The highly anticipated 2024 WWE Draft has come and gone, leaving fans with a sense of disappointment and frustration.
Despite promises from Triple H, Nick Aldis, Adam Pearce, and Ava that the draft would bring about drastic changes to the WWE terrain, the event failed to deliver on its lofty expectations. Night Two of the draft, in particular, was marred by several mistakes that left fans scratching their heads.
One of the most glaring errors was the unclear rules surrounding injured stars. Braun Strowman, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins were all included in the draft pools despite being sidelined with injuries.
Meanwhile, other injured superstars like Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, Sonya Deville, and Raquel Rodriguez were omitted from the pools altogether. This inconsistency raised more questions than answers and left fans wondering why some performers were eligible for selection while others were not.
Another baffling decision was the late drafting of Drew McIntyre. The two-time WWE Champion and Men’s Royal Rumble Match winner was not picked until the third round, behind talents like Tiffany Stratton and Jade Cargill.
While this may have been done for storyline purposes, it was a strange call considering McIntyre’s pedigree in the company.
The lack of movement among big-name stars was another major letdown. With champions protected, fans were hoping for some surprise moves involving top talent.
However, aside from Damage CTRL and Shinsuke Nakamura switching brands, there was little in the way of shocking developments. The main swaps involved mid-card stars and tag teams rather than huge names, which did little to shake up the WWE terrain.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of all was the failure to deliver on the promise of “changing the terrain” of WWE. If the goal was to truly shake things up, then champions should not have been protected.
Instead, we saw more of the same old faces staying put on their respective brands. Moves like Damian Priest leaving The Judgment Day or Gunther switching to SmackDown could have been game-changers, but they never materialized.
In the end, the 2024 WWE Draft felt like a missed opportunity. Rather than rebuilding the foundations of WWE’s brands with new and exciting elements, we saw more of the same old building blocks being reused. As a result, fans are left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed by an event that promised so much but delivered so little.