There are several budding rumors around the WWE product and what’s to come this summer. One topic is the WWE Draft. The annual showcase was meant to play off the typical excitement of professional sports and the influx of new talent to favorite teams across the league. However, after more than 20 years of practice, the WWE Draft is pointless in all ways.
The WWE Draft came back up in online discussions on Wednesday, May 14 as speculation rose about the idea of the draft happening before SummerSlam. WWE has not confirmed or announced the event in any fashion, so there’s no idea if it is actually happening this year. Still, that doesn’t stop the debate and the points that support the phrase that the WWE Draft is pointless.
Why does the WWE Draft not matter in today’s WWE?
One its surface, the WWE Draft makes sense. WWE has a stacked roster of performers across all three shows. With seven hours of weekly programming, it makes sense that it is difficult to find ample time for everyone on the roster. Too many individuals are left in catering or “benched” as the term is used. Not only are they not on television, but WWE doesn’t find anything for many of these performers, putting them in a lurch until their contract expires or they are released.
The Draft, in essence, should be a tool that allows WWE to spread its superstars across all three shows, and build the rosters with supporting performers around them. Just like professional sports teams do. That doesn’t happen though. Names may be moved in the Draft, but they find themselves under-utilized or kept off television entirely. IE Kiana James as an example. What’s the point of drafting a performer, and making a big deal of that moment, if they aren’t going to leverage at all.
Then, there’s the idea that those performers are siloed on those individual brands, just to tune in to see them on another show weeks after the event. Fans are hit with buzzwords like “Brand Supremacy,” “Wild Card Rule,” or “Transfer Portal” to explain away why performers were moved from one show to another. Instead of dedicating an actual story to the movement, the changes waved away as if it doesn’t even matter.
Which brings the entire conversation back to that point. The WWE Draft does not matter at all. Will it pop a rating? Yes. Will media outlets make predictions about who will be drafted and where? Yes. Will it have a strong impact on who gets booked on television and who does not? Not at all. At this point, the WWE Draft is all pomp and circumstance.