New era, same boring WWE Draft

Raw airs tonight (April 29) with a live show from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. This is the final episode of Raw during the four week build towards Backlash, which takes place on Saturday (May 4) in France.

New era, same boring WWE Draft

The 2024 WWE Draft finishes up tonight on Raw. There will be six rounds of four picks, for a total of 24 selections. Those selections will come from this list of 29 wrestlers / teams, as well as the NXT roster:

• Braun Strowman
• DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa)
• Apollo Crews
• Bronson Reed
• Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell
• Chelsea Green & Piper Niven
• CM Punk
• The Creeds (Brutus Creed, Julius Creed & Ivy Nile)
• Imperium (Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser)
• Giovanni Vinci
• The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, AOP, Paul Ellering & Scarlett)
• Drew McIntyre
• Damage CTRL (Kabuki Warriors, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai)
• Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, JD McDonagh & Dominik Mysterio)
• Kayden Carter & Katana Chance
• Kevin Owens
• Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Angel, Berto & Elektra Lopez)
• Naomi
• Natalya
• The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Street Profits & B-Fab)
• Tegan Nox
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince)
• Odyssey Jones
• The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)
• New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate)
• Tiffany Stratton
• LWO (Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Dragon Lee, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro & Zelina Vega)
• Jade Cargill

As usual, there’s a lot of buzz going into the draft this year, but one thing that was evident on night one is that WWE’s new era did not come with a new vision for how to handle these draft shows. Night one was a rather ho-hum and underwhelming show, with very little draft-related excitement to be had aside from Carmelo Hayes being picked in round one by SmackDown. When the event kicks off with the top star in the company (Roman Reigns) pulling himself out of the draft via Paul Heyman, it sends the wrong message about the importance of what we are watching.

If you are wondering why WWE didn’t try something significantly different for this year’s draft format, it’s probably because the WWE Draft primarily exists to draw TV ratings. This format has been a big ratings success for WWE in the past, so there’s little incentive to make a change. At the end of the day, WWE can and will change up the Raw and SmackDown rosters throughout the year as needed based on injuries and creative plans, so the actual draft results don’t really matter all that much, aside from notable NXT call-ups.

That being said, there are several interesting things worth pointing out about tonight’s draft pool. First, Braun Strowman last wrestled on May 1, 2023, almost exactly one year ago. He’s been out of action since then due to neck fusion surgery, but his inclusion in tonight’s draft pool indicates he’ll be back very soon. Could we see his return happen tonight?

It also looks like WWE is still including Carlito’s name among the wrestlers who will be drafted with the LWO, even though he turned on the group and was exposed as Dragon Lee’s mystery attacker. Will Carlito be separated out as his own draft pick (like Giovanni Vinci) in time for Raw?

CM Punk should be returning to Raw tonight for the draft. He and Drew McIntyre are part of the draft pool and could both be off the board in round one. Will McIntyre try to attack Punk tonight and give his fragile body a new injury to deal with? Will they be drafted onto the same brand? Which star will be drafted first?

Jade Cargill took nearly two months before deciding to sign a SmackDown contract. It sure would be something if she is then moved over to Raw during the draft one month later, right? Her tag team partner Bianca Belair was drafted first overall by SmackDown last week, for what it’s worth.

Damian Priest is protected from the draft because he’s the world heavyweight champion. However, his Judgment Day stablemates Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Dominik Mysterio will all be drafted together in one pick tonight. What happens to The Judgment Day if those three guys are moved over to SmackDown, while Priest remains on Raw?

At least five entries in the above list will be snubbed from the televised portion of the draft and dumped into an online supplemental round. Some of the candidates for that doomed fate include Apollo Crews, Giovanni Vinci, Natalya, Tegan Nox, and Odyssey Jones. But with every NXT wrestler who is drafted, one more name from the above list will also be snubbed. That could result in a more surprising snub like Shinsuke Nakamura or some of the women’s tag teams.

The rest of the card

United States Champion Logan Paul is scheduled for an appearance on Raw. The champ could be looking ahead to WWE’s trip to Saudi Arabia later in May for the King and Queen of the Ring event. Will someone interrupt the YouTube douchebag tonight and step up as his next potential challenger?

A six-man tag team match of Jey Uso, Andrade & Ricochet vs. Damian Priest, JD McDonagh & Finn Balor is booked for tonight. Andrade and Ricochet have some mid-card momentum going their way right now, while Jey Uso could use a win heading into his World Heavyweight Championship match against Priest at Backlash. McDonagh stands out as the obvious guy to take the fall in this one, unless WWE actually does want Jey to pin Damian’s shoulders down to the mat one time before Backlash.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

– GUNTHER is back from a short break and has declared his entry into the King of the Ring tournament. Is there anything King Xavier Woods can do to stop GUNTHER from taking his crown?

– Chad Gable is sick of tolerating failure within Alpha Academy, and that brings into question the future of Otis, Akira Tozawa, and Maxxine Dupri in the group. Is it time to replace them with wrestlers that have a brighter future, such as The Creeds?

– There’s room for another match or two at Backlash, and this is the go-home show. Is there any time left to book another World tag team championship defense for Miz and R-Truth?

– Becky Lynch is the new Women’s world champion! What will The Man have to say now that she’s back on top of the women’s division? Will she be immediately confronted by Liv Morgan?

– Bron Breakker was drafted to Raw, and the new rosters will be locked in place starting next Monday. Will Bron show up a week early to squash some jabroni?

– There’s a new mystery campaign going on similar to the White Rabbit, and a big reveal should be coming soon. Does this mean Uncle Howdy and/or Alexa Bliss will be back on our TV screens in May?

– Where the f*ck is Omos?

What will you be looking for on Raw?