Former WWE Writer discusses how the draft process works

WWE has had an issue with keeping the RAW and SmackDown rosters split away from one another over the years.

While speaking on the Behind Enemy Lines podcast, former WWE writer Chris Dunn spoke about how the company views the draft and how it varies from year to year but typically begins with the same discussion.

"Every year I was there, it completely varied. It's like those are the highest-level of conversations. Now, there have been ones where it's been planned out months in advance. There have been ones that change even the day of. But usually, this is how you want to do it - you pick your top man and woman from each brand and then you pick their opponents for the year. Like, what are the fresh matches? And kind of go from there."

Dunn went on to cite both Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair as wrestlers that fit the mold and how the creative teams for each show can build around it.

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When will the next WWE Draft take place?

There has not been a WWE draft since 2021, where Raw and Smackdown would select different wrestlers to change brands and appear on their respective shows for the next year. However, due to different rules that the company has put in place over the years, there has not been much following of staying on a specific brand the entire time.

There have been multiple reports since Triple H took over as the Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative that there will be another draft taking place after Wrestlemania 39 in April. However, this has not been confirmed, as there were also talks of one happening in October.2022 that fell through.

Furthermore, there has also been a constant overlapping of RAW and SmackDown rosters over the last handful of years. One reason has been the merging of championships in WWE as Roman Reigns is currently the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, while The Usos hold both RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, allowing them to show up on both shows.

The Women's Tag Team Championships also allow women to go to either brand and create stories for title defenses as well.

However, there have been wrestlers jumping to another show for some time, and maybe a draft following WrestleMania will create concrete rosters and eliminate this from happening.

Would you be interested in seeing another draft take place after WrestleMania? Let us know in the comments section below.