WWE Draft Update: Free agent twist changes stakes in night two of Draft on Raw with Seth Rollins, Usos, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, Austin Theory

WWE announced on the Smackdown Lowdown show on Peacock this weekend that Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, Von Wagner (from NXT), and Omos are considered “free agents” and can appear on both Raw and Smackdown.

Also, after Smackdown on Friday night, more wrestlers’ fates were determined in the WWE Draft off television.

Wrestlers Drafted by Raw: Viking Raiders & Valhalla, Dexter Lumis, Candice LeRae, Natalya, Zoey Stark, J.D. McDonagh, Apollo Crews (most recently on NXT), Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green, and the Maximum Males Models (including Maxxine Dupri).

Wrestlers drafted by Smackdown: Hit Row (Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Top Dolla, B-Fab), and Lacey Evans.

For fans hoping for a more coherent, clear structure to this year’s WWE Draft, no explanation was given regarding who gets to be a free agent, although MVP declared that he “negotiated” that status for Omos. WWE Raw is three hours compared to Smackdown’s two hours, so it makes some sense that Raw ended up with a a higher number of “after hour” acquisitions. However, no explanation was given on the Smackdown Lowdown show why Raw got so many more picks than Smackdown after hours.

J.D. McDonagh reacted to being drafted to Raw. “It’s about time,” he said. He said it’s taken him 21 years to get this far and he’s relentless and he’s going to show the world world starting May 8 what he’s about. He said he aspires to be a Triple Crown or Grand Slam star for WWE.

On tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Raw, the top names likely to be part of on-air announcements during the show include Seth Rollins, The Usos, Charlotte Flair, Brock Lesnar, Karrion Kross, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman & Ricochet, Austin Theory, Johnny Gargano, The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damien Priest, Dominik Mysterio), L.A. Knight, Rhea Ripley, Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods), the Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holand, Butch), Trish Stratus, and Asuka, among many others.

While it’s been assumed wrestlers will end up drafted to either Raw or Smackdown, the “free agent” twist could mean wrestlers the level of Lesnar, Rousey, and the Usos could end up – with or without an explanation – slotted as free agents. It seems most likely those would be three acts WWE would like to be able to feature on both shows as needed.

As announced on #SDLowDown, the following Superstars have been declared free agents and can appear on #WWERaw AND #SmackDown:

– @AliWWE
– @HEELZiggler
– @WWEVonWagner

Furthermore, @The305MVP has negotiated a deal for @TheGiantOmos to be a free agent and appear on both shows. pic.twitter.com/Jq3DWhP0m7

— WWE (@WWE) April 29, 2023