Full Pool Of Eligible Stars For 2024 WWE Draft
As of this writing, we are mere hours away from the start of the 2024 WWE Draft, and while WWE had previously provided a handy list of rules, we now know, for the first time, which specific WWE talents will be eligible to be drafted — and when.
According to a list published on WWE's website, Friday's "WWE SmackDown," the first night of the draft, will have 30 total wrestlers available, spread among 20 total draft picks — The Bloodline (including Roman Reigns but sans Jimmy Uso, and with no mention of The Rock), Alpha Academy, The OC (without AJ Styles), and the teams of Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn and Cedric Alexander and Ashantee "Thee" Adonis are apparently all being drafted as single units. Other available talent include Styles (on his own), Andrade, Bianca Belair, Bron Breakker, Ivar (no Erik or Valhalla, who recently announced the upcoming birth of their second child), Jey Uso, LA Knight, Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Seth Rollins (despite reports that he was taking some time off after WrestleMania alongside his wife, Becky Lynch, who won the World Women's Championship on this week's "Raw"), Sheamus, and Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, listed separately despite primarily acting as a tag team of late.
According to the rules WWE published, most champions are not eligible to be drafted, which is why the pool does not include Lynch, WWE Women's Champion Bayley, WWE Tag Team Champions A-Town Down Under, World Tag Team Champions The Awesome Truth, United States Champion Logan Paul, Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest, or Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
A plethora of stables and tag teams available on Raw
The longer second night of the draft, taking place on Monday's "WWE Raw," appears to have 59 total wrestlers available, but spread across only 29 total draft picks.
An enormous number of stables and tag teams are available on Night 2, including #DIY, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, the former Diamond Mine (The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile), Damage CTRL (including WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane), The Final Testament (including Paul Ellering), Imperium (sans Giovanni Vinci), The Judgment Day (without Priest and Rhea Ripley, who's out with an injury), Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, Legado del Fantasma, The LWO (including both Carlito and Dragon Lee), New Catch Republic, The New Day (still without Big E), Pretty Deadly, and The Pride. There's a much shorter list of singles talent available: Apollo Crews, Braun Strowman (who has been out with injury for almost a year), Bronson Reed, CM Punk (who has yet to make his return to in-ring action), Drew McIntyre, Giovanni Vinci (on his own), Jade Cargill, Kevin Owens, Naomi, Odyssey Jones (who was drafted to "Raw" last year but still has yet to make his televised main roster debut), Shinsuke Nakamura, Tiffany Stratton, and Natalya and Tegan Nox, listed separately.
According to WWE's website, "NXT Superstars will be eligible to be drafted" on both "SmackDown" and "Raw," though their individual names weren't listed. There have been reports indicating that several "NXT" talent might be on the way to the main roster — including the recently debuted and recently dethroned Ilja Dragunov — and that current main roster talent could be drafted to "NXT." Numerous injured stars including RIpley, Jimmy Uso, Charlotte Flair, Shotzi, and Sonya Deville are not in the pool, nor are Carmella or Alexa Bliss, both still out on maternity leave (according to Fightful Select). Also not listed are several contracted talents who haven't been seen on TV in some time, including Omos (along with MVP), Dexter Lumis, Gable Steveson, Nikki Cross, Tamina, and Brock Lesnar.