THE RAW AFTER WRESTLEMANIA IS ALWAYS AN OCCASION TO BEHOLD – WHETHER IT BE NEW SUPERSTARS DEBUTING ON THE MAIN ROSTER, OR WRESTLERS RETURNING FROM THEIR INJURIES, THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO THANK THE CROWD FOR ATTENDING.
This past Monday was no different as The Revival debuted, defeating The New Day, Finn Bálor returned from injury and Vincent Kennedy McMahon came out to announce that next week on Monday night, there would be a ‘Superstar Shake-Up’, which means we will see a few different wrestlers swapping allegiances.
It’s unclear as to what level of superstars will be changing brands; it could just be three straight swaps, it could be a full on WWE Draft and they’ve just named it something different.
Either way, here are the wrestlers that I think are most likely to swap shows. We’ll start off with who’s joining Smackdown.
- Sami Zayn
It’s been clear for a number of months now that Sami Zayn is one of the most underutilised talents on the Raw roster. He’s found his place as an upper midcard talent, ready to put over guys like Braun Strowman, or put on a great match with a Chris Jericho or Kevin Owens. After it seemed like he was finally getting a push, he was dropped into the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, and didn’t even win, because Mojo Rawley is apparently a better fit. Ugh.
On Smackdown, he would find himself able to compete with the likes of Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, The Miz and Shinsuke Nakamura, assuming none of them move to Raw, and there’d be more opportunities for him to finally get his main event push.
- Charlotte
Charlotte is undeniably one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of all time. She is a great character and is a top tier in-ring talent. That being said, her time on Raw has seen her be placed into a three-way battle for the title between herself, Bayley and Sasha Banks, and quite frankly, it’s become a little tiresome.
Somebody fresh needs to be introduced into the mix on Raw and it would be a great chance to see Charlotte reignite her feud with Becky Lynch and be sent the other way to Smackdown.
- The New Day
At one point or another, we’ve all loved The New Day. Their charisma shines through in their matches and promos, and the trio give a real sense of brotherhood to the tag team division. However, since dropping the titles to Sheamus and Cesaro back at Roadblock in December, they’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern. After holding onto the belts for such a long time, it’s been great seeing other teams have their chance to be champions and The New Day have pretty much accomplished everything they can on Raw now. Time for a change.
- Rusev
Just like Sami Zayn, Rusev needs to jumpstart his career and a move to Smackdown could also give him a main event push, especially as after this shake-up, the number of heels on the roster could be dwindling. Poor old Jinder getting left behind though.
- Elias Samson
There have been rumours aplenty that Elias Samson will be getting a main roster move soon, and he would definitely be a better fit for Smackdown over Raw. His drifter gimmick will get more air time on Smackdown than Raw, and could see him start off in a feud with somebody like Apollo Crews, who would also benefit from some more airtime.
- Alexa Bliss
Alexa has really stood out from the crowd during her time on the blue brand. Bliss was the 20th Draft pick for Smackdown back in July, but easily propelled herself into the title picture and won it from Becky Lynch back at TLC. After becoming a two-time women’s champion on Smackdown, she has shown that she would absolutely shine on the flagship show.
- The Miz
Another talent that wasn’t thought of especially highly before the WWE Draft, but since July, The Miz has shown himself to be one of the best talkers on Smackdown. Able to cut a promo with fire at some times, and be funny in others, he has shown his versatility and that could lead to him getting swapped. Also in a rivalry with Daniel Bryan and that could add fuel to the fire if he was seen as being pushed out.
- AJ Styles
Apart from a feud with Nakamura, Styles has pretty much achieved all he can on Smackdown. Held the WWE Championship for the latter half of 2016, battled with the likes of Cena, Orton, Wyatt and Ambrose, which leaves very little left for him. Also, a move to Raw, with Finn Bálor, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson could see a full reunion of The Club on Raw. Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles with The Club behind him? Yes, please.
- American Alpha
With The New Day going the other way, this would be a great opportunity for American Alpha to go to Raw. They’d be able to reignite the feud with The Revival, go against The Club and generally be able to showcase their in-ring talents with numerous tag teams.
- Kalisto
Would be a game changer for the Cruiserweight division. Imagine all the matches you could make with Kalisto down there? Kendrick, Nese, Dar, Perkins, Alexander. Would really amp up the flips going on in the Cruiserweight division – this is what he was brought to WWE for.