WWE: 2023 Draft Announced, Drew McIntyre Health Issue, Vince McMahon Was Not at SmackDown

Triple H Announces 2023 WWE Draft to Begin “In Few Weeks”

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Portland, Oregon featured WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque officially announcing that this year’s WWE Draft will be taking place within the next few weeks.

Levesque stated that every superstar currently in WWE will be eligible to be drafted to WWE’s RAW and SmackDown brands.

BREAKING NEWS: @TripleH just announced the #WWEDraft will return in a few weeks with every single Superstar being eligible! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/IUWKQFTQeA

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2023

This will be the first time that WWE has held a WWE Draft since October of 2021. No WWE Draft was held last year due to WWE working on plans at the time to not hold one that year and delay it instead until after WrestleMania 39.

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Drew McIntyre Reportedly Pulled from Friday’s SmackDown Show Over Health Issue

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Drew McIntyre recently suffered an unknown health issue.

Meltzer reported that WWE officials originally had planned for McIntyre to work at Friday’s SmackDown show in Portland but pulled him due to this health issue.

The nature of McIntyre’s health issue nor a potential timetable for his return is currently not known.

McIntyre last wrestled for WWE at this past Sunday’s WrestleMania 39 Night 2 event in a Triple Threat match against Sheamus and Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship.

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Vince McMahon Reportedly Was Not Backstage at Friday’s SmackDown Show

As noted before, this past Monday’s RAW After WrestleMania show in Los Angeles, California was notable for WWE Executive Chairman Vince McMahon having a heavy hand over the production and creative direction for the show. McMahon’s heavy handed involvement and physical presence resulted in a big negative reaction backstage from WWE’s locker room.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that McMahon was not in attendance backstage at Friday’s SmackDown show in Portland.

Despite him not being physically present, Johnson reported that McMahon still checked in remotely and had made several minor changes to the original plans for the show.