The 2023 WWE Draft begins, Butch VS LA Knight
Triple H arrived to start this year’s WWE Draft before he said that these rosters will come into effect on May 8th so after BackLash is finished. The first pick of the draft went to Friday Night SmackDown and they selected the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns (as well as Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman) which makes sense before Monday Night Raw picked the American Nightmare Cody Rhodes. Interestingly, SmackDown chose the reigning Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair next so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with the belt whilst Becky Lynch was the final pick of the first round. The Usos then arrived to remind everyone that they were dedicating tonight’s victory to the Tribal Chief before Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn came out. Zayn continued to tell Jey that Roman doesn’t care about them whilst KO made it clear he was bored of talking. All of this was good.
Grade: B-
Bianca Belair spoke from Belfast about her excitement to become the SmackDown Women’s Champion. A part of me hopes Rhea gets drafted to SmackDown so Belair has to drop her title. Butch was then out for the first match of the night as he was about to take on the Megastar, LA Knight. This match was set up in a backstage confrontation and both men were given time to show what they’ve got. Butch is a master technician whilst LA Knight is so over with the crowd which meant this match worked well. In the end, LA Knight hit the BFT to pick up a much-needed victory. YEAH!
Grade: B-
The Draft continues, The Street Profits VS Braun Strowman and Ricochet VS The LWO
After a Bloodline segment which saw Paul Heyman tell the Usos that “tonight is the night”, Rob Van Dam and Michael Hayes were out next to announce the picks for the second round of the draft. SmackDown managed to pick up both the Street Profits and the Rated-R Superstar Edge whilst Raw selected Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser, Giovanni Vinci) and Matt Riddle. The reigning Intercontinental Champion going over to Raw was definitely the highlight of this round. The Street Profits then made their way down to the ring as they were about to compete in triple threat tag team action. Their opponents were Braun Strowman and Ricochet as well as the LWO’s Cruz del Toro and Joaquin Wilde and this match contained some entertaining spots, particularly due to the high flyers. Ricochet is one of the best in the world whilst del Toro and Wilde are such a good watch. Montez Ford is fantastic whilst Angelo Dawkins deserves massive props for how much he’s improved in the ring. Braun Strowman still seemed a bit off for some reason and it was his partner who ended up losing the match as Montez Ford delivered the Frog Splash to the One and Only to get the victory. This was decent all round, but I really didn’t want to see the Street Profits stay together.
Grade: C+
The final two rounds of tonight’s Draft, Zelina Vega VS Sonya Deville
JBL and Teddy Long were the next two guests to announce who will be heading to either Raw or SmackDown. Friday nights will now see Bobby Lashley as well as the O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and “Michin” Mia Yim) whilst Monday nights will feature Drew McIntyre and the Miz. The prospect of both Bobby Lashley and AJ Styles having a feud with Roman Reigns is really exciting. Zelina Vega then made her way down to the ring as she was about to go one-on-one with Sonya Deville. I didn’t really get this match, I’m assuming the story that was meant to be told was that Zelina Vega can pull off upsets. However, it came across as if Vega couldn’t match up to Sonya Deville (who never wins anything) and she scored a lucky pinfall victory. However, I did like the aftermath as Rhea Ripley booted Vega right in the back of the head before she dropped a silly Sonya Deville who tried to get involved for some reason. As Ripley was going for the Riptide, Vega managed to reverse it and stunned the SmackDown Women’s Champion with a DDT. I do think the idea of Ripley VS Vega is cool, but the way they made the Queen of WWE look wasn’t great.
Grade: C
Zelina Vega was then backstage as both Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar praised her. Mysterio told Vega that you can achieve anything no matter your size and as long as she believes, she will become the SmackDown Women’s Champion. I highly doubt that, but I’ve also seen Leon Ruff beat Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American Championship so you can never be too sure. The O.C. then returned to WWE tv before they were quickly interrupted by the Viking Raiders. This didn’t work out too well for the Raiders who got dropped by the O.C. before Styles delivered the Phenomenal Forearm to Ivar. The problem with this whole segment is besides AJ, nobody involved in this segment has been booked to feel important. That needs to change after May 8th. Shawn Michaels and Road Dogg were then out on the stage to announce the 4th and final draft picks of the night. Friday Night SmackDown selected Damage CTRL which was cool before Raw selected Shinsuke Nakamura which allows the King of Strong Style to potentially finally win World Championship gold on the main roster. However, I was then stunned at the next pick as Friday Night SmackDown selected Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn who just so happen to be the current NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. Shawn Michaels was then losing it as Raw selected Indi Hartwell, the current NXT Women’s Champion! I’m really intrigued by this because it creates a bunch of questions. Is Hartwell going to have to relinquish her title? Are Fyre and Dawn going to have to relinquish their championships? Will we see a tournament to crown new champions? Will they merge the WWE and NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships together? I certainly hope it’s not the last one, but I definitely didn’t have the Unholy Union on my 2023 WWE Draft bingo card!
Grade: C for the O.C. segment, B+ for the final round of the draft
NXT’s McKenzie Mitchell spoke to Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn who were clearly delighted at being drafted to Friday Night SmackDown. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter then came up to them and told them that they aren’t taking the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships with them which is why they’re challenging them to a match for the titles on Tuesday. The thing is, I really want the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships to stay on NXT, but if the KC’s win it back, you have to ask why did they even lose the belts at NXT Vengeance Day in the first place. Really, it probably would’ve made more sense for Chance and Carter to get drafted to the main roster, but who knows? Shinsuke Nakamura tried to explain why he was excited to be joining the red brand before he was attacked by Karrion Kross. WWE then announced that the two will have a match on next week’s SmackDown which tells me that Kross is going to be staying on Raw. I was originally going to make a joke about how Shinsuke looks like he’s turning into a Sith and him going to Raw only enhances my suspicions!
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn VS The Usos
Paul Heyman told the Usos that Roman Reigns had requested for Solo Sikoa to stay in their locker room for tonight’s championship match in order to put the “spotlight fully on them”. It was then time for a WrestleMania main event rematch as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against the Usos. The Usos were mostly in control of the proceedings, but they could never quite get the victory due to the never give up attitude of Kevin Owens. Solo Sikoa, after being ordered by the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, made his way down the entrance ramp before he was attacked by Matt Riddle. The two brawled to the back as Jimmy and Jey continuously hit KO with Superkick after Superkick. In the end, though, Sami managed to throw Jey into the steps before Owens delivered a Stunner to Jimmy. KO tagged Sami in and the Master Strategist met Jimmy with the Helluva Kick to pick up the victory and retain their Tag Team titles. Solo Sikoa watched on in disgust as Jey Uso seemed quite fearful as to what is going to happen next. Solid match, glad KO and Sami won.