{"id":158011,"date":"2023-04-30T22:19:23","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T03:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=158011"},"modified":"2023-04-30T22:19:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T03:19:23","slug":"vip-parks-the-early-winners-and-losers-in-the-wwe-draft-prior-to-mondays-raw-include-damage-ctrl-dawkins-apollo-crews-michin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/04\/30\/vip-parks-the-early-winners-and-losers-in-the-wwe-draft-prior-to-mondays-raw-include-damage-ctrl-dawkins-apollo-crews-michin\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP &#8211; PARKS: The early winners and losers in the WWE Draft prior to Monday&#8217;s Raw include Damage CTRL, Dawkins, Apollo Crews, Michin"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2437201369\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>It has been over a year-and-a-half since WWE\u2019s last Raw vs. Smackdown draft. While the brand split is still in effect, wrestlers have, once again, migrated from show to show without explanation more often lately. This could be because of the WrestleMania build, which sometimes necessitates waiving of the brand split rules. In reality, though, this was happening anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Draft shows have historically done ratings above the viewership average, so it\u2019s no surprise WWE would want to take advantage of that bump in the post-WrestleMania landscape. It remains to be seen whether WWE will adhere more to the rules of the brand split this time around. There\u2019s a feeling that with Triple H in charge, maybe there will be more attention to details like these, even as Vince McMahon continues to oversee the creative process and the big-picture storylines.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-79447 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/HeadshotParks2020_180.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"210\" \/>Friday\u2019s episode of Smackdown commenced the first night of the draft; by the time you read this, the draft will be complete with Monday\u2019s Raw. I\u2019m writing this on Sunday evening for a Monday night deadline, which means I\u2019ll only include my winners and losers from the first night of the draft. Next week\u2019s column will feature the winners and losers from those drafted on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, that can make things a little difficult here because I\u2019m deducing winners and losers based on knowing only half of the show\u2019s roster, with the other half eligible to be drafted on Raw. Nevertheless, we\u2019ll give this a go, and in six months or a year\u2019s time, see just how right (or wrong) I was.<\/p>\n<p><b>WINNER: Angelo Dawkins. <\/b>This might be a strange \u201cwinner\u201d to start the column with but hear me out: There\u2019s <span style=\"color: #999999;\">been a lot of buzz about Montez Ford getting a singles run at some point. They\u2019ve given him a few showcase matches on his own in the last few months and he has shined in those moments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #999999;\">If WWE wanted to move Ford into the singles division, the draft would\u2019ve been the perfect opportunity to do so: It would\u2019ve allowed&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The rest of this article is VIP exclusive for our VIP members. To unlock all of our VIP exclusive articles and podcasts throughout the week plus over three decades of back issues of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter and over 20 years of PWTorch VIP podcasts. an ad-free version of this website, and other benefits, become a VIP member: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorchvipinfo.com\/\">CLICK HERE FOR VIP BENEFITS &amp; SIGN-UP PAGE<\/a><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2473759524\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-949950628\"><div id=\"pwtor-398465317\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>It has been over a year-and-a-half since WWE\u2019s last Raw vs. Smackdown draft. While the brand split is still in effect, wrestlers have, once again, migrated from show to show without explanation more often lately. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/04\/30\/vip-parks-the-early-winners-and-losers-in-the-wwe-draft-prior-to-mondays-raw-include-damage-ctrl-dawkins-apollo-crews-michin\/\" title=\"VIP &#8211; PARKS: The early winners and losers in the WWE Draft prior to Monday&#8217;s Raw include Damage CTRL, Dawkins, Apollo Crews, Michin\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_parks","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/CrewsApollo_3x2Lunn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158012,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158011\/revisions\/158012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}