Last night was night two and the final night of the 2023 WWE Draft. WWE has crafted new rosters for both Raw and SmackDown. You can check out our recap of night one here. The new rosters will go into effect this coming Monday, May 8th just after Backlash this weekend. Lets take a look at the draft and final rosters for WWE’s “Game Changing” draft.
Lets recap the draft pool for night two, it was a larger draft pool than night one and is as follows:
- Akira Tozawa
- Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
- Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
- Asuka
- Austin Theory
- Baron Corbin
- Braun Strowman & Ricochet
- Brock Lesnar
- Bronson Reed
- Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin
- Charlotte Flair
- Dana Brooke
- Elias
- Emma
- Johnny Gargano
- Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
- Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett)
- Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
- LA Knight
- Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
- Nikki Cross
- Piper Niven
- Rhea Ripley
- Rick Boogs
- Riddick Moss
- Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
- Seth Rollins
- Shotzi
- Tamina
- Tegan Nox
- The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
- The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
- The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
- The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso)
- Trish Stratus
- Xia Li
- Select NXT Superstars
Raw Drafted:
- Rhea Ripley
- Seth Rollins
- Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
- Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
- Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
- The New Day
- Trish Stratus
- Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
- Braun Strowman & Ricochet
- Bronson Reed
- Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
- Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
- Dana Brooke
- Nikki Cross
- Johnny Gargano
- Akira Tozawa
- Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
- Emma
- Piper Niven
- Riddick Moss
- Teagan Nox
- Xia Li
- Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga & Veer Mahaan)
- Odyssey Jones
SmackDown Drafted:
- Austin Theory
- Charlotte Flair
- The Usos
- The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
- Asuka
- The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
- Karrion Kross
- LA Knight
- Shotzi
- Pretty Deadly
- Rick Boogs
- Cameron Grimes
- Tamina
- Grayson Waller
The new group of free agents are:
- Brock Lesnar
- Baron Corbin
- Xyon Quinn
- Elias
- Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander
Now with the draft out of the way, lets breakdown the new rosters starting with Monday Night Raw. Here is the complete Raw roster:
- Cody Rhodes
- “The Man” Becky Lynch
- Imperium (GUNTHER, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
- Matt Riddle
- Drew McIntyre
- The Miz
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Indi Hartwell
- Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar w/ Valhalla)
- Dexter Lumis
- Candice LeRae
- Maximum Male Models (ma.cé, mån.sôör & Maxxine Dupri)
- The “Boat” Natalya
- Apollo Crews
- Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville
- Zoey Stark
- JD McDonagh
- Rhea Ripley
- Seth Rollins
- Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
- Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
- Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
- The New Day
- Trish Stratus
- Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler
- Braun Strowman & Ricochet
- Bronson Reed
- Alpha Academy (Otis & Chad Gable)
- Katana Chance & Kayden Carter
- Dana Brooke
- Nikki Cross
- Johnny Gargano
- Akira Tozawa
- Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo
- Emma
- Piper Niven
- Riddick Moss
- Teagan Nox
- Xia Li
- Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga & Veer Mahaan)
- Odyssey Jones
Raw currently has no Mens Heavyweight Champion, and WWE has unveiled the new belt. I am looking forward to a tournament to crown a new champion on the red brand. Looking at the rosters, it would appear that the finals all lead to a rematch between Cody and Seth Rollins. I would expect to get some good matches along the way from the likes of Owens, Balor, McIntyre and Nakamura. The Intercontinental title is staying put with Gunther and the Imperium being selected for the red brand. Honestly looking at the rosters, there are not enough big men I see able to compete with Gunther so I expect a long title run for him. With the Women’s title, I hope we do not get a weird title exchange like we did between Becky and Charlotte the last time we swapped champions. With the tag team titles, I am curious if those will be split up as well since KO & Zayn hold both sets of belts. Overall, I feel that the best part of the new Raw roster will be the men’s tag division. There seem to be some quality teams that could provide some good matches for us.
Lets look at Friday Night SmackDown now. Here is the complete Roster from the 2023 WWE Draft:
- The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa and the “Wiseman” Paul Heyman)
- Bianca Belair
- The Street Profits
- Edge
- Bobby Lashley
- The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson & Michin)
- Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai)
- Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn
- Hit Row (Top Dolla & Ashante “Thee” Adonis w/ B-Fab)
- Lacey Evans
- Austin Theory
- Charlotte Flair
- The Usos
- The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)
- Asuka
- The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Butch)
- Karrion Kross
- LA Knight
- Shotzi
- Pretty Deadly
- Rick Boogs
- Cameron Grimes
- Tamina
- Grayson Waller
SmackDown, as a result of the 2023 WWE Draft, has the entire Bloodline, so besides Roman on his way to 1000 days we will see the remainder of the breakup story line play out on our screens. SmackDown definitely has a solid women’s division with the EST, the Queen, Asuka, Shotzi and maybe they can finally complete a story with Lacey Evans. We have a lot of factions on SmackDown so we can get some good faction warfare which could lead to some good tag team battles as well with the Usos headlining the tag division. Austin Theory takes the US title to the blue brand and I am seeing some battles between him and Lashley, Montez Ford, Edge and some new comers. I feel the strong suit of SmackDown could be a stand out women’s division and solid tag work.
I am curious as to what the WWE will do with the “free agents” that can go to either show and compete. The free agents list is:
- Omos (with MVP)
- Mustafa Ali
- Dolph Ziggler
- Von Wagner
- Brock Lesnar
- Baron Corbin
- Xyon Quinn
- Elias
- Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander
So with the free agenets, you are getting some big boys as well as some IC and US title contenders. What do you think of the results of the 2023 WWE Draft? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on our Twitter account by clicking here. As always stay tuned to Culture Splat for more content coming at you and some exciting things coming soon! Don’t forget to check out our shop where you can get gems like these:
