Two Champions Switch Brands During WWE Draft On Raw

Brand switches aren't a big surprise after Friday's draft results.

by Scott Carlson
Rhea Ripley 2023
WWE.com

The WWE Draft is often billed as an unpredictable night of superstars moving from one brand to another, breaking up alliances, ending rivalries, and starting new feuds.

But in reality, the draft can be pretty predictable if you follow along and use common sense. That's why it wasn't a real surprise that the first to picks in the Raw portion of the draft Monday night saw SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley sent to Raw, while United States Champion Austin Theory was shipped over to SmackDown.

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During the first night of the draft on Friday Night SmackDown, Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair was sent to the blue brand, while Imperium - which includes Intercontinental Champion Gunther - came over to Raw. That made it obvious that their champion counterparts would also switch shows, to maintain parity with titles across both major brands.

Ripley was joined later in the show by the rest of her Judgment Day cohorts, as the rest of the group also was returned to Raw.

It's not uncommon for champions to switch brands during the draft. Unfortunately, this likely means Belair and Ripley will have to swap their show-specific titles, similar to how Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch did the same thing during the last WWE Draft in October 2021. Thankfully, Gunther and Theory won't have to trade championships.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.