This year’s WWE Draft included NXT talent as stars from the developmental brand were called up to the main roster and placed on either Raw or SmackDown.
As previously reported, WWE didn’t tell several wrestlers in advance where they would be drafted, while most of the NXT talent call-ups didn’t know whether they would be moved up to the main roster. The report added that one of the NXT stars did know they would be called up, while others didn’t know.
Speaking with Fox Sports, Grayson Waller, who was one of the names called up from NXT and put on SmackDown, compared his experience in the Draft to the beginning of Tom Brady’s NFL career as the legendary QB was drafted in the sixth round.
“I’m not gonna lie, it was tough. I sat there on the Friday night for four or five hours or however long it was. I saw name after name and Grayson Waller’s name wasn’t picked. Not everyone was there. Not everyone was there. I got asked to be there. So I expected to be drafted. When I wasn’t, I was frustrated. And I had to sit that whole weekend and think about how low I felt. Then I turn up that Monday and the same thing happens. I watched the entire episode of Raw and I’m hearing these names picked – and there’s some really talented people in NXT who got drafted, but I’m Grayson Waller. I’m the number one person here. My name should be drafted on television. So I was frustrated, and I really thought that I was gonna sit there for two nights and not get picked – and I thought about Tom Brady, and I thought about that, if you watch the documentary, The Brady Six about the six quarterbacks that got picked before Tom – and I know every single person drafted before me. I know every NXT person that was drafted before me,” Waller said.
Waller, who was likely talking in character, noted that he took exception to his spot in the Draft because it was announced on Raw Talk and not on television. He noted that he operates when he has a big chip on his shoulder and had a whole bag of chips on his shoulder that night.
Waller feels SmackDown got the number one pick with the last pick with him.
On this Friday’s SmackDown, The Grayson Waller Effect with guest AJ Styles will take place.
