WWE Rumors: Backstage Update On Why Draft Results Were Spoiled On Company’s Website, Per Dave Meltzer
On last week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown, WWE held the first part of its much-ballyhooed Superstar Draft as several top talents either remained with their respective brands or got switched from Monday Night Raw to SmackDown or vice versa. However, a good number of fans already knew what was going to take place that Friday night, as WWE’s website displayed all of the picks in order in its “Draft Pool List,” as previously reported by Comic Book.
Citing comments made by Dave Meltzer on Sunday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, WrestlingNews.co reported that WWE appeared to have made an honest mistake when it posted the draft spoilers on its website. According to Meltzer, the people behind the WWE website were given a list of draft picks and were told to list them in alphabetical order, only for the picks to be listed based on how they were supposed to be selected on Friday Night SmackDown.
“Somehow, alphabetical order got forgotten and they put the list up as they were and that’s why it ended up the way it did.”
As noted by WrestlingNews.co, WWE eventually removed the spoilers and published the list of selections in alphabetical order. However, this may have been too late for fans who viewed the original article and got the draft results ahead of time.
In addition to revealing the supposed reason behind the Superstar Draft spoilers, Meltzer addressed one of the stranger selections in the first part of the event, which saw former Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross get picked in separate rounds. According to an earlier report from The Inquisitr, the draft’s rules specify that tag teams will count as one pick unless Raw and SmackDown’s respective parent networks (USA Network and Fox) specifically choose to select just one person from the team.
Here are the results from the first night of the #WWEDraft. The draft concludes this Monday on RAW.
Which brand do you think won the first night of the @WWE Draft? pic.twitter.com/HA7wcipE8w
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) October 13, 2019
As Meltzer explained, this was exactly how the first part of the draft was planned, as Bliss and Cross were supposed to be chosen separately and not as a tag team. This, per WrestlingNews.co, essentially means Fox and SmackDown “wasted a pick” in the process.
With Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, and several others already chosen, there are still many more superstars who have yet to learn which brand they will be representing going forward, including Universal Champion Seth Rollins and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. This will, however, be addressed on tonight’s episode of Monday Night Raw, which will feature the second and final part of the Superstar Draft.
