The annual WWE Draft is a time to shake things up. Last week Friday and Monday night, the company did their best to achieve that feat. Now a few days removed, let’s take a look at what was…and wasn’t done.

My WWE Draft 2020 Thoughts

Best Move – The best flip of the 2020 WWE Draft was my #1 pick for the blue brand: Seth Rollins going to Smackdown was a long time coming. Forget the Monday night Messiah nickname. He is now on Friday nights, and the entire playing field is wide open. While some guys/gals were simply moved just for the sake of it, this was brilliant. A lot of folks predicted it would finally happen, and it did. Early signs are he will wrap up his Mysterio family feud and then take on Daniel Bryan. That is fine by me. Rollins has done it all on Raw. Face, heel, tag team, singles, main event, etc. Time for a new beginning. The WWE Draft exists for moves exactly like this.

Worst Move – I am cool with Bray Wyatt (The Fiend) moving to Raw. He seems to have hit his ceiling on Smackdown and wasn’t going to get the Universal Championship back. The gimmick had run its’ and had to be switched up a little. That is where Alexa Bliss comes in. I love the pairing and look forward to seeing what the next chapter is. Here is the problem with all of this: Not only did Braun Strowman also move to Raw, so did Nikki Cross. All four of them have been intertwined in a weird story line kinda thing for months now with varying results. I was REALLY hoping for a clean slate with Bliss and Fiend doing their own thing. Maybe they still will? I just fear with Cross and Strowman also on the same show we may get more of the same. If that is indeed true, this is a bad decision. A horrible one and not what’s best for the red brand. Time will tell.

Most Surprising – In my preview column, I declared that Keith Lee, Randy Orton, and The Stud Drew McIntyre could NOT remain on the same brand. Well, Drew wasn’t going anything on Raw, so he was staying put. Lee had just showed up, so that was iffy. Plus, with Mia Yim on the red brand, he was likely to stay put as well. Even with no travel schedule, WWE tends to favor real life couples remaining on the same brand. That only left Mr. RKO who could potentially be moved. There was one major problem though. He JUST moved over to Raw last year. Would WWE really move him back to the blue brand? Especially with his feud against Edge likely continuing very soon? Well, I thought it would have fit in nicely on FOX. Sadly, WWE disagreed. Orton is still on Raw. Lee is still on Raw, and of course, Drew is still on Raw. With Orton racking up the big losses as of late, he really felt like the odd man out. Guess not. We’ll see how this goes. Seems very log jammed with all three stuck together.

Least Surprising – Similar to Seth Rollins moving to Smackdown, I had Sheamus moving to RAW as a 100% dead lock. It was 100% happening. He was my one and only guarantee in the entire WWE Draft. Obviously, I was right. The Celtic Warrior going to the red brand is a great move. I believe he will thrive and return to the main event scene. His buddy McIntyre is currently the WWE Champion. No doubt they will lock up, and it will be a very hard hitting affair. The other clear, cut least surprising flip was AJ Styles moving back to Raw. I laid out all the details on why in my previous column. All of it was true, and now we see what WWE has planned for him being back on the red brand. I am ready for it.

Questionable Move With A Negative Effect – On the surface, Sasha Banks and Bayley remaining on Smackdown to feud is obvious. They have had a lengthy story line with one another and get to have a proper conclusion. Makes sense, right? Even inside the cell, that is a no brainer. Here is the issue. What about after that? A potential tag team reunion to take on Raw, if Survivor Series is all about brand supremacy? If WWE avoids that direction, I assume a rematch? After the cell bout though, that is debatable. Okay, so the feud ends after the cell? Okay…then why are they both on Smackdown? If it is a one and done blowoff, they should be going in separate directions. No matter who goes where. I don’t know. We have seen Sasha and Bayley connected at the hip for YEARS. Reminds me of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens – those two needed to break up for awhile. Sasha and Bayley have to do their own thing. Doing it on the same brand is going to be awkward.

Questionable Move With A Positive Effect – The New Day are officially done. Get it? Positive? I know the initial reaction was shock and sadness. Well, I wrote about this happening in my preview column, and I am all for it. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston surprising the world by winning the tag titles and moving to Raw was one thing. Honestly, it is a ‘been there, done that’ thing. Who cares really? Doesn’t mean much. The real story is that Big E will not be following them. That is why this all matters, and let me tell you all one thing: I think this is the best thing to ever happen to Big E. He knows, deep down, that his career is about to be better off than before The New Day AND during The New Day. His time is finally here. Fans are speculating Roman Reigns is on a collision course with The Rock come WrestleMania 37. I do agree, but if that is not possible, Big E has to be the favorite. This is big…Big E’s moment.

SUMMARY: All in all, I am fairly satisfied with the 2020 version of the WWE Draft. Do I agree with some of the ‘order’ of picks? No. Do I agree with the format and all that jazz? No. Do I think everything was SHAKEN UP?!?! No, not entirely. However, I will say enough big names were moved, and enough mid carders get a fresh start. AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, Kevin Owens, Bianca Belair, Aleister Black, The Fiend, Matt Riddle, Braun Strowman, Zelina Vega, Jeff Hardy, The Street Profits, and plenty of other big names were drafted to different brands. What happens going forward is up to the talent involved. As far as the 2020 WWE Draft is concerned though, good job.

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