Major update on why the first night of WWE Draft 2024 fell flat with no major brand-switches 

The first half of WWE Draft is in the books, and it was a bit underwhelming.

Major update on why the first night of WWE Draft 2024 fell flat with no major brand-switches 

WWE Draft [via- WWE]

With Triple H tenaciously involved in the decision-making, the fans’ hopes skyrocketed for this year’s WWE Draft. However, it wouldn’t be amiss to admit that its first night wasn’t up to par. Barring a first-round call-up for Carmelo Hayes to SmackDown, there weren’t any significant brand switches, with only 6 out of 22 names swapping their landing spots. But there’s a reason why WWE did that.

As per Fightful Select, there was an internal notion of retaining familiar names for their respective brands. For instance, Bianca Belair remained on SmackDown, while Seth Rollins was retained by Raw, just to name a couple of them. As mentioned above, Carmelo Hayes was the first NXT pick, with Baron Corbin and Kiana James eventually guiding the white and gold brand’s toll to 3.

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The report further added that there would be more names leaving their own brand to go the other way around on Raw this Monday. Moreover, the fans could expect heavy WWE NXT integration into the program. One would imagine the seasoned Mad Dragon, Ilja Dragunov, to be called up to the main roster. A glimpse of his prowess was on display for the casual audience when he outwitted Shinsuke Nakamura on Raw post-WrestleMania XL.

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As it happened on Friday, a few more WWE legends are expected to show up on Monday as well to ease the process of the Draft. Raw, a three-hour show, is set to have six rounds of picks, enabling as many as 24 names, with tag teams included, to be announced on TV. The remaining Superstars will be assigned a brand on social media, as it has been the norm of late.

Bianca Belair was the first overall pick in this year’s WWE Draft

After Roman Reigns voluntarily withdrew his participation from WWE Draft 2024, the fans were eager to see who would be the first overall pick in his absence. As Cody Rhodes announced at the top of his voice, it was none other than Bianca Belair.

Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair (via WWE)

She remained on the blue brand. Now that she’s retained her spot, The EST would hope for her tag team partner, Jade Cargill, to follow suit. The two women are set to challenge The Kabuki Warriors for the Women’s Tag Team titles at WWE Backlash.

If Jade and Belair manage to uproot Asuka and Kairi Sane, they’d be eligible to appear on both Raw and SmackDown, as laid out in the Draft rules. They’re heavy favorites to indeed dethrone the Damage CTRL duo in France.

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