2020 WWE Draft

The 2020 WWE Draft was the 15th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began on the October 9 episode of Friday Night SmackDown and concluded on the October 12 episode of Monday Night Raw. Both shows were broadcast from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, with SmackDown airing on FOX and Raw on USA.

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 2019, the promotion held two drafts, the first in April and the second in October. The one in April, also known as the Superstar Shake-up, had an untraditional drafting format where drafting decisions were made behind the scenes and drafted wrestlers simply appeared on the brand without a major reveal, while the one in October returned to a traditional format, where draft picks were announced on the shows by a WWE official. The 2020 draft was officially announced during the Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 27 and was scheduled to occur on the October 9 and October 12 episodes of SmackDown and Raw, respectively.
On August 19 during the NXT TakeOver XXX media call, WWE executive and NXT head Triple H said that the 2020 draft would also involve the NXT brand, but the official announcement that occurred during Clash of Champions stated that this draft would only be between Raw and SmackDown. During the NXT TakeOver 31 media call on September 30, a now unsure Triple H stated that he did not know if NXT would be involved. WWE's advertising just a couple days later affirmed that the draft would only be between Raw and SmackDown without NXT involvement. Like previous drafts, wrestlers, including all champions, were eligible to be drafted to either Raw or SmackDown. Due to the stipulations of the titles, holders of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and the 24/7 Championship could appear on either show, regardless of the brand they were drafted to, until they lost their respective title.

2020 draft rules

The rules for the 2020 WWE draft were revealed by Fox Sports on October 8, which were the same as the previous draft in October 2019. Over 60 male and female wrestlers, as well as individual tag teams and stables, including current champions, were placed into the 2020 drafting pools. Over 20 wrestlers were announced as being eligible to be drafted on the October 9 episode of SmackDown and more than 30 wrestlers were eligible to be drafted on the October 12 episode of Raw. The rules of the draft were as follows:

Due to the length of each show, for every two picks made by SmackDown, Raw received three.
Tag teams and stables counted as one pick unless either broadcast partner, in conjunction with WWE, wanted to specifically pick one wrestler from the group.
Any undrafted wrestlers were immediately declared free agents and were able to sign with the brand of their choosing.
Selections

Night 1: ''SmackDown'' (October 9)

There were four rounds of draft picks during Night One of the 2020 draft. WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon announced the draft picks for each.

Rnd.	Pick #	Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Post-draft brand	Role	Brand pick #
1	1	Drew McIntyre	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler WWE Champion	1
1	2	Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler and manager Universal Champion	1
1	3	Asuka	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler Raw Women's Champion	2
1	4	Seth Rollins	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	2
1	5	The Hurt Business	Raw	Raw	Male stable United States Champion	3
2	6	AJ Styles	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	4
2	7	Sasha Banks	SmackDown	SmackDown	Female wrestler	3
2	8	Naomi	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	5
2	9	Bianca Belair	Raw	SmackDown	Female wrestler	4
2	10	Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler	Raw	Raw	Female tag team Women's Tag Team Champions	6
3	11	Ricochet	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	7
3	12	Jey Uso	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	5
3	13	Mandy Rose	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	8
3	14	Rey and Dominik Mysterio	Raw	SmackDown	Male tag team	6
3	15	John Morrison and the Miz	SmackDown	Raw	Male tag team	9
4	16	Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods	SmackDown	Raw	Male tag team SmackDown Tag Team Champions	10
4	17	Big E	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	7
4	18	Dana Brooke	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	11
4	19	Otis	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler Men's Money in the Bank contract holder	8
4	20	Angel Garza	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	12

;Notes

One stable was split up as a result of the first night: Big E remained on SmackDown while his New Day stablemates, Kofi Kingston and the returning Xavier Woods, were drafted to Raw, temporarily taking the SmackDown Tag Team Championships with them.
One tag team was split up as a result of the draft: Otis remained on SmackDown while his Heavy Machinery tag team partner, Tucker, was drafted to Raw during the supplemental draft on Talking Smack the following day.
Supplemental picks: ''Talking Smack'' (October 10)

A supplemental draft took place on Talking Smack with wrestlers who were not drafted on Night 1.

Rnd.	Pick #	Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Post-draft brand	Role	Brand pick #
5	21	Humberto Carrillo	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	13
5	22	Murphy	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	9
5	23	Drew Gulak	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	14
5	24	Kalisto	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	10
5	25	Tucker	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	15

;Notes

One stable was split up as a result of the supplemental draft: Kalisto remained on SmackDown while his Lucha House Party stablemates, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado, were drafted to Raw.
Night 2: ''Raw'' (October 12)

There were six rounds of draft picks during Night Two of the 2020 draft. WWE's CBO Stephanie McMahon again announced the draft picks for each.

Rnd.	Pick #	Wrestler	Pre-draft brand	Post-draft brand	Role	Brand pick #
1	1	"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	1
1	2	Bayley	SmackDown	SmackDown	Female wrestler SmackDown Women's Champion	1
1	3	Randy Orton	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	2
1	4	The Street Profits	Raw	SmackDown	Male tag team Raw Tag Team Champions	2
1	5	Charlotte Flair	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	3
2	6	Braun Strowman	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	4
2	7	Daniel Bryan	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	3
2	8	Matt Riddle	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	5
2	9	Kevin Owens	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	4
2	10	Jeff Hardy	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	6
3	11	Retribution	Raw	Raw	Mixed gender stable	7
3	12	Lars Sullivan	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	5
3	13	Keith Lee	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	8
3	14	King Corbin	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler	6
3	15	Alexa Bliss	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	9
4	16	Elias	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	10
4	17	Sami Zayn	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male wrestler Intercontinental Champion	7
4	18	Lacey Evans	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	11
4	19	Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura	SmackDown	SmackDown	Male tag team	8
4	20	Sheamus	SmackDown	Raw	Male wrestler	12
5	21	Nikki Cross	SmackDown	Raw	Female wrestler	13
5	22	Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode	Raw	SmackDown	Male tag team	9
5	23	R-Truth	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler 24/7 Champion	14
5	24	Apollo Crews	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	10
5	25	Dabba-Kato	Free agent	Raw	Male wrestler	15
6	26	Titus O'Neil	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	16
6	27	Carmella	SmackDown	SmackDown	Female wrestler	11
6	28	Peyton Royce	Raw	Raw	Female wrestler	17
6	29	Aleister Black	Raw	SmackDown	Male wrestler	12
6	30	Akira Tozawa	Raw	Raw	Male wrestler	18

2020 WWE Draft

Production

Background

2020 draft rules

Selections

Night 1: ''SmackDown'' (October 9)

Supplemental picks: ''Talking Smack'' (October 10)

Night 2: ''Raw'' (October 12)