Last week on Monday Night Raw, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon returned to make two big announcements. One of those announcements was giving Kurt Angle the Raw General Manager position, and the second, and arguably more important, was the announcement of the Superstar Shake-up. Next week on Raw, the Shake-up will feature Superstar trades, possibly NXT call-ups, and even non-wrestler changes to freshen up both main roster shows. With that in mind, what should happen next week?
Kalisto Goes to Raw & 205 Live
When the Cruiserweight Division was first announced, it seemed like Kalisto was a guaranteed member. However, he was drafted to SmackDown Live and the rest of the Cruiserweights wrestle on Raw. The former United States Champion has feuded with Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, but ultimately he has not done much on Tuesday nights. Shifting the former Lucha Dragon to Raw could add depth to the division, give Kalisto something to do, and potentially team him back up with Sin Cara (who is also in the division in case anyone forgot).
Send a Tag Team to SmackDown Live
The brand split has been great for SmackDown Live, but its tag team division has been lacking attention recently. American Alpha feuded with Randy Orton and Luke Harper for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, but they were left off of television for weeks until the Usos captured the belts from them. The motivation for the tag team division to get more screen time would increase from a high-profile team on the roster.
If this was a week ago, I would suggest sending the Revival to SmackDown Live, but they were just recently called up to Monday Night Raw. NXT shouldn’t lose #DIY just yet since their roster is lacking on tag teams at the moment. This leaves two great picks from Raw: The New Day and Gallows and Anderson. Gallows and Anderson just lost their Tag Team Championship rematch to the Hardy Boyz and are free to go wherever at this point. The New Day isn’t doing much either, although they could be starting a feud with the Revival after Dash and Dawson injured Kofi Kingston’s ankle.
Women’s Rosters Need Big Changes
Raw and SmackDown have treated their Women’s Divisions very differently over the past year. For several months, Raw was just about Charlotte and Sasha Banks until Bayley and Nia Jax started getting involved. SmackDown, however, featured every single woman it had and gave women chances to shine that might not have had that time on Raw.
The obvious move in this Superstar Shake-Up is trading Charlotte to SmackDown. Flair already has four Raw Women’s Championships under her belt and her feuds with everyone on that roster were almost overexposed. Moving her to SmackDown could give her a ton of new opponents, including a reignited feud with Becky Lynch.
With Raw losing one of their top women, who should switch to Monday nights? Raw would have Bayley, Sasha Banks (who is rumored to turn heel on Bayley), Nia Jax, Emma, and Dana Brooke. Mickie James is a good in-between character to add balance and she is experienced enough to add veteran leadership to the division, and the same could be said for Natalya. That wouldn’t upset the balance of the roster and any other woman leaving SmackDown would seem like too much of a blow without an NXT call-up.
SmackDown Needs Another Main Event Star
With John Cena and Nikki Bella taking time off, as well as Brock Lesnar holding the Universal Championship, both shows are taking a hit to their main event scenes. Raw has a huge pool of Superstars for main event feuds, including Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman. SmackDown has AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, and the recently called up Shinsuke Nakamura.
If the goal of the Shake-up is to freshen up the rosters, a great move would be switching Roman Reigns to SmackDown, perhaps in turn for Baron Corbin and Luke Harper. It might even be beneficial for both brands to move Seth Rollins to SmackDown since he won’t have to worry about the Authority and he can have new Superstars to feud with.
Keep NXT Call-ups to a Minimum
If NXT is to succeed as its own brand, it can’t lose a ton of its big stars in such a short time. The Revival, Tye Dillinger, and Shinsuke Nakamura were already called up last week, putting a big dent in the roster already. They have the potential to replace them with the likes of Kassius Ohno, Aleister Black, Drew McIntyre, and Heavy Machinery, but only time will tell. Rumors say that Elias Samson could be called up, which makes sense since he lost a “Loser Leaves NXT” match.
There are a couple options that could leave NXT pretty solid. Hideo Itami just returned from injury, but he hasn’t been featured on NXT since his return. Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy have been off of television for quite some time and they would be great on the main roster, especially if they reunited with Alexa Bliss. Perhaps the only other switch that should take place is moving Oney Lorcan to Raw. Lorcan proved last week on both NXT and 205 Live that he can consistently put on great performances, which is needed to add excitement to the three-hour long format of Raw.
