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By Ryan Satin
The WWE Draft continues tonight on USA Network, so here’s another mock draft featuring the talent available on night two to get you prepared.
SmackDown suffered a big blow on Friday when Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were drafted to Raw without Big E, moments after winning the SD Tag Team titles.
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The blue brand must now make up for that by aggressively going after champions in the early goings of night two.
As a reminder, here are the results of the first part of the WWE Draft which took place Friday night on SmackDown.
An additional round on Talking Smack saw Humberto Carrillo get drafted to Raw, Murphy to SmackDown, Drew Gulak to Raw, Kalisto to SmackDown and Tucker to Raw (splitting Heavy Machinery).
Here is the list of Superstars up for grabs tonight in the WWE Draft.
(Ed. note: The Miz & John Morrison were made available in the night one pool shortly before SmackDown, while Elias is now available on night two. In addition, Lars Sullivan is available after his surprise return on Friday.)
For night two of my mock draft, I attempted to load SmackDown with versatile talent who are effectively able to play heel or face roles when the situation calls for it. This was due to the fact that the blue brand gets less picks overall.
For Raw, my mock draft choices were designed to give Drew McIntyre more options for WWE title contenders.
And the first round of night two looks easy to predict.
Raw: Randy Orton
SmackDown: Bayley
Raw: Charlotte Flair
SmackDown: The Street Profits
Raw: Bray Wyatt aka "The Fiend"
Randy Orton has been one of the main characters driving storylines on Raw for the entire year, and there’s no reason to change that, especially with Roman Reigns occupying the top heel position on SmackDown.
Bayley and The Street Profits seem like the logical first choices for SmackDown in order to protect their Women’s title and regain tag belts on the show.
As stated in my "6 WWE Draft Moves That Need to Happen" article, Bray Wyatt being drafted to Raw would be a good decision. This steal seems like it could happen early if SmackDown has to pick Street Profits in the first round to protect their tag team division.
Charlotte Flair also sounds like a safe bet for the first round in order for Raw to ensure they don’t lose one of their top stars – even if she’s not currently in action.
Raw: Alexa Bliss
SmackDown: Sami Zayn
Raw: Braun Strowman
SmackDown: Carmella
Raw: Keith Lee
The logical choices right off the bat here are Alexa Bliss being drafted to Raw to join Bray Wyatt and Sami Zayn staying on SmackDown with the Intercontinental title.
Braun Strowman should go in one of the early rounds as well, and since he’s showing up every week on Monday nights anyway, he may as well become part of Raw in this year’s draft. Especially since he and Keith Lee started a feud last week which will most likely continue there.
Carmella has been the subject of return vignettes on SmackDown over the past few weeks, so you’d think she would be a lock as an early round pick for them. However, as we saw with Bianca Belair, being in the midst of hype videos might not be enough to stop a change of brands if they feel it’s necessary.
Raw: Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
SmackDown: Kevin Owens
Raw: Andrade
SmackDown: Daniel Bryan
Raw: Lacey Evans
Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan could go sooner in the draft. Both are better fits for SmackDown, though, and can be used there as future opponents for Roman Reigns.
Ziggler, Roode and Andrade are all good utility players on Raw as well. Andrade’s stock may have fallen a little since the last draft due to his occupancy in the tag team division, but he can still be a player on Monday nights with the right push.
Lacey Evans could end up on either brand, really, as she’s not in the middle of anything important, but a return to Raw for the "Sassy Southern Belle" would be best since she seems to find more success there.
Raw: Matt Riddle
SmackDown: Apollo Crews
Raw: Aleister Black
SmackDown: Sheamus
Raw: R-Truth
I’m not sure how confident I am with some of my picks in round 4, but they were all necessary when looking at the rosters up to this point in my mock draft.
Sheamus, R-Truth and Aleister Black are fine in their respective roles at the moment and don’t need a change of brands at this time.
Raw is very heel-heavy. A babyface like Matt Riddle who can put on good matches with anyone helps balance things out. Plus, if they continue Raw Underground, he could be its king.
Apollo Crews has received a lot of TV time due to his feud with The Hurt Business, but I’m not sure where he fits on Raw anymore with Mustafa Ali revealing himself as the leader of Retribution. Crews would be better off wrestling competitive matches on Friday nights.
Raw: King Corbin
SmackDown: Jeff Hardy
Raw: Peyton Royce
SmackDown: The Riott Squad
Raw: Dabba-Kato
Each of these picks was for a specific reason.
Jeff Hardy has proven he’s still valuable to SmackDown. This was evident during his recent work surrounding the Intercontinental Championship. If things continue, "The Charismatic Enigma" could be a worthwhile opponent for Roman Reigns down the line.
King Corbin, on the other hand, seems to be more valuable to Raw when he’s there. Corbin's heel work on SmackDown has been fantastic, but like Lacey Evans he found more success on Monday nights. Drafting him back could be a good move for all parties.
As for Peyton Royce, if WWE is still planning to pull the trigger on a singles push for her, a decent showing in the draft would help with that. Especially if she gets drafted on TV and Billie Kay is a supplemental pick.
The Riott Squad need to change things up in order to shed their losing image. They’ve had trouble catching people’s attention since reforming their team and being given a chance to rebrand themselves on SmackDown could fix that.
Dabba-Kato is a monster with tons of potential. Since he was given a decent amount of screen time during Raw Underground, he should be picked by Team Red whether WWE plans to continue with those segments or not.
If polished and pushed correctly, Dabba-Kato could be a new player in the main event scene within a year’s time.
Raw: Natalya
SmackDown: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura
Raw: Lars Sullivan
SmackDown: Nikki Cross
Raw: RETRIBUTION w/ Mustafa Ali
Natalya and Nikki Cross don’t need to move from the brands they’re on. Nikki, however, does need to get her own personality now that she and Alexa Bliss are no longer a team. The partnership between them helped Cross find her footing on the main roster, but now we need to see what she can do on her own.
Cesaro and Shinsuke should probably go higher in the draft, but losing the SmackDown tag titles before night two didn’t help their standings.
Lars Sullivan to Raw was done purely to get him on the same show as Drew McIntyre. A match between the two of them at a big pay-per-view event seems inevitable.
When it comes to RETRIBUTION, I know what you’re thinking: "Why would either brand draft a group whose sole purpose is to bring down their show/company?"
To that, I say: "Great question!"
Either way, the group is clearly a big part of Raw’s creative plans at the moment, and Mustafa Ali as their leader has a ton of potential.
A final round draft pick on whichever night they’re available would additionally reinforce their need for ………. RETRIBUTION!
Supplemental picks for Raw: Lana, Riddick Moss, Arturo Ruas
Supplemental picks for SmackDown: Zelina Vega, Billie Kay, Elias
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