WWE Draft 2020 Official Rules, Draft Pools Released

The 2020 WWE Draft will officially begin on this week’s Friday Night Smackdown, and on Thursday Fox Sports’ Ryan Satin released the full list of rules for the event. Just like last year’s Draft, there will be a list of eligible Superstars to be drafted on both SmackDown and Raw on both nights, and picks will be handed out so that for every two picks SmackDown receives, Raw gets three. Tag teams will once again only count as one pick (unless officials from either show choose to break up a team), and any undrafted wrestlers will immediately be declared free agents.

You can see the full list of rules, as well as the draft pools for both nights, in the list below. Based on the announcement it appears that NXT will play no role in this year’s Draft despite being on the USA Network alongside Raw.

SmackDown’s Draft Pool (Oct. 9):

Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, Dana Brooke, Humberto Carrillo, Elias, Angel Garza, Drew Gulak, Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker), The Hurt Business (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

Raw’s Draft Pool (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

Triple H was asked about NXT’s involvement in the Draft during the post-show media conference call for NXT TakeOver 31 on Sunday.

“When I say ‘not knowing what is happening in the Draft’ right now, my not knowing probably means, more than likely I would imagine, and just going off of what we’ve seen with commercials and everything, that we won’t be,” he said. “Now, that can always change this week. But a lot of talent have come up from the Performance Center… from NXT to Raw, to SmackDown over the last 12 months, I want to say the numbers, well it’s in the high teens over the last 12 months. So there’s been a lot of movement and a lot of activity. I’m always for what is best for talent.

“So when the conversations are had, we try to have as much advance notice for when talent is coming in or going out, that we can plan for it appropriately both on the exit and the entrance — for all sides,” he continued. “But sometimes that can’t happen, and sometimes it’s short notice. For the most part though, we have a fair amount of advanced notice, and we have time to be able to move on stuff… No matter how it goes, we’ll be ready to make it work.”