WWE trade window *mild Smackdown spoilers*

[RedTwoster]

It was announced on Smackdown last night that a trade window was to open ahead of Raw’s move to Netflix, allowing wrestlers from Raw, Smackdown and NXT brands through trades.

Who would you like to see move where? Who could benefit from a fresh start, and how drastic should this actually be?

[Hannibal Scorch]

3 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

It was announced on Smackdown last night that a trade window was to open ahead of Raw’s move to Netflix, allowing wrestlers from Raw, Smackdown and NXT brands through trades.

Who would you like to see move where? Who could benefit from a fresh start, and how drastic should this actually be?

Is it like a draft?

[DavidB6937]

11 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Is it like a draft?

Depends how well the window is insulated.

[RedTwoster]

29 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Is it like a draft?

When WWE does its draft these days, the entire roster is drafted. As far as they made it sound, this seems more like a transfer window, where GMs can trade wrestlers, although it wasn’t fully explained.

I’d like to see (and I’m not going to plot out the exact trades here…):

Trick Williams to Smackdown - I would seriously consider making him the long term face of the brand, he’s improved dramatically and feels like a star. I imagine Smackdown will be losing some of its biggest stars, so I’d like to see that roster feel significantly refreshed. 

Cody Rhodes to Raw - Caveat being that this is accompanied by him dropping the WWE title to Kevin Owens. This removes the need for a rematch and cleanly makes Owens the face of the brand in the short term.

Sami Zayn to Smackdown - Owen’s vs Zayn for the WWE title at Wrestlemania, who wouldn’t want to see that? It feels so fitting - and in an era where WWE is being praised for long term storytelling, their entire relationship is about as long term a story as you get. Book it, Triple H!

Roman Reigns to Raw - I don’t particularly want to see this as if anyone feels like ‘Mr Smackdown’ it’s him, but I imagine this is inevitable. And I’m fine with that, they can still conclude the Bloodline story with one last interbrand match between Roman and Solo, and they can then move on in whatever direction they like…hopefully a Reigns/Punk storyline.

Drew McIntyre to Smackdown - Drew has been one of the best things in wrestling, and he could easily anchor that Smackdown brand - an uneasy alliance with Kevin Owens? That could be interesting.

Ludwig Kaiser to Smackdown - he’s absolutely brilliant, and I’m definitely keen to see him get a singles push. Get him away from Gunther and go for it.

Braun Breakker to Smackdown - If Smackdown loses its two biggest stars, it needs more depth - Breakker gives them that, and also another potential main event wrestler. 

Roxanne Perez to Smackdown - Again, that Smackdown roster feels a bit thin, she gives them depth and a potential top heel who isn’t Nia Jax. 

Logan Paul to Raw - There’s no way this won’t happen, and it’s the right decision - he’s much more relevant on a brand hosted on a streaming platform than on Smackdown. Plus the idea of a feud/match with Punk is genuinely interesting.

LA Knight to Raw - I kinda want to see him feud with Dominik Mysterio. The crowd reactions would make that quite the spectacle.

 

[FLips]

Cody and Roman to Raw seems to be as good as a done deal. With the War Games match injuring 3 participants now seems like a great time to keep Roman fresh elsewhere and continue the Bloodline stuff at a later date.

Seth Rollins to Smackdown

With Punk maybe on to bigger and better things with Roman, and Bronson Reed on the IL, now is a great time to send Seth elsewhere. Fresh (ish) matchups with Nakamura, AJ Styles, Andrade, Owens could be decent.

New Day to Smackdown

New version of the New Day on a new show should be good for them. MCMG, LWO and Street Prophets could be good teams to get in the mix with their new heel dynamic.

You look at that roster and as good as the show is, there's not much to get excited about when it comes to talent vs other talent because 90% of it has already been done. Looking at that NXT roster, fucking hell. Maybe bring up Sol Ruca, Ethan Page and a couple others. Shite looking roster that though, what are the likes of Chase U going to add to anything? NXT Lifers that lot.

Edited December 7, 2024 by FLips

[DavidB6937]

Surely other than Trick, Oba Femi should be near the top of anyone's list. What a man.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

When WWE does its draft these days, the entire roster is drafted. As far as they made it sound, this seems more like a transfer window, where GMs can trade wrestlers, although it wasn’t fully explained.

 

Since when? Every draft I’ve ever seen they all had a select number of picks. You make it sound like each shows roster  moves show. 
 

NXT is the one to watch. You move people like Ethan Page, Steph  or Guilia and that roster starts looking pretty bare bones. Gimmicks like Angelo and Chase U would absolutely flop on the main stage. I do wonder sometimes what the point of developmental is if the characters and/or gimmicks aren’t tweaked to work on Raw/Smackdown. It’s why a lot of the call ups haven’t amounted to much over the years.

[RedTwoster]

17 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Since when? Every draft I’ve ever seen they all had a select number of picks. You make it sound like each shows roster  moves show. 

They do. They show a select number of picks on each show, but the entire roster gets redrafted. This’ll give you more info on how long they’ve used this format. It’s become a bit of a daft format though, as most wrestlers end up staying put anyway, with very few drastic changes.

Edited December 7, 2024 by RedTwoster

[Hannibal Scorch]

7 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

They do. They show a select number of picks on each show, but the entire roster gets redrafted. This’ll give you more info on how long they’ve used this format. It’s become a bit of a daft format though, as most wrestlers end up staying put anyway, with very few drastic changes.

There were 24 draft picks in 2023. Some moved, some were selected to stay on their brand. So I’m confused as to why you think the entire roster gets redrafted, and I’m just trying to understand how this is then different. It just feels like because people think the draft is daft (t-shirt idea), they just renamed it.

[RedTwoster]

9 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

There were 24 draft picks in 2023. Some moved, some were selected to stay on their brand. So I’m confused as to why you think the entire roster gets redrafted, and I’m just trying to understand how this is then different. It just feels like because people think the draft is daft (t-shirt idea), they just renamed it.

Because they do - the entire roster got redrafted. Some were inevitably selected to stay on the same brand, but that’s how it works. It’s not a ‘set number of picks’ - it’s an entire redraft, but that’s what was problematic about the format - it never felt like an entire redraft, and most people simply stayed where they were. They showed a certain number of picks on TV, the rest was done off air (possibly on the Network? I can’t remember) - but some of those picks were, for example, along the lines of Seth Rollins to Raw; hardly revolutionary as it was the brand he was already on. But that’s how it’s been done.

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

13 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

There were 24 draft picks in 2023. Some moved, some were selected to stay on their brand. So I’m confused as to why you think the entire roster gets redrafted, and I’m just trying to understand how this is then different. It just feels like because people think the draft is daft (t-shirt idea), they just renamed it.

Incorrect. They had a series of draft picks on Raw talk as well, and the entire roster was drafted to Raw / Smackdown or became "free agents."