Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Raw, Smackdown, wrestling, wwe, wwe draft

WWE Draft Night 2 Results and Analysis – Who Else Changed Brands?

Published Tue, 13 Oct 2020 22:05:17 -0500

WWE held the second part of a two-part draft on Monday Night Raw; an event hammered home by commentary and others as one that would forever "alter the landscape" of Raw and Smackdown, in case you were wondering what the corporate buzz phrase of the week was. The pools of superstars were divided in half so that all the good picks didn't happen tonight and left only lower midcarders for the second part of the draft on Raw on Monday. You can read our thoughts on the first night of the draft here. Here's what happened on night two of the draft:

The official logo for the WWE Draft

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 1

Bray Wyatt drafted to Raw.
Bayley drafted to Smackdown.
Randy Orton drafted to Raw.
Street Profits drafted to Smackdown.
Charlotte Flair drafted to Raw.

Analysis

Bray Wyatt moving to Raw is the biggest news of the night, maybe of the entire draft. The Street Profits going to Smackdown was expected since the New Day, who were the Smackdown tag team champs, were drafted to Raw last week. Later in the night, the Street Profits would trade their belts with the New Day so the proper belts would be on each brand. Charlotte Flair, being drafted when she's been out for a while, getting a leaky breast implant fixed could mean she's coming back soon.

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 2

Braun Strowman drafted to Raw.
Daniel Bryan drafted to Smackdown.
Matt Riddle drafted to Raw.
Kevin Owens drafted to Smackdown.
Jeff Hardy drafted to Raw.

Analysis

There were some interesting moves here. Hardy and Riddle moving to Raw definitely spice up the upper midcard there, which has consisted of seemingly nothing but Hurt Business vs. Apollo Crews matches for months now. Strowman looks to be headed to a hoss feud with Keith Lee, but he's been on Raw for a few weeks anyway. Owens moving to Smackdown also offers some new options for the Smackdown main event scene. Roman Reigns is gonna need someone else to feud with after he's finished with Jey Uso, after all.

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 3

Retribution drafted to Raw.
Lars Sullivan drafted to Smackdown.
Keith Lee drafted to Raw.
Baron Corbin drafted to Smackdown.
Alexa Bliss drafted to Raw.

Analysis

Kind of a useless round here. Alexa Bliss was gonna come with The Fiend because she's just started a story with him, obviously. Nobody cares about Lars Sullivan, so I don't get why WWE keeps trying to bring him back and push him even though he's such a liability in terms of PR. One thing of note: Mercedes Martinez wasn't pictured with Retribution, possibly confirming rumors she's been taken out of the group.

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 4

Elias drafted to Raw.
Sami Zayn drafted to Smackdown.
Lacey Evans drafted to Raw.
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura drafted to Smackdown.
Sheamus drafted to Raw.

Analysis

Elias doesn't so much move from one show to another as come back from injury (he attacked Jeff Hardy during a match on Raw). Lacey Evans and Sheamus are the other moves in this round, and I suspect Evans will be used more effectively. Sheamus probably just came so he could stick close to Hardy since becoming addicted to drinking his urine during a Smackdown angle a while back.

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 5

Nikki Cross drafted to Raw
Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler drafted to Smackdown
R-Truth drafted to RAW
Apollo Crews drafted to Smackdown
Dabba-Kato drafted to RAW

Analysis

Well, thank goodness R-Truth will stay on Raw, so he continues his multi-year feud with Akira Tozawa for the stupid 24/7 championship. Nikki Cross moved to Raw, and Ziggler, Roode, and Apollo Crews moved to Smackdown, and it won't make any difference in any of WWE's future plans. I guess Dabba-Kato may appear outside of Raw Underground now.

WWE Draft Night 2 Round 6

Titus O'Neil drafted to Raw.
Carmella drafted to Smackdown.
Peyton Royce drafted to Raw.
Aleister Black drafted to Smackdown.
Akira Tozawa drafted to Raw.

Analysis

This was the last round of the night on Raw, and kind of a dud. Aleister Black was the only change this round. Well, actually, I'm not even sure what brand Titus O'Neil was on before, but it doesn't matter because he doesn't really wrestle anyway. He's like, an ambassador or something.

WWE Draft Night 2 Bonus Round

In a final round taking place on Raw Talk after Raw, Lana, Riddick Moss, Arturo Ruas, and the Riott Squad were drafted to Raw while Natalya was drafted to Smackdown. I'm not sure of the wisdom of breaking up Lana and Natalya, as neither of them really had anything to do before teaming up. Then again, they've just been losing since teaming up, so maybe it doesn't matter. The Riott Squad can job out on Raw or Smackdown, it doesn't matter.

So that's it for the 2020 WWE Draft. Were the landscapes of Raw and Smackdown forever altered? I guess. Somehow, WWE still feels like the same old boring WWE no matter what. And somehow, they screwed up the booking of the draft, as many of the decisions (such as picking just one member of a tag team when you can get both with one pick, or saving bigger names until later in the night) only make sense if you look at it as a scripted event designed to create tension throughout the night, as opposed to a contest between two brands trying to sign the best stars.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!