It’s been just over a month since the WWE Superstar Shakeup, in which some major superstars jumped ship from one brand to another. While Monday Night RAW ended up with the likes of the Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, The Miz & Maryse, Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Slater & Rhyno, the blue brand got U.S. Champion Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Charlotte Flair, Tamina, Jinder Mahal, The New Day and Rusev & Lana.
And while the roster switch certainly livened things up, it may have ended up doing more harm than good to WWE’s product. It’s clear that the company were desperate to reinvigorate RAW, but they may have done so at the expense of their stronger brand.
SmackDown LIVE Was The Stronger Brand
After the return of the brand split last Summer, many of us initially thought that SmackDown LIVE had got thrown under the bus, while RAW got the majority of the premier stars. But how wrong we all were. Sure, it may have had less headliners and less air time than RAW, but the blue brand took everything that was working against it and flourished.
Dean Ambrose was the final member of the Shield faction to win the WWE Championship, and now he got the chance to showcase what he could do on his very own show. And he put on one hell of a programme with AJ Styles — who eventually took the gold from him. Styles was also allowed the opportunity to shine when he carried the show for months — a task we knew he was capable of doing but were denied from seeing when he was on RAW.
While RAW was busy with its repetitive Authority angles, recurring main-event stars and exhausting three hour format, SmackDown LIVE thrived by giving us a fresh new show, rife with previously unexplored storylines that became a building ground for new stars. Simply put — SmackDown was the better show, and the WWE Universe was well aware of that.
However, it appears WWE were persistent in their bid to make RAW the premier brand and thus, in the Superstar Shakeup, the red brand pilfered many of those stars which SmackDown had built. And it’s already clear that they aren’t being utilised as well as they were on the blue brand. The shakeup has affected both shows as RAW has failed to make the most of the new superstars while SmackDown’s usually successful formula just isn’t working anymore.
The Land Of Opportunities That Come Too Soon
Ever since the original brand split back in 2002, SmackDown has been known as WWE’s land of opportunity. Over the years, we saw the likes of Brock Lesnar, Mr. Kennedy, MVP, John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler rise through the ranks while legends like The Undertaker and Kane steered the ship. The youngsters were granted countless opportunities while facing the headliners, and thus, new legacies were forged.
It was genuinely refreshing to see SmackDown pick up where it left off when the brands split again last year. The show gave the likes of Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose the title runs we had been waiting a long time for, while also breathing new life into the Miz.
However, now that all of these stars — and more — have been moved to RAW, SmackDown has had to focus on building new main eventers all over again. But the only problem is, this time they don’t have as strong of a selection of superstars, or the time to build them up. And in a short space of time, we have seen the likes of Jinder Mahal and Breezango rise through the ranks and seize the opportunities that should have been given to them sooner. Now, I’m glad to see them finally having their moments in the spotlight, but the issue here is that it’s come far too soon — there has been no building to get them to this point.
While it’s awesome to see SmackDown once again affording these great superstars the opportunities that had previously been denied to them, from a storytelling standpoint it just doesn’t make sense. As viewers, how are we supposed to buy superstars who have been booked badly for quite some time as legitimate threats to the championships? These talented superstars thoroughly deserve the spot and have done a great job with what they’ve been given, but their sudden surge in credibility just highlights how SmackDown has been left without anyone else to rely on. With a lack of headliners, mid-carders and tag teams, the blue brand has once again tried to build new stars — but unfortunately this time it’s just doing it far too quickly.
WWE has tried to capitalize of SmackDown’s success by moving its biggest success stories to RAW instead. But this has left the superior show without the stars it made by moving them to the show that never fully appreciated them. So while RAW is once again recycling storylines, SmackDown is struggling by forcing new stars into championship matches without ever getting a chance to build them up.
Do you think the Superstar Shakeup hindered WWE?
