[7.0] "The story of the draft this year turned out to be peculiar. It turned out that most of the wrestlers stayed on their brands, which calls into question the need for this kind of event. Although in my opinion there is nothing wrong with this, the main thing is that the stories are interesting. Well, the format of the draft itself is quite interesting for me, so I am looking forward to this event. Well, this time I was not disappointed and the episode did not cause me any negativity."

[5.0] "Draft always creates a very awkward show. Some of the draft picks were fun like the Dudleys but it takes a lot of time forcing even the main event to go less than 10 minutes. MOTN for me was Breaker and Alexander as it was perfect for building up Breaker before he goes to RAW."

[4.0] "there's nothing i hate in wrestling more than the draft. heyman pulling roman out the draft is interesting. jey going number 1 is hilarious over seth, punk drew etc. the contact signing for the title match was great and melo going in round one is great. bron going to raw is also hilarious. thank god nia ended that awful match, never been so happy to see her. kiana also getting called up is strange"

"Decent show in regards to wrestling, but the draft brought it down some. The main event was great, and most other matches were okay but lacking without Roman Reigns at the time. Cody vs Melo was a great match. Bron Breakker looked like a monster, and he's now IC champ. The L.W.O match was solid, as was the Tiffany vs Naomi match that saw Nia Jax debut. Seeing LA Knight(yeah) in a dark match was shocking, as was the overabundance of Pyro for Ricochet winning the speed title. Cody AJ segments were fun, as was punks promo."

[3.0] "3 I never liked the draft as the focal point of a show. If you're going to have a yearly draft why not just put the picks online? If you really want to make it into something more put a short video on youtube announcing the draft picks. What does it add to the weekly wrestling show? I'll see who shows up where and when I watch the shows. This show was completely meaningless because of it. There was some bloodline stuff that didn't really matter and than there was Carmelo Hayes being drafted as supposedly a big deal, immediately going after Cody. But he lost in 9 minutes so I have no idea what that did for him. I'll be skipping raw."

[3.0] "The rosters barely changing after the draft lmao what's the point of this they barely changed during Raw a few days later either also it might just be me but LA Knight should've gone to Raw right? Have him compete for the World Heavyweight Championship because the world title scene there could actually use some more star power and there's more flexibility with the title scene Cody is gonna be holding that title for a very long time it just doesn't seem like there's any room on Smackdown for Knight to realistically compete for a title at least Carmelo got some spotlight which is cool excited to see how he turns out hopefully his call-up isn't fucked up which I hope NXT call-ups are gonna be better with Triple H"

[2.0] "Absolute bizarre of a show where every 5 minutes we are greeted with10mins of ads. Everything about it was abysmal. The draft is by far the worst in the company's history. The matches were laughably bad and uninteresting, I don't think there are anybody who cares about the LWO at this point yet they keep shoving them down our throats every week. The first 15 minutes were good and Cody's match was decent too although the botch ruined it a bit."

[2.0] "Only 20 minutes of wrestling is unacceptable. The draft is weak and pointless. Changing the system every 3 years is untenable. A draft without the return of exclusive PPVs is also useless, that was what made the separate rosters interesting. The only bonmoment of the show was the Cody Rhodes match."

[2.0] "Maybe WWEs weakest show of the year so far. For all the effort they put into telling us to tune into the draft, not a single thing of note happened. It was a vapid waste of time, not a single draft pick inspired any amount of excitement and it feels utterly pointless when a vast majority of it is spent drafting wrestlers to brands theyre already on. As somebody who tunes into wrestling to watch wrestling 20 minutes of in-ring action across a 2 hour show is absolutely unacceptable especially taking into account the tried and true WWE formula of cutting to ad breaks every 5 minutes. Really awful show and Im hoping they can put at least something together that resembles this new era of WWE on Raw."

[4.0] "uneventful smackdown. The matches were umemorable and the draft picks werent all that great. Most of the talent who were drafted stayed with the same brand they were already on. Legado vs LWO was boring, Bron Breakker vs Cedric was 10 seconds long, and Tiffany Stratton vs Naomi was just alright. Carmelo Hayes vs Cody was the saving grace of the night as the two put on a good match. Im excited to see what Hayes will do on the main roster."

[3.0] "A proper waste of time. Having the draft being split into two nights takes away all the suspense as most of the good talent is not even eligible. It felt very random (e.g. the guy who challenges for the title, AJ Styles, was picked very late, or nobody drafting former NXT champion Ilja Dragunov). They should go back to simply drafting a few big picks who change, the rest stays. The booking of the women's division is terrible as well. So just to summarize: Tiffany Stratton and Naomi had a match after Mania where they decided who can challenge Bayley, Naomi won that. Then in said match Stratton costs Naomi her earned title shot. As a result, they do the match again, rewarding Stratton for no reason, this week. And now AGAIN, the match is interfered, this time by Nia Jax. And as a result, Stratton now is in a Triple Threat at Backlash? For what? They even said beforehand that she needs to learn to earn her title shot, yet eventually she was just gifted it anyway? ! Might as well add Nia Jax to reward her for interfering as well? The Cody and Styles segment had no real content, it felt like they booked a contract signing without thinking about what they'd even talk about. The only good thing for me is everything with Sikoa and Heyman, who continues to just be fantastic in every segment. And then the wrestling was proper forgettable, we barely even saw it, as the aggregated 20 minutes of wrestling on the entire 2h show took place mostly during the ad breaks."

[4.0] "The first night of the 2024 draft was not that good to be honest, four matches with three that did under deliver and the main event was the only good match on the card, the segments were average at best. Dragon Lee & Rey Mysterio vs Angel & Berto: This match was not that good to be honest, it should have gotten more time, the commercial break did take some of the short match away from able to watch, nothing memorable happened [*1/2]. Bron Breakker vs Cedric Alexander: This was a squash match that only went 13 seconds, Cedric Alexander being used in this capacity is the wrong booking decision and needs to be used rightly [DUD]. Naomi vs Tiffany Stratton: The match was not bad, then Nia Jax got involved which called for the no contest which did ruin things [*3/4]. Cody Rhodes vs Carmelo Hayes: The only match on the show that I actually enjoyed, Hayes held his own against the top champion on Smackdown in Rhodes, the action was solid, hope they run this match back but with more time that it deserves [***]."

[4.0] "Unfortunately draft episodes are still cringe and disappointing. The crowd was very annoying. Take that all away and you still have a disappointing show. The opening promo, regardless of the crowd reactions, and the main-event were quite nice. I've never been a fan of building up a "new" wrestler with a bunch of squashes and in the case of Bron Breakker it's more than unnecessary. The #1 contender match-up to determine the Backlash challenger for Bayley's title match doesn't make a lot of sense, but it was solid. What pulls it down independent of the special occasion is that they really ended the predictable and overdone "Who did it? " "mystery" with the massively overdone security footage closure. I'm honestly skeptical, if it's not a red herring. The only thing I liked about it is Carlito's great reaction."

[3.0] "The Draft took the mainstage of course. Cody Rhodes talked with AJ Styles and then had a solid match."

"[6] A chill episode. With the draft iis a normal episode. Im happy with the feud Owens-Tonga. Im wrong on every predict. I tought LA Knight would go to Raw"

[3.0] "SmackDown has been a frustrating show more often than it hasn't recently, and the wheels continue to fall off the bus. Like the shows immediately following Mania, I try to make an effort for the draft episodes only to find myself, once again, completely underwhelmed. The good news: very little Bloodline bullshit this week! The bad news: very little of everything else. Like, I get it, like for the Raw after Mania you have to indulge the draft episodes a little, but fifteen minutes of on-air wrestling in a two-hour slot is still pathetic. It would be forgivable, though, if something of substance happened during the draft - after all, last year saw quite the shakeup - but we didn't get that. Instead, we get most of the draft pool staying where they were, except for Bron Breakker going to Raw, despite Nick Aldis spending the better part of the winter nailing him to the blue brand. Apparently, this is so they can get him out of the tag division and push him as a singles star, but the Wolf Dogs are the most over that Baron Corbin has ever been, and breaking up that tag team just days before a show where Baron Corbin is going to be stupid amounts of over is just incomprehensible! Week after week, it looks even more clear like Hunter has been coasting on the Bloodline's fumes and now that Cody's capital-S Story has finished, he's now in panic mode to keep people invested."

[4.0] "I don't usually watch Smackdown but I thought I'd check this one out because of the draft. And not only was the draft super underwhelming and predictable with the roster basically remaining mostly the same afterwards aside from a few call ups and switches, but the wrestling was also super subpar too. This basically solidified my assessment that Raw is the infinitely better show, because not only is the wrestling 10 times better, the roster and the talent on Raw is vastly superior to the roster on Smackdown. Sure, Smackdown has guys like Dragon Lee and now Andrade, but Raw has guys like Sami, Chad Gable, Ricochet and Gunther who are guys who I not only enjoy more but are also some of the best TV wrestlers on the planet. Raw also just has a better balance of angles and wrestling than Smith does. There was only 20 minutes of wrestling on this 2 hour show. What are we playing at here? Overall, this episode showed me why I don't watch Smackdown every week, as the wrestling here was super mediocre and the draft stuff that I tuned in for was super predictable and most of the picks didn't change what the roster already looked like."

[3.0] "So boring nothing offensively bad just really damn boring. The draft is an outdated thing that really is irrelevant now and sucks. They never really shake it up like they claim they will do its just minor changes with the rest staying the same. The matches were average at best and real short. The draft pick segments were real boring and yea Id really just cancel this whole draft thing at this point."

[5.0] "The show was so-so. I enjoyed the draft, even if most of the picks were obvious. I'd have loved seeing more NXT superstars jump to the main roster. I hope to see it on Raw. The in-ring performance was really weak. Bron Breakker must get a serious opponent soon, or the fans will overlook him. Enough with the less-than-a-minute matches! LWO vs. Legado barely got the time on TV, with the Carlito turn angle getting most of the attention. Tiffany vs. Naomi could have been a good one. Why did WWE have to ruin it with Nia's interference? The main event was ok, much better than the rest, but it wasn't worth the hype. I've seen much better matches from Carmelo Hayes. The contract signing segment felt off. Cody & AJ were way too polite, and the situation lacked heat."

[2.0] "I should have watched this before bed so it could lull me to sleep the way it did live. There is zero reason to barely hit 20 minutes of wresting on a two hour show. Huge house and a majority of it was fans looking at a screen watching people make draft picks LOL"

[5.0] "Felt a lot like a filler episode. Understandably slow plot progression with the draft and all. The matches weren't anything special even for TV."

"Is this the great New Era that Triple H promised? one of the worst drafts ever made and poor wrestling. It's unlikely that it will give you more freedom for matches as it was in NXT, unfortunately. Lol"

[2.0] "This was just an uninteresting episode of Friday Night SmackDown, they didn't really do much in terms of in - ring in this episode no match even hit over double digits in minutes but only match that was solid was Cody Rhodes vs Carmelo Hayes which had a scary spot where miscommunication happened and Cody Rhodes landed hard after missing Carmelo Hayes with the Springboard Cutter. Overall not a fun episode probably Triple H worst SmackDown Episode since becoming Head of Creative of WWE."

[6.0] "All biases aside as I was in the crowd, I can admit this was a pretty disappointing show. The draft was pretty inconsequential with almost every pick just being keeping talent on the same brand, and the matches were too short and not super interesting. The high point was obviously everything about Melo and I think that alone made the episode at least worth watching. I dont know how the crowd sounded over TV, but in person the crowd was absolutely nuts. Especially during the draft segments. It was nice to see the Dudleys and Teddy Long but other than the legends and Melo, this was kind of filler. Carlito finally turning heel was a good choice and I wish people were giving the LWO stuff more of a chance. Also, where the fuck was Dragunov? He shouldve been the first draft pick of the whole thing. Bianca being the first pick does a whole lot of nothing for her and even if it wasnt Dragunov, it shouldve been Melo. The dark matches were better than the shows action but since they were dark matches, I cant factor it into the rating but check them out if you can find recordings."

[5.0] "This was a very rushed and not good of an episode of Smackdown at all. Started off with a boring contract signing and rushed the first round picks with the only highlight of that being Carmelo. The first tag match was awful, Bron destroyed Cedric, the round 2 picks were fine, Bianca, Jade with the Kabuki Warriors was okay I guess. Round 3 picks had nothing, Tiffany vs Naomi was stupid, Kiana James being drafted was good I guess, and the main event was decent, Ive never seen a WWE draft before and I am disappointed."

"It was a really poor show. Its becoming more and more obvious that Backlash is pointless PPV that WWE is just trying to get through. Its safe to assume that every non-American PLE is going to get the same treatment, just look at Australia. As for this Smackdown, the draft segments were worthless, the matches even more so. Back to back shows that just did nothing for anyone watching.its so weird to see after their undeniable hot streak Hopefully the improved quality returns."

[5.0] "The draft format might be a bit stale, but this was decently executed. Setting up Cody/Carmelo as the main event was a nice spotlight for a wider audience and immediately establishes Hayes. And Bron's squash was similarly effective at highlighting two of the newer stars to join the main roster. The rest of the undercard was rough - the LWO/Legado feud needs to wrap up and go away, and Naomi/Stratton looked good on paper, but it didn't make much sense in the storyline and Nia Jax's involvement pretty much immediately torpedoed any hopes it had. Decent effort, but it could have been better with the loaded roster they are working with."

[1.0] "Absolutely stupid draft with very small amount of wrestlers changing brands, matches also were mostly bad"

[6.0] "what the hell is this rating for? i enjoyed this show very much. Dont understand this rating at all."

[2.0] "This show was extremely boring and predictable and the Draft has no credibility or excitement anymore as it used to be back in the old days, sadly WWE seems to slowly declining again as the draft picks for both shows weren't surprises. The Bloodline vs KO and Orton is the only positive storyline that's going on currently on Friday Night SmackDown. WWE still need to improve on their overall product."

"Skip this show at all costs. I tend to like wwe draft shows however lately the draft is taking a steady decline downwards. They made little to no changes to the roster on smackdown and raw, as well the show had very little wrestling, medicore promos and honestly no surprises. Tiffany Stratton and bloodline story only positives here but I can't justify telling people to watch with so little offered!"

[2.0] "Awful show, literally the worst draft i have ever seen, why hype it so much if you're not gonna deliver any change. The segments were ok, but the matches were very poor. So there's nothing really interesting happening in a period of two hours. Disgraceful."

"I was legit excited for the draft but as it went on it lost a lot of luster for me. The actual wrestling on the show was also disappointing and overall it had a hard time keeping my attention. Overall it wasnt bad but it certainly wasnt good. I fear now that Cody has finished the story the opponents wont live up to the build up and his rutile reign will be horrible."

[5.0] "I cannot stress enough how little the LWO v LDF feud is doing for me. Its not intriguing. Its gone on too long. Its boring. People dont care about LDF. We all knew Carlito was behind the attack. If this can hopefully dissolve the LWO great. Bron Breakker does not need Goldberg like squashes. He needs to wrestle and showcase himself. 30 second matches aint doing it. Naomi is moving at half the speed of the rest of the ladies. Why? Pick up the fricking pace. Your butt pile driver on the apron, was bad. Theres safe and then theres not believable. This was not believable. The amount of space between Strattons head and the ring apron was so big, I could fit a football in there. Cody v Melo was the saving grace. Melos springboard DDT was awesome. Promo wise, AJ and Cody was meh as was the closing angle. They look awkward together. Tiffanys promo was good. Loved the setup for Owens/Orton and Bloodline 2.0. Melos promo was good too. Looking forward to more of him on the main roster."

[3.0] "This whole show was horrible. No good matches LWO vs Legado was too quick, and Carlito turning heel was super anti-climatic. Looks like Cody injured himself (for doing a stupid spot that wasn't needed). Bron vs Cedric, I was like "Oh cool! These 2 can probably put on a good match"... Boy was I wrong. The draft is a complete joke, like 2-3 superstars changed, and each star takes forever to announce the draft. I hope Raw is better than this because I'd go crazy."

[3.0] "An absolutely useless draft, no intrigue, no show, exactly like last year, they created intrigue for themselves and are impressed by it. If this is the era of Levesque, then not very much yet."

[6.0] "I don't mind the draft shenanigans, and that's probably why this one isn't rated lower. The wrestling, aside from the main event, was an afterthought. I'm glad Bron Breakker is going to RAW so he can stop having weekly squash matches on Friday nights. Backlash as a PLE has gotten very little build, with multiple matches announced out of the blue with no momentum or weight behind them. The contract signing between Cody and AJ was fine, if nothing special. Their program right now is appropriately understated, but it also definitely felt as if they were getting it out of the way for the rest of the show. Just when I'm getting used to the new look and entrance from Styles, he seems to ease off the heel persona a bit. The draft itself was fine. Largely, the brands kept some big stars they already had, which makes sense given the storylines involved. The Bloodline going in the third round was a nice touch, and Roman Reigns being out of the proceedings entirely did help raise some intrigue for the event. Kiana James was a delightful surprise and a brilliant pick. That woman's mid-card needed some depth and she can provide it immediately. Bron to RAW probably should have been the move to begin with. Carmelo Hayes will also inject some life into the men's mid-card on SmackDown, vying for the US Title soon I'd wager. Nia Jax going to Friday's works, too - she's mixed it up with all the title contenders on RAW at this point. Let her cook with Jade Cargill before too long. Andrade to SmackDown puts him in the LWO vs LDF mix. Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn to RAW is also good, as it seems all the lady tag teams are collecting over there and have been getting some TV matches on a regular basis. Baron Corbin is going to be great television on the main roster again. The Bloodline stuff remains interesting, and having Orton and KO team up to face them at Backlash is a solid way to go. Tama Tonga will make his WWE debut in a PLE, which befits his veteran status elsewhere. Belair and Jade staring off with the tag champs was fine, but the whole thing is anticlimactic due to the winner being obvious. Plus, with Bianca likely winning the tag belts, her being the #1 pick to SmackDown will be rendered moot before too long. On the other hand, them as tag champs will only help focus the lady tag division, as the Kabuki Warriors were too often embroiled in Damage CTRL stuff to regular appear elsewhere. The Final Testament segment was fun - I'm here for them having a constant presence as bullies and looming threats to whomever. Honesty, Karrion and his unhinged character would make a good foil for good guy champ Cody Rhodes right now. Overall, not outright bad, but definitely the most underwhelming WWE episode in a while."

[3.0] "So boring. How does nothing happen in 2 hours? Everything feels bone dry, the draft feels pointless, feuds feel cold. As much as I enjoy this new era of WWE it feels like for the majority of the year there is a lot of plodding, and not a lot of excitement. Booking isn't just made for the 3 months period between the Rumble and Mania, it's meant for the whole year. Why do you have a draft if the biggest switch between brands is Nia Jax . Maybe it's wrong to assume this is the new normal, and hopefully we don't go into a holding period till January."

[4.0] "An absolute lump of nothing. The draft picks mostly just saw people stay where they were before, which is now how a draft is supposed to work. I'm also silly for thinking about it because they won't adhere to it within a few weeks anyway. The wrestling took up barely 20 minutes of the show and it was all fairly meaningless - a short tag match gutted by an ad break, a squash, an angle to push Nia Jax and then a bad main event."

[5.0] "After some good weeks with solid shows that improved some things I wasn't digging at all, we had a largely inconsistent show right here. So many highs and lows that made the show difficult to enjoy in its plenitude. The bad parts of the show: 1. The Draft itself: the NFL/NBA format of doing a Draft is really boring and lame. The lottery they made in 2004 and from 2007 to 2011 was miles better. Less picks but more surprising. This format of setting two different pools of superstars and selecting them in rounds and barely see any brand transfer, and some of them being random AF (Kiana James over anyone else in NXT. Seeing how things have gone for the ones that got drafted last year I would not make big expectations with her), two of the transfers being wrestlers that recently signed a contract with the other brand (Bron and Andrade), The Bloodline not being drafted earlier, Bianca Belair and Jey Uso being picked first of all. Basically every pick was staying in their brand. I'll say that only Melo and Nia (and Baron Corbin in the supplemental draft) were the interesting picks. 2. Nia Jax attacking Bayley. I'm going to contradict myself, since I hate the idea of Nia Jax being involved in another World Title feud, but why do you do this attack if she's not going to be in the Title match at Backlash? It makes not sense at all, and it rest value to said match since you're making obvious Bayley will come out as Champion. One thing is the match is predictable, another different is basically revealing the outcome. 3. LWO vs Legado: what it could've been a pretty good lucha match was just another lame squash that doesn't benefit anyone. Why waiting for so long to reveal Carlito as Dragon Lee's attacker? We all knew it was him, who else? He felt ignored by Rey since he preferred tagging with Andrade and Dragon than with him. Repeating the same story of Santos Escobar now with Carlito. No one cared for the reveal, not a single soul reacted for the moment. What a waste of time and what a waste for Carlito. Now, let's move to the good parts of the show: 1. AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes: I think WWE should give more freedom to their wrestlers when it comes to promos, because they sound way too artificial and they hold back a lot of things that can be brought into the story. Both were Bullet Club members, there is a connection there they don't explore and AJ could use to attack Cody. I'm so tired of how every Cody Rhodes story has to insert Dusty to make it more sentimental. Just leave Cody be his own self, not Dusty's son. Yet, I think AJ could also have gone deeper with that. I know, I said this was a good part of the show, but I was just remarking the parts I didn't like about their segment, but everything else in it I loved it. The fact that AJ Styles' heel persona is not just "I'm a bad guy", but he is like that because he was pissed off by LA Knight and he has no problems with Cody and respects him makes him more complex as a character. Since this is a transitional rivalry, I like they're going with the respectful angle as, at least I, see the match more prestigious that if it was a grudge match. 2. The Bloodline vs Randy and KO: Solo, Tama and Paul E. are doing an splendid job together and starting their new run against KO and Randy Orton is a great way to set themselves as a dangerous force in SmackDown. 3. Carmelo vs Cody: great idea to set this match for Melo's debut. I consider HIM, along with Grayson Waller and Bron Breakker to be the Three Musketeers of the 2.0 era. Waller has fallen some steps down, but Bron and Melo still look like the future top guys of the company, and putting Melo against the WWE Champion in a pretty good Main Event is a good way to solidify him in that spot. I hope RAW's draft gets more interesting, Ilja Dragunov ends up in the same brand as Gunther and we get a better show overall."

[4.0] "An entertaining show, but it's always the same problem: in the end, we end up with a 2-hour wrestling show with only 20 minutes of wrestling in 4 bouts, and apart from the main event, nothing was crazy! You're supposed to be selling your backlash show, which also takes place next week, and the storylines don't get much further."

[4.0] "Of course The New Era made the Draft boring. Only Nia Jax moved between RAW and SmackDown - Bron Breakker was on NXT more than he was SmackDown, so him going to RAW feels more like an NXT callup. Carmelo Hayes and rather perplexingly Kiana James were the NXT callups, Hayes to SmackDown and James to RAW. Otherwise, everyone else largely stayed put. The biggest confusion was The Bloodline not going number one, until it was revealed that Roman Reigns withdrew to become a free agent (within the WWE system), making them less valuable. Combine this with average in-ring wrestling, you have a mediocre show."