The WWE Draft is a process used by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE to refresh its rosters between the Raw and SmackDown brands when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers from the promotion's developmental brand NXT (2016–present) are also eligible to be drafted to Raw and SmackDown. Two of WWE's former brands, ECW (2006–2009) and 205 Live (2019), have also taken part in the draft during the promotion's various brand split periods.
The brand extension, also referred to as the brand split, is the separation of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE's roster of wrestlers into distinct divisions, or "brands". The promotion's wrestlers are assigned to a brand via the annual WWE Draft and exclusively perform on that brand's weekly television show, with some exceptions. Throughout its history, WWE has utilized the brand extension twice. The first brand split occurred from 2002 to 2011, while the ongoing second began in 2016.
NXT is a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was introduced on February 23, 2010. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to NXT primarily appear on the brand's weekly television program, NXT. It serves as a developmental brand for Raw and SmackDown, which are WWE's primary brands considered as the main roster. Due to its developmental status, NXT operates regardless if there is a brand extension in effect or not.
Drew Gulak is an American professional wrestler. He is currently performing on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a former one-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion and eight-time WWE 24/7 Champion.
Thomas Pestock is an American professional wrestler, former professional football player, and former amateur boxer. He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2012 to 2024, where he performed under the ring name Baron Corbin and was a one-time WWE United States Champion, one-time NXT Tag Team Champion, one-time Money in the Bank winner, and one-time King of the Ring.
Matthew Adams is an Australian professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Buddy Matthews as a member of the stable House of Black and is a former one-time AEW World Trios Champion. Adams also makes appearances on the independent circuit and is best known for his time with WWE where he performed under the ring name Buddy Murphy.
Gzim Selmani is a Dutch professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist of Kosovo Albanian descent. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Rezar as a member of Authors of Pain and as a subgroup of The Final Testament stable.
Sunny Dhinsa is a Canadian professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. As of 2022, is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Akam as a member of Authors of Pain and as a subgroup of The Final Testament stable.
The American professional wrestling promotion WWE has maintained several women's championships since 1983, when the World Wrestling Federation established the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship. One year later, the WWF bought the NWA Women's Championship and renamed it the WWF Women's Championship, establishing their first women's world championship. Although the title preceded the company's creation, the WWF claimed a lineage that began in 1956. Whenever the WWE brand extension has been implemented, separate women's championships have been created or allocated for each brand.
WWE 205 Live is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, as a replacement for WWE Superstars, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March 2021 when the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock, after which, it was available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets.
The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended as the secondary men's championship of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champion is Tony D'Angelo, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Oba Femi on the October 8, 2024, episode of NXT.
205 Live was a brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established in November 2016 and discontinued in February 2022. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand extension is in effect. Wrestlers assigned to 205 Live primarily appeared on the brand's weekly television program, 205 Live. From October 2019 to February 2022, the brand served as a sub-brand of WWE's developmental territory, NXT, which allowed 205 Live wrestlers to also appear on its show, NXT.
The Street Profits are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford with B-Fab as their manager. They are signed to WWE, where they perform on the SmackDown brand.
WWE Worlds Collide, also known as NXT Worlds Collide, was a professional wrestling event series produced by WWE, an American-based professional wrestling promotion. Established in 2019, the concept is interbrand competition between WWE's various brand divisions. Although the event has been held primarily for WWE's developmental territories, NXT and the former NXT UK, other brands have also been featured. The event was put on hiatus after the 2020 event but returned in 2022. The 2022 event was also the last event for NXT UK as it was planned to be relaunched as NXT Europe in 2023.
The 2021 WWE Draft was the 16th WWE Draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The two-night event began with the October 1 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. It concluded with the October 4 episode of Monday Night Raw, with SmackDown airing on Fox and Raw on the USA Network. Unlike previous drafts, in which results took effect immediately, the results of the 2021 draft went into effect in the October 22 episode of SmackDown. This was also the last draft with Vince McMahon as head of WWE creative.
Sean Tan Li Hao is a Singaporean professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand, under the ring name Dante Chen. He is best known for being the first Singaporean and Southeast Asian wrestler to sign with the WWE.
The 2022 Worlds Collide was the third Worlds Collide professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. While the event was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT and NXT UK brand divisions, Worlds Collide also featured some wrestlers from WWE's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It took place on Sunday, September 4, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, and was the first Worlds Collide to livestream on Peacock. This was the first Worlds Collide event since 2020 and also the final event for NXT UK, which was meant to relaunch as NXT Europe in 2023. This was also NXT's last major event in which the brand was referred to as "NXT 2.0", as nine days later, the "2.0" moniker was dropped.
The 2022 NXT Deadline was the inaugural NXT Deadline professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held primarily for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The event took place on Saturday, December 10, 2022, at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Deadline replaced NXT WarGames as the brand's December event, as the WarGames concept was moved to the main roster for that year's Survivor Series event for the Raw and SmackDown brands. Additionally, Deadline debuted the Iron Survivor Challenge match-type in WWE, with one each for the men and women, which is a 25-minute five-person match in which a wrestler attempts to score the most falls in order to win and earn a match for the NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship, respectively.
