nixed completely," informed the source.

If WWE chooses the Draft to go down in October then it would perfectly make the groundworks set for 34th edition of Survivor Series in November as the event's theme is related to brand supremacy. There's no confirmation whether NXT stars will be a part of this.



Last year, the Street Profits were sent to RAW from NXT as a part of the Draft. Notable big stars who switched brands were "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks, and current Universal Champion Braun Strowman who went to SmackDown. The Raw brand received acquisitions like Becky Lynch, Rey Mysterio, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, and Charlotte Flair.

WWE apparently has already “informed some broadcast partners of both Draft plans and live event plans, the latter of which was nixed completely.” Vince McMahon is to be the blamed one who's still holding things down before making the Draft official, but backstage plans are reportedly ready.
Story first published: Wednesday, August 5, 2020, 13:45 [IST]
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