Both Kofi Kingston and Big E have now won the WWE championship. This naturally makes people wonder if the third member of their group Xavier Woods will get to hold the title someday as well. The current champion recently had an interview with comicbook.com. He discussed things such as trying to get WWE to make “Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat” merchandise and more.

When asked if Woods can become the WWE champion one day, E explained that his long time partner is very underrated and he deserves to be pushed more:

“I think so. I think he’s a guy who is still underrated, still very underrated. I think he has all the tools. I think it’s just a matter of changing perception and getting him the opportunities that he deserves to be pushed more, to be given that opportunity. I think he’s incredible in ring.”

Big E Thinks Xavier Woods Has All The Tools

Big E recalled watching a random match of Xavier Woods with Riddle from a Raw episode in May and said that he was blown away by it. The former NXT champion said that Woods has all the tools necessary for success:

“He’s so incredibly talented and such a great talker, charismatic as hell. He has all the tools. He just has to be given those opportunities that Kofi and I have been given in our careers. Once he’s given those opportunities and you see him shine, you see him taken more credibly, you see him in those (big matches).”

E also mentioned how Xavier Woods has been talking about competing in the King Of The Ring tournament. He said that he hopes Xavier gets the opportunity so he can show what he can do. Once the perception changes, the door will open for him.

Dana Brooke has apparently responded to the criticizing comments of Corey Graves he made during her match on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. The female star posted a story on her Instagram account mentioning that you cannot entertain everybody. She claimed that you should let people talk:

“You cannot entertain everything regardless if its indirect or direct!! Let people do what they do best. talk!! Y’all act like y’all gone die because somebody said something about you.” wrote Brooke, “It is not that deep!! You cannot stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. once you entertain a clown, you become one.”

Corey Graves On Dana Brooke

For those who don’t know, the female star had a match with Shayna Baszler on this week’s Raw. At one point during the bout, Graves who was on commentary claimed that Brooke has not accomplished anything:

“I am all for giving people time to develop, giving people time to realize their potential. But in a long enough timeline, you got to cut your losses. Dana Brooke has not accomplished much of anything.”

Baszler won the match on Raw and she went for another post-match attack on her opponent. Brooke was then saved from the assault by Doudrop. Prior to this, Dana Brooke was seen during the September 9 edition of Main Event. Her last Raw match was against Charlotte Flair on May 3.

Sharmell has been the partner of Booker T both on and off-screen and the former WCW champion gave her some very valuable advice. The female star recently had an interview with WrestlingInc. She talked about things such as the women’s revolution, her favorite segments, and more.

During the interview, Sharmell also revealed the advice she got from her husband Booker T. According to her, T told her to relax and not take things too seriously:

“Your character is what will give you a lasting career. Booker told me, ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously. Just relax and have fun.’ I’ll never forget when they had WrestleMania one year and had a really long ramp. I’m trying to rush down the ramp,

And he stops me in the middle of WrestleMania.” recalled Sharmell, “He says, ‘Take a minute and just look around.’ I slowed my walk and got it,”

The former WWE star continued saying that the job of a sports entertainer is very stressful. A lot of times they are nervous and trying to be the best puts pressure on their stress levels. Though you are able to create magic if you can calm down and remember it’s about having fun.

Sharmell had a couple of runs with WWE and one with WCW. She is probably best known for her pairing with Booker T which started in 2005 and led to T winning the King Of The Ring tournament in 2006.

WWE has announced that Tommaso Ciampa will be defending his NXT Championship against Bron Breakker at the upcoming Halloween Havoc special of the show.

The rivalry between Breakker and Ciampa started on the very first episode of NXT 2.0 itself. The first episode of the rebranded show saw Bron making his debut in the opening match of the night.

Ciampa won the vacated NXT title in the main event of the same show. These two then had a confrontation backstage to end the September 14 episode of the brand.

It has since been reported that officials are high on Bron Breakker and he is expected to be pushed. This has been evident from his booking since debut as well.

WWE confirmed that the October 26 episode of NXT will be the Halloween Havoc special. After this, Tommaso Ciampa issued an open challenge for any potential challenger to face him at the special.

Bron Breakker answered this call from the NXT champion. WWE confirmed this title match for the upcoming event after Ciampa accepted the challenge.

No other matches have been announced for Halloween Havoc so far but the card is expected to be filled in the coming weeks. You can check out the complete NXT results from this week below:

John Cena has found success in Hollywood after stepping down from his role as the face of WWE. Though his arch-rival CM Punk is not very surprised by it. The AEW star recently had an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri of ET Canada. He talked about the various WWE stars who have gone on to find success in the movie biz.

When asked if he is impressed with Cena’s acting skills, Punk admitted that he is impressed but not surprised. He explained that his skills were developed while working on WWE TV which according to the straight edge star, is similar to theatre:

“100 percent, but I’m also not surprised, I think a lot of people conflate the two. Cena has always been that funny guy. I always thought behind the scenes, and I think anybody who has worked with him always thought. A lot of the guys at that top-level in WWE may not want to admit it, but alls we are theatre actors. We’re doing live theatre every Monday, every Friday, Thursday, Tuesday, whatever the hell the schedule is now.”

CM Punk Is Not Surprised With John Cena’s Success

The former world champion said working on WWE programming gets you accustomed to improv and working on the fly. He then mentioned how Suicide Squad director James Gunn praised John Cena saying that the Cenation leader is the best improv actor he has ever worked with. CM Punk explained that this doesn’t surprise him at all:

“I read James Gunn said that John Cena was the best improv actor he’s ever worked with. That does not surprise me in the least. We do it every week for decades. When we transition to film, I think people are pleasantly surprised like, ‘Oh wow, I thought you were just going to be this muscled up stiff guy.’ I’m not surprised that John is killing it.”

CM Punk had a number of high-profile feuds with John Cena during his time in WWE. Many believe it was their 2011 feud, consisting of moments such as the infamous pipebomb promo that helped establish Punk as a main event caliber talent in the company. The former WWE star recently revealed the backstage reaction to that promo and you can check it out here.

WWE is very careful about how they present their stars. The officials do not like even the slightest appearance changes made by their talents on their own, and Lana found this out the hard way.

The former WWE star recently took part in a virtual signing with East Coast Autograph Auctions . She recalled how she once changed the color of her hair to blue.

However, according to Lana, the WWE officials were not very happy with this change. Not only was she confronted by Michael Hayes about it but the female star even got a call from Vince McMahon himself.

“So, I did my hair blue and Michael Hayes walks up to me and is like, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I don’t know, it matches my costume.’ He’s like, ‘No, no, no. no.’ I showed up with blonde hair the next day and he’s like, ‘Ah, you look great.’ So, there you go,”

Vince’s Reaction to Lana’s Blue Hair

Lana added, “I also got a call from Vince McMahon about the blue hair. I’ll have to be blonde forever.”

Lana isn’t the only one who got in trouble for changing her hair. Her husband Miro (Rusev) has stated that WWE fined and punished him for cutting up his long hair during his early run with the promotion.

Lana was one of the many stars released by WWE earlier this year on June 2. Even though her non-compete clause has already expired, the wrestling star has not confirmed any future plans for her just yet.

• Lana Recalls Getting Punished In WWE After Her Engagement To Miro

WWE had planned Bobby Lashley to be the #1 pick for Raw during night 1 of WWE Draft on Friday’s SmackDown, according to PWinsider. The idea behind it was that the All Mighty’s pick instead of Big E would have worked as a cliffhanger

People would have had to tune in to this week’s episode of Raw to know which brand the WWE champion would land on, especially with his New Day partners Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston being drafted to SmackDown.

These plans were dropped over the course of the day of last week’s SmackDown. The company replaced Lashley with Big E as the #1 pick for the red brand. Bobby Lashley himself was drafted to Raw on Monday.

The officials also seriously considered breaking up The Street Profits. The plan was that Montez Ford would be moved to Raw alongside his wife Bianca Belair while Angelo Dawkins would remain on SmackDown.

WWE cooled down on the idea over the course of last week. So the plan was changed to all three of these names being drafted to Raw instead of two.

The Street Profits did not break up during the show but WWE did end up splitting the team of T-Bar and Mace. The former was drafted to Raw while the latter ended up being picked by SmackDown.

The night two of WWE Draft brought in almost as many surprises as the first night. WWE superstars have been reacting to the picks made during this week’s Raw on social media all night.

Bobby Lashley who was the #1 draft pick of the night for the red brand posted a photo with MVP and wrote that the business will continue to bloom.

Seth Rollins reacted to becoming part of the red roster once again by posting some gifs. He also made a tweet reading: “Monday Night Rollins Forever”

Ricochet was interviewed backstage after he was drafted to SmackDown. He claimed that maybe SmackDown is where he needs to be to achieve what he wants, mentioning how the past couple of months for him on Raw have been a slump.

• WWE Draft Night 2 Results: All On Air Draft Picks

Finn Balor made several tweets after being brought back to Raw. He replied to tweets from people like Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens. The former NXT champion also sent a tweet to his fellow former Bullet Club member AJ Styles.

Sami Zayn, who became the final pick of the night seemed unhappy with his late selection. He first said that his name might not be in the draft list at all before making another tweet about being the last pick.

You can check out all the reactions below:

A number of WWE superstars have become free agents after not being picked by any brands during the WWE Draft including the former women’s champion Bayley.

Brock Lesnar announced during night 1 of WWE Draft at last week’s SmackDown that he had become a free agent thanks to his advocate Paul Heyman.

A number of other stars then became free agents after they weren’t mentioned during the main or additional drafts on night 2 of WWE Draft.

The list of people who have become free agents include Brock Lesnar, Asuka, Bayley, Elias, Eva Marie, Gran Metalik, John Cena, Lacey Evans, Lince Dorado, Shane McMahon, Slapjack and Titus O’Neil.

Out of these names, both Metalik and Lince Dorado are said to be unhappy with their bookings as of late. Reports even suggested that Gran Metalik has asked for his release from the company.

Though WWE has announced that the roster changes made during the Draft will not come into effect until the Crown Jewel PPV which will be taking place on October 21.

So it’s likely that at least some of these free agents will be assigned a brand before that. It would be interesting to see which brand talent like Asuka and Bayley end up on.

WWE has announced that Bobby Lashley will be taking on Goldberg in a No Holds Barred match at the upcoming Crown Jewel pay-per-view from Saudi Arabia.

These two heavyweight stars originally collided at the SummerSlam PPV in a WWE championship match in August. The All-Mighty won this match when his opponent was declared unable to compete due to a knee injury.

However, Lashley continued attacking the former WCW star afterward. He attacked Goldberg’s son Gage when he came to check on his father as well. Goldberg had vowed to take revenge over this.

This week’s Raw then saw the former Universal champion challenging Lashley for the bout. Bobby Lashley was the one who suggested the stipulation for the match.

• WWE Draft Night 2 Results: All On Air Draft Picks

WWE Crown Jewel 2021 Updated Match Card

WWE announced a few other matches for the Crown Jewel PPV alongside Lashley vs. Goldberg during the night. You can check out the updated card for the show below:

• Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
• WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Big E
• Triple Threat SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch
• Raw Tag Team Championship Match: AJ Styles and Omos vs. Randy Orton and Riddle
• No Holds Barred Match: Bobby Lashley vs. WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg

WWE Crown Jewel will take place on October 21 from the Mohammed Abdu Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The WWE Draft continued after this week’s episode of Raw during Raw Talk. The company announced some additional draft picks during the show.

The show saw picks such as The Miz being drafted to the red brand. His former tag team partner John Morrison was picked by the show as well last week.

The Hurt Business’ Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander also remained on Raw after Bobby Lashley was confirmed to be staying on the same brand earlier in the night during WWE Draft.

• WWE Draft Night 2 Results: All On Air Draft Picks

WWE Draft Night 2: All Additional Draft Picks

A total of 16 superstars were picked by the brands in the additional picks made during Raw Talk. Here is a list of stars that were drafted during the show:

Raw Picks

• Dana Brooke
• Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode
• Jaxson Ryker
• Veer
• Liv Morgan
• Mia Yim
• Tamina Snuka
• Tegan Nox
• Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander
• The Miz

SmackDown Picks

• Jinder Mahal
• Shanky
• Natalya
• Shotzi Blackheart

The company has confirmed that the updated rosters will not come to effect until the 2021 Crown Jewel PPV on October 21.

Many stars have become free agents after not being picked during the WWE Draft and it will be interesting to see what the officials have planned for them.

The biggest surprise coming out of night two of WWE Draft on Monday’s episode of Raw was the red brand picking up Gable Steveson to join their roster.

WWE showed a video of the Olympic gold medallist with his parents after his pick was announced. The amateur wrestling star also took on his Twitter to react to the news:

SHOCKER!@GableSteveson has been drafted to #WWERaw in the sixth round of the #WWEDraft. pic.twitter.com/z2pwjPMnza

— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2021

While Gable Steveson had been talking about a potential WWE career since last year, the 21-year-old was officially signed by the promotion only last month.

The Olympic star himself had revealed after his signing that there was a good chance he would skip an NXT run and be sent to main roster directly. Though very few expected it to happen this soon.

It’s unknown what Steveson’s immediate role on Raw will be but reports suggest that he will go full time in May 2022. So it’s possible that he will be more focused on his pro wrestling training and make sporadic appearances till then.

The night two of WWE Draft brought in some other surprises as well such as both SmackDown women’s champion Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins being drafted to Raw from SmackDown and more.

You can check out all the draft picks made during the show here.

WWE Draft continued on this week’s episode of Raw. The show saw some changes that were expected after last Friday’s SmackDown and a couple of surprises as well.

After the Raw women’s champion Charlotte Flair was drafted to the blue brand, many believed Becky Lynch will be shifted to Raw to balance the star power, and this change was made official with the very first draft pick of the night.

The WWE Draft brought in some unexpected changes for the second night of the event as well, such as the former Universal champion Finn Balor being moved to Raw or Sheamus being picked up by SmackDown.

Though probably the biggest surprise of the night was Raw picking 2020 Olympic gold medallist Gable Steveson to join the red roster in the final round of the draft.

SHOCKER!@GableSteveson has been drafted to #WWERaw in the sixth round of the #WWEDraft. pic.twitter.com/z2pwjPMnza

— WWE (@WWE) October 5, 2021

• WWE Draft Again Shows Brand Loyalty Is Not A Thing

WWE Draft Night 2

A total of 24 picks were made on air during the WWE Draft on this week’s episode of Raw. You can check out the night 2 draft picks below:

Raw Picks:

• SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch
• Bobby Lashley
• Seth Rollins
• United States Champion Damian Priest
• AJ Styles and Omos
• Kevin Owens
• Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins
• Finn Balor
• Karrion Kross
• Alexa Bliss
• Carmella
• Olympic gold medallist Gable Steveson

SmackDown Picks:

• SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos
• Sasha Banks
• Intercontinental Champion King Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs
• Sheamus
• Shayna Baszler
• Xia Li
• The Viking Raiders
• Ricochet
• Humberto Carrillo and Angel Garza
• Cesaro
• Ridge Holland
• Sami Zayn

You can check out the Draft picks from night 1 here and the additional picks announced after SmackDown here.

• WWE Announces Additional Draft Picks After Raw

As one of the final stars to be called up to the main roster before the rebranding of NXT, Riddle likes the revamp of the brand. He thinks they are doing a good job of pushing new talent. One-half of the current Raw tag team champions recently made an appearance on the After The Bell podcast. He discussed topics such as the biggest thing he has learned from Randy Orton and more.

Giving his thoughts on the re-design of WWE’s third brand, Riddle said that he likes the new colors. Though he is not so sure about the 2.0 moniker:

“I like the colors, I like the colorfulness, but I don’t know about the 2.0, I don’t think they needed the 2.0, but hey, I get it, we’ve evolved to the next level of NXT. I like it. I feel like, right now, they’re doing a great job of catering and pushing newer talent. Instead of getting guys with huge independent reputations and just putting them in the forefront, it’s really good that they’re building stars.”

• Riddle Confirms Backstage Heat For Roman Reigns Comments

Riddle Compares Bron Breakker To Goldberg

The former UFC star also gave his opinion on the fastest rising star of NXT 2.0, Bron Breakker. Riddle claimed that the son of wrestling veteran Rick Steiner reminds him of a young Goldberg with the way he moves around the ring:

“Bron Breakker, dude’s a house, guys pretty stacked, you know? I mean, right now, he reminds me of a younger Goldberg. I feel like him on the mic, he’s very short, very intense, and then in the ring, he’s not doing a lot of dips and dives, but he definitely gets the job done. The guys a ball of muscle, that’s all I can say.”

The Raw star continued by saying that he thinks of Bron when he thinks about up and coming future guys. He claimed that the heavyweight star could be fighting for the world championship in three years. Riddle admitted that only time will tell whether this actually happens, but from what he has seen, Bron Breakker seems to have a bright future ahead.

The Suicide character in Impact Wrestling has been portrayed by more than half a dozen wrestlers over the years. One of them is the former WWE star TJP. The former cruiserweight champion recently had an interview with Cageside Seats. Among other things, he explained how he got chosen to play the character.

TJP first recalled the time the character made its debut in December 2007 portrayed by Frankie Kazarian. The high flying star remembered how Kazarian was reluctant about it and Christopher Daniels had joked that he should play the character instead:

“He [Frankie Kazarian] didn’t want to do it, he wasn’t having it. We all sat around the locker room and Christopher Daniels joked, ‘TJ should just be Suicide, he’s already in a mask,’ because I was Puma at the time.”

How TJP Got To Be Suicide

Perkins finally got the chance to play the character in May 2013. Explaining how he got the role, TJP revealed the officials originally wanted to bring it back for one night only. Since his Puma character was not being used at the time, the former 205 live star volunteered for the role:

“They were bringing it back for one night only as maybe nostalgia. I don’t think they knew who they wanted to portray it. I said, ‘If you don’t have any idea for this, I’d be happy to do it.’ At the time, I was tired of sitting at home. They said, ‘Good idea.’ One night turned into two, turned into three.”

The former Impact star continued to portray the character for a while before Suicide was revealed to be Perkins during an episode of Impact in June 30, 2013. His ring name was changed to Manik. TJP continued portraying the Manik character till he took his mask off in September 2015. Suicide has since made a few appearances on Impact and he even teamed with Manik in March 2020.

Matt Riddle is not only winning titles with Randy Orton as part of their RK-Bro tag team in WWE but he is learning a lot of things from the wrestling veteran as well. The former UFC star recently made an appearance on After The Bell. He discussed things such as how he is able to be himself in WWE and more.

Discussing his partnership with the Viper, the former NXT star said that Randy has thought him a lot. He explained that in indies they had a much faster workrate:

“Randy, over the time we’ve been working together, he’s taught me so much.  The way he moves in the ring, I think for me being from the indies, you have a faster workrate.  You’re trying to get everything in.  You’re only given a certain amount of time.  You’re trying to do everything you can do, instead of making the most of what you’re doing. “

• Riddle Confirms Backstage Heat For Roman Reigns Comments

Riddle On What He Has Learned From Randy Orton

Now that he is working with the 14-time world champion, Matt Riddle said that he feels like he is able to get the most out of what he does:

“Working with Randy, I feel like instead of killing myself, which I still do, but I think I’m getting the most out of doing what I do now.  That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned from Randy.”

Riddle also discussed the ongoing Draft and claimed that he wants to stay on Raw because he loves the show. The current champion mentioned how some people don’t like the three-hour show but he loves it because he gets the time to not only wrestle but to talk and have fun as well.

Nia Jax is expected to take an extended period off from WWE programming after recent injury angle on the September 20 episode of Monday Night Raw.

We have seen former NXT star Shayna Baszler talking out both her former tag team partner and Eva Marie by stomping their hands after putting them inside the steel steps in the past couple of weeks.

In an update, PWinsider is reporting that Marie was backstage for Friday’s episode of SmackDown. She was selling her injury by wearing a sling all night.

As for Jax, she wasn’t seen in the arena at all. Word is that the former women’s champion is taking an extended period off from WWE programming. The attack from Baszler was to write her off TV.

WWE has announced storyline injuries to both the female stars. Eva Marie is suffering from possible dislocated elbow while Jax is out with an elbow posterior fracture and dislocation in left elbow.

Based on these reports, we can expect Marie to stay out of action in near future. Though it’s possible that she still makes on screen appearances.

Nia Jax who was drafted to Raw during the additional draft picks made after SmackDown will likely not be seen on TV at all in the coming weeks.

Big E understands the fan notion about part-time talents such as Goldberg taking the spotlight from full-time wrestlers like himself, but he thinks from the perspective of such stars as well. The WWE champion recently had an interview with Renee Paquette for her Oral Sessions podcast. During the talk, he discussed things such as paying tribute to Brodie Lee on Raw and more.

E has previously said that he would love to be the one to retire Goldberg. He continued talking about this bout during his appearance, mentioning how he once thought he would never get the match:

“There’s a bunch of things that I never, you know, like the Goldberg match. When I was making my stupid little comebacks about being a main event, I never thought I’d get the Goldberg match. But now I sit in a position where, you know, maybe if I make enough noise, we can get that done.”

Big E On Fan Sentiment About Part Time Stars

Big E also discussed the sentiment people have about part-time stars. He claimed that he understands and appreciates the fans who have an affinity to full-time performers. Though he also discussed things from the perspective of the former WCW star:

“And you know people will feel different ways about that. I understand that and I appreciate fans who have an affinity to the performers who are there, on the house shows, working every single night. Because I feel like we are the heart of this company. We’re the ones that keep this thing going.

But in the same vain, if someone were to throw a bundle of cash at me at age 50 to work two or three times a year, who am I to turn that down? So we’ll see.”

The New Day star also commented on his feelings after the big WWE championship win. He explained how he doesn’t ever want to feel like he has made it because that’s the point where you stop growing. Big E cashed in his Money In The Bank contract on Bobby Lashley to win the WWE championship on September 13 Raw.

There has been a rumor going around that Bray Wyatt has agreed to a deal with Impact Wrestling but latest reports suggest that this news is not correct.

Although Impact does have an interest in bringing the former WWE Superstars, Fightful notes that no deal has been made between the two parties.

Impact officials asked one of their roster members to reach out to Wyatt but they are nowhere close to reaching an agreement. The report doesn’t state the name of the Impact star who reached out to Bray.

The eater of worlds was released from his WWE contract back on July 31 after more than a decade with the promotion. His non-compete clause is set to expire later this month on Friday, October 29.

Bray Wyatt has been teasing his next move on social media. In a Twitter post last month, the Fiend promised to see everyone very soon. He then responded to some comments from Seth Rollins about their Hell In A Cell match.

Though despite the teases, there is no word yet on which company he is leaning towards and no clear indication of what the former champion is planning for his future.

WWE’s declining ratings are generally attributed to the notion of the officials blocking the rise of new stars. Though Jinder Mahal doesn’t agree with this sentiment. The former WWE champion recently had an interview with Inside The Ropes. Discussing the belief that WWE doesn’t create new stars anymore, he named the stars of different generations including his own:

“Yeah, they absolutely do. That’s what we’re in the business of, right? Just being a fan myself. So I grew up first the Hulk Hogan era. Then the new stars came Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Mankind, right? And the new stars came the next generation – Rock, Stone Cold and then the next generation after that, Randy Orton and John Cena, Batista, right? And then the next generation after that, I guess, is possibly my generation, right? Me, Drew McIntyre, Big E, Bobby Lashley, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins.”

• Drew McIntyre Reflects on Jinder Mahal’s Failed Run as WWE Champion

Jinder Mahal Believes WWE Still Creates New Stars

The former NXT star went on to describe how the names he listed alongside his own are all first-time world champions. Jinder Mahal explained that out of the total 53 WWE champions in the history of the company, 10 have been crowned in the past decade which is a proof of the fact that WWE still creates stars:

“So actually, I started with WWE in 2010 and all those champions that I’ve listed are first-time champions and there’s more that I’ve missed. So in the last ten years, we have had several champions. And if you look back in the 70-year history, I believe we’re at number 53. Ten have happened in the ten years. I think that speaks for itself, that we are creating new stars.

Mahal went on to say that looking at the stats will make people realize that there have been a lot of first-time champions. He claimed that people just need to sit back and enjoy the product and let the storylines unfold. Jinder Mahal won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at Backlash in May 2017. He held the title for a total of 170 days before dropping it to AJ Styles in November the same year.

WWE Draft began on this Friday’s SmackDown. The show saw several surprising changes such as the WWE Hall Of Famer Edge moving to Raw or The New Day members Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods moving to the blue brand without Big E.

However, the company only announced a total of 16 draft picks on air during the episode, which left a lot of eligible superstars undrafted.

The promotion later continued the Draft on Talking Smack and announced additional picks for both the brands before next Monday’s episode of Raw.

During the show, Raw picked Nia Jax, John Morrison, WWE 24/7 Champion Reggie, R-Truth, Drake Maverick, T-BAR, Akira Tozawa, Otis, Chad Gable, Apollo Crews, Commander Azeez, Doudrop, and Zelina Vega for the brand.

On the other hand, SmackDown drafted stars such as Aliyah, Drew Gulak, Mace, Mansoor, Mustafa Ali, and Toni Storm to the blue brand’s roster.

WWE Draft will continue on Raw with stars such as Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, and Bobby Lashley being available to be picked by either of the brands.

You can see all the draft picks made during this week’s episode of SmackDown here and check out the reactions of stars such as Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston on the breakup of The New Day here.

Night 1 of WWE Draft on SmackDown featured some surprises. WWE stars have been reacting to the picks on social media since the show went off the air.

After becoming the #1 overall draft pick, the Universal champion Roman Reigns tweeted a couple of pictures of himself and wrote “I am the one.”

One of the most surprising changes of the nights was Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods once again being separated from Big E. The New Day members were drafted to SmackDown while the WWE champion remained on Raw.

Kingston seemed excited with this change and he made a tweet about being part of the blue brand now. He also seemed hopeful about E possibly being drafted to SmackDown as well during night 2 of WWE Drafts on Raw.

Woods on the other hand didn’t seem very enthusiastic. He posted a video and noted how it does not make sense to pick only two out of three members of their faction.

Austin Theory who was drafted to Raw was interviewed backstage afterward. He was very excited over WWE Draft and claimed that the red brand just became all day.

• WWE Draft Night 1 Results: All On Air Draft Picks

One interesting reaction came from none other than Becky Lynch herself. A fan tweeted at her saying that Bianca Belair was picked before The Man.

Replying to it, the SmackDown women’s champion mentioned how she is not eligible to be picked up until night 2 of the WWE Draft and gave her reason for it.

You can check out all the reactions below:

The first night of WWE Drafts on SmackDown saw some surprising picks and gave people a lot to talk about until Monday’s episode of Raw.

Many of the stars stayed on the same brand as expected. SmackDown picked the Universal champion Roman Reigns as their first pick of the night while Raw chose Big E as their #1 pick.

Some big brand switches that were teased in the past couple of days also got confirmed during the WWE Draft. The most notable of them was the former WWE champion Drew McIntyre being picked by the blue brand.

The company had a few surprises in store too. The first of them was SmackDown picking the Raw women’s champion Charlotte Flair in the first round.

Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston being drafted to SmackDown was a big surprise as well. This was especially shocking because the duo had only reunited with Big E on Raw a few weeks before WWE Draft.

• WWE Draft Again Shows Brand Loyalty Is Not A Thing

WWE Draft Night 1 Result: All Draft Picks Made On Air

A total of 16 picks were made on air during tonight’s episode of SmackDown. Here is a list of all the stars picked by both the brands during tonight’s show:

SmackDown picks:

• WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
• RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
• Drew McIntyre
• Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods
• Happy Baron Corbin and Madcat Moss
• Hit Row (“B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, “Top Dolla” AJ Francis, NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott)
• Naomi
• Jeff Hardy

Raw picks:

• WWE Champion Big E
• Bianca Belair
• Raw Tag Team Champions Randy Orton and Riddle
• WWE Hall Of Famer Edge
• WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley
• Keith “Bearcat” Lee
• Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio
• Austin Theory

WWE Draft will continue on Raw this Monday.

There is a possibility that some tag teams will be split up during the upcoming WWE Draft and Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits is ready if it happens. The former NXT star recently had an interview with Rick Ucchino of Sportskeeda. He was asked about the possibility of their team being drafted to different brands.

Replying to it, Dawkins said that they have not thought about it. Though he claimed both of them would be ready for it if it happens, mentioning how Montez Ford went up against the Universal champion Roman Reigns last week:

“We haven’t really thought about it, but I also know if it were to happen, we’ll both be ready,  I mean, Tez just showed last week that he can handle it. You know what I’m saying? I’m not shying away from it.”

Angelo Dawkins said that both the stars will still support each other. He then explained how people will get to see a different side of him if their tag team is split:

“Not a lot of people know what I can bring to the table. I’m the powerhouse of the team. So like not many people have seen me really move.

I don’t really need to fly because I got the flyer next to me. And I let him handle the high-flying stuff. So, if it ever happens to where we’re on different brands, I think I got a different side that nobody’s ever seen of me before to show.”

The Street Profits originally debuted on NXT back in March 2016. The two started making appearances on Raw in July 2019. Their tag team was moved to SmackDown in the 2020 draft. The duo have won tag team titles in all three of WWE’s brands.

CM Punk’s infamous “Pipebomb Promo” (2011) is still talked about to this day. Punk appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast this week to discuss his return to pro wrestling and much more.

Thinking back to his groundbreaking promo, Punk [jokingly] says he was ready for a physical confrontation when he returned to the backstage area. He hoped to avoid a scuffle with anybody he offended and decided to exit the side of the stage instead of the usual entrance way. To Punk’s surprise, he found the whole area empty:

“When I got in the back, nobody anywhere,” he said. “Backstage is normally buzzing, people in the hallways. It was empty.”

Punk continued, “I remember looking around like, ‘Jeez, what’s going on’. And then I walked past the curtain through Gorilla and everybody in the company was jammed into the tunnel waiting to see me come through Gorilla, because they figured the same thing, they were like, ‘Ah man, this is gonna get real.’”

Texts From ‘Lofty People In The Business’

Revealing some interesting reactions to his promo, CM Punk mentioned how chef Robert Irvine was in the arena at the time who told him that the promo was amazing. He then detailed the weird reaction of Chris Masters:

“And then I saw Chris Masters and Chris Masters looks at me and goes, ‘Did you just hear what Punk said?’, and I was like, ‘Chris, it’s me’, and he was like, ‘Oh. Oh it is you! You’re gonna get fired dude’. And then I just walked up. It was a weird scene. I didn’t know it was gonna become as big as it did, but I knew just based off those reactions, I knew we had something.

The straight edge star went on to claim that he received texts from some ‘pretty lofty people in the business’ who he respected after the promo. So he knew that he did some good television. CM Punk delivered his pipebomb promo criticizing the WWE chairman Vince McMahon among others during the June 27, 2011 episode of Raw.

You can relive the iconic moment below: