4 ideas to make the WWE Draft more exciting
The WWE will be holding their WWE Draft on Oct. 11 and Oct.14.
This has been a staple of WWE programming on and off since 2002 where Superstars have switched television brands and perform on those brands for the foreseeable future. This has been done with the intent of developing new storylines and introducing new rivalries.
WWE had their last Draft in 2016 before moving on to a Superstar Shake-Up format in the following years; the most recent being in April of 2019. The last Shake-Up struggled to find success after WWE added the Wild Card Rule, which allowed competitors to appear on different television shows with no respect to the brand they were drafted to. The principle of a Draft is that wrestlers would be exclusive to the show they are drafted to. This has not held up sufficiently.
With SmackDown moving to FOX in a few weeks, it is important for WWE to make this latest Draft important. Here are four different ways to make this draft exciting for fans.
Draft Day Trades
Fans of any major sports teams look forward to their team’s draft. The NFL Draft is a perfect example. It is a four-day event filled with pomp and circumstance. One of the more exciting parts, is the idea of a draft day trade. Do the Oakland Raiders trade up or down in the NFL Draft? That is a question that drives content filled with “what ifs.” When the actual transaction happens, each party involved in the transaction is linked by the result.
The WWE should implement trades in this year’s draft. It adds a layer of excitement to football drafts and could create the same excitement in a wrestling context. Imagine if SmackDown traded with NXT UK to land someone like Toni Storm, for example. In return, SmackDown may send two Superstars and a future draft pick to NXT UK. Fans are drawn to the transaction. Each pick or draft day trade symbolizes “the one move that puts us over the top.”
The buzz generated by a brand like RAW potentially loading up on future draft picks for the 2020 draft would add a new layer of realism to the product. This keeps the draft exciting year round, because if the idea of a wrestler on NXT could be the future third round pick in next years draft.
WWE specializes in moves to get the fans engaged via social media. The idea of having a potential draft day trade would accomplish that.