A few hours ago, WWE released the rules for Tuesday’s WWE Draft on SmackDown. Along with those rules, there was a list of all “eligible” WWE superstars who are available to be “draft picks” for Shane and Stephanie to build the new rosters with for Raw and SmackDown. However, there is more than meets the eye with the list that was released on WWE.com , which you can read in full right here.
For example, there is a rule during the WWE Draft that Shane or Stephanie can choose a tag team and make the decision if they only want to keep one of the WWE superstars in that group. If Stephanie chose The New Day, but only wanted to keep Big E, that would be completely within her rights. Shane McMahon could do the same thing.
Something that is very interesting about the draft list WWE released is there are several WWE superstars that are absent from the for a multitude of reasons. Many people questioned what WWE would do with part-timers after the brand extension, but now there is a much clearer answer to how WWE intends to work around that issue. They’re going to wait and see.
According to a report from Wrestlezone.com , some of the names that are absent from the list are names like Triple H, Nikki Bella, Ryback, Luke Harper, The Undertaker, and others.
As for the rest of the rumored names in question, there are some explanations for their absence from the list. For instance, Luke Harper is currently out with a torn ACL injury that will keep him out until some point this fall . It’s far too early to tell if WWE will keep The Wyatt Family together since the three other members are currently listed as singles competitors. That makes it rather unlikely that they will all be drafted to the same brand by Shane or Stephanie.
In that case, it makes much more sense for WWE to leave Luke Harper off the list entirely. The same can be said for Nikki Bella, who is still waiting on the results of her neck to see if a return to WWE is even possible. Ryback is still in the middle of a contract dispute with WWE, which hasn’t improved over the past number of months . It looks like his contract will eventually expire and that will be that between Ryback and WWE.
The two biggest names absent from the list are Triple H and The Undertaker. The Game hasn’t been seen on WWE television since he lost the WWE Championship to Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania. His involvement with the McMahon “civil war” in WWE will have to be addressed sooner or later. For now, it makes a lot more sense for Triple H to remain on television.
As for The Undertaker, there is a lot of speculation about his status with WWE after Wrestlemania as well. The only difference is that unlike Triple H, he doesn’t continue to work behind the scenes with a firm finger on the pulse of the company. As of this writing, there isn’t a firm grasp of what The Undertaker’s future is in WWE, so keeping him undrafted for now is smart.
The good thing about the WWE Draft is that it will be a complete overhaul of the WWE product in one night, but WWE will have the opportunity to add talent, make changes, and fix something if it isn’t working. Having a few “free agents” or undrafted WWE superstars adds an interesting dynamic to the landscape of WWE. The trick is just to wait and see where they land eventually.
[Image via WWE.com]