After watching Cody Rhodes and AJ Styles sign their contracts to make a matchup at WWE Backlash in Lyon, France official, Paul “Triple H” Levesque offered his Undisputed WWE Universal Champion a chance to announce two of the first four picks in the WWE Draft, including the very first overall selection.

But first, before all the fun could begin, Trips had to explain the rules of the draft to the fans watching along from home, as WWE does things a little differently than, say, the NFL does.

“Welcome to the first night of the WWE Draft, this is a night that changes the landscape of WWE going into the future,” Triple H explained on SmackDown. “And the draft here is a bit different because as those GMs sit in the back in those war rooms pondering their next step, they have to understand that it's just as much about protecting the roster they have as it is bringing in the roster that they want. Meaning that when they use their pick they have just as much of a chance gaining a WWE Superstar as they do losing one that they already have.”

So, with the technical explanation of what's going on out of the way, Triple H and Rhodes announced the first-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, which includes at least one pretty big surprise.

SmackDown –  Bianca Belair

RAW –  Jey Uso

SmackDown – Carmelo Hayes

RAW – Seth Rollins

Whoa, Carmelo Hayes in the first round to SmackDown, a move that has been pretty well telegraphed, but the commentary tandem of Graves and Barrett put over as an incredible stroke of brilliance? Other than that selection, the first four picks were relatively predictable, especially since Roman Reigns pulled his name from the draft in order to focus on the future instead, and champions are automatically exempt from selection.

Round two, however, provided a few more wrinkles than round one, with Michelle McCool and Torrie Wilson announcing the next four picks, which also features a few performers switching brands.

SmackDown – Randy Orton

RAW – Bron Breakker

SmackDown – Nia Jax

RAW – Liv Morgan

Would it have been cool to see Bron Breakker remain on the same brand as Hayes, recreating one of the great rivalries of the last two years of NXT? Yes, Breakker and Hayes have fantastic in-ring chemistry and have been declared future WrestleMania headlines for a reason by WWE officials like Shawn Michaels. Still, there's plenty of time for that to happen in the future, assuming the duo are independently able to get back to that level on the main roster.

Bringing Jax over to SmackDown is a very interesting opportunity for Nick Aldis, too, as after spending her entire time back in the WWE Universe as a terror on RAW, the “Irresistible Force” gets to bring her talents over to the Blue Brand, where they are building up one heck of a women's division. Assuming Jade Cargill lands on SmackDown, too, alongside Bianca Belair, expect one heck of a throwdown between the two powerhouses in the not-too-distant future.

Rounds 3-4 of the 2024 WWE Draft shook things up, too.

Halfway through the first day of the 2024 WWE Draft, Triple H counted on the Dudley Boyz to make the next round of selections, though not before they put on their glasses to make sure they could read the picks.

SmackDown – LA Knight

RAW – Ricochet

SmackDown – The Bloodline

RAW – Sheamus

Of these four selections, the only genuinely surprising one has to be the decision to draft Ricochet back onto RAW, as he hasn't exactly been used much over the last few months save the occasional insertions into an angle or two to work some very good matches and take some important losses. While only a segment of the WWE Universe was eligible to be selected on Night 1, one has to wonder why they didn't use the pick on, say, Ilja Dragunov from NXT and just sign the “Highlight of the Night” as an undrafted free agent, since Aldis probably wasn't knocking down his door to make the pick.

And finally, with the fourth and final round of selections on Night 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft, Teddy Hart and JBL made the final four picks, including arguably the true shocker of the night.

SmackDown – AJ Styles

RAW – Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa & Maxxine Dupri)

SmackDown – Andrade

RAW – Kiana James

Whoa, now that is a legitimate shocker, as Kiana James was drafted onto RAW above a slew of established stars on the Main Roster and even more “big show ready” performers like Dragunov, or Lyra Valkyria, who just spent months with the NXT Women's Championship after defeating Becky Lynch to earn the honor. While only time will tell how this selection shakes out, it's worth wondering what kind of plans WWE has for the former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion on the Red Brand.