WWE Announce 2021 Draft Dates
The draft returns in under three weeks
Sep 14, 2021
WWE have confirmed that the 2021 Draft will take place in early October.
The promotion announced during this week's Monday Night Raw that the WWE Draft would, once again, be split over two nights. The first will take place on Friday 1 October on SmackDown before the second and final part will occur on Monday 4 October on Raw.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast first broke the news of the draft happening in early October last week.
WWE's last draft took place across October 9 and October 12, 2020. The 2020 Draft was considered a complete reset of the Raw and SmackDown brands, with every single wrestler across WWE's two main rosters up for selection. In the past, WWE have undertaken 'Superstar Shake-Ups' which have led to different talent switching brand at 'random'.
It is also not yet known if NXT talent will be available in the 2021 Draft. In the first Draft of the modern era, in 2016, a number of NXT talent were permitted to be called up, but official selections in the main roster draft have been limited since.
It has previously been reported that the USA Network - the home of Monday Night Raw - was unhappy in the aftermath of this year's SummerSlam that Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar will both be performing predominately on SmackDown. WWE reportedly assured the USA Network that they plan to 'shuffle the deck' during the 2021 Draft.
