WWE Smackdown: 2023 Draft Dates Confirmed; Multiple Championship Matches Announced

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Bengaluru, April 15: During last Friday's post-WrestleMania 39 episode of SmackDown, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque confirmed the return of the WWE Draft after the annual event was debunked in 2022.

Following this week's SmackDown, we now know when the draft will be taking place. As announced by the WWE, it will begin during the April 28 episode of SmackDown and will run through the following Monday Night on Raw's May 1 episode.

Previously, Triple H had declared that "every single superstar will be eligible," essentially suggesting that NXT Superstars are also getting involved. Plus, the entire shakeup process will be concluded by the next WWE premium live event, Backlash set for Saturday, May 6.

Around WrestleMania 39, champions, their challengers, and stables such as The Bloodline and The Judgment Day were regular attendees on both Raw and Smackdown which led to reports that the brand split concept is "effectively dead."

USA Network and FOX, the broadcasters of Raw and SmackDown respectively, had also reportedly cooled off from their early intentions of keeping the brand split intact. It'll be interesting to see whether Draft 2023 brings any change to the brand crossover notion.

In more confirmations from the April 14 episode of Smackdown, multiple title matches were made official with the first one being the Intercontinental Championship Match where the champion GUNTHER will defend against Xavier Woods, next week.

Gunther was talking to his Imperium buddies Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, backstage, when Xavier Woods interrupted by playing the trombone. Woods challenged Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship before the Draft which was accepted, right away.

The Women's Tag Team Championships will also be on the line on the April 21 episode of Smackdown where the title-holders, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan will be defending their titles against Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green.

A championship celebration was thrown on Smackdown by Liv and Raquel which was cut short by Deville and Green. A heated confrontation between the two eventually turned physical after which the title match was made official.

Furthermore, in a massive announcement, a WrestleMania 39 title rematch has also been confirmed for the April 28 episode of the blue brand, touted as "the biggest tag team match in the history of SmackDown."

On Night One of WrestleMania 39, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeated The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships in the main event. That rematch has now been confirmed to go down, within two weeks from now.

Paul Heyman, the Special Counsel of The Bloodline made things interesting for the upcoming match which was announced during a confrontation between The Usos and Sami & KO by saying that "The Tribal Chief is losing patience with the two of you."

The two teams had no idea whom Heyman was talking to while dropping that line. However, tense situations in The Bloodline regarding Jey Uso still persist. Time will tell if Bloodline leader Roman Reigns is thinking of taking any steps against him.