It feels like everyone’s talking about the draft: who got picked, Will Levis sitting in the green room all night, and … What’s that? You say that was the NFL Draft? Oh dear.
Well good news, everyone! The WWE Draft is actually getting underway tonight on SmackDown. And just like its football counterpart, the pro wrestling version is set to have its fair share of intrigue thanks to the draft lists released for each night.
There will be other things tonight on SmackDown as well, so let’s look at the top three reasons to watch the show from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Where will Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns go on Night One of the WWE Draft?
This stands out as the biggest question from the first night. Cody Rhodes is slated to face Brock Lesnar in less than two weeks at Backlash, but his real goal is to “finish the story” and defeat Roman Reigns. For the best storytelling possibilities, they need to end up on the same show. Since both are on the draft list for SmackDown, we’ll see if that ends up the case tonight.
The Usos get their rematch against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
The Usos won’t learn their WWE Draft fate until Raw. But it’s possible they won’t want to go to the same show as their Bloodline brethren if they fail to reclaim the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship from Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn on Friday night. They dedicated their match to the Tribal Chief, and as Zayn reminded them, if they don’t win … oh boy.
With Rhea Ripley looming, Zelina Vega takes on Sonya Deville
Zelina Vega is shooting her shot at Backlash, taking on the toughest possible challenge by trying to dethrone SmackDown Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley. She might want to have the LWO on standby to watch her back tonight, because Sonya Deville is likely to have tag team partner Chelsea Green watching hers.
WWE SmackDown airs at 8 p.m. ET tonight on Fox, and we’ll have live results for both the show and the WWE Draft here on Wrestling Junkie.