So, How Do You Guys Feel About The Rosters?

[OYDK]

Monday Night Raw

Seth Rollins (#1 Overall)
Charlotte (Women's Champion)
Finn Balor
Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar
The New Day (Tag Team Champions)
Sami Zayn
Sasha Banks
Chris Jericho
Rusev (w/ Lana) (United States Champion)
Kevin Owens
Enzo Amore & Big Cass
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Big Show
Nia Jax
Neville
Cesaro
Sheamus
Golden Truth
Titus O’Neil
Paige
Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)
Sin Cara
Jack Swagger
The Dudley Boyz
Summer Rae
Mark Henry
Braun Strowman
Bo Dallas
Shining Stars
Alicia Fox
Dana Brooke
Curtis Axel

Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton

Tuesday Night Smackdown

Dean Ambrose (#1 Overall) (WWE Champion)
AJ Styles
John Cena
Randy Orton
Bray Wyatt
Becky Lynch
The Miz (w/ Maryse) (Intercontinental Champion)
Baron Corbin
American Alpha
Dolph Ziggler
Natalya
Alberto Del Rio
The Usos
Kane
Kalisto
Naomi
The Ascension
Zack Ryder
Apollo Crews
Alexa Bliss
Breezango
Eva Marie
The Vaudevillians
Erick Rowan
Mojo Rawley
Carmella

Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, JBL, and David Otunga

Not Drafted:

Taker
Luke Harper
Emma
Heath Slater
Nikki Bella
Rosa Mendes
Tamina
Tyson Kidd
HHH

Well, Smackdown certainly started off strong but seemed to fizzle out after about the 8th pick. Raw certainly has the depth and will probably also acquire any new cruiserweights that WWE signs following the classic, but I guess that's alright given the show is 3 hours. Really no notable tag teams on SD apart from American Alpha and the Usos, and apart from Becky, Natalya, and the two new NXT girls, the women's division lacks a whole lot of depth. I expect that Ambrose, Cena, Styles, Orton, and Wyatt will be tasked with filling up a good portion of the show while the mid, tag, and women sporadically take up the last hour.

All in all, these rosters are OK in my opinion. It'll be up to people like Corbin, The Hype Bros, Carmella, Alexa and Apollo to step their game up and really add some much needed depth to the Smackdown roster. Raw seems strong enough, and hopefully the split rosters give some fresh faces a chance to be put in some compelling programs. I'm hoping The Vaudevillians, The Ascension, Braun Stroman, and a few others get the opportunity to actually work some intriguing stories and maybe, just maybe, make something of themselves.

At least they'll get the chance.

Also, the non-picks should help to fill out the rosters, notably Smackdown, whenever they do return.

No word on secondary titles, I assume that'll come after Battleground, Summerslam at the latest.

 

[Khalifa]

At first I was kind of annoyed at what happened. I kind of expected Smackdown to be more for the future and Raw more about the now. So, I was basically expecting Owens or Zayn to be on Smackdown with Cesaro as well. I also thought Balor would have started off on Smackdown to, but it's better that they didn't the more I think of it. I thought Banks would have been Smackdown because of her tweet saying how she would love to lead the blue brand or whatever it was. They were the 3 main superstars that I thought would get that push on SD with guys like Corbin and others mixed in with a few vets. It kind of happened that way but you can definitely see Raw has the better future ahead of them with the current roster.

If Raw was moved back to 2 hours I would still be thinking that but now I can just tell I was just being a bit more biased towards SD. For 3 hours Raw needs these Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Rusev and Cesaro type guys who can occupy that the first/ second hour (and have everyone wanting to watch it) while having your Brock Lesnars, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns guys are in the main event. Then again you have the CW division hopefully mattering this time so that'll take up roughly the first hour you would imagine.

The one thing I really don't like though is how disgustingly bad Smackdowns Women's division is. I feel sorry for Lynch and Natayla. I absolutely loved that Charlotte went #3, what a way to say the women's division matters, but making that pick such a focus was at the expense of the Smackdowns Women's division. The division is so bad that it makes me wonder why they just wouldn't have had the women's and cruiserweight titles exclusive to each brand. Like I said before though, the impact of Charlottes pick wouldn't be there though if the division was exclusive.

The tag team division on Smackdown is not at the standards of Raws but I think it has some wild cards. I really like the Vaudevillains and it looks like on SD they are the third most credible threat for who's the best team on Smackdown(?). You can now properly build them up, same with the Ascension and the Hype Bros. I think you can make these teams interesting with good booking which would obviously even up the division's a bit. I still feel you need another big team for Smackdown.... Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero anyone?

Bit puzzling to have Cena and Orton on the same roster as it will be almost impossible for these guys to not lock up on the smaller roster, but they are both all time greats so I'm not complaining too much.

All in all I think the rosters are done pretty good. I mean, it was never going to be even whatever happened. People would of still said one side is better than the other, but I think if you give Smackdown two picks from NXT in the next six months, like a Samoa Joe and Bayley, then both rosters look pretty even.

I love how te New Day is still together, confused at why Bryan and Shane didn't pick the club as a whole but I can deal with it and like how Cena is on the blue brand for good now.

Side notesid I miss something about Taker not being available? Does the WWE think he is retired or did they just not want to waste a roster spot on him?
I'm surprised Jericho has actually been on the roster long enough to be drafted. I thought he would of left already. Bit random but I seriosuly thought he was only going to be around for a short while.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I'd prefer the Raw roster to be on Smackdown so I don't need to endure an extra hour, but give or take those are the rosters I want. I care about very few on Smackdown and Ambrose and Cena being there pleases me. I can just eliminate it completely from my viewing schedule.

This draft is already pointless though, cross pollination starts as soon as Battleground and will continue at SummerSlam with Orton/Lesnar, Charlotte /Sasha and possibly Wyatts vs. New Day.

 

[Navi]

I'm okay with the roster's as of now and won't start bitching over them. I mean shit it just happened last night, and we don't know how the new feuds will be handled.

The most puzzling thing is breaking up the Wyatt's. Bray's whole gimmick is that he's a cult leader, and they've taken his cult away. Rowan didn't have a great singles run the last time out, and Strowman has been untested so far. I'm guessing they put Strowman on RAW because of Kane, Big Show, Cass and Luke Gallows. He would have stood out like a sore thumb on SD, where everyone seems to be a little smaller.

I found Becky Lynch's comment to be interesting about how she was drafted to a show that doesn't have a women's title. She said she was all about the belt, and now the belt is on the other show. So don't know what they will do with the women if they have nothing to go for. Same with the tag teams, doesn't seem much point when the tag title is on another brand.

Anyway let's see how this plays out over the next few weeks to see if it was a hit or a miss.

Oh and as for the list the OP provided about those not drafted, the WWE said they weren't going to put any injured wrestlers into the draft. I guess they will go to whatever show they are needed on when they return. Also Undertaker wasn't eligible either because he only wrestle's once a year. HHH is a given, he is COO of the company. He can pretty much go wherever he wants.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've got no problems with the rosters at face value. Like everyone else, I'm waiting to see how feuds are set up and what the title situation is going to be before any sort of long term guess can be made.

If they keep the title situations as they are rather than create new ones for SmackDown, it offers some intriguing possibilities for each brand when it comes to their titles. The WWE Championship is always going to be relevantly used and built, but this is also an opportunity to put even more emphasis on the Intercontinental Championship as it's the only other strap on the blue brand at this point. As for Raw, without having a World Championship, that leaves lots of room for relevance to be spread out for the United States Championship and for the Cruiserweight Championship when it ultimately hits the roster.

However, I think it's only a matter of time before both brands create whatever titles they might need or there'll ultimately be a lot of crossover between the brands when it comes to title feuds.

 

[Wald]

Would like some clarification on the title picture but overall I'm happy. Sure I'd like to have had Owens and Cesaro on Smackdown instead of an Orton or Kane but I'm okay with this. Puzzled as to why Bayley, Joe and/or Nakamura didn't get the call, Joe and Bayley in particular as I felt it was time for them to join us in the main leagues. They could just debut them at any stage I guess, Joe, in particular, is very much needed on Smackdown.

For people thinking Smackdown got the short end of the stick too I'll just point out that John Cena is on Smackdown along with Daniel Bryan. Those two alone give Smackdown a fighting chance against Raw.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I'm pretty much fine with the rosters right now

But at the same time, their a couple of things that either bothered me with some of the wrestlers drafted or in the case of heath slater not drafted.

First of all, i'm worried about finn balor being drafted to Raw for one reason, i thinking that they either going to try that have him imitate AJ Styles by being the new leader of the club or have him being the face of the cruiserweight division which would be bad both way. Finn is talented but doesn'T have the presence that A.J. styles has and can't cut a promo like styles does and if he replace styles as the leader of the club, the comparison will be made and he will fail and on the other hand, if they decide to make him the face of the cruiserweight division, it would be a big waste of talent since the cruiserweight are probably be put on the lower card and again it'S hard to climb up the ladder when you start at the bottom.

Secondly, Why is kalisto on smackdown and sin cara on raw, i would have done the complete opposite in this case, kalisto would have been a great wrestlers to be the focus of the cruiserweight division and would have gave the division importance. Sin Cara on the other end is pretty much near the end of his run and is a good talent to help the younger guys get over and would have been great on smackdown with some of the nxt guys.

Nia jax on raw, i think it's a mistake. Yes she's a big girl and yes she the cousin of the rock and roman reigns but watching her on NXT, she's still need some practice time before coming to the main roster. She is just starting getting into being a monster heel character but just like apollo crews, she needs a lot of practice in the promo department, so unless the plan is to give her a manager when she's starts, i think she would have been better on smackdown like the other NXT girls that got drafted.

Finally, Heath slater not been drafted, kinda bothers me because it felt like they we're picking on him and saying that he not good enough to be chosen by either shows and i fell like we are gonna get a couple of weeks of these backstage segment on raw and smackdown were he tries to get sign to either raw or smackdown and while he a really funny guy i think that these segment will be lame in the long run.

So outside of that, it's pretty much what i expected and it's going to be fun to watch the raw roster change in a couple of month since it seem like Raw drafted a lot of part timers last night with Lesnar not being their all the time and jericho leaving in a couple of months and big show and mark henry barely being use, it might give a chance to younger talent to step into the main event spotlight or guys like sheamus to get back in their.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Puzzled as to why Bayley, Joe and/or Nakamura didn't get the call, Joe and Bayley in particular as I felt it was time for them to join us in the main leagues. They could just debut them at any stage I guess, Joe, in particular, is very much needed on Smackdown.

Bayley won't be called up until after SummerSlam. Based on how things are looking so far, it'll be Bayley against Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship at the TakeOver event in Brooklyn as she has a rematch from when she dropped the title. My guess is that she pops up on either the first Raw or SmackDown after SummerSlam.

Samoa Joe is NXT Champion right now, so he's probably not gonna be up for a bit and considering how long they built up putting the title on him, I've no problem with him staying a little bit longer.

As for Nakamura, he has Joe at TakeOver for the NXT Championship. Given that he's undefeated, it feels to me that he'll win but if he doesn't, then he could be moved to the main roster. Truth be told, however, I don't know if Nakamura cares if he comes to the main roster or not because he's getting main roster pay even though he's on the NXT roster. He left New Japan to make some bigger money in WWE and he's doing that whether it's on the main or NXT roster.

Given that NXT is becoming its own successful brand, some names like Joe and Nakamura are probably gonna be kept on for a little while for star power while the brand rebuilds itself.

 

[BaconBits]

The rosters were really lopsided after the first few rounds, but later rounds evened them back out. Hopefully the way it shakes out we get some fresh feuds we've never seen before. That's really the most important thing in all of this.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I like the rosters. Overall no big surprises and the fact that Ambrose went to Smackdown makes the triple threat at Battleground more exciting for me.

Smackdown definately has a stronger main event scene, just exactly what was needed to draw in more fans.
RAW, while keeping the casuals around will also showcase the new era, Cesaro, Owens, Balor and Zayn.

However I have one question:
Why are Zayn and Owens on the same show?

Plus, Balor will definately bring Balor Club.. It's a shame that Styles' run with The Club ended so soon though. Maybe we will a change of leadership happen at Battleground.

Also, Strowman on his own on RAW? Yikes. I would have prefered Bray with Eric and Strowman, who can do nothing on their own and Harper on his own on RAW.

EDIT: I also expected Enzo & Cass and the New Day to go in diferent shows, so that they can be pushed as the top face team of each show, but seems like WWE had other plans.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Smackdown looks very top heavy to me with Ambrose, Cena, Orton, and Style but RAW looks better because of the depth of the roster and stronger mid card talents like Balor, Owens, Zayn, Cesaro, The Club, Rusev and Neville. Meanwhile Smackdown's undercard looks like the guys WWE tried to push years ago but kind of gave up on like The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.

I like RAW's roster more I just hope one of the guys I mentioned takes the IC Title from Miz.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Literally had one job. Keep Zayn and Owens seperate. They couldn't even do that right. My god.

Why are Cena and Orton on the same brand when they shouldn't ever face each other again? Why is Nia Jax a higher priority pick than Bayley or Nakamura? Why is Strowman getting a singles push?

So many questions, so few answers.

In any case, unless Paul Heyman was brought in to write Smackdown and I didn't hear about it, it's going to be the same garbage every week that we know and love.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Wow, Raw seems to lack faces. That's bad in that I think that means Roman doesn't have any catharsis after his suspension or maybe it means guys like Cesaro and Kofi get big pushes. No? Maybe? No.

Where is this cruiserweight division? Then again what is a cruiserweight? Is Finn there to lead it?

Does AJ get a new Club? I think his heel character was working partially because he had muscle behind him.

I'm sorry Becky. Looks like life is heel turning on you like everyone else.

And is Bray on his own? It didn't really work the first time.

I guess the good news in this is that I'm asking questions instead of making predictions. That means I'm interested and less likely to have them not meet my expectations.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Surprised Samoa Joe and Bayley weren't called up considering they are some of the top talents in NXT.

I know they are currently working in active programs in NXT and Samoa Joe is NXT Champion. Still it would have been cool to have either RAW or SD draft both Bayley and Joe.

Just because these two are drafted it doesn't mean they have to be called up in the main roster immediately. It just means the brand should exclusive rights to the talent, just like real sports drafts. So maybe Joe or Bayley could have been drafted already and once their program in NXT is done they can be called up to their respective rosters.

 

[Messiah]

Surprised Samoa Joe and Bayley weren't called up considering they are some of the top talents in NXT.

That's exactly why they didn't get called up.. Joe is taking Finn's spot as the top guy in WWE. They have no one to take Joe and Bayley's spot if they get called up right now.. No reason to kill the NXT brand by calling up all the best talents like Joe, Nakamura and Bayley... I guess they have Asuka to fill Bayly's role but they called up so many more women than anyone expected last night

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

That's exactly why they didn't get called up.. Joe is taking Finn's spot as the top guy in WWE. They have no one to take Joe and Bayley's spot if they get called up right now.. No reason to kill the NXT brand by calling up all the best talents like Joe, Nakamura and Bayley... I guess they have Asuka to fill Bayly's role but they called up so many more women than anyone expected last night

But realistically wouldn't you want draft the top talents in NXT since you could draft whoever you want from that brand? I mean if you were a GM would you rather have Bayley and Samoa Joe than Nia Jax or American Alpha?

In the kayfabe world I can't see a reason why Joe would get passed over when Balor and American Alpha are all drafted from NXT.

 

[Gallops77]

I can see Harper going to Smackdown to reunite the original Wyatt Family and team with Rowan.

I get the feeling that Ryder is going to somehow beat Rusev, just to see the shock on Stephanie and Foley's faces that they lost the US Title. Only for Darren Young to win the IC Title from The Miz.

I think the Tag Titles should be defended on both shows, as should the Women's Championship. If they bring back the Diva's Title it ruins everything they did the last 6 months with the Women's Division.

As for Bayley, I think she ends up teaming with Sasha Banks at Battleground and goes to Raw as well. Smackdown is truly lacking as far as the Women's division goes, which again makes me hope they have the Women's Champion on both shows if Smackdown has a contender.

The tag division on Smackdown I kind of like. American Alpha, The Usos, The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, Breezango, the possibility of The Hype Bros and if Harper is on Smackdown the Wyatts. It's going to be up to teams like Ascension, Vaudevillains and Breezango to step up and make a name for themselves now.

Ambrose, Styles, Cena, Orton and Bray Wyatt as the main top guys on Smackdown I can get behind. I can see guys like ADR, Ziggler and Kane getting the occasional push towards the top as well. Some of these guys will also be a part of the mid card at some point.

I think Smackdown will be alright. It'll be up to them to help create stars out of Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews and American Alpha, plus there will be future call ups and I can see Nakamura coming to Smackdown to feud with AJ. That'd be great.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

Smackdown will only survive on the potential awesome Orton feuds.

We've seen Cena face every guy on the Smackdown roster, and I'm sure that there are very few people that are filled with excitement to watch him feud with Del Rio/Wyatt/Miz again.
Speaking of the Miz, the IC championship/Smackdown's mid-card doesn't look so great. Other than the champ, the other contenders are Ryder, Ziggler, Kalisto, (Crews, and Corbin)! That is ridiculous, why was it so difficult for wwe to split Jericho/Zayn/Owens/Cesaro up? I heard Cesaro did an interview last night pissed that he wasnt drafted to the Smackdown side, because he felt like all of Raw's attention will be all on Steph and mick, instead of the wrestlers.
As for Raw are we going to be seeing Rollins and Reigns switch out the championship repeatedly?
Looking at the roster there isn't a face who is a fan favorite in the main event. There's Rollins(who is heel), Reigns, Sheamus(who I doubt will be in many main events), and Owens(once he finish with Zayn). This means wwe will either continue to push Reigns the way they have , double turn Rollins and Reigns, or push someone new the fans like (Cesaro or 1 of New Day).
As for the potential cruiserweight division, I am excited, but how will it be introduced? Will wwe sign the CWC guys and put them straight onto Raw without having to go through the performance center/NXT? Or do they start the division with the few guys they have at the moment, Neville, Sin Cara, etc? I could see some issues developing if they put them right on Raw without going through NXT.

Being a Smackdown fan (over Raw) during the first split, I wanted Smackdown to see some of its early glory...guess that's out.
To steal a quote from Mantaur,

So many questions, so few answers.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The whole reason of this re-draft was to make SmackDown relevant and equal to RAW again, and as far as I'm concerned, they failed. RAW has the VAST majority of the top talent. Instead of drafting top stars, the SmackDown showrunners decide to waste prime draft picks on nobodies like Baron Corbin? Completely idiotic, and it shattered the illusion of the picks not being scripted. Baron Corbin and American Alpha got drafted BEFORE the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, The Usos, and Kane? Absolutely ridiculous. SmackDown needs more top talent.

WWE hasn't said whether or not there's a "trade period" following the draft, but every other draft has had one, so if there is, I think the problem can be solved by a multi-person trade to even things out a bit:

RAW receives:

1. Kalisto
2. American Alpha
3. Mojo Rawley
4. Apollo Crews
5. Tyler Breeze
6. Fandango
7. Erick Rowan
8. The Ascension
9. The Vaudevillains
10. Naomi
11. Baron Corbin

SmackDown receives:

1. Sheamus
2. Cesaro
3. The Big Show
4. The Dudley Boyz
5. Goldust
6. Paige
7. Mark Henry
8. The Shining Stars
9. Jack Swagger
10. R-Truth

RAW gets more of the young talent and internet favorites that they can promote to the casual audience to make them into bigger names for the future, and SmackDown gets more of the experienced veterans they need to get fans to watch the show in the first place. Both brands come out looking better and the major failing of the draft is fixed.

 

[TJ Matics]

I see what the powers that be were trying to do with these rosters, and for the most part I agree with their decisions. It's really just up to them to come up with fresh feuds, ideas, and characters to keep things interesting. We've seen so many of each brand's talent feud already that it could be dangerously easy to take the lazy route and just reignite old struggles. Instead of revisiting Cena vs. Orton/Bray/AJ/ and Del Rio have him feud with the younger likes of Corbin/Crews and Orton vs Bray/AJ. Instead of wearing Owens/Zayn out too thin let Sami battle it out with Balor and company and Owens shake up the title scene.

Banks, Paige, and Nia could make for some interesting feuds and turn Naomi face and keep Alexa heel and there's plenty to do for the women on both brands too. Not even including what Bayley and Nikki can bring when they come.

All in all I'm excited to see what the first few months bring.

 

[wwe fan2009]

I'd prefer the Raw roster to be on Smackdown so I don't need to endure an extra hour, but give or take those are the rosters I want. I care about very few on Smackdown and Ambrose and Cena being there pleases me. I can just eliminate it completely from my viewing schedule.

This draft is already pointless though, cross pollination starts as soon as Battleground and will continue at SummerSlam with Orton/Lesnar, Charlotte /Sasha and possibly Wyatts vs. New Day.

but Sasha and Charlotte are both on Raw. cant count battleground since matches were made before draft

 

[Gallops77]

The whole reason of this re-draft was to make SmackDown relevant and equal to RAW again, and as far as I'm concerned, they failed. RAW has the VAST majority of the top talent. Instead of drafting top stars, the SmackDown showrunners decide to waste prime draft picks on nobodies like Baron Corbin? Completely idiotic, and it shattered the illusion of the picks not being scripted. Baron Corbin and American Alpha got drafted BEFORE the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, The Usos, and Kane? Absolutely ridiculous. SmackDown needs more top talent.

WWE hasn't said whether or not there's a "trade period" following the draft, but every other draft has had one, so if there is, I think the problem can be solved by a multi-person trade to even things out a bit:

RAW receives:

1. Kalisto
2. American Alpha
3. Mojo Rawley
4. Apollo Crews
5. Tyler Breeze
6. Fandango
7. Erick Rowan
8. The Ascension
9. The Vaudevillains
10. Naomi
11. Baron Corbin

SmackDown receives:

1. Sheamus
2. Cesaro
3. The Big Show
4. The Dudley Boyz
5. Goldust
6. Paige
7. Mark Henry
8. The Shining Stars
9. Jack Swagger
10. R-Truth

RAW gets more of the young talent and internet favorites that they can promote to the casual audience to make them into bigger names for the future, and SmackDown gets more of the experienced veterans they need to get fans to watch the show in the first place. Both brands come out looking better and the major failing of the draft is fixed.

The idea for Smackdown is to make it younger and fresher. They obviously needed stars like Cena and Orton to make the roster legit, but aside from them, the others are mostly young and have the opportunity to become main event players. I definitely think once Cena is done with AJ, he will eventually feud with Baron Corbin. I think Crews will be next for the IC Title. Ziggler will hopefully get the push he deserves and maybe a decent feud with AJ Styles.

I'm excited for Raw too. I can't wait to see what they do with Balor. Do they turn him heel and team with Gallows and Anderson? Do they have The Club turn on Styles at Battleground or Summerslam?

I think Cena is going to feud with the younger guys for a while on Smackdown to get them some credibility. Orton I can see feuding with AJ, Ambrose or Bray.

Maybe there will be some trades later on, but I think they'll go with what they got for a while.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The idea for Smackdown is to make it younger and fresher. They obviously needed stars like Cena and Orton to make the roster legit, but aside from them, the others are mostly young and have the opportunity to become main event players. I definitely think once Cena is done with AJ, he will eventually feud with Baron Corbin. I think Crews will be next for the IC Title. Ziggler will hopefully get the push he deserves and maybe a decent feud with AJ Styles.

I'm excited for Raw too. I can't wait to see what they do with Balor. Do they turn him heel and team with Gallows and Anderson? Do they have The Club turn on Styles at Battleground or Summerslam?

I think Cena is going to feud with the younger guys for a while on Smackdown to get them some credibility. Orton I can see feuding with AJ, Ambrose or Bray.

Maybe there will be some trades later on, but I think they'll go with what they got for a while.

Younger and fresher isn't going to bring in ratings. SmackDown needed established stars to compete with RAW, and they don't have nearly enough. Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews are nobodies who were complete wastes of draft picks. SmackDown needs more top stars NOW, not in the future.

 

[Radical]

The roster split is fine. It's really more important how the feuds and matches end up that will determine what works best.

For me, the biggest questions that WWE did not answer has to do with Titles. Say what you want about Titles only being a prop, but they are an important prop, when used properly to give meaning to many matches and feuds.

Back in the previous Brand Split WWE had two Women's Titles, two Tag Titles and a WWE and World Title on opposite shows. One show had the US and another show had the IC title.

They could go back that but they also said the Crusierweight Title is coming back and going to be on Raw.

So how is that supposed to work? Raw will have one more title than SmackDown?

I, personally, really like the new Women's Title and that there was only one. I believe that makes the division, which constantly struggles with being interesting, at least have a main goal for every woman to shoot for.

Given the current circumstances, I would have preferred that WWE did something where they basically put all the tag teams on one show and all the women on another show and that's where the respective Titles would go.

There could still be woman on the other show, but mostly as valets/managers (like Lana) and if they do wrestle some matches maybe they have a #1 Contender Title or a Money in the Bank type deal for the women so that woman could cash in their title shot anytime, anywhere.

Same for Tag Teams. Mainly the Tag Teams would be on one show. Any tag teams on another show would be more thrown together and up-start and once they get going, they too could have a #1 Contender match so there could be a LITTLE bit of cross-brand matches which would make for some fresher matches.

The thing is, this is all speculation at this point.

I'm kind of concerned how WWE will handle this. But I'll be eager to hear how they decide to handle this.

 

[Goldberg's Lawyer]

I would have liked to see Owens, Jericho and Cesaro on Smackdown so I could dip in and out of Raw... But as that didn't happen and there's Lesnar, Balor and the cruiserweight division, I shall probably continue with it.

The draft did seem quite flat to me overall, where were the shocks or the live reactions? I remember when Triple H got drafted out of Evolution to Smackdown and shit the fan, it was entertaining. This wasn't really. I guess the point this time was that both shows are equal and going to war but it still felt flat. I'd have love to see a high profile return - Kurt Angle or someone to get things more exciting...

And is it only me who really couldn't care less about the women's division? I fast forward it anyway, but why fragment the division across two shows? Give them to Raw where there's an extra hour I say.