During Night 1 of the draft,
The New Day's
Kofi Kingston and
Xavier Woods won the
SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Immediately after their win, they were drafted to Raw, splitting
Big E from The New Day as Big E remained on SmackDown; this also resulted in Kingston and Woods taking SmackDown's tag titles to Raw. In early September,
The Miz and John Morrison began a feud with
Otis over Otis'
Money in the Bank contract. Although drafted to separate brands, For a couple of months prior to the draft, then-SmackDown wrestler
Drew Gulak got involved in segments over the 24/7 Championship on pay-per-view as well as episodes of
Raw, where he won the title a couple of times. After Gulak was drafted to Raw, he continued pursuing the 24/7 Championship. Shortly after his drafting to Raw,
Matt Riddle's ring name was shortened to Riddle. Just the same on SmackDown,
Shorty G returned to using his original ring name, Chad Gable. Also, despite being drafted to Raw,
Arturo Ruas made no post-draft appearances on
Raw and was returned to NXT the following month. Similarly, although Dabba-Kato had been drafted to Raw, he did not make a single appearance on the brand after the draft. His first post-draft appearance came during Night 2 of
WrestleMania 37 on April 11, 2021, where he helped
Apollo Crews win the
Intercontinental Championship. Upon Elias' return during the draft, he believed that Hardy was not framed and did in fact hit him with the car. The two then feuded over the next few weeks. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in less work for wrestlers as WWE was now only doing television and pay-per-view and ceased touring, many talent took to third-party platforms such as
Twitch,
Cameo, and
YouTube to earn supplemental income. In September, WWE issued a statement to their talent that they could no longer use these platforms, and gave the talent 30 days to close down their accounts or face fines, suspension, or termination; it was later clarified that talent could not use their ring names or characters for these other platforms, but they must get permission from WWE in order to use the platforms. Some talent, such as
Paige and
Zelina Vega, took opposition to this, and expressed their support of a wrestler's
union. Vega was then released by WWE on November 13, allegedly because of her opposition to the company's policy on using third-party platforms and her support of unionization. In mid-2021, however, Vega was rehired, making her return as an in-ring competitor on the July 2 episode of
SmackDown where she was entered into the women's
Money in the Bank ladder match. Although Steve Cutler and
Wesley Blake were signed to SmackDown in December 2020 and aligned with
King Corbin as "The Knights of the Lone Wolf," this teaming would not last long as Cutler was released from his WWE contract in February 2021. King Corbin also reverted to his original Baron Corbin ring name in June 2021 after he lost his
King of the Ring crown to
Shinsuke Nakamura. In August 2021, Corbin declaring himself "filthy rich" and changed his new ring name to Happy Corbin. The January 4, 2021 special "Legends Night" episode of
Raw would also be
Big Show's final appearance in WWE, as on February 19, he was moved to the alumni section on WWE.com and he then signed with rival promotion
All Elite Wrestling under his real name, Paul Wight, on February 24. Big Show was reportedly unhappy in WWE and they were not able to come to terms on a new agreement following his appearance at Legends Night. Following WrestleMania 37 in April 2021, many other wrestlers, a couple of which were still listed as "free agents," were released from their WWE contracts. These included
Samoa Joe,
Billie Kay,
Peyton Royce,
Mickie James,
Chelsea Green,
Tucker,
Kalisto,
Mojo Rawley,
Bo Dallas, and Wesley Blake. On May 19, NXT wrestlers
Jessamyn Duke and
Vanessa Borne were released, followed by
Velveteen Dream the next day. On June 2, further releases were made, which included Braun Strowman,
Aleister Black, Lana, Murphy, Ruby Riott, and NXT's
Santana Garrett. Joe, however, was re-signed by the company and made his return on the June 15 episode of
NXT, becoming a special enforcer and assistant to NXT General Manager
William Regal. Further NXT and 205 Live names were released on June 25, including
Tony Nese,
Ariya Daivari, Breezango (
Tyler Breeze and
Fandango),
Ever-Rise (Chase Parker and Matt Martel), August Grey,
The Bollywood Boyz (Samir Singh and Sunil Singh), Arturo Ruas, Curt Stallion,
Marina Shafir, and
Killian Dain. In June,
Braun Strowman was released from his contract, followed by
Bray Wyatt in July. However, Strowman returned in September 2022 and was assigned to SmackDown, followed by Wyatt in October, who was also assigned to SmackDown. A mysterious masked figure named Uncle Howdy also started appearing with Wyatt, which has been reported to be Bo Dallas, thus making his return. Chelsea Green made her return at the
2023 Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant in the women's
Royal Rumble match. ==Notes==