6 Problems WWE Solved In The 2019 Draft
The stars come out to play on SmackDown.
The 2019 WWE draft concluded on last night's Raw and while the grand roster reshuffle looks like it was moderately successful in revitalising a couple of stagnating talent pools, it's hard to feel too positive about the way things went down.
This is the first Draft or Superstar Shake-Up in many a year that may have created more problems than it solved. While the feeling coming out of the last few examples was largely positive, this one has left SmackDown light on women, Raw light on tag teams, sent Bray Wyatt to Friday nights despite his ongoing feud with Raw's top champion, split R-Truth and Carmella, thrown Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair back together, and only really shifted a handful of truly big names. A shame, as this was a huge opportunity for the promotion to completely reshape Raw and SmackDown for this new season of programming.
But the 2019 WWE draft wasn't a total bust. The aforementioned problems can't be ignored, but the switch-ups should bring a number of positive changes up and down the card, provided creative holds steady.
Let's take a look at how the draft changed things for the better...
6. A New Lease Of (205) Life
There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding 205 Live at the moment.
While the show looks set to continue on its post-SmackDown taping schedule, the Wrestling Observer has noted that this is only a temporary measure until WWE figures out what they want to do with the Cruiserweight brand. The speculation is all over the place as a result. Could 205 be moved to Full Sail University when NXT inevitably departs for bigger buildings? Will it be filmed before SmackDown? Are WWE considering scrapping it entirely?
It's impossible to tell at the moment, but the limbo-like state meant it made sense for WWE to send some of the brand's best performers off to pastures new in the 2019 Draft. Thus, Akira Tozawa and Humberto Carrillo have both gone to Raw, while former Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak is now a SmackDown wrestler.
While being cynical about their futures is almost too easy, their new positions offer stability. Raw and SmackDown aren't going anywhere. Gulak, Tozawa, and Carrillo can at least attempt to look forward and the main roster's increased house show schedule guarantees bigger paydays, too.