WWE Draft 2016: Predicting The 6 NXT Wrestlers Who'll Be Drafted

WWE’s 2016 Draft finally takes place this Tuesday night on the first ever live episode of SmackDown, splitting the roster in two and ushering-in a new era of inter-brand competition in WWE. It will be the first time Raw and SmackDown have officially had their own segregated, brand-specific talent rosters since WWE ended the original Brand Split in August 2011, and up until Sunday night, details had been thin on the ground.

WWE have finally put months of speculation to an end by publishing their own list of draft rules. We now know that Raw (which remains at 3 hours) will receive 3 picks for every 2 that SmackDown (a 2-hour show) receives, tag teams can count as a single pick, and 6 draft picks will be made from the NXT roster.

There’d been talk of WWE raiding its esteemed developmental territory for “up to a dozen” wrestlers as the company looks to replenish its post-Draft talent supply. As it stands, NXT will lose a few major players but maintain its core roster, while Raw and SmackDown will benefit from the countless fresh storylines and match-ups made possible by their new arrivals.

So who’ll get the call-up? Assuming NXT’s champions (The Revival, Asuka, and Samoa Joe) will stick around to anchor their divisions for a while longer, there are a number of viable options, some more obvious than the others.

Here are 6 NXT talents who we think will be involved in the 2016 WWE Draft.

Mojo Rawley isn’t exactly the most exciting name on the NXT roster. He doesn’t have the total package of star power, charisma, and technical ability possessed by the brand’s top stars like Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura, but with the draft approaching, Mojo has several things working in his favour.

Mojo has a readymade tag team with Zack Ryder, and while The Hype Bros don’t look like challenging for the NXT Tag Team Titles any time soon, they could play a role in the main roster’s ever-growing tag division. Ryder himself continues to drift aimlessly between midcard stories that he never seems to emerge victoriously from, and Mojo’s arrival could give him renewed purpose and direction on Raw or SmackDown.

In terms of tenure, Rawley has been part of WWE Developmental since August 2012. Much like Baron Corbin before him, Mojo isn’t a complete performer, but his growth in NXT has stagnated, and there’s little to suggest he’ll progress beyond his current level at Full Sail. A change of scenery and a bigger stage could be exactly what he needs to kickstart his career.

It’s entirely possible that WWE’s resident hyped-up man-child has already peaked, but we’ll never find out if he isn’t given a chance to escape his current holding pattern. Nobody’s clamouring to see Mojo Rawley on the main roster, but don’t be surprised if it happens.