2019 WWE Draft

The 2019 WWE Draft was the fourteenth WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brands. Returning to its original name and a traditional draft format, it was the second draft of 2019, following April's Superstar Shake-up. The draft began on the October 11 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and concluded on the October 14 episode of Monday Night Raw, with SmackDown airing on Fox and Raw on the USA Network. It was the first draft in which the brand's television networks were presented as having an influence over WWE's drafting decisions.
2019 was the first year in which WWE held two drafts during the same calendar year. This was because of the issues of the Wild Card Rule introduced with April's Superstar Shake-up and also because of SmackDowns move to Fox in October—Raw and SmackDown were both previously on the USA Network. Over 70 wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and 205 Live rosters were eligible to be drafted to either Raw or SmackDown, including all Raw and SmackDown champions. Most draft picks were announced on the live broadcasts of SmackDown and Raw, while supplemental picks were announced afterwards via WWE's website. In storyline, wrestlers who were not drafted to either brand became free agents and could sign with the brand of their choosing. The Wild Card Rule also ended with this draft, although a similar but stricter interbrand rule, the [|Brand-to-Brand Invitation], was implemented in May 2020.

Production

Background

The WWE Draft is an annual process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE while a brand extension, or brand split, is in effect. The original brand extension occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the second and current brand split began in 2016. During a brand extension, the company divides its roster into brands where the wrestlers exclusively perform for each brand's respective television show, and the draft is used to refresh the rosters of the brand divisions, typically between the Raw and SmackDown brands.
In April 2019, WWE held the Superstar Shake-up, which was the promotion's 13th draft which had a nontraditional format in which drafting decisions were made behind the scenes rather than on-screen. Shortly after the Shake-up, WWE's chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahon introduced the Wild Card Rule, in which up to four wrestlers would be allowed to appear on the opposing brand's show by invitation for one night only with unsanctioned appearances penalized. Following this, however, the Wild Card Rule's stipulations were not enforced; the rules were immediately broken, with numerous wrestlers freely appearing on both shows weekly without any penalties, blurring the lines between the Raw and SmackDown brands. With SmackDowns move to Fox in October and Raw remaining on the USA Network, WWE decided to hold a second draft for 2019 to definitively split the two brands. The draft was announced to occur on the October 11 and 14 episodes of SmackDown and Raw, respectively. Returning to its original name and a traditional draft format, personalities from Fox and NBCUniversal were scheduled to appear; the first time that television networks were presented as having an influence over WWE's drafting decisions. The Wild Card Rule also ended with this draft.
The picks were presented by personalities associated with Fox Sports and NBCUniversal properties, including Fox MLB analyst Alex Rodriguez, Saturday Night Lives Michael Che and Colin Jost, Mr. Robots Christian Slater, Fox NFL lead commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Mad Money host Jim Cramer, Fox MLB analysts Kevin Burkhardt and Frank Thomas, Fox NFL Sundays Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, and Tony Gonzalez, NFL analysts Ronde Barber, Charles Davis, Chris Spielman, and Daryl Johnston, Fox NFL Kickoffs Charissa Thompson, Michael Vick, and Peter Schrager, Big Noon Kickoffs Rob Stone, Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, and Urban Meyer, Fox College Football analyst Joel Klatt, Dulé Hill from USA's Psych and Suits, James Roday from Psych, Marcus Lemonis from CNBC's The Profit, Margaret Josephs and Melissa Gorga from Bravo's The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Rodney Harrison and Chris Simms from NBC's Football Night in America, and Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Mustoe, and Kyle Martino from Premier League Live.

2019 draft rules

The rules of the draft were posted on WWE's website on October 10. The list of eligible wrestlers was posted the same day. Over 70 wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and 205 Live rosters, as well as tag teams, were eligible to be drafted to either Raw or SmackDown, including all Raw and SmackDown champions.
The rules of the draft were the following:

Up to 30 picks were allotted on the October 11 SmackDown, while up to 41 picks were allotted on the October 14 Raw.
For every two draft picks for SmackDown, Raw received three picks.
Tag teams counted as one pick unless FOX or USA specifically only wanted a single member from the team as their pick.
Any undrafted wrestlers became free agents and could sign with the brand of their choosing.
Selections

The drafting pool was divided between the broadcasts of both shows, with up to 30 picks allotted on SmackDown and 41 on Raw. Any remaining picks from the respective draft pools were announced on WWE's website. Undrafted wrestlers immediately became free agents and could sign with the brand of their choosing.

''SmackDown'' (October 11)

There were four rounds of draft picks during Night 1 of the 2019 draft. WWE's Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon announced the draft picks for each round. Representing Raw, Universal Champion Seth Rollins' disqualification win over SmackDown's representative, Roman Reigns, earned Raw the first draft pick of the night.

Rnd.	Pick #	Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Post-draft brand	Role	Brand pick #
1	1	Becky Lynch	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler Raw Women's Champion	1
1	2	Roman Reigns	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	1
1	3	The O.C.	Raw	Raw	Male stable	2
1	4	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	2
1	5	Drew McIntyre	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	3
2	6	Randy Orton	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	4
2	7	Sasha Banks	Raw	SmackDown	Female wrestler	3
2	8	Ricochet	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	5
2	9	Braun Strowman	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	4
2	10	Bobby Lashley	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	6
3	11	Alexa Bliss	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	7
3	12	Lacey Evans	Raw	SmackDown	Female wrestler	5
3	13	Kevin Owens	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	8
3	14	The Revival	Raw	SmackDown	Male tag team	6
3	15	Natalya	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	9
4	16	The Viking Raiders	Raw	Raw	Male tag team	10
4	17	Lucha House Party	Raw	SmackDown	Male stable	7
4	18	Nikki Cross	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	11
4	19	Heavy Machinery	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male tag team	8
4	20	Street Profits	NXT	Raw	Male tag team	12

Night 1 supplementary picks

Eight additional picks were announced on WWE's website on October 13. Except for Apollo Crews, who was slated to be a part of the Night 2 pool, all wrestlers selected had initially gone undrafted during Night 1.

Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Role	Post-draft brand
Apollo Crews	SmackDown	Male wrestler	SmackDown
The B-Team	SmackDown	Male tag team	SmackDown
Drew Gulak	205 Live	Male wrestler	SmackDown
EC3	Raw	Male wrestler	Raw
Eric Young	Raw	Male wrestler	Raw
Heath Slater	Raw	Male wrestler	SmackDown
Sin Cara	SmackDown	Male wrestler	Raw
Tamina	Raw	Female wrestler	SmackDown

''Raw'' (October 14)

There were six rounds of draft picks during Night 2 of the 2019 draft. WWE's CBO Stephanie McMahon again announced the draft picks for each round. Number one Raw draft pick and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch defeated SmackDown representative Charlotte Flair, who replaced SmackDown draftee Sasha Banks, to earn Raw the first draft pick of the night.

Rnd.	Pick #	Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Post-draft brand	Role	Brand pick #
1	1	Seth Rollins	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler Universal Champion	1
1	2		Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler and manager WWE Champion	1
1	3	Charlotte Flair	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	2
1	4	The New Day	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male stable	2
1	5	Andrade with Zelina Vega	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler and female manager	3
2	6	The Kabuki Warriors	SmackDown	Raw	Female tag team Women's Tag Team Champions	4
2	7	Daniel Bryan	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	3
2	8	Rusev	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	5
2	9	Bayley	SmackDown	SmackDown	Female wrestler SmackDown Women's Champion	4
2	10	Aleister Black	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	6
3	11	Cedric Alexander	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	7
3	12		SmackDown	SmackDown		5
3	12		Raw	SmackDown		5
3	13	Humberto Carrillo¹	205 Live	Raw	Male wrestler	8
3	14	Ali	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	6
3	15	Erick Rowan	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	9
4	16	Buddy Murphy	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	10
4	17		SmackDown	SmackDown	Male tag team²	7
4	17		Raw	SmackDown	Male tag team²	7
4	18	Jinder Mahal	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	11
4	19	Carmella	SmackDown	SmackDown	Female wrestler	8
4	20	R-Truth	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler 24/7 Champion	12
5	21	Samoa Joe	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	13
5	22	The Miz	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	9
5	23	Akira Tozawa¹	205 Live	Raw	Male wrestler	14
5	24	King Corbin	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	10
5	25	Shelton Benjamin	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	15
6	26	Rey Mysterio	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	16
6	27	Shorty Gable¹	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	11
6	28	Titus O'Neil	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	17
6	29	Elias	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	12
6	30	Liv Morgan	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	18

¹ – Carrillo, Tozawa, and Gable originally went undrafted on Night 1, but were drafted during Night 2.
² – Ziggler and Roode were Raw Tag Team Champions going into the event, but they lost the titles to Raw draftees The Viking Raiders prior to being drafted to SmackDown.