VIP – PARKS: The early winners and losers in the WWE Draft prior to Monday’s Raw include Damage CTRL, Dawkins, Apollo Crews, Michin

It has been over a year-and-a-half since WWE’s last Raw vs. Smackdown draft. While the brand split is still in effect, wrestlers have, once again, migrated from show to show without explanation more often lately. This could be because of the WrestleMania build, which sometimes necessitates waiving of the brand split rules. In reality, though, this was happening anyway.

Draft shows have historically done ratings above the viewership average, so it’s no surprise WWE would want to take advantage of that bump in the post-WrestleMania landscape. It remains to be seen whether WWE will adhere more to the rules of the brand split this time around. There’s a feeling that with Triple H in charge, maybe there will be more attention to details like these, even as Vince McMahon continues to oversee the creative process and the big-picture storylines.

Friday’s episode of Smackdown commenced the first night of the draft; by the time you read this, the draft will be complete with Monday’s Raw. I’m writing this on Sunday evening for a Monday night deadline, which means I’ll only include my winners and losers from the first night of the draft. Next week’s column will feature the winners and losers from those drafted on Monday.

Of course, that can make things a little difficult here because I’m deducing winners and losers based on knowing only half of the show’s roster, with the other half eligible to be drafted on Raw. Nevertheless, we’ll give this a go, and in six months or a year’s time, see just how right (or wrong) I was.

WINNER: Angelo Dawkins. This might be a strange “winner” to start the column with but hear me out: There’s been a lot of buzz about Montez Ford getting a singles run at some point. They’ve given him a few showcase matches on his own in the last few months and he has shined in those moments.

If WWE wanted to move Ford into the singles division, the draft would’ve been the perfect opportunity to do so: It would’ve allowed…

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