By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE issued the following press release to announce the rules and pools for the WWE Draft.
The WWE Draft will get underway this Friday, Oct. 9 on SmackDown and conclude Monday, Oct. 12 on Raw. WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon will once again preside over both nights of selections.
The rules and Superstar pools have now been finalized for the 2020 WWE Draft and can be found below:
Over 60 Male Superstars, Female Superstars and Tag Teams have been placed into the 2020 WWE Draft.
More than 20 Superstars are eligible to be drafted on Friday night and more than 30 Superstars are eligible to be drafted on Monday night.
Due to the length of each show, for every two picks that SmackDown selects, Raw will get three picks.
Tag Teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network, in conjunction with WWE Officials, wants to pick one Superstar from the team.
Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing.
WWE Superstars have been split into eligible pools for the Friday and Monday episodes of the WWE Draft. Here is the breakdown of who is available for selection each night:
FRIDAY
Asuka
Sasha Banks
Bianca Belair
Dana Brooke
Humberto Carrillo
Elias
Angel Garza
Drew Gulak
Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)
The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander and MVP)
Mickie James
Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado)
Drew McIntyre
Murphy
Rey & Dominik Mysterio
Naomi
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
Roman Reigns
Ricochet
Seth Rollins
Mandy Rose
Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
Shorty G
AJ Styles
Jey Uso
MONDAY
Andrade
Bayley
Aleister Black
Alexa Bliss
Daniel Bryan
Carmella
King Corbin
Apollo Crews
Nikki Cross
Dabba-Kato
Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
Erik (of The Viking Raiders)
Lacey Evans
Charlotte Flair
Jeff Hardy
Billie Kay
Lana
Keith Lee
The Miz & John Morrison
Riddick Moss
Natalya
Titus O’Neil
Randy Orton
Kevin Owens
R-Truth
RETRIBUTION (Mustafa Ali, T-BAR, MACE, SLAPJACK, RECKONING & RETALIATION)
Matt Riddle
The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan)
Peyton Royce
Arturo Ruas
Sheamus
Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
Braun Strowman
Tamina
Akira Tozawa
Zelina Vega
Bray Wyatt
Sami Zayn
Don’t miss this WWE Draft on Friday, Oct. 9 at 8/7 C on FOX and Monday, Oct. 12 at 8/7 C on USA Network to see where your favorite Superstars are headed.
Powell’s POV: So Raw or Smackdown can draft the Retribution faction that has vowed to destroy WWE, or the faction that was just signed to WWE contracts can once again become free agents if they go undrafted. That silliness aside, the rules are very similar to the structure used last year.
The Retribution inclusion is beyond comical.
As rediculous as it is having Retribution in the draft, I can almost guarantee that WWE will compound this by not having them as one as the first picks. I mean it is suppossed to be a draft so surely picking up 6 superstars for 1 pick makes good sense in that situation, similar logic should see The Hurt Business go early but I doubt that will happen either.
I am betting that this will be how they split up the New Day. Big E will go one way and Kofi and Xavier will go the other. I imagine they will split Lucha House Party in a similar, but less visible, fashion.
Of course it does seem ridiculous that the two shows could conceivably collude to each draft part of Retribution, thereby splitting them and immediately weakening the faction built to take them down. Just so weird.