10 New Directions For WWE After The 2023 Draft
One shocking heel turn is about to rock WWE Raw's world post-2023 Draft.
The obvious answer on where WWE goes next is Puerto Rico.
Backlash will beam live from there this Saturday, then the company will start building towards another international jaunt (Saudi Arabia for Night Of Champions at the end of May). This weekend's pay-per-view must get a lot right, and it'll be interesting to see where the product goes from there.
Triple H did say the new Raw and SmackDown rosters wouldn't officially kick in until after Backlash, so the 8 May Raw will be your first chance to see what he, Vince McMahon and the rest of WWE's creative team has in mind for summer. This article plays detective and tries to piece together exactly what's coming post-2023 Draft.
WWE might've changed their minds on at least one championship, and they've also got to thrash out exactly who's in the running for that new World Heavyweight belt. That'll be Raw's full-time World Title, so it's an important decision. Could one major heel turn rock the boat and change everything?
Big-time returns, pushes you probably didn't see coming and more - this is WWE's immediate future after the Draft.
10. Women’s Champs Switching Belts
It might happen at Backlash, or WWE could hold off until the following episode of Raw, but Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley are surely trading straps at some point. After all, it doesn't make sense that both hold belts from shows they're no longer allowed to be on post-Draft.
Rhea is on Raw with the SmackDown prize, and Bianca is on SmackDown with the Raw one. It's a mess, and it means one of those belt swap angles is on the horizon. Many fans will be p*ssed at that, because it shows up a complete lack of planning from those callings the shots backstage.
This was totally avoidable.
There's just no way Ripley can continue holding the blue belt on Mondays though, and the same goes for Belair running around with her red one on Friday nights. WWE will look to sort this out quickly then move on from yet another brand split title mix up.