Delaying WWE Draft Will Ultimately Strengthen SmackDown and Raw Rosters Amid Rumors

Since 2019, the fall season has traditionally hosted the annual WWE draft, and this year's installment appeared to be no exception.

It seemed it would be held immediately following Clash at the Castle on September 3, with SmackDown Superstars scheduled to appear on the post-event edition of Raw and vice versa.

Since nothing was officially announced, though, fans began to doubt it was happening so soon after all.

Sure enough, a new report from Fightful Select (h/t Andrew Ravens of WrestlingNews.co) surfaced this week indicating that a draft may not be imminent, with sources at USA Network under the impression it will take place around WrestleMania season instead.

The Triple H era of WWE has already brought many positive changes. Giving him free range on the rosters and reassigning everyone to where he wants them is exciting in theory, but there shouldn't be any rush in having a draft at the moment.

From strengthening Survivor Series season to the timing simply being more ideal, Raw and SmackDown stand to benefit greatly from WWE waiting to shake up the landscape on both brands until a few more months have passed.

Brand Loyalty Will Mean More Come Survivor Series Season

Based on the latest promotional poster released for this year's Survivor Series pay-per-view, it appears WWE isn't doing away with the theme of brand supremacy despite it largely being received negatively by fans since its introduction in 2016.

On paper, pitting the best of of Raw and SmackDown against each other should be fun for fans. Unfortunately, there's been nothing special about seeing "brand warfare" because it happens on an almost weekly basis with Kevin Owens vs. Drew McIntyre and Bayley vs. Aliyah being recent examples.

The tagline about it being the one night of the year when Superstars from SmackDown and Raw collide was proved false many years ago.

What didn't help was having the draft take place just a month ahead of the PPV. There's no brand loyalty involved when someone switched shows shortly beforehand and there are no stakes worth fighting for (which should also be rectified this year).

They must be established long before Survivor Series so the audience can associate them with whatever brand they find themselves on.

If Triple H is adamant about making Survivor Series a success on November 26 (and it can be with the right booking), he must keep everyone exclusive to their own shows outside of those in possession of unified titles who can travel across brands.

Post-WrestleMania Season Should Represent Change

What's interesting about WWE staging its draft in October in recent years is that it wasn't always that way.

The company originally had the right idea of holding the inaugural installment (upon the establishment of the Brand Extension) in the spring shortly after WrestleMania 2002.

That continued until 2007 when it was moved to the summer for some reason before returning to April in 2009. When WWE reinstituted the Brand Extension in 2016, a draft was held that summer and the Superstar Shake-up was subsequently introduced in April 2017.

The ill-defined Superstar Shake-up was always executed poorly compared to the draft, but its timing right after 'Mania was ideal. That's what WWE should stick with starting in 2023.

The post-WrestleMania season signifies change. Storylines culminate and fans are looking forward to fresh matchups. The WWE draft can accomplish that, along with calling up stars from NXT assuming they'll continue to be involved.

WWE has boasted about the "season premieres" of Raw and SmackDown in years past, and that's most likely why the draft was an October staple for a few years.

In reality, the night after WrestleMania Sunday is WWE's true season premiere and should be treated as such with the draft.

Returns and Debuts Render Roster Shake-up Obsolete Right Now

For the first time in a long time, it's been a blast to follow the weekly WWE product and not knowing what's going to happen next.

Certain surprises have been speculated about ahead of time or have come out of nowhere, but either way, every debuting and returning Superstar on SmackDown and Raw has given viewers the vibe that anything can happen at any time.

That's exactly the feeling All Elite Wrestling has captured with Dynamite over the past year.

Of course, Triple H can't continue to rely on returns forever to make the WWE shows interesting, but they are effectively shaking up the rosters without the need for a formal draft.

Since SummerSlam, fans have been treated to the returns of Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky, Karrion Kross, Dexter Lumis, Hit Row and Johnny Gargano. WWE lost a lost of star power after so many rounds of releases in the last two years, and these familiar NXT faces will boost roster depth in a major way.

That said, there's no reason for everyone else to switch shows any time soon if they now have new people to work with. The influx of talent should be enough to capture the feeling of change for the foreseeable future.

Deviating from the Norm and Approaching the Draft Differently

Unless Triple H sours on the idea of a Brand Split, he should be looking to make the SmackDown and Raw rosters as important and balanced as possible.

More often than not, that has not been the case with the draft or the Superstar Shake-up. One brand usually comes out looking stronger than the other, but the new head of creative has to avoid that with the next installment.

Doing things differently than Vince McMahon would have is why the audience is optimistic with The Game at the creative helm. In addition to the timing of the draft, the overall execution of it should be tweaked to give it a real sense of legitimacy, just as other sports do.

As previously noted, the approach WWE took with the Superstar Shake-up was lazy. The draft was booked a bit better, but there were always inconsistencies with the way it was handled and certain stars who went undrafted.

Holding off on the draft until April would give Triple H more time to decide how he wants to go about it. It should be built up as an eagerly anticipated event and not given away on a whim following Clash at the Castle solely to send the message that change is coming.

Besides, there's plenty more The Game can do with the current rosters before everyone is uprooted.

Figuring Out How World Titles Will Be Split First

The biggest problem the company faces right now is how it will go about splitting the WWE Championship and Universal Championship back into their own separate entities.

They were unified at WrestleMania 38 when Roman Reigns beat Brock Lesnar for both belts, but WWE hasn't quite figured out what it wants to do with the top titles yet.

Reigns has played his heel role exceptionally well in the last two years, but with the roster expanding, one part-time world champ who only shows up on occasion isn't ideal.

The end of his run with the titles should be drawing near, or at least one of them. The WWE title makes more sense to be assigned to Raw given how long The Tribal Chief has held the universal belt for, but either way, Raw and SmackDown need their own world champions.

The belts are bound to be broken up again by WrestleMania 39 in April, allowing each brand to select one world champion in the draft after the event.

They'll remain unified until Clash at the Castle at the earliest, but WWE then has to start seriously thinking about how it's going to explain everything in the draft and how this new era will be ushered in with a bang.

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Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.