With the WWE Universe still reeling from a baffling act of discontinuity with Seth Rollins seemingly being disqualified in a No DQ match against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt last Sunday at Hell in a Cell (although WWE stated it was a ref stoppage no-contest the next day), WWE has once again broken its own continuity rules by having the undrafted free agents from Friday night’s first night of the WWE Draft on FOX by announcing some of the remaining free agents were drafted by both brands over the weekend.
On Friday, WWE posted a series of rules about the upcoming WWE Draft, including the final one in regards to the eligible names on the occurrence that they end up not bring drafted on Friday night. “Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing.” But that rule, less than 48 hours old, went out the window on Sunday when WWE then announced that several of the free agents were drafted by Raw and SmackDown that weekend.
“Night 1 of the WWE Draft is in the books, but the picks are far from over,” WWE declared on Sunday, before revealing which leftover names from Friday’s eligibility pool were draft post-Friday. Following the initial draft on Friday, nine WWE Superstars and one tag team were left as “free agents”.
- Akira Tozawa
- Cesaro
- Chad Gable
- Drew Gulak
- EC3
- Eric Young
- Heath Slater
- Humberto Carrillo
- Sin Cara
- Tamina
- The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)
On Sunday, it was announced that seven of the WWE Superstars, as well as the lone tag team, were in fact drafted by one of the two brands. They are listed as “additional WWE Draft picks”, so they can’t use the excuse they signed with them, despite saying they had that opportunity now.
WWE Draft Free Agents…Get Drafted?
RAW GETS…
EC3
If you’re an EC3 fan and were hoping he’d end up back in NXT as a free agent to get himself back into contention for anything beyond a match on WWE Main Event or chasing the 24/7 Championship, in the words of Wade Barrett, “I have some bad news for you.” EC3 was re-drafted by his former brand, Raw. The same brand that has only had him compete once since losing to an “on the way out” Dean Ambrose back in February – and that was in another squash match to a returning Rusev three weeks ago. The fact he wasn’t taken in the main draft portion of Friday doesn’t exactly scream that WWE Creative has any huge plans to use the former 2x IMPACT World Champion anytime soon.
ERIC YOUNG
Another odd move, as Eric Young also remains on Raw. The former leader of SaNitY was wasted (alongside his stable) on SmackDown and then used only in 24/7 Championship chases on Raw – and even then it was sporadic. Backstage, Young has handled some producer work, most notably with 205 Live, so he could be there as filler to transition to a backstage role. In recent weeks, he’s been tag-teaming with another former IMPACT World Champion in EC3 on WWE Live Events and on WWE Main Event, so perhaps they’re working on something to use them both together.
SIN CARA
Sin Cara hasn’t really been seen since last summer when he injured his knee in August of 2018 and required surgery. He made a brief return in June as part of the 50-man battle royal at Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia, but only returned to the WWE Live Event circuit three weeks ago, so it appears he’s been cleared for a full return. With Lucha House Party heading to SmackDown on Friday, this brings another luchador to Monday Night Raw, where he joins Rey Mysterio.
SMACKDOWN GETS…
APOLLO CREWS
Back in June, early into former 6x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA‘s NXT career, Apollo Crews made a surprise appearance and faced the NJPW legend. When Apollo Crews was left undrafted and became a “free agent” on Friday night, many hoped we would see the former Uhaa Nation return to the more exciting wrestling product and face the impetus of stars like Matt Riddle, Adam Cole, Jordan Myles (ACH), Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Shane Stickland), and the returning Finn Balor. On Sunday, we found out that he was staying on SmackDown, where he’s been terribly mishandled since coming over in the last Superstar Shake-Up. Although to be fair, he was brutally mishandled on Raw prior to that as well. He got a brief look again last week on Raw against Ricochet, so let’s home they have some desire to showcase him at some point. At least he got his last name back?
DREW GULAK
An interesting move, as the former WWE/NXT Cruiserweight Champion would be finding a new home regardless. Either he would become a new regular with NXT – which I’m sure more Gulak fans would have liked – or he’d join the main brand of either Raw or SmackDown. On Sunday, he was added to SmackDown‘s roster, adding another potential mid-card heel who can work wonders with the younger talents coming through. Potentially the best pick of Sunday based on recent booking.
HEATH SLATER
Fun fact: Heath Slater‘s last televised match on either Raw or SmackDown was on the December 28, 2018 edition of Raw, where he and former tag partner Rhyno faced Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers in a handicap match. Since then it’s been all WWE Main Event and 24/7 Championship bits. He’s hardly worked the WWE Live Event circuit this year either, with less than 20 match appearances so far this year. He’s had a few minor injuries, but hopefully, like Sin Cara, this means he’s ready to return to action more often.
TAMINA
Another injury return, Tamina just returned recently from a concussion that has kept her out of action since July. Prior to that, she had returned to the WWE Live Event circuit, after her tag team with Nia Jax was put on hold following Nia’s own injury problems. She heads over to the Blue Brand from the past year on the Red brand, hopefully adding a power dynamic to the SmackDown Women’s Division.
B-TEAM
Several tag teams went on Friday night, with SmackDown retaining their Tag Team Champions The Revival, as well as Heavy Machinery, and adding Raw’s Lucha House Party. On Sunday, they added another team in former Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team. Somewhere in the wrestling universe, many fans had hoped Bo Dallas would return to NXT where he had his absolute best years as NXT Champion, but alas it looks like he and the Artist Formerly Known as Michael McGillicutty will remain stuck together for a bit longer.
THE “NOW THEY’RE REALLY FREE AGENTS” FREE AGENTS…
CESARO
If these drafts were actually drafted by war teams from both FOX and USA, it’s safe to say both need to hire new heads of talent scouting. Not only was Cesaro not drafted by either team on Friday, but both brands also passed on the Swiss Superman on Sunday’s “additional WWE Draft picks” day as well. A former 6x WWE Tag Team Champion and WWE United States Champion, Cesaro is regarded as one of WWE’s best wrestlers on the roster. While in the storyline it seems absolutely ignorant to have left this man undrafted, one can only hope that his recent appearance for NXT UK at NXT TakeOver: Cardiff was a taster for him heading to WWE’s United Kingdom brand (maybe NXT as well), where he can at least re-join his former Kings of Wrestling tag team partner, Kassius Ohno (aka Chris Hero). During their formative years together, the duo were 2x Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions, 2x Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) World Tag Team Champions, and 2x CHIKARA Campeonatos de Parejas (Tag Team) Champions.
HUMBERTO CARILLO
A strange move not having Humberto Carillo being drafted. The extremely talented luchador from Mexico has been tearing it up in both NXT and on 205 Live, so when his name was added to the list of eligible names, it felt like he was going at least to one of them. With him now a free agent, it will be interesting to see if he still does find a spot on either the Red or Blue Brand, or he’s simply returned to NXT and 205 Live.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
