WWE Is Making A Huge Change To This Year’s Draft

WWE will be making a major change to its 2020 draft, one that will affect Raw, SmackDown and NXT.

During a recent NXT TakeOver media call (h/t Wrestling Inc), NXT head Triple H confirmed that there will be a draft later this year and that NXT will be a big part of it: “That mindset has definitely changed. There are different protocols and procedures now around moving an NXT wrestler to the main roster, and you’ll see that in the upcoming draft later this year. You definitely have to think about the changes a lot more now.”

It was reported earlier this year that WWE, after delaying its 2020 draft multiple times, would likely be hosting the draft in October. Though that hasn’t been officially confirmed by WWE, that’s a logical move given that last year’s draft also took place in October. The 2019 WWE Draft was highlighted by a number of major moves, with top stars like Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar jumping to SmackDown to load up the show for its big move to FOX and the likes of Charlotte Flair and Randy Orton moving to Raw to balance things out.

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For the most part, NXT was left out of the 2019 WWE Draft, with The Street Profits technically making the full-time move to Raw but having long been featured on the show in backstage segments prior to that jump. Things have changed a lot over the last year, however, mainly NXT’s “Wednesday Night Wars” ratings competition with AEW Dynamite, which has largely been a losing battle for NXT in 2020. NXT’s consistent ratings losses to AEW have reportedly become a major point of frustration within WWE, which explains why NXT could be moving to Tuesdays and why the yellow brand now figures to have a substantial role in the 2020 Draft.

“Now, wrestlers have the opportunity to wrap up their runs on Raw or SmackDown and move to a completely different brand with a different style in NXT. Maybe refresh, get a fresh coat of paint, or try something different. You can start over with a different character, and [moving to NXT] definitely gives them the ability to do that,” Triple H said.

For several years, WWE would typically just promote NXT stars to the main roster—usually right after WrestleMania—without including them in any Superstar Shakeup or draft. The last time WWE made NXT a pivotal piece of the draft was back in 2016 when the likes of Finn Balor, Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss were surprisingly featured in it, but even then they didn’t play as big of a role as they stand to in 2020. WWE, of course, has already moved a slew of main roster names back to NXT either for short or long-term runs. Stars like Balor and Breezango have gone back to NXT for the long haul while Kevin Owens has returned for one night and Flair had a somewhat lengthy run there during her feud with Rhea Ripley, which led to an NXT Women’s title reign earlier this year.

Flair’s brief move to NXT was a direct result of WWE hoping that her star power would improve NXT viewership, a goal it didn’t really accomplish. But with high-profile names like Orton reportedly pining for a run in NXT and the yellow brand in need of some more star power at attempts to keep pace with AEW, Raw and SmackDown stars moving back to NXT could certainly become the norm moving forward. As it should.

Triple H added, “With all three shows having their own prime time TV slots, all three brands are very important and you can’t just take away from one to support the other. You have to support all of them.”

For the most part, WWE has prioritized its Raw and SmackDown rosters in recent years, and aside from a few of those aforementioned exceptions, NXT hasn’t benefited from the draft—or other roster changes—the way that the red and blue brands have. But times are changing, and with NXT more closely resembling a main roster show, it needs more main roster talent.

And this year’s WWE draft should give it exactly that.