The 2021 WWE Draft- Night 1 Results

The WWE roster got a little shake-up today on Smackdown, with the first night of the WWE Draft done and dusted. Notably, the drafted rosters don't come into effect for another 3 weeks- the Smackdown after the Crown Jewel PPV in Saudi Arabia.

The following draft picks were made on Smackdown by officials Adam Pearce & Sonya Deville:

Round 1

Universal Champion Roman Reigns- Smackdown

WWE Champion Big E- Raw

Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair- Smackdown

Bianca Belair- Raw

Round 2

Drew McIntyre- Smackdown

Randy Orton & Riddle- Raw

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods- Smackdown

Edge- Raw

Round 3

Happy Corbin & Madcap Moss- Smackdown

WWE Women's Tag Champions Rhea Ripley & Nikki ASH- Raw

Hit Row (Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, Top Dolla, B-Fab, and Ashante Adonis)- Smackdown

Keith "Bearcat" Lee- Raw

Round 4

Naomi- Smackdown

Rey & Dominik Mysterio- Raw

Jeff Hardy- Smackdown

Austin Theory- Raw

Thoughts: My gut response was that Smackdown got the more interesting picks here. But the Draft is only halfway over, and only half the Superstars were eligible to be drafted on this show. They may have put "better" picks on this episode by design, leaving Raw to get better looking picks on their episode next week.

Drew McIntyre was the expected big name, but it's still a great move, with the Scottish Warrior having done everything there is to do on Raw. The move of Jeff Hardy to Smackdown could be a good one if they want to commit to one last main event push for him, and Hit Row is an absolute awesome call-up from NXT to Raw, although it means that Swerve will have to drop his North American Championship.

The remainder of the picks seemed to be consolidating existing rosters for the most part. But we'll see how things are shaken up further on Night 2. For the Raw side, the most appealing move was the acquisition of the Mysterios, but even that is only a mild thumbs up.

Let me know what you think of the first night of the WWE Draft in the comments!

By Mick Robson