WWE Announces Additional Draft Picks Between SmackDown And Raw

Nearly 20 more superstars have their names called and the brand shuffling continues.

by Scott Carlson
WWE Draft
WWE

The first night of the 2023 WWE Draft featured some big names switching between Raw and SmackDown and a couple NXT acts getting called up to the main roster, but not everyone who was eligible on the first night had their name called.

But on Saturday, a bunch of additional superstars were drafted by the red and blue brands, further fleshing out the rosters ahead of the second night on Raw Monday.

The next group of wrestlers and personalities were picked and announced during Saturday's SmackDown LoDown on Peacock, with superstars such as the Viking Raiders and Natalya coming over to Raw, Maximum Male Models and Hit Row staying put on Raw and SmackDown respectively, and NXT superstars Zoey Stark, JD McDonagh and Apollo Crews being selected for Raw. The full list:

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But as was noted on SmackDown LowDown, even with all of these draft picks announced, there still are a handful of superstars regarded as free agents: Omos, MVP, Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali and Von Wagner. There's no concrete word on what that means, with the hosts suggesting that those superstars declared or (in MVP and Omos' case) negotiated to be free agents. It's not clear if that means they can just appear on both brands indefinitely or if they need to pick a show by a certain date, or even if they'll be tossed back into the draft pool for Monday night.

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At the very least, this additional draft fleshed out Raw's roster, particularly their women's division, which consisted of Becky Lynch and Indi Hartwell at the conclusion of SmackDown on Friday.

Contributor
Contributor

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.