WWE Rumors on Roster Draft Dates, Eva Marie's Return; Nikki Bella Talks John Cena

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

WWE Draft Reportedly Set for Late August, Early September

WWE is reportedly preparing to hold its next draft during the latter part of the summer.

According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Marc Middleton), the plan is for WWE to have the draft on the Aug. 30 episode of Raw and Sept. 3 episode of SmackDown.

As announced recently by WWE, the Aug. 30 Raw will occur at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, and the Sept. 3 SmackDown will be at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

WWE has traditionally held a draft or Superstar shake-up shortly after WrestleMania in recent years, but with the COVID-19 pandemic derailing so many of WWE's plans, that wasn't the case last year.

Instead, WWE held last year's draft in October. Despite the fact it took place less than a year ago, it already feels past due for another one.

That is especially true on Raw, as many of the rivalries on the show feel played out, including the WWE Championship feud between Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre.

SummerSlam, which is arguably the biggest WWE pay-per-view of the year behind WrestleMania, is scheduled for Aug. 21, meaning the next draft will happen shortly after if the Aug. 30 and Sept. 3 dates hold true.

That would be an ideal time to reset things and potentially use the draft to call some Superstars up from NXT as well.

        

Eva Marie to Reportedly Team with Piper Niven on Raw

WWE is reportedly calling up a female Superstar from NXT to pair with Eva Marie when she makes her return to WWE on Raw.

According to Zarian (h/t Middleton), WWE is set to call up Piper Niven from NXT UK to work alongside Eva.

It was previously reported by WrestleVotes that WWE was considering Niven and NXT star Mercedes Martinez to act as Eva's "muscle" on the main roster.

Vignettes regarding Eva's WWE return and the start of her "Eva-lution" have been airing on Raw for the past several weeks, and on Monday's episode of Raw, Eva declared that she will be on the show next week.

Despite that, Zarian reported that he heard Eva isn't set to appear on Raw until the June 21 episode, which is the night after the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.

Regardless of when Eva arrives, working with her is a potentially huge opportunity for Niven, who has done some great work as a babyface during her time in NXT UK.

Niven is also well known for her strong performance in the Mae Young Classic where she was among the most popular participants.

Teaming with Eva would likely require Niven to be a heel, but it would be a worthwhile endeavor for the Brit since all signs point toward Eva being a huge part of the red brand moving forward.

       

Nikki Bella Talks Thanking Cena in HOF Speech

Nikki Bella memorably thanked her ex-boyfriend, John Cena, during her WWE Hall of Fame induction speech in April, and she revealed why during an interview last week.

While speaking to ET's Deidre Behar (h/t Mona Khalifeh of ET Online), Nikki said the following about mentioning her former fiancée:

"I didn't think anything about it because when you're in those moments at the Hall of Fame, you really look at your career and you're like, 'Who was there? Who helped me along the way?' And so much of the time people will talk about themselves, and for me, I look at my career and I know that wasn't just because of me. It was Brie, it was the Bella Army, it was the producers, all the people that believed in me, and John was a big part of that.

"He really helped me be that fearless side and showed me a part of that world that I never saw before. I think just because you have breakups or whatever it may be, doesn't mean you can't thank those people and just truly be so grateful for the help that they had."

Bella and Cena had a highly publicized relationship from 2012 until their breakup in 2018. Fans got the opportunity to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse of it on the E! reality series Total Divas and Total Bellas as well.

Cena proposed to Bella at WrestleMania 33 in 2017, but the marriage was called off and they went their separate ways.

Nikki has since married and had a child with Dancing with the Stars performer Artem Chigvintsev, while Cena married Shay Shariatzadeh last year.

Bella seemed to enjoy her greatest success in wrestling during her relationship with Cena, as she made significant improvements in the ring and went on to hold the Divas Championship for a record 301 days.

Getting to pick the brains of one of the biggest stars in WWE history on a daily basis likely played a role in Nikki's success, and she made sure to acknowledge it on one of the biggest nights of her career when she got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame alongside her twin sister Brie.

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