It’s a simple point tonight, in a nutshell, as the 2024 WWE Superstar Draft begins and we are here to recap all of the fun and transactions.
Quick Results
- Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio defeat Angel and Humberto. Post-match, Santos reveals video showing Carlito took out Dragon Lee before WrestleMania, and then Carlito does it again.
- Bron Breakker squashes Cedric Alexander
- Tiffany Stratton versus Naomi ended in a disqualification as new SmackDown Superstar Nia Jax attacked Bayley (at ringside) and Naomi.
- Cody Rhodes defeats Carmelo Hayes.
Best Match of the night:
By default perhaps, I have to go with Rhodes versus Hayes. Somewhat surprising, given Hayes is now the hot new thing on the blue brand. He was a 1st round choice in the draft, after all. Having him lose clean, even to the champ, is a surprising debut. But yes, even in defeat, it was a good match.
Worst match of the night:
That tag match was just not great. The big part of it was the tepid reveal.
Star of the Night
For me, the biggest star of the night had to be Bianca Belair. Yes, she did not actually wrestle. But she was the first big pick by Nick Aldis. And, one of just a few women drafted on the first night of the two night event.
Spot of the Night:
Loved the brawling between Kevin Owens and Tama Tonga in particular. Also need to give a nice hat tip to Tiffany Stratton’s moonsault on Naomi and Bayley.
Upset of the Night:
Nothing tonight.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
If you saw the Kiana James selection coming tonight, before Tiffany Stratton, before Jade Cargill, before several other more notable names, then you are genius. Does she deserve it? Sure, I get it. But we saw her over some major talent, which was stunning to me.
Botch of the night:
Two botches, same match. First, I believe it was Humberto getting flung into the ropes to set up a 619, but it was just sloppy. Second would be the reveal of Carlito as the attacker of Dragon Lee. It was sort of expected, I don’t think it surprised anyone, and it just fell flat. Disappointing.
Noteworthy Moment:
1st overall pick of the entire draft: Bianca Belair. That’s big, for sure. Jey Uso was RAW’s first choice. The Bloodline made it until the 3rd Round. I honestly would have had it where neither brand drafted them out of fear. Then let Solo and Tama Tonga go crazy whenever and wherever-RAW, SmackDown, even NXT. I’m talking for months, no one can handle it. Then, when everyone is healthy and ready, we go for the Bloodline Civil War.
I mean, Roman Reigns was pulled from the draft at the beginning of the show, so we know he’s just going to do his thing. It would make sense.
AJ Styles is taking an interesting turn. After being a decent heel in the Knight program, he comes off more respectful to Cody. Looked like he was going to sucker punch Rhodes following the main event, but he did not. Are they making him back to a face, or a ‘tweener?
Overall lowlights:
For me, the 2024 superstar draft might need a bit of changing. I would almost like to see them do it in phases. Men’s talent one night, women’s another, tag teams and so on. Or, first round men’s, first round women’s. Not to segregate, but to keep the focus more even. We saw Bianca go first overall, which was cool, but then no other woman in the first round. Two in the second, sure, but it was just a bit all over. Yes, I get it, it’s WWE not the NFL. I just think it would work better.
And yes, I know there are/were pools for each night. While that’s fine and all, makes us know certain names won’t be called. It was also confusing because it wasn’t handily shown at time of the picks. Like, only one of these 20 can be called now.
Overall highlights:
Nice way to make a big deal out of Hayes, interesting that he came off more arrogant and less like he was in NXT as recent as like, two weeks ago. Nia Jax also made her presence felt, taking out Bayley and Naomi. Breakker gets another squash.
After the final bell:
An interesting first night of the draft. With the network, even if it’s on Peacock now, I think I’d be a bigger fan of WWE taking this mostly apart from the main shows. They did a decent enough job of having match-draft-match, or segment-draft-match. But we only had four matches in two hours, and one of those was under a minute.
But, the 2024 Superstar draft has begun. The 2024 draft will conclude, for better or worse, on RAW in a couple days.
