2021 WWE draft

The 2021 WWE draft was the sixteenth WWE draft produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE between the Raw and SmackDown brands. The draft occurred on the October 1st episode of Friday Night SmackDown on Fox and the October 4th episode of Raw on the USA Network.
==Production==
===Background===
The WWE Draft is an annual process used by WWE while a brand extension is in affect to refresh the rosters of their brand divisions, usually between their Raw and SmackDown brands. In 2019, the promotion held two drafts, the first in April and the second in October. The one in April 2019 had an untraditional drafting format, where drafting decisions were announced as having been made behind the scenes and drafted wrestlers simply appeared on the brand without a major reveal, while the one in October 2019 returned to a traditional draft format. The 2020 draft was officially announced during the Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 27 and occured on the October 9 and 12 episodes of SmackDown and Raw, respectively. On October 1, WWE confirmed that the NXT brand would particiapte in the draft and that the moves from the draft would go into effect on October 22.
==Selection==
===Night 1: SmackDown (October 1)===
The following is the list of wrestlers and other personnel who were selected on the October 1st SmackDown.
There were four rounds of draft picks during Night One of the 2021 draft. WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville announced the draft picks for each.
Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Big E 	Male wrestler 	Then WWE Champion
SmackDown 	Roman Reigns 	Male wrestler 	Then Universal Champion
Raw 	Bianca Belair 	Female wrestler 	–
SmackDown 	Charlotte Flair 	Female wrestler 	Then RAW Women's Champion
Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2
Raw 	RK-Bro 	Tag Team 	The Raw Tag Team Champions
SmackDown 	Drew McIntyre 	Male wrestler 	–
Raw 	Edge 	Male wrestler 	Hall of Famer
SmackDown 	The New Day 	Tag Team 	–
Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3
Raw 	Rhea Ripley & Nikki A.S.H.	Tag Team 	Then Women's Tag Team Champions
SmackDown 	Happy Corbin & Madcap Moss	Tag Team 	–
Raw 	Keith "Bearcat" Lee 	Male wrestler 	–
SmackDown 	Hit Row 	Intergender stable	Then NXT North American Champion (Scott)
Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4
Raw 	Rey & Dominik Mysterio 	Tag Team 	–
SmackDown 	Naomi 	Female wrestler 	–
Raw 	Austin Theory 	Male wrestler 	–
SmackDown 	Jeff Hardy 	Male wrestler 	–
===October 2nd===
Additional draft picks announced on WWE Talking Smack & social media on October 2nd.
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Reggie 	Male Superstar 	Then WWE 24/7 Champion
Raw 	Akira Tozawa 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis)	Tag Team 	
Raw 	Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez 	Tag Team 	
Raw 	Doudrop 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Drake Maverick 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	John Morrison 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	T-Bar 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Nia Jax 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	R-Truth 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Zelina Vega 	Female Superstar	
SmackDown 	Mustafa Ali & Mansoor 	Tag Team 	
SmackDown 	Toni Storm 	Female Superstar	
SmackDown 	Aliyah 	Female Superstar	
SmackDown 	Drew Gulak 	Male Superstar 	
SmackDown 	Mace 	Male Superstar 	
===Night 2: Raw (October 4)===
The following is the list of wrestlers and other personnel who were selected on the October 4th Raw.
There were four rounds of draft picks during Night One of the 2021 draft. WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville announced the draft picks for each.
Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Becky Lynch 	Female Superstar	Then WWE SmackDown Women's Champion
SmackDown 	The Usos(Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) 	Tag team 	Then WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions
Raw 	Bobby Lashley 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Sasha Banks 	Female Superstar	–
Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2
Raw 	Seth Rollins 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Shinsuke Nakamura 	Male Superstar 	Then Intercontinental Champion
Raw 	Damian Priest 	Male Superstar 	Then United States Champion
SmackDown 	Sheamus 	Male Superstar 	–
Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3
Raw 	A.J. Styles & Omos 	Tag Team 	–
SmackDown 	Shayna Baszler 	Female Superstar	–
Raw 	Kevin Owens 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Xia Li 	Female Superstar	–
Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4
Raw 	Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins)	Tag Team 	–
SmackDown 	The Viking Raiders(Erik & Ivar) 	Tag team 	–
Raw 	Finn Bálor 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Ricochet 	Male Superstar 	–
Round 5 	Round 5 	Round 5 	Round 5
Raw 	Karrion Kross 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo 	Tag Team 	–
Raw 	Alexa Bliss 	Female Superstar	–
SmackDown 	Cesaro 	Male Superstar 	–
Round 6 	Round 6 	Round 6 	Round 6
Raw 	Carmella 	Female Superstar	–
SmackDown 	Ridge Holland 	Male Superstar 	–
Raw 	Gable Steveson 	Male Superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Sami Zayn 	Male Superstar 	–
===October 4th===
Additional draft picks announced on Raw Talk & social media on October 4th.
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Liv Morgan 	Female superstar	–
Raw 	Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin 	Tag team 	–
Raw 	Dana Brooke 	Female superstar	–
Raw 	The Dirty Dawgs(Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode)	Tag team 	–
Raw 	Jaxson Ryker 	Male superstar 	–
Raw 	Mia Yim 	Female superstar	–
Raw 	The Miz 	Male superstar 	–
Raw 	Tamina 	Female superstar	–
Raw 	Tegan Nox 	Female superstar	–
Raw 	Veer 	Male superstar 	–
SmackDown 	Natalya 	Female superstar	–
SmackDown 	Jinder Mahal & Shanky 	Tag team 	–
SmackDown 	Shotzi 	Female superstar	–
=== Free agents ===
Several wrestlers were made free agents due to injury, inactivity, or not being drafted during their draft pool. The chart is organized by date.
Wrestler(s) 	Pre-draft brand 	Reason for not being drafted	Subsequent status	Date 	Notes
Brock Lesnar	Raw (left in April 2020)	Chose to be a free agent 	Free agent 	October 1st, 2021	Returned to WWE at Summerslam 2021, appearing on SmackDown however never officially joined the brand.
Bayley 	SmackDown 	Injury 	Free agent 	 	
==Aftermath==
During night 1 of the Draft, Brock Lesnar, who after returning to WWE at SummerSlam appeared exclusively on the SmackDown program but never officially joined that brand, declared himself a free agent who was able to appear for any of WWE's brands.
==See also==
*WWE Draft
==External links==
* 2021 draft page
Category:WWE Draft