– Fightful Select has additonal backstage notes from last night’s SmackDown, featuring Night 1 of the 2024 WWE Draft. As previously noted, many talent had no idea until last night which roster they would be heading to, and many didn’t find out about their status until the show started to air. As of today, talents listed in the Raw pool reportedly weren’t given any indication on where they will be drafted.
It’s noted that many individuals had a good idea that Carmelo Hayes would be drafted to SmackDown, since he was listed for SmackDown that day and also on internal rundowns of the show throughout the afternoon. Another NXT Superstar who was drafted to the main roster was Kiana James. James was reportedly genuinely surprised by the callup and was not told what brand she would be drafted to. WWE is said to have prepared her video package earlier this week. One NXT talent noted to Fightful that James was one of the best in-ring workers in the NXT women’s division.
Many fans have noticed that there weren’t many roster changes last night, other than NXT Superstars going to the main roster, and Bron Breakker going to Raw. According to Fightful, the notion was put forth on TV that retaining the familiar talents on the roster was important. That likely explains the line during the broadcast about looking the “preserve” the rosters. The report also notes that more roster switches are expected this Monday on Raw, along with more NXT talents being drafted.
While Breakker is moving to Raw, his former Wolf Dogs tag team partner Baron Corbin was drafted to SmackDown. The report notes that WWE drafted them to separate brands because Breakker is seen as a potential major singles star. WWE is also reportedly going to give a renewed look to Corbin now that he’s back on SmackDown. He’s not received a significant push on the main roster in quite some time. Corbin was at SmackDown last night. As noted, WWE later released a video showing him interacting with Breakker at the event.
– Fightful reports that NXT Superstar Wendy Choo was at the WWE Performance Center last night for the NXT party during the Draft. According to the report, backstage sources are hopeful for a return for her soon.
