WWE Rumors on WWE Draft Date, Money in the Bank, Sonya Deville, Mia Yim, Shane Thorne

WWE Draft Reportedly Moved to October

The 2021 WWE draft is reportedly set to take place in October on the heels of a previous report that it was scheduled for September.

According to Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, the draft will occur either on the Oct. 1 SmackDown and Oct. 4 Raw or the Oct. 4 Raw and Oct. 8 SmackDown.

Zarian previously reported that the draft would be held on the Aug. 31 SmackDown and Sept. 3 Raw, but that may no longer be the case.

WWE has yet to make any official announcement regarding a draft, but fans have been anticipating one given the need for fresh matchups on both brands.

Zarian (h/t WrestlingInc’s Marc Middleton), also reported that WWE is planning to make the Oct. 4 Raw a big deal with it being heralded as the show’s 30th season premiere.

There is a great deal of excitement surrounding the WWE product now that it is returning to the road after well over one year in the WWE Performance Center and then the WWE ThunderDome.

The return to the road will kick off with Friday’s episode of SmackDown, followed by Sunday’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

Regardless of whether the draft happens in September or October, there will be fans in attendance, which should add significantly to the atmosphere.

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Deville Possibly Making In-Ring Return at MITB

Sonya Deville reportedly may be the final entrant in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on Sunday.

According to Fightful Select (h/t Middleton), there has been a “significant push” to put Deville in the ladder match, and at one point she was “penciled in” to be part of it.

Regardless of whether she is in the ladder match, the expectation is that Deville will be back in the ring “soon,” per Fightful.

Deville has not wrestled a match since SummerSlam last August when she lost a Loser Leaves WWE match to Mandy Rose.

The stipulation was a result of Deville having to put her focus on a real-life situation, as a man broke into her home in August 2020 and was charged with stalking, burglary and armed attempted kidnapping.

Deville returned to WWE programming in January, but she had a new role as an assistant to WWE official Adam Pearce. Since then, Deville has become an authority figure in her own right, appearing on both SmackDown and Raw.

Before she had to take time away from WWE last year, Deville was on an impressive roll and was doing the best work of her career, especially from a promo perspective.

There is still one spot available in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, and she would be a great choice to take it since she does excellent heel work and would be a believable threat with the Money in the Bank briefcase in her possession.

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Updates on Status of Yim and Thorne

Neither Mia Yim nor Shane Thorne have been seen on WWE programming since Retribution broke up at Fastlane in March, but when they do resurface, it will reportedly be under different gimmicks.

Yim and Thorne were known as Reckoning and Slapjack, respectively, in Retribution. According to PWInsider (h/t Middleton), those names and gimmicks have been dropped internally within WWE.

While Yim and Thorne are still listed under their Retribution names as part of the Raw roster, they were reportedly moved to SmackDown, although they have yet to debut.

Prior to getting called up to the main roster, Yim was a regular NXT Women’s Championship contender, while Thorne saw success as one half of the TM-61 tag team before becoming a heel singles wrestler.

Both of them could be solid additions to the SmackDown roster, especially Yim given the lack of depth within the women’s division.

WWE has called up Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox in addition to hyping the debut of Toni Storm, which does raise the question of where Yim is in the pecking order.

Yim and Thorne are both great talents who got stuck in a poor gimmick with Retribution, but if given another chance, they may have what it takes to thrive on their own.

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