The rules for the WWE Draft have been released, and they don’t include NXT

WWE has announced the rules for their upcoming draft, which will begin tomorrow night (Oct. 9) on SmackDown, and finish up on next week’s (Oct. 12) Raw. Stephanie McMahon will be on hand both nights to conduct the proceedings, just like last year.

Here are the quick general rules that were given:

Over 60 Male Superstars, Female Superstars and Tag Teams have been placed into the 2020 WWE Draft.

More than 20 Superstars are eligible to be drafted on Friday night and more than 30 Superstars are eligible to be drafted on Monday night.

Due to the length of each show, for every two picks that SmackDown selects, Raw will get three picks.

Tag Teams will count as one pick unless FOX or USA Network, in conjunction with WWE Officials, wants to pick one Superstar from the team.

Any undrafted Superstars will immediately be declared free agents and able to sign with the brand of their choosing.

There are separate pools for which wrestlers can be drafted on Friday night, and who can be drafted on Monday.

Here is tomorrow night’s group of superstars who can be drafted:

• Asuka
• Sasha Banks
• Bianca Belair
• Dana Brooke
• Humberto Carrillo
• Elias
• Angel Garza
• Drew Gulak
• Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)
• The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander and MVP)
• Mickie James
• Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado)
• Drew McIntyre
• Murphy
• Rey & Dominik Mysterio
• Naomi
• The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
• Roman Reigns
• Ricochet
• Seth Rollins
• Mandy Rose
• Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
• Shorty G
• AJ Styles
• Jey Uso

And here are the superstars who are eligible to be drafted on Monday, Oct. 12:

• Andrade
• Bayley
• Aleister Black
• Alexa Bliss
• Daniel Bryan
• Carmella
• King Corbin
• Apollo Crews
• Nikki Cross
• Dabba-Kato
• Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
• Erik (of The Viking Raiders)
• Lacey Evans
• Charlotte Flair
• Jeff Hardy
• Billie Kay
• Lana
• Keith Lee
• The Miz & John Morrison
• Riddick Moss
• Natalya
• Titus O’Neil
• Randy Orton
• Kevin Owens
• R-Truth
• RETRIBUTION (Mustafa Ali, T-BAR, MACE, SLAPJACK, RECKONING & RETALIATION)
• Matt Riddle
• The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan)
• Peyton Royce
• Arturo Ruas
• Sheamus
• Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
• The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
• Braun Strowman
• Tamina
• Akira Tozawa
• Zelina Vega
• Bray Wyatt
• Sami Zayn

There are a few things that stand out about the information provided by WWE. First, there are no NXT wrestlers included among the eligible superstars who can be drafted. It’s also clear that draft picks will be made by the Raw and SmackDown brands; there is no mention of NXT. Hopefully someone will contact Triple H soon and let him know about this development.

Teams can be drafted as a unit. Therefore if Cleatus the Robot in the FOX war room thinks it’s a great idea to draft an anarchist group that wants to destroy WWE over to Friday nights, they can get Slapjack’s entire crew from RETRIBUTION in one pick.

However, teams do not have to be picked as a unit. Recent rumors suggest that John Morrison could be heading over to Monday nights, and it’s possible that he could be drafted separately from Miz in that scenario. Similarly, if WWE really is looking to move Big E to a different brand from Kofi Kingston, we could see that play out in this draft. It doesn’t make sense that Raw or SmackDown would only select one team member when they can get the full group without using any additional draft picks, but it will probably happen again this year.

Raw Underground mainstays Dabba-Kato and Arturo Ruas are eligible to be drafted. If they are moved over to Friday nights, they might have to give up their dream of impressing Shane McMahon on a weekly basis with their underground fighting skills. Then again, Braun Strowman has shown us that anybody is eligible to appear on Raw Underground, so it probably doesn’t matter.

Mojo Rawley went undrafted last year, and WWE didn’t even bother including him on the draft list this year.

Brock Lesnar is also not on this year’s draft list, which would seem to indicate that WWE doesn’t expect him back any time soon. Then again, he didn’t really adhere to last year’s draft results anyway, so maybe he gets preferential treatment and can go wherever he pleases.

Erik of the Viking Raiders is eligible to be drafted, but Ivar is not. Similarly, Jey Uso is eligible to be drafted, but his brother Jimmy is not.

Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss are not listed together as a team. Neither are Lana and Natalya.

Zelina Vega, Andrade, and Angel Garza are all individually listed on the draft board.

Drew McIntyre, Roman Reigns, and Asuka hold three of WWE’s top championships right now, and they will all be drafted during tomorrow night’s episode of SmackDown. Other champions who will be drafted tomorrow include Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler, as well as Bobby Lashley.

We haven’t seen Charlotte Flair in a long time. She is on the draft list for Monday night, so that’s when we’ll find out which brand she’ll be returning to when the time is right. Similarly, Daniel Bryan has been off television, and he is also on the draft list for Monday night.

What stands out to you about the rules and superstar pools for the WWE Draft?