Fightful Select has provided an update on several Superstars who were not included in the WWE Draft, including two-time WWE Universal Champion Bray Wyatt.

Wyatt was pulled from WWE programming due to a physical issue on the Road To WrestleMania 39. As a result, his WrestleMania feud with Bobby Lashley was also nixed and the All Mighty didn’t get to wrestle at the Showcase Of Immortals this year.

According to the report, Wyatt was overcoming illness during WrestleMania weekend. He has recently been telling his friends about his excitement to return to work as soon as he can.

Additionally, Big E, Randy Orton, R-Truth, and Robert Roode are all dealing with injuries and weren’t part of the 2023 WWE Draft.

Both Truth and Roode are expected to miss most if not all of 2023. Truth tore his quad this past year and Roode recently underwent neck fusion surgery. Big E is still recovering from a broken neck and Orton has been dealing with back issues. WWE is currently uncertain about when these four Superstars can return to work.

On the other hand, certain wrestlers are simply absent because they’ve been missing from television, namely, Aliyah, Carmella, Alexa Bliss, Shanky, and Uncle Howdy.

Shanky hasn’t wrestled since Triple H took over WWE Creative. Aliyah hasn’t been seen since September, following her recovery from an AC sprain and rib injury.

Alexa Bliss was shelved due to skin cancer treatment and hasn’t been included in creative plans. Uncle Howdy, played by Bo Dallas, likely won’t return until Wyatt does.

Carmella’s absence has not been explained, but she vanished ahead of WrestleMania 39.

Gable Steveson was drafted to RAW in 2022 and has been undergoing training ever since. No creative plans were in place at the time and the move was described as a publicity stunt.

Jinder Mahal is now considered to be on the NXT roster.

Finally, part-timers like Lita, Logan Paul, and Maryse were also excluded from the Draft.

Lita is out selling a storyline injury and isn’t expected to be doing much ringwork in the future. Her appearances with Becky Lynch were simply meant to advance the storyline with Trish Stratus.

Speaking of Paul, even though he was included in the official Draft graphic, he’s viewed as a free agent and will appear wherever WWE needs him to.

Maryse was also included in the graphic but went undrafted. She will just appear whenever The Miz does, and The Hollywood A-Lister was drafted to RAW.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Yesterday on “The SmackDown LowDown,” WWE announced even more picks, and here’s who’s headed where.

Drafted to “Raw” are the trio of The Viking Raiders and Valhalla, Dexter Lumis, Candice LeRae, Natalya, “WWE NXT” call-ups Zoey Stark and JD McDonagh, Apollo Crews, the team of Sonya DeVille and Chelsea Green, and the Maximum Male Models with Maxxine Dupri. Headed to “SmackDown” are the Hit Row trio of Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, and B-Fab, as well as Lacey Evans. Interestingly, that puts all four members of former “NXT” stable The Way on the “Raw” roster, although Johnny Gargano may possibly be drafted to “SmackDown” when more picks are made official on Monday night.

In a surprising move, “The SmackDown Lowdown” also confirmed that a few WWE stars in the first draft pool are set to be free agents, able to appear on either show, at least for now. In that category are Omos with manager MVP, Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, and “NXT” call-up Von Wagner. In Omos’ case, the onscreen explanation for his free agency is that MVP negotiated him into that position. However, it remains unclear why exactly Ali, Ziggler, and Wagner weren’t drafted to a specific brand.

WWE SmackDown:

• Hit Row (Top Dolla & Ashante “Thee” Adonis w/ B-Fab)
• Lacey Evans

WWE RAW:

• Maximum Male Models (ma.cé, mån.sôör & Maxxine Dupri)
• Dexter Lumis
• Candice LeRae
• Natalya
• Apollo Crews
• Chelsea Green
• Sonya Deville
• Zoey Stark
• JD McDonagh

Omos & MVP, Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, and NXT’s Von Wagner are free agents. NXT’s Zoey Stark, JD McDonagh, and Apollo Crews were also called up. 

During a promo segment to open hour two of Friday night’s episode of SmackDown, Triple H once again sang the praises of WrestleMania 39 and all of the records the pay-per-view event set.

The WWE CCO then asked the fans if they wanted to know what was next. It was at that point that he announced the WWE Draft will be taking place “in a few weeks.” Triple H went on to announce that every Superstar will be eligible for this year’s draft. He claims it’ll be “bigger than ever” and will “change the game.” As of this writing, there is no word on whether the WWE NXT roster will be eligible to participate.

The WWE Draft is returning after a one year absence.

Wrestling fans have been interested to see what’s in store for this year’s WWE Draft, but it seems as if their wishes may not be granted.

Fightful Select is reporting that sources from the USA Network have told talents that the Draft isn’t slated to happen right after Clash at the Castle as initially reported, but sometime after next year’s WrestleMania. Talents were initially told that the Draft was slated to take place the week after the upcoming event. However, several “Raw” talents were not booked for the September 9 edition of “SmackDown” (when the first night of the Draft was first expected to be held), meaning crossovers of talent between the two brands would be unlikely.

The Draft has not been officially announced by WWE, and there has been no confirmation of dates the Draft will take place, as talents haven’t been told about anything that is happening in the upcoming weeks. The Draft had been listed on the internal calendar for September. There had also been discussions about it being held this month, following SummerSlam. It should also be noted that dates for last year’s Draft were changed a few times throughout the year.

The WWE Draft made its debut in 2002 but was discontinued in August 2011. The company revived it in July 2016 before introducing titles that were specific to brands. In the years following, the company held a Draft every year, dubbing it the Superstar Shake-Up for a few years and including “NXT” as a third brand.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

In case you missed it, below is the results from night 1 of the 2021 WWE Draft, that took place Friday night on SmackDown.

ROUND 1
* SmackDown picks WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns to stay on SmackDown
* RAW picks WWE Champion Big E to stay on RAW
* SmackDown picks RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair to come over from RAW
* RAW picks Bianca Belair to come over from SmackDown

ROUND 2
* SmackDown picks Drew McIntyre to come over from RAW
* RAW picks RAW Tag Team Champions Randy Orton and Riddle to stay on RAW
* SmackDown picks The New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods to come over from RAW
* RAW picks WWE Hall of Famer Edge to come over from SmackDown

ROUND 3
* SmackDown picks Happy Baron Corbin and Madcap Moss (Riddick Moss) to stay on SmackDown
* RAW picks WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley to stay on RAW
* Hit Row (“B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Ashante “Thee” Adonis, “Top Dolla” AJ Francis, NXT North American Champion Isaiah “Swerve” Scott) to come over from WWE NXT
* RAW picked Keith “Bearcat” Lee to stay on RAW

ROUND 4
* SmackDown picks Naomi to stay on SmackDown
* RAW picks Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio to come over from SmackDown
* SmackDown picks Jeff Hardy to come over from RAW
* RAW picks Austin Theory to come over from WWE NXT

Brock Lesnar announced that he is a free agent because of his good friend Paul Heyman.

Roman Reigns told Paul Heyman to go to RAW and make sure that The Usos get drafted to SmackDown. Reigns told The Usos to got to RAW and if they don’t get drafted to SmackDown, then leave Heyman dead at RAW.

The WWE Draft continued on Talking Smack and numerous stars were picked by both RAW and SmackDown.

WWE DRAFT PICKS FROM TALKING SMACK:

* RAW picks Nia Jax to stay on RAW
* RAW picks John Morrison to stay on RAW
* RAW picks WWE 24/7 Champion Reggie to stay on RAW
* RAW picks on R-Truth to stay on RAW
* RAW picks Drake Maverick to stay on RAW
* RAW picks T-BAR to stay on RAW
* RAW picks Akira Tozawa to stay on RAW
* RAW picks Doudrop to stay on RAW
* RAW picks Zelina Vega to come over from SmackDown
* RAW picks Otis to come over from SmackDown
* RAW picks Chad Gable to come over from SmackDown
* RAW picks Apollo Crews to come over from SmackDown
* RAW picks Commander Azeez to come over from SmackDown
* SmackDown picks Aliyah to come over from NXT
* SmackDown picks Drew Gulak to come over from RAW
* SmackDown picks Mace to come over from RAW
* SmackDown picks Mansoor to come over from RAW
* SmackDown picks Mustafa Ali to come over from RAW
* SmackDown picks Toni Storm to stay on SmackDown