WWE Draft Returning After SummerSlam 2021

In case of emergency, press the Draft button...

Stephanie McMahon WWE Draft 2020
WWE.com

In case of emergency, press the WWE Draft button...

As per Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast, WWE is reportedly looking to run a two-night Draft shortly after this year’s SummerSlam PPV.

SummerSlam will emanate from Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium on 21 August, and Zarian claims that Vince McMahon’s sports entertainment behemoth will follow that up by holding its latest Draft on the 30 August episode of Raw and the 3 September outing for SmackDown.

Advertisement

With WWE having recently announced its impending return to a full touring schedule, that particular Raw is currently set for Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena (fka the Ford Center), while that same week’s SmackDown will take place from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

The last WWE Draft took place in October 2020, with 2019 seeing both a formal WWE Draft and the Superstar Shakeup. Hopefully this latest shuffling of the pack will see WWE's main roster programming - especially Raw - see an upturn in quality, but that's obviously not always been the case with prior Drafts.

Advertisement

Last week saw WWE release six talents, which follows ten further firings in May, another nine in April and several others earlier in the year. Speculation is rife that WWE is gearing up to move several NXT talents to Raw and SmackDown, and it may well be that such moves are made as part of the the 2021 Draft.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.