2023 WWE draft

The 2023 WWE draft was the seventeenth WWE draft produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) between the Raw and SmackDown brands. The draft occurred on the April 28th episode of SmackDown on Fox and the May 1st episode of Raw on the USA Network.
==Production==
===Background===
The WWE Draft is a process used by World Wrestling Entertainment (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 nontraditional 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 occurred on the October 9 and 12 episodes of SmackDown and Raw, respectively.
For the 2023 WWE draft the new rosters would go into effect after Backlash, beginning with the May 8th episode of Raw.
==Selection==
===SmackDown===
The following is the list of wrestlers and other personnel who were selected on the April 28th SmackDown.
Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
SmackDown 	Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa 	Male wrestlers 	Roman Reigns was then WWE Champion and Universal Champion
Raw 	Cody Rhodes 	Male wrestler 	
SmackDown 	Bianca Belair 	Female wrestler 	Then RAW Women's Champion
Raw 	Becky Lynch 	Female Superstar	
Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2
SmackDown 	The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) 	Tag Team 	
Raw 	Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci) 	Stable 	Gunther was then WWE Intercontinental Champion
SmackDown 	Edge 	Male wrestler 	
Raw 	Matt Riddle 	Male wrestler 	
Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3
SmackDown 	Bobby Lashley 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Drew McIntyre 	Male wrestler 	
SmackDown 	The O.C. (A.J. Styles, Mia Yim, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)	Stable 	
Raw 	The Miz 	Male wrestler 	
Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4
SmackDown 	Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY & Dakota Kai) 	Stable 	
Raw 	Shinsuke Nakamura 	Male Superstar 	
SmackDown 	Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn 	Tag Team 	Drafted from NXTThen NXT Women's Tag Team Champions
Raw 	Indi Hartwell 	Female Superstar	Drafted from NXTThen NXT Women's Champion
===SmackDown LowDown===
Additional draft picks announced on The SmackDown LowDown on April 29th.
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	The Viking Raiders (Erik, Ivar & Valhalla) 	Stable 	
Raw 	Dexter Lumis 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Candice LeRae 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Maximum Male Models (Mace, Mansoor & Maxxine Dupri)	Stable 	
Raw 	Natalya 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Apollo Crews 	Male Superstar 	Drafted from NXT
Raw 	Chelsea Green & Sonya Deville 	Tag Team 	
Raw 	Zoey Stark 	Female Superstar	Drafted from NXT
Raw 	JD McDonagh 	Male Superstar 	Drafted from NXT
SmackDown 	Hit Row (Ashante Adonis, Top Dolla & B-FAB) 	Stable 	
SmackDown 	Lacey Evans 	Female Superstar	
===Raw===
The following is the list of wrestlers and other personnel who were selected on the May 1st Raw.
Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1 	Round 1
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Rhea Ripley 	Female Superstar	Then WWE SmackDown Women's Champion
SmackDown 	Austin Theory 	Male Superstar 	Then WWE United States Champion
Raw 	Seth Rollins 	Male Superstar 	
SmackDown 	Charlotte Flair 	Female Superstar	
Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2 	Round 2
Raw 	Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 	Tag Team 	Then WWE Raw Tag Team Champions & WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions
SmackDown 	The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso) 	Tag Team 	
Raw 	The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio) 	Stable 	
SmackDown 	Latino World Order (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde & Zelina Vega)	Stable 	
Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3 	Round 3
Raw 	Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez 	Tag Team 	Then WWE Women's Tag Team Champions
SmackDown 	Asuka 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) 	Tag Team 	
SmackDown 	The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Butch & Ridge Holland) 	Stable 	
Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4 	Round 4
Raw 	Trish Stratus 	Female wrestler 	
SmackDown 	Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett) 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler 	Tag Team 	
SmackDown 	LA Knight 	Male Superstar 	
Round 5 	Round 5 	Round 5 	Round 5
Raw 	Ricochet & Braun Strowman 	Tag Team 	
SmackDown 	Shotzi 	Female wrestler 	
Raw 	Bronson Reed 	Male wrestler 	
SmackDown 	Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince & Kit Wilson) 	Tag Team 	Drafted from NXT
Round 6 	Round 6 	Round 6 	Round 6
Raw 	Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis) 	Tag Team 	
SmackDown 	Rick Boogs 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Kayden Carter & Katana Chance 	Tag Team 	Drafted from NXT
SmackDown 	Cameron Grimes 	Male wrestler 	Drafted from NXT
===Raw Talk===
Additional draft picks announced on Raw Talk after Raw.
Selected by	Employee 	Role 	Notes
Raw 	Los Lotharios (Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo)	Tag Team 	
Raw 	Dana Brooke 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Nikki Cross 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Veer & Sanga) 	Stable 	Drafted from NXT
Raw 	Emma 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Johnny Gargano 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Odyssey Jones 	Male Superstar 	Drafted from NXT
Raw 	Xia Li 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Riddick Moss 	Male Superstar 	
Raw 	Piper Niven 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Tegan Nox 	Female Superstar	
Raw 	Akira Tozawa 	Male Superstar 	
SmackDown 	Grayson Waller 	Male wrestler 	Drafted from NXT
SmackDown 	Tamina 	Female Superstar	
==Free agents==
As a result of not being drafted, the following wrestlers became free agents:
*Omos (w/MVP)
*Mustafa Ali
*Dolph Ziggler
*Von Wagner
*Brock Lesnar
*Baron Corbin
*Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin
*Elias
*Xyon Quinn
==See also==
*WWE Draft
==External links==
* 2023 draft page
Category:WWE Draft