Superstar Shakeup '18

[smarkmouth]

So we're halfway through the Shakeup now. Let's take a look at the moves that happened on Raw;

To RAW
Jinder Mahal w/Sunil Singh
Ruby Riott
Liv Morgan
Sarah Logan
Natalya
Sami Zayn
Kevin Owens
Breezango
Dolph Ziggler
Drew McIntyre
Baron Corbin
Bobby Roode



To Smackdown Live

The Miz




Other moves announced via Social Media

Zack Ryder
Mojo Rawley
The Ascension
Mike Kanellis
Chad Gable



Funny enough, I think the biggest surprise is the last one listed, and off air at that. I felt Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin were starting to get their feet under them, but I'm glad that Chad's going to have more of a chance to shine on his own.

The best move was clearly Miz to Smackdown. We're going to get the payoff for Bryan/Miz that we never thought we'd see. That's got rivalry of the year potential.

Smackdown lost the US Title with Jinder Mahal, who in turn lost the championship to Jeff Hardy. The usual song and dance of these shakeups is a title holder is exchanged for another title holder, but I suspect Jeff Hardy is bringing the US Championship right back to Smackdown.

Thoughts?

[Y 2 Jake]

They've moved the absolute worst of Smackdown over to Raw. Almost all of them. I'm intrigued.

[a0161613]

So far SD has done very well.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

SmackDown won immediately by sending Ziggler to RAW.

[Y 2 Jake]

Rollins, Asuka and the Cruiserweights to Smackdown tonight would be my guess.

[Undying]

Smackdown might actually be worth watching now since Mahal, Corbin and Ziggler are on Raw. Miz, Jeff, Joe, and Balor to Smackdown are my biggest guesses.

[Yer Maw]

Slater and Rhyno to smackdown me thinks

[Spidey]

Yeah Smackdown definitely made out like bandits it seems. Oddly enough, I see SAnity being the most refreshing addition. Tons of material to work with there.

[Y 2 Jake]

Smackdown cleaned up. Unfortunately all the guys I like will be battling against Smackdown booking.

[Uncle Sam]

There's a tendency to think "If only X were on Y show, they'd be recognised as the royalty they clearly are and handfed grapes for the rest of their days." The truth is, I'm anxious of how the likes of Samoa Joe, Chad Gable and Big Cass (lol j/k) will be treated on either show. Poorly, one would guess. On SmackDown, you have awful writing. On Raw, you have the perpetual tyranny of Roman Reigns and/or Brock Lesnar. And awful writing.

[DNA 2.0]

Raw will make a fresh start in the tag division with Wyatt/Matt and Ziggler/McIntyre, plus the Authors of Pain and Breezango.

SD also now has a strong division but names we have seen battle it out before.

I feel that SD got super heavy on the men though. Almas, Sanity, Big Cass, Joe, Bryan, Miz, Styles, Jeff Hardy, Nakamura, Orton, Rusev all are now on the same brand.

RAW has Rollins, Reigns, Ambrose, Strowmam, Finn, Lesnar who is part-time, Lashley, Elias aaand? Who else? Jinder, Corbin, Gable and will probably get Mysterio. Rey will even things out nicely. I guess RAW also has HHH, Cena and Angle when needed, so it was the right call to buff up SD.

Nothing big on the women. I would like to have seen Alexa go to SD to feud with Charlotte and Asuka and Becky to go to Raw to have fresh feuds there. But the divisions are also balanced in terms of star power.

It seemed like a really random shake up, but come to think of it, it has nice results.

PS: why McIntyre and Ziggler? What do they have in mind here? I don't see that lasting long.
The problem with RAW is that we have seen its main guys fight SO MANY TIMES. So I hope some turns to happen.
Sanity to SD is also odd. I think they fit better on RAW, but we'll see what happens.

[Y 2 Jake]

The Shake Up left very little new for Reigns, unless they go with McIntyre or Lashley immediately, or lame feuds like Roode and Mahal.

[smarkmouth]

The Shake Up left very little new for Reigns, unless they go with McIntyre or Lashley immediately, or lame feuds like Roode and Mahal.
I think Reigns will be busy, especially if they put the title on him. Bacon pointed out during the LD that the shakeup put a bunch of heels on RAW. You mentioned Mahal, there's also Baron Corbin, Zayn, the possibility of revisiting a feud with KO, and of course HBK & Diesel. There's also ample opportunity to reinvest in Mojo Rawley.

[Y 2 Jake]

All good guys to get you cheering for Roman. I know who's side I'm on if he's facing Corbin, Ziggler, Owens for the 20th time, Mahal etc.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

All good guys to get you cheering for Roman. I know who's side I'm on if he's facing Corbin, Ziggler, Owens for the 20th time, Mahal etc.

Most fans would just boo both of them.