Braun Strowman’s Return & The Draft Headline Monday Night Raw

The second night of the WWE Draft and RAW have never traditionally gone together. Since the big FOX deal that WWE landed in 2019, moving SMACKDOWN to Friday nights, the former ‘B-show’ is now considered WWE’s premiere programming Monday-Friday. That means that RAW, after decades of being the ‘main show,’ now takes a backseat to SmackDown in a way that the ‘blue brand’ used to since its inception.

Rules:

-Superstars from RAW, SMACKDOWN, and NXT are eligible for the draft

-4 rounds tonight, 6 rounds Monday on RAW

-Champions on each brand are protected and automatically assigned to their title’s brand

-SmackDown picks first tonight

-Raw picks first Monday

-Rosters lock Monday, May 6th

SmackDown

World Champion: Cody Rhodes

United States Champ: Logan Paul

Tag Team Champs: A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory & Grayson Waller)

Raw

Heavyweight Champion: Damian Priest

Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn

Tag Team Champs: Awesome Truth (Miz & R-Truth)

Draft Round 1

RAW PICKS:

1. IMPERIUM (GUNTHER & LUDWIG KAISER)—Gunther is certainly worth of a first-round pick, but to get a kicker like Kaiser along with the pick makes this one of the key moves of the draft
2. DAMAGE CTRL (Iyo Sky, Asuka, Dakota Kai, & Kairi Sane)—With RAW carrying an extra hour of TV, they need the bodies, but this much talent in one pick is a winning strategy

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. Jade Cargill – This is going to be interesting. This would be the move in an NFL draft where you pick the player who looks the goods but desperately needs the basics. This was a big swing, and the good news is that she has some time to learn.
2. Kevin Owens—It is difficult to consider why KO went this late in the draft, and WWE should really try implementing deeper storylines that explain the picks. In the future, WWE might want to hire a staff of writers who understand the science and strategy behind the ‘art of the draft.’

Round 2

RAW PICKS:

1. CM Punk—Injured, old, and possibly not much left in the tank, but he is still a huge name and should’ve been one of the first five taken off the board on Friday. RAW had to take him because of the feud with their champ, McIntyre. That said, has his locker room toxicity caught up with him? He cut a promo on McIntyre, but as good as both have been, the injury is causing this feud to feel slow.
2. Braun Strowman—Great pick in 2016

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Montez Ford, and Angelo Dawkins and B-Fab)—If Street Profits aren’t going to win the SD titles next week, then maybe the singles push for Ford should be activated
2. Tiffany Stratton—this is one of the best sleeper picks of the draft. Stratton has real momentum behind her and is certainly resonating with the fans.

Round 3

RAW PICKS:

1. LWO
2. Drew McIntyre (Former heavyweight champion and Universal Champion)—The only reason I see for Drew being drafted so late was to keep up with the Punk feud on RAW TV

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. Legado Del Fantasma
2. Shinsuke Nakamura (Former IC champ)—Nakamura is not having a great year thus far, and other than his brief usage for what was possibly an attempt to lure Okada to WWE, he has nothing to do. Hopefully, that changes after the draft.

Round 4

RAW PICKS:

1. Judgement Day (Fin Balor, JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio)—With Priest owning the title that made him RAW-bound, the rest of his team comes along with him officially, and just in time for their break up.
2. Ilja Dragunov

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. Naomi (former Women’s world champ)—This felt late, but when you think of how they’ve booked Naomi since her return, you could make the argument that her going in a round off-TV was just as likely
2. Chelse Green and Piper Niven

Round 5

RAW PICKS:

1. NEW DAY (Kofi and Xavier Woods)—You cannot underestimate the talent inside the NEW DAY, but a shift could do wonders for them. As great as they have been, it would be nice to see some singles gold around their waist.
2. Iyra Valkyra

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson)
2. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell

Round 6

RAW PICKS:

1. Final Testament (Karion Kross, Scarlett, Akam, Rezar)
2. Bronson Reed

SMACKDOWN PICKS:

1. DIY (Tomaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano)—I’m glad they got picked on air, and I’m even happier they are on SmackDown as I feel it is easier to get lost in the shuffle of RAW’s three-hour programming
2. Blair Davenport

Matches and Tidbits

• Gunther def Xavier Woods by submission
• Braun Strowman saved Jey Uso from an attack by Logan Paul and Judgement Day. Even Patrick Mahomes got in on the action. After Logan Paul and iShowSpeed announced the 2^nd round picks, Paul went to the ring and cut a promo that lured Jey Uso out. After the attack, Mahomes offered up his Super Bowl ring as a replacement for Paul’s brass knuckles
• Zayne successfully defends the IC title against REED, won by DQ
• Awesome Truth successfully defended tag titles against Alpha Academy
• Jey Uso, Ricochet, and Andrade def The Judgement Day by pinfall

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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