WWE Reveals 2024 Draft Rules & Talent Pools – The WWE Draft is returning in just days as it will be a two-night event across April 26 and April 29 on Raw and SmackDown. Now, the talent pool and rules have been revealed.
The idea behind WWE holding the Draft on the week of the NFL Draft is being done to capitalize on “draft fever” as they have in the past. Main roster and NXT stars will be included in the Draft.
Here are the Draft rules:
ON SMACKDOWN THERE WILL BE FOUR ROUNDS, 16 TOTAL PICKS
ON RAW THERE WILL BE SIX ROUNDS, 24 TOTAL PICKS
CHAMPIONS ON EACH BRAND ARE PROTECTED
WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS ARE ELIGIBLE
SMACKDOWN WILL PICK FIRST ON FRIDAY
RAW WILL PICK FIRST ON MONDAY ROSTERS LOCK MONDAY, MAY 6TH
The Draft pool for both nights can be seen below:
Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude, WA.Com On Twitter and Google News for more.
Trick Williams on Capturing NXT World Title, Triple H Reacts – Closing out night one of WWE NXT Spring Breakin’ 2024 last night at the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, Florida was Trick Williams defeating “The Mad Dragon” Ilja Dragunov to capture the WWE NXT World Championship.
Williams ended the show with an emotional celebration in front of one of the loudest crowds in recent WWE NXT memory.
Following the show, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque commented on Trick Williams finally capturing the brass ring in WWE NXT.
“Congratulations to Trick Williams on a hard-fought match, and a well-deserved victory, against one of WWE NXT’s toughest in Ilja Dragunov,” he wrote via X. “The era of Trick Williams is looking bright.”
Additionally, the new WWE NXT World Champion spoke in a post-show digital exclusive interview while snapping studio images as the title-holder for WWE NXT in his first championship photo shoot.
“Man, it means the world to me, man,” Trick said when asked what this accomplishment means to him. “I’ve been fighting a long time for this. This is a testament of that hard work. I’ve been fighting for this.”
He continued, bringing up the story line that was used on the show last night, which saw Trick talking to his mom on the phone and encouraging her to continue her fight with illness while he continues his fight to become champion.
“I come from fighters,” he said. “I’ve been fighting my whole life. My momma’s fighting right now, she’s in the hospital. My brother’s been fighting for a long time. It’s all good. So I did this, it’s bigger than me. It’s not just for me. It’s for everybody, the people who love me, the people that have been having my back for a long time. They’ve taught me how to fight, and I’m gonna keep fighting. I’m never gonna stop fighting. Believe that. NXT, we in good hands, baby. Believe that.”
As they did with the WWE Women’s World Championship Battle Royal main event from this week’s episode of Raw, WWE has released the complete Trick Williams vs. Ilja Dragunov main event world title bout from Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT Spring Breakin’ via the official YouTube channel.
Trick Williams on Capturing NXT World Title, Triple H Reacts
Backstage News on NXT Stars Expected to be Drafted – The WWE Draft is just days away from happening, with changes coming to the main roster and NXT.
On Tuesday’s episode of NXT Spring Breakin’, there was a backstage segment where Lexis King told Baron Corbin that he heard he was leaving NXT and wanted to give Corbin a going-away basket. Corbin said that King heard that from people who are hoping I’m leaving NXT. King pointed out that Corbin’s tag team partner, Bron Breaker, is on SmackDown and is not worried about Corbin while he is having the time of his life.
King said Corbin would strap his wagon on the next-generation superstar, who’s bigger, better, and more handsome than any other wrestler he’s been with. King later beat Corbin in the show.
As previously reported, Corbin is slated to be at both Friday’s SmackDown and next week’s Raw. Corbin went to NXT after being listed as a free agent following the Draft last year.
Fightful reported that Corbin is expected to be drafted to the main roster in the WWE Draft. It’s unclear what brand he will be on.
Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov are slated to move from NXT to the main roster.
Backstage News on NXT Stars Expected to be Drafted
Ricochet Advances to WWE Speed Title Tournament Finals – With a victory over JD McDonagh, Ricochet is heading to the finals of the WWE Speed Championship tournament.
Ricochet’s defeat of McDonagh aired on this week’s WWE Speed episode. The match was taped before WWE Raw in Montreal earlier this month. Ricochet won with a Canadian Destroyer with 1:02 left on the clock.
It will be Ricochet vs. either Bronson Reed or Johnny Gargano to determine the inaugural WWE Speed Champion. The semifinal match between Bronson and Gargano airs on Speed next Wednesday.
This was Ricochet’s second victory on WWE Speed. In the first round of the title tournament, he defeated Dragon Lee.
Matches on WWE Speed have a three-minute time limit. New episodes air exclusively on X/Twitter at noon Eastern time every Wednesday. The partnership between WWE and X for Speed is a two-year deal. The show premiered on April 3.
On Raw earlier this week, Ricochet teamed with Andrade to defeat McDonagh & Santos Escobar. A six-man tag match with Ricochet, Andrade & Jey Uso facing The Judgment Day (McDonagh, Finn Balor & Damian Priest) has been announced for next Monday’s Raw.
Ricochet Advances to WWE Speed Title Tournament Finals
Backstage News & Producers Following NXT Spring Breakin’ Night 1 – WWE NXT Spring Breakin’ Night 1 has come and gone, and quite a lot happened for the first of the annual two-week themed shows.
Coming out of this week’s WWE NXT Spring Breakin’ Night 1 special event from the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando, FL., Fightful Select is reporting the following backstage news and notes, as well as the match and segment producers for the show.
WWE NXT SPRING BREAKIN’ BACKSTAGE NEWS (4/23/2024)
Similar to Carmelo Hayes and Bron Breakker, “The Mad Dragon” Ilja Dragunov received a big farewell send off from the talent and crew once he passed through the curtain backstage after losing his WWE NXT World Championship to Trick Williams in the main event. As noted, Dragunov has declared himself for the 2024 WWE Draft, which kicks off this Friday night on SmackDown.
The internal show-title for this week’s episode was ‘Spring Breakin’ 2024.’
As seen during the show itself, WWE teased Baron Corbin is expected to be drafted to RAW or SmackDown on Friday or Monday.
There was said to be a ‘somewhat sober’ mood and atmosphere among some backstage at the show due to the WWE releases last Friday, particularly the Von Wagner release.
WWE NXT SPRING BREAKIN’ PRODUCERS (4/23/2024)
Roxanne Perez vs Tatum Paxley vs Lyra Valkyria: Johnny Moss
D’Angelo Family vs No Quarter Catch Crew: Steve Corino
Fallon Henley vs Jaida Parker: Matt Bloom and Robert Stone
NXT Underground Contract Signing: Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom
Sol Ruca vs Blair Davenport: Chris Girard and Johnny Moss
Baron Corbin vs Lexis King: Fit Finlay
Trick Williams vs Ilja Dragunov: Terry Taylor
NXT Level Up: Arianna Grace vs Jakara Jackson: Robbie Brookside
NXT Level Up: Edris Enofe and Malik Blade vs Dante Chen and Dion Lennox: Wesley Blake
NXT Level Up: Eddy Thorpe vs Kale Dixon: AJ Winkler
Backstage News & Producers Following NXT Spring Breakin’ Night 1
