When is WWE's Next Draft?

WWE has undergone a number of changes since Paul Levesque took over the company's booking and a big one is coming in 2023. The company's annual Draft has taken place in the first half of October since 2019, but October came and went this year without any mention of the Raw and SmackDown rosters getting a shake-up. There were online reports over the summer that the Draft might happen in September, but that was quickly shut down. 

Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, there were conversations about having a Draft next month but the promotion never pulled the trigger on the idea. The plan now is for the next Draft to be at some point after WrestleMania 39 (April 1-2 in Los Angeles). 

It's worth noting that the brand split between Raw, SmackDown and NXT has been fairly lax under Levesque's leadership. A big reason for this has been The Bloodline holding the world and tag team championships for both brands, but the company has seemingly ignored the divide between shows whenever it's inconvenient. This was the same policy WWE had in the final months of the Vince McMahon regime. 

One person who has been an outspoken supporter of the brand split, despite his direct involvement with The Bloodline, is Paul Heyman. He explained his position in an interview with Ariel Helwani last year. 

"There's not enough space for new talent to rise if you're going to have both shows dominated by the same personalities," Heyman said. "It's a matter of the amount of time it takes for a talent to resonate with an audience and how much you have to define that persona and learn about who this person is, why I should care about them and why I should pay to see them. And if you have both television shows dominated by Roman Reigns, The Usos, The Bloodline, Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Big E, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bianca Belair, we now have both shows booked.

"Okay, so when do the young stars emerge? How do you get Humberto Carrillo in a decent spot? How do you get Angel Garza in a decent spot? Where does Hit Raw make their debut and against whom and for how long? How long will they have to rise to the top? You need to have these separate and distinct entities so that there are three hours to fill up on Monday, so that there's two hours to fill on a Friday," he continued. "And if Roman Reigns just dominates both shows then you have to keep the storylines cohesive, so whomever Roman is working with on Raw, the story continues on SmackDown. Top spot is locked up. Top spot on SmackDown is not the same as the top spot on Raw. Big E has his thing going with Kevin Owens. ...Once you take that main event position and you give it to the same two, three people on both shows, your main event position is now locked up. So how do you rise?"