Superstar Shakeup results

[The Legend]

So RAW last night started the Superstar Shakeup and since nobody had mentioned it until now, I figured we might be able to get some discussion going.

RAW started with Jinder Mahal being announced as the first guy to move to RAW, he then promptly lost the US title to Jeff Hardy who became a grand slam champion. Coincidentally, they've been throwing grand slam championships around a lot lately (Orton).

Next Riott Squad made its RAW debut with the three women interfering in a match between Bayley and Sasha.

Miz welcomed Owens and Zayn as new members of RAW, before Angle announced that Daniel Bryan used pull to get Miz traded to SmackDown and this would be his last night on RAW.

Drew McIntyre made his re-debut on RAW, partnering with Dolph Ziggler who got drafted to RAW.

Natalya and Breezango were all moved over to RAW.

Finally, Bobby Roode was announced as the final surprise move over to RAW.

So for the most part I felt like the moves were either obvious (Zayn/Owens/Miz) or either inconsequential/not doing as much good as they could have. I mean the Usos have literally faced every team on SD and could have benefited from a move, but RAW gets Breezango instead. Becky Lynch could have been freshened up on RAW, instead Natalya will flounder on RAW instead of SD. Not to mention SD is now left without a veteran workhorse, while RAW has Natalya, Mickie and Alicia. I assume the addition of Riott Squad and Paige's retirement puts the final death notice on Absolution's run.

[Messiah]

SmackDown won and it’s not even close.

Styles, Bryan, Nakamura. Joe, Miz, Cesaro, Almas, Asuka, Charlotte on the same show? Jesus.

[Messiah]

SmackDown won and it’s not even close.

Styles, Bryan, Nakamura, Joe, Miz, Cesaro, Almas, Asuka, Charlotte on the same show? Jesus.

And Hardy, Cass, Vega, Sanity, Anderson/Gallows, Deville, Rose, Sheamus. That is a very solid second half of the roster too.

SmackDown with half-way decent writing should be a great show to watch for the rest of the year. So many unique matches they can make that we haven't seen in the WWE yet - Joe/Styles, Joe/Bryan, Styles/Bryan (with an actual finish), Bryan/Nakamura, Almas/Everyone, Miz/Bryan (they have wrestled before but in 2010 and it wouldn't be on the level like it is now). Even stuff like Hardy/Nakamura and Hardy/Styles would be a lot of fun.

I'm so excited.

RAW's roster just bores me. Not a lot of versatility either - too many big men. Lashley, Reigns, Strowman will probably dominate the main event picture. And how many unique match-ups do they have? Reigns/Strowman has happened 1,000 times. Lashley/Reigns could be good and a Reigns/Balor (heel Balor would be cool) is something we haven't really seen on a large scale either, but that is about it. There's also Roode I guess but he's still face for some reason. The main problem is they don't really have any awesome, super over baby-face. SmackDown has Styles and Bryan and a ton of cool heels for them to rub off against (Joe, Nak, Miz, Almas) that would be unique. The most over faces on Raw are I guess Balor and Rollins, both of whom have been kind of floating for the last year.

[The Legend]

SmackDown: Main Event: A.J. Styles Daniel Bryan Randy Orton Samoa Joe Shinsuke Nakamura Midcard: Andrade Cien Almas Big Cass Jeff Hardy Miz R-Truth Shelton Benjamin Sin Cara Tye Dillinger Women: Asuka Becky Billie Kay Carmella Charlotte Lana Mandy Rose Naomi Peyton Royce Sonya Deville Tamina Tag: Rusev Day Sanity New Day The Bar Colons Bludgeon Brothers Usos The Club

RAW: Main Event: Braun Strowman Finn Balor Kevin Owens Roman Reigns Sami Zayn Seth Rollins Bobby Lashley Midcard: Apollo Crews Baron Corbin Bobby Roode Chad Gable Curt Hawkins Dean Ambrose Dolph Ziggler Drew McIntyre Elias Goldust Jason Jordan Jinder Mahal Mojo Rawley No Way Jose Titus O’Neill Zack Ryder Women: Alexa Bliss Alicia Fox Bayley Ember Moon Liv Morgan Mickie James Natalya Nia Jax Ronda Rousey Ruby Riott Sarah Logan Sasha Banks Tag: Authors of Pain Dallas & Axel Wyatt & Hardy The Revival Breezango Slater & Rhyno Ascension

[The Legend]

Above is a side by side look at how the rosters break down. It's actually ridiculous how stacked SmackDown is right now. I mean: Styles, Bryan, Joe, Nakamura in the main event / Almas, Miz, Rusev and even Hardy in the midcard against a bunch of guys he hasn't faced / Sanity, Bar, Bludgeon Brothers and the Club to go with Usos in tag division / And the women's division is amazing: Asuka, Becky, Charlotte, Sonya, the Iconics, even Carmella, who is great at advancing stories and getting heat.

On RAW we've got a decent main event with Strowman, Balor, Owens, Zayn and Rollins and you have Reigns and Lashley who aren't great characters, but should have great matches with all those guys. The midcard is going to provide a bunch of garbage matches with a lot of clutter, but only Roode, Ziggler, Ambrose and McIntyre of any quality. The tag division is nothing but teams that will job out to Authors of Pain for the rest of the year, which is fine, except we just had a bunch of domination in the tag division with Usos and Bar for the past year. RAW's women's division bores me to tears as well.

[Everlong]

Which show is Cena on?

[Messiah]

Which show is Cena on?

He's a "free agent", but I'm sure he'll mostly appear on Raw. I mean, who doesn't want a Cena/Lashley rivalry?!

Actually, I really enjoy seeing Cena nowadays. It'd be cool if he made more appearances on SmackDown because there are a lot of interesting match-ups for him there. Cena/Joe and Cena/Heel Nak would be a ton of fun.

[DBSoT]

I agree that SD seem to have come out of this with the overall better roster. There aren't a lot of fresh matchups on Raw, while SD has potential for a lot of new interesting feuds and storylines.
- There is so much potential with guys like Joe, Bryan, Styles, Nakamura, Orton, etc
- Not only did SD keep all of their best Tag Teams, they added the best one from Raw and one of the best teams in NXT
- This could also be a really good chance for Jeff Hardy to shine. He was never going to get back to main eventer on Raw. Personally, I wish it was Rollins and the IC title, but Jeff should be fine. *assuming he stays clean*
- Asuka, Charlotte, Becky and Naomi is better than the whole Raw women's division. At least until Ronda can prove to have a capable match.
- SD's midcard has real potential. If you take the talent @The Legend listed and assume some of the main eventers will drop down from time to time, it could be the best midcard in quite some time. In fact, I would have Almas win the US Title right away and let him have MOTN style matches for months.

My guess is that Vince is using SD as a bargaining tool with FOX. If they do that deal, Raw would be on Fox (proper), which is more geared towards the casual audience. SD, however, would likely be on FX, FXX or FS1. Which is more geared toward the more diehard sports audience and UFC fans. So it makes sense the WWE would try to position SD as the "wrestling" show.

[Messiah]

Samoa Joe is, barring injury, going to be a WWE Champion this year. It's damn near a guarantee and I'm so freakin' excited. There aren't too many guys in the world who deserve it more than him, especially with all the BS he has had to put up with throughout his career.

I'm rooting for him.

[Hanley!]

I think Smackdown won the draft either way, but how much they won by really depends on whether or not you consider the fact that they lost Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Those are two great talents that Smackdown have lost, even if they've been officially gone for a couple of weeks already. KO does seem like a Raw guy, but I wish that at least Sami could have stayed. He would have been a great addition to either the midcard or the main event on Smackdown.

After Raw, I knew that Smackdown wasn't losing anybody that I would miss. I like Bobby Roode but he's been miscast on Smackdown. Natalya is also a good performer, but she's been underused her entire career, and has rarely had an impact on the Smackdown women's division. Almost everybody else who moved was dead weight. Even without bringing anyone over from Raw, this almost would have made Smackdown a better show.

The main event scene looks great now. Styles, Bryan, Nakamura, Samoa Joe can have some awesome matches and feuds. Mix in Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton from time to time (I see them flitting between the main event and the midcard). You can maybe use Almas and Eric Young in that sort of position too. Almas has a main event gimmick, so he should be debuting around IC championship level at least. And as the leader of a faction, there's really no telling how high Eric Young could go on the heel side.

Under those few guys, the midcard is a little thin, but I think it can still work well for the next year. Benjamin is a great hand who can put on good matches while helping others get over. Rusev is super over. Sheamus and Cesaro can also work midcard matches and might even split up after a while and rejoin the midcard on Smackdown. Cesaro could actually begin to reach his singles potential on this iteration of Smackdown. How exciting would that be?

The tag division is fucking stacked compared to what it was. The Bludgeons, the Usos, the New Day, the Bar, Gallows & Anderson, and Sanity. That's six teams that could realistically hold the tag titles before we start to look at the jobber teams. I've no idea how they got away with this. Raw's division is going to suck even worse than usual now.

The women's division I'm more iffy on. The face side is stacked with Charlotte, Asuka and Becky. I'm not including Naomi in this because she's shit, and I'm always confused when people praise her. But that's still a strong face side. The top heel, however, is Carmella. That ain't good. Peyton Royce is good, but I still feel like we're missing a big name on the heel side. Maybe Zelina Vega can take that role in a few months though. I love her act with Almas, but she is also a wrestler and they might start using her as one on the main roster.

It's been a great draft, because depending on how the next few weeks go, it might actually tempt me into watching Smackdown again. And meanwhile, I won't feel like I'm missing out at all by skipping Raw. If WWE can book one main roster brand competently, that's almost the best case scenario at this point.

I do have a few small frustrations though:
- I was hoping Seth Rollins would move to Smackdown. He's wasted on Raw, and a run on Smackdown could transform him into the top guy in the company.
- They split up the Balor club. If they wanted to leave Balor on Raw, they should have considered drafting the Revival to Smackdown instead. They're an even better team that Raw are doing even less with. And Balor needs something to set him apart on Raw, he's dying a death over there.
- Why is Sanity coming up without Nikki Cross? She's the most attention-grabbing part of their act! I'm hoping that she's just staying in NXT to run a program with Shayna, and that she joins the faction afterwards.
- Big Cass. He's going to be Smackdown's new Baron Corbin. Vince will keep trying to push him to the main event because he's big, and he'll just end up getting in everyone else's way. He'll never actually make it as a main event guy though, because he's just not good enough. Just like Corbin. We could be looking at the next Money in the Bank loser.

Overall though, this is as good a draft as I could have expected for Smackdown. They dropped a bunch of dead weight, and got Samoa Joe, Asuka, and all the best NXT call-ups in return. What a result!

[Messiah]

- Why is Sanity coming up without Nikki Cross?

There is usually another around of call-ups around SummerSlam. I could see her getting called up then.

I agree with you on the women's division. Two things I see happening so solve the heel problem:

1. Vega takes more of a wrestling role, which I would like. She'd make a terrific heel and likely would have good matches with Asuka, Charlotte, and Lynch. Imagine her and Almas holding the Women's Championship and United States Championship, respectively.

2. One of Charlotte, Asuka, or Lynch turn heel. I could see reasons for all three. Charlotte is a natural heel, one of the best in the company when it comes to portraying her character as someone to hate, and not nearly as interesting as a face. Asuka could make for a good heel as well, although I'd prefer she not turn because there is still so much you can get out of her as a face and the fans like her. Then there is Lynch. In an ideal world, she should be a face. She's so damn likable and she plays the role well. But she's been floundering for so long that I wouldn't mind her turning if only if it meant she would get more of an opportunity. It wouldn't surprise me if her friendship with Charlotte saw her turn on Charlotte in the end.

Either way, Lynch/Asuka if given the opportunity should have some bad-ass matches.

[Hanley!]

I was praying for the women's Royal Rumble to come down to Asuka and Becky at the end. But of course, Becky gets dumped half way through the match and the bloody Bellas make it to the end instead. Story of Becky's career unfortunately. Safe to say that I can't wait to see some matches between Becky and Asuka.

I just hope Becky is used better this year. I don't know why they refuse to do anything with her. She's charismatic, she's hot as hell, and she's Irish. These are all things that Vince usually loves.

[KaiserGlider]

Is Kurt's gimmick being an idiot in kayfabe now? It's like they don't realize Raw is a three hour show and needs all the talent it can get, especially considering how often their world champion shows up. Smackdown's roster is STACKED AS FUCK. That's gotta be the most stacked Smackdown's been since the early 2000s. Really, the level of talent in WWE is absolutely insane right now, not even counting NXT. If only they could put the same amount of effort into hiring the best writers.

Raw's main event scene doesn't look good because you know Roman, Brock, and Braun are going to be the main players in it for a while. That's the same as last year if you switch out Lashley for Samoa Joe. I think that by the end of summer at the latest they need to rotate in guys like Rollins and Roode to the main event to freshen things up a bit. Braun is over as fuck and should definitely win the world title this year, so I would have Roode or Owens take it off Reigns and then drop it to Strowman in a hot feud. Not really sure what you do with Reigns after that... they have stopped his momentum so many times that I can't even fantasy book for him.

Raw's tag division looks like shit. You have Authors of Pain and The Revival who are legit heel teams, but then there's the weird duo of Woken Matt and Bray, and everything else is jobber teams. What do you do with this?

Not sure I like Jeff to Smackdown. I would trade Seth Rollins for Hardy. Like Hanley said Rollins is better off on Smackdown at this point, and Jeff should stay on the same roster as Matt so they can use that tag team when they need to. Plus Smackdown has Bryan and AJ as super likable babyfaces, while Raw could use someone like Jeff. I think Jeff might get lost in the shuffle on Smackdown.

[Hanley!]

If you're talking about idiot GMs, how about Paige agreeing to give away her US champion without having drafted the IC champion in exchange? Why would she just give away a championship?

She was lucky that Angle immediately made the champion defend his belt against someone who was about to leave to go to the other show. So I guess both of them were idiots there.

[The Legend]

This is where the WWE booking is confusing on this matter. Sometimes it felt like GM's were hand picking the people that moved, but others (like Jinder going to SD), felt like it was a random draft. Going back to when Jinder interrupted Angle, it felt like Angle was acting surprised that he'd even shown up on his show. the rules of the Shakeup (even calling it a shakeup) are too vague and misunderstood.

[DBSoT]

If you're talking about idiot GMs, how about Paige agreeing to give away her US champion without having drafted the IC champion in exchange? Why would she just give away a championship?

She was lucky that Angle immediately made the champion defend his belt against someone who was about to leave to go to the other show. So I guess both of them were idiots there.

I completely agree. During Raw, I just assumed that Rollins was going to SD. Which would have been a logical trade. Stephanie wants a heel champion like Jinder and has had issues with Seth in the past. They could even say that Steph did it behind Angles back, similar to the Owens/Zayn signings.

There is one way to kind of explain Jinder taking the title to Raw. They could explain that the deal included Jeff Hardy going to SD and getting a chance on Raw to get the title back. Which would have been odd, but at least made some sense. It also would have justified the title match taking place.