2020 WWE Draft Rules, Superstar Pools Announced Ahead of Oct. 9 Start Date

WWE confirmed the ground rules for this year's draft, which starts Friday on SmackDown and continues on Monday's edition of Raw. 

More than 60 wrestlers are included in the overall draft pool, with 25 from SmackDown and 39 from Raw. Tag teams and factions will count as one pick collectively. Because Raw runs for three hours to two for SmackDown, it will receive three selections for every two picks for SmackDown.

Stars from NXT were omitted, which makes sense because the show has largely remained a developmental arm despite the likes of Breezango, Charlotte Flair and Finn Balor returning to Full Sail University.

Since WWE turned Raw and SmackDown back into separate brands in 2016, the draft has been a way to shake up the rosters a bit to create new feuds. Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Randy Orton, Sasha Banks and Braun Strowman were among the notable names to move shows during the 2019 installment.

Last year's was also the first under SmackDown's television contract with Fox. Rather than the traditional general manager or figurehead leader for each show announce a given pick, the duties fell to various personalities from Fox and NBCUniversal properties.

It appears the process will remain the same for the 2020 edition.

WWE said chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon will oversee the draft. According to Fox Sports' Ryan Satin, executives from Fox and USA Network "have been working with WWE Management over the past few weeks in regard to their preferences for draft picks."