One night down, one to go in WWE’s Superstar Shakeup. As expected, RAW pilfered a lot of Smackdown Live’s top talent last night, including plenty of names who found their home on the blue brand, or were finally coming into their own. Names like Alex Bliss and Bray Wyatt staked their claims to be on the top of the pile on Tuesday nights, as well as guys like The Miz going through a career renaissance.
Now they’re all on RAW. You have to wonder if they’re going to get lost in the shuffle and have all their momentum wasted, particularly in the case of Wyatt, who looks like he will go over for Balor in an upcoming feud.
However, there are still plenty of bright spots on the roster with the biggest one being AJ Styles still wearing blue, setting up a dizzyingly hyped match with Shinsuke Nakamura down the line. That being said, the roster is stretched incredibly thin right now – NXT currently has more talent to its name. But Smackdown’s turn to raid the opposition roster is still to come.
With that in mind, let’s predict the RAW wrestlers who might be jumping ship to Smackdown Live tonight.
Charlotte
Already heavily rumoured, kindling was added to the fire last night when Charlotte failed to turn up during the women’s segment on RAW. With Alexa Bliss and Mickie James making their bow before Nia Jax turned up to clear house, Charlotte was suspiciously absent.
With Sasha and Bayley still to have their frenemy match and others working their way into contention, it would be a no-brainer to send Charlotte to Team Blue and plug the gap.
Cesaro and Sheamus
What a coup this would be for Smackdown Live, not just because they are on fire as a team right now, but when they do inevitably part ways, they will get two main event guys for the price of one. Plus, they could bring the pedigree that Smackdown’s tag team division desperately, desperately needs. Rumours are abounding that The Club will join AJ Styles instead, but they are practically dead. These two would be better.
With SD slowly turning into a smark’s dream, seeing Cesaro with singles gold around his waist would be an overdue and welcomed sight. Sheamus would do more than just make up the numbers, too. The only question mark hanging over this is that they will be taking on The Hardy Boyz at Payback, so who knows what’s going to transpire with the belts. Man, this shakeup has shaken up my logic.
Kevin Owens
WWE Creative have written themselves into a weird and confusing corner with Dean Ambrose’s move to RAW. As the Intercontinental Champion, Smackdown Live also lost the title when Dean jumped ship, so they clearly need a mid-card title replacement. Step forward Kevin Owens: the one-time destroyer who’s nowhere near where he should be.
After losing the Universal Championship to Goldberg to bring his unconvincing reign to an end, Owens is now United States Champion after beating Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 33. The two are squaring off again at Payback, which complicates things a lot. Unless WWE want to unify the US and Intercontinental belts and somehow create yet another new belt, expect Owens to retain and make SD the mainstay of the United States Championship.
Sami Zayn
This should have happened months ago. Someone like Sami is almost tailormade for Smackdown, a talented guy who doesn’t fit the WWE mould. The blue brand is all about giving people chances and the spotlight, so the artist formerly known as El Generico could finally have the main roster push he deserves. There’s no need to write anything else – this simply needs to happen.
Other Predictions and Rumors
Brock Lesnar
There are a lot of whispers about this, but don’t listen to them. Not happening. Probably.
The New Day
With Kofi benched, rumours are floating that The New Day will be switching teams. If anyone’s going to move, it will be Xavier Woods.
Enzo and Big Cass
Not likely. These two are involved in too much merch to be taken from the bigger WWE brand.
Primo minus Epico
The only trade Smackdown will get all night and Shane had better be happy about it.
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