Yes, WWE Really Did Reveal The Draft Order Before It Had Even Started

TheSportster

By Josh Coulson

Published Oct 12, 2019

If the order Raw and SmackDown picked Superstars during the draft seemed familiar, it's because WWE revealed the order before the show.

If you felt as you knew who was going to be picked next during last night's draft, that's probably because WWE published the order before the show even started.

Night one of WWE's 2019 Draft is now in the books. At the time of typing this, 20 Superstars now know whether they'll be appearing on TV on Mondays or Fridays. Raw won the first pick and opted for Becky Lynch, to which SmackDown responded by picking Roman Reigns first. Bray Wyatt, The OC, and Drew McIntyre were also picked in the first round.

If that group of five Superstars in that order looked familiar to you, there's a good reason for that. WWE revealed before SmackDown that a pool of 30 Superstars would be eligible for draft night one, and then another 40 will be up for selection on Raw this Monday. It then proceeded to list which 30 executives from FOX and USA could choose from. The only problem is, they listed them in almost the exact order they wound up being picked.

Fans thought the first round might just be a coincidence, became suspicious during the second, and most will have had their heads in their hands by round three. For some fans, it probably meant tuning out of SmackDown before the show was over as they already knew which Superstars would be drafted and what shows they's be ending up on.

The 20 picks weren't the exact order published on WWE's press release. Clearly, in typical Vince McMahon fashion, the boss made a few last-minute changes. The release listed Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as being selected together. They wound up being picked separately, but still, both wound up on Raw, meaning Team Red's execs basically wasted a pick as they could have selected them as a tag team.

The Cross shift meant things were juggled a little. Kevin Owens wound up being picked in round three instead of round four. Considering how vocal he has been about being picked so late, that's probably best for WWE. Nevertheless, the 20 Superstars and tag teams published in the top 20 spots in WWE's preshow press release were the ones who wound up being picked. Hopefully, WWE doesn't make the same mistake/lazy decision ahead of Raw for the second night of the draft.

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