WWE has announced that the WWE Draft will be taking place live on July 19 when Smackdown officially moves to Tuesday night beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (7:00 CT). It remains to be seen if the entire draft will be held on Tuesday night as WWE has held supplemental drafts in the past online.
The announcement also puts emphasis on the RAW and Smackdown brands competing for “television ratings, live events and pay-per-views.” It’s also expected that respective General Managers for each brand will be announced the same night, something that has been pushed on WWE TV in recent weeks.
WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn is quoted in the article regarding this new era.
“This is an exciting new era for WWE in which we will yet again reinvent ourselves by creating a second night of compelling live television.”