It has been reported that the WWE Draft will be moving to a month after the original expected dates in late August. According to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast, the Draft will now be taking place on either Friday, October 1 and Monday, October 4, or October 4 and Friday, October 8.
It was believed that the 2021 WWE Draft would be starting on the August 30 RAW, emanating from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.
The SmackDown Draft would’ve then be taking place on the September 3 SmackDown from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
When is the WWE Draft?
No venues have been confirmed for the new dates in October, however the company are likely to be announcing these in the coming weeks, as well as when the Draft will be taking place this year.
It’s not confirmed if NXT will be part of the Draft this year, as the company seems to chop and change their opinion on the gold brand being seen as part of the ‘main roster’ rather than developmental.
The Draft episodes of WWE programming are usually classed as the ‘Season Premiere’ of the RAW and SmackDown shows, so this will also likely be the case when we hit October.
Plans are always subject to change, and the Draft episodes of RAW and SmackDown always pull a strong rating, so WWE may opt to bring the date forward if they are panicking about the current ratings on the flagships shows for USA Network and FOX.
