Welcome to the Grapevine! This section of Smark Henry is where we round up all the important founded and unfounded rumors floating around the pro wrestling scene that you may have missed over the past few days. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt!
WWE Draft rules and pools
WWE has released the official rules and draft day pools for this year's Draft. Not all Superstars will be available to draft on each night. Like last year, RAW will get three picks for SmackDown's every two picks.
Friday Pool:
- Asuka
- Sasha Banks
- Bianca Belair
- Dana Brooke
- Humberto Carrillo
- Elias
- Angel Garza
- Drew Gulak
- Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker)
- The Hurt Business (Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander and MVP)
- Mickie James
- Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado)
- Drew McIntyre
- Murphy
- Rey & Dominik Mysterio
- Naomi
- The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
- Roman Reigns
- Ricochet
- Seth Rollins
- Mandy Rose
- Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax
- Shorty G
- AJ Styles
- Jey Uso
Monday Pool:
- Andrade
- Bayley
- Aleister Black
- Alexa Bliss
- Daniel Bryan
- Carmella
- King Corbin
- Apollo Crews
- Nikki Cross
- Dabba-Kato
- Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
- Erik (of The Viking Raiders)
- Lacey Evans
- Charlotte Flair
- Jeff Hardy
- Billie Kay
- Lana
- Keith Lee
- The Miz & John Morrison
- Riddick Moss
- Natalya
- Titus O’Neil
- Randy Orton
- Kevin Owens
- R-Truth
- RETRIBUTION (Mustafa Ali, T-BAR, MACE, SLAPJACK, RECKONING & RETALIATION)
- Matt Riddle
- The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan)
- Peyton Royce
- Arturo Ruas
- Sheamus
- Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro
- The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
- Braun Strowman
- Tamina
- Akira Tozawa
- Zelina Vega
- Bray Wyatt
- Sami Zayn
(Source: FOX Sports)
We say: All champions are strangely on these lists, meaning they are somehow up for grabs. It's not like any of them will be switching places anyway, so we don't understand why brands have to waste valuable picks to re-draft their own champions.
Candy Cartwright files multimillion-dollar lawsuit
Wrestler Candy Cartwright is filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Matt Riddle, WWE, and EVOLVE for sexual assault. Cartwright is seeking damages against Riddle for the alleged sexual assault he committed from 2017 to 2020, while WWE and EVOLVE is also named for their "tacit approval" of Riddle's sexual assault. In a statement, WWE has denied that there was a lawsuit filed against them. (Source: Chicago Sun-Times, Wrestling Headlines)
We say: This is huge, and might dictate the course of Riddle's WWE career (although it isn't a criminal case). But if Velveteen Dream's case is anything to go by, there's also the possibility that nothing might happen to him.
Let us know what you think of today's news in the comments!
Photo from WWE
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