WWE Draft: Jade Cargill Remains on SmackDown

Jade Cargill is sticking with SmackDown!

Jade Cargill is perhaps one of the bigger investments WWE has made in recent years and that was on display during the WWE Draft. Cargill was a first round pick for SmackDown, much like Bianca Belair on night one. Cargill will remain on SmackDown where she had previously given her allegiance to upon her arrival. 

Cargill has been in the midst of a storyline between Damage CTRL, herself, Naomi and Bianca Belair since WrestleMania season. Belair, Naomi and Cargill teamed up for the first time together to go against women's tag team champions Asuka, Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai. Even though the dominant trio came out of that match victorious, all three women are after gold. 

While Naomi will challenge Bayley for the Women's Championship a second time in a triple threat with Tiffany Stratton at Backlash, Cargill and Belair are gunning for tag team gold. The tag team match was made official on SmackDown last week when all four women appeared and it was for certain Cargill and Belair were going to challenge them.

Keeping Cargill on SmackDown will allow her to work with talent like Bayley, Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax while also building to that eventual huge singles match with Belair. The match is something that Cargill has been incredibly candid about wanting in the future.  Drafting her in the first round of SmackDown shows just how much they believe in the star who will no doubt have a huge impact on SmackDown and beyond.

WWE Draft Rules 

  • Champions on each brand will be protected and are not eligible to be drafted. As a result, Damian Priest, Becky Lynch, Awesome Truth and Sami Zayn will remain on Raw. Cody Rhodes, Bayley, A-Town Down Under and Logan Paul will remain on SmackDown.
  •  Even though their status as champions allows them to go to both brands, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane are eligible to be drafted. They will be assigned to that brand if they lose the titles.
  • Monday's Raw will feature six rounds of draft picks being announced. Each round will consist of the brands making two picks apiece for a total of 24 picks (12 for Raw and 12 for SmackDown).
  •  SmackDown will have the first pick on Friday, and Raw will have first pick on Monday.
  •  Rosters will go into effect on Monday, May 6, two days after Backlash France.