Backstage Updates On The WWE Draft, WWE Season Premieres, KOTR And QOTR Tournaments

The 2021 WWE Draft is reportedly scheduled to begin on October 1.

After being rumored earlier this summer, it was reported today by Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast how internally it's now confirmed that WWE Draft will begin during the October 1 edition of SmackDown on FOX. The Draft will then wrap with the October 4 edition of RAW.

The October 4 SmackDown was originally scheduled to take place at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, but it was moved to the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore due to Hurricane Ida. The October 4 RAW show is scheduled to take place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

It was previously reported that the October 4 RAW show will also be the RAW 30th season premiere. There's no word on if that has changed, but that means the October 4 episode would feature the Draft and season premiere content. It looks like the October 8 SmackDown from the SAP Center in San Jose will be the blue brand season premiere.

Today's report also noted that the 2021 King of the Ring Tournament and the inaugural Queen of the Ring Tournament will begin with the SmackDown season premiere, and then continue on RAW and SmackDown until the finals take place at the 2021 Crown Jewel event from Saudi Arabia on Thursday, October 21. It's possible that they are planning to have the RAW season premiere on October 4, and then save the first red brand tournament matches for the October 11 RAW from the Chase Center in San Francisco.

We noted before how WWE recently filed to trademark the "Queen's Crown Tournament" name. There is no official word on if this will be the name of the QOTR tournament.

WWE will likely make official announcements on the Draft, the RAW and SmackDown season premiere episodes, and the tournaments soon. Stay tuned for updates.