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The 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up took place on April 15-16, with a total of 16 Superstars moving to Raw and 14 moving to SmackDown Live.
Roman Reigns was the biggest name to move across the two brands, having appeared on Monday’s episode of Raw before surprisingly showing up in the final segment on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live.
The most notable Raw addition was undoubtedly AJ Styles, who had been a key figure on SmackDown for the last three years, while The Miz, Rey Mysterio, and The Usos were also among the high-profile Superstars who joined the red brand.
Other than Reigns, SmackDown’s roster has been bolstered with the additions of Finn Balor, Elias, and Lars Sullivan, while Bayley, Ember Moon, Liv Morgan, Mickie James and Kairi Sane all joined the women’s division.
Although the roster changes were largely seen as a success, there are still many Superstars whose brand-exclusive futures remain uncertain.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at four people who could still move brands following this week’s Shake-Up.
#4 Samoa Joe
Before the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up began, there was lots of speculation that Finn Balor could move to SmackDown Live with the Intercontinental Championship and Samoa Joe could swap brands with his former NXT rival by taking the United States Championship to Raw.
In the end, there was no sign of Joe on Monday’s episode of Raw, while Balor appeared on both shows before officially being confirmed as a new recruit to the SmackDown Live roster when he defeated Ali during Tuesday’s episode.
It was widely reported earlier this week that Joe was unable to attend Raw due to having a bad case of the flu, which explains why he has not made appearances on WWE television over the last few days.
From a storyline perspective, it is difficult to see how WWE can move him across to Raw so soon after the Shake-Up was supposedly finalized, but it is also hard to believe that Raw will have one male singles title (Universal Championship) and SmackDown Live will have three (WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship).
Joe already got his next feud started with Braun Strowman on the post-WrestleMania episode of SmackDown Live, so it is safe to assume that he will move to Raw in the not-too-distant future to even up the number of titles on both brands.
#3 Nikki Cross
One of the big stories to emerge from the Superstar Shake-Up came during Monday’s episode of Raw when Eric Young was revealed to have moved to the red brand by himself, meaning the SAnitY faction has officially split up.
Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain have both remained members of the SmackDown Live roster following the Shake-Up, but it remains to be seen what the future holds for the undrafted Nikki Cross.
The Scot has been appearing on both Raw and SmackDown Live since she was called up to the main roster from NXT in December 2018. However, unlike fellow NXT call-ups EC3, Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, Heavy Machinery, Aleister Black and Ricochet, she is yet to be assigned to either the red or blue brand.
Several Superstars were confirmed to have moved to SmackDown Live following Tuesday’s episode, so there is still time for her to be added to a brand before next week’s shows. But, as of the time of writing, her name is nowhere to be seen on WWE's Shake-Up list and she is the only full-time Superstar whose WWE.com profile page does not include a brand-specific logo.
#2 The Undertaker
The likelihood is that, much like John Cena, The Undertaker will retain his ‘free agent’ status in WWE until the end of his career. That means he can show up when he wants and on whichever brand he likes, simply because he can.
Ever since the 2016 WWE Draft, the WrestleMania icon has almost exclusively appeared on Raw. Granted, he has made a couple of one-off appearances on SmackDown Live, notably before Survivor Series 2016 and at SmackDown 1000, but the build-up to all of his recent feuds has taken place on Raw.
This year was just the third time in 29 years that “The Deadman” has not participated at WrestleMania. Instead, he appeared the following night on Raw, where he interrupted Elias and hit him with his trademark Tombstone Piledriver, presumably to set up a match between the two at WWE’s next Saudi Arabia show in June.
If that is indeed the case, then we are likely to see ‘Taker switch over to SmackDown Live to promote his match against WWE’s resident guitarist.
#1 Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar held the Universal Championship for 22 out of a possible 24 months after defeating Goldberg for the title at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.
Following his defeat to Seth Rollins in the opening match of the WrestleMania 35 main show, it is difficult to see what lies in store for Lesnar’s WWE future. There are no more immediate rematch clauses, so it is safe to assume that another match with Rollins is not on the cards, and what else is there left for him to achieve as a member of the Raw roster?
The 2019 Superstar Shake-Up decided the fate of every full-time WWE Superstar (except Nikki Cross), but we have seen in the past that the annual roster changes do not necessarily apply to every part-time Superstar. For example, in 2017, John Cena was a member of the SmackDown Live roster after the Shake-Up, but three months later he was suddenly listed as a ‘free agent’ and he began appearing on Raw.
If WWE wants Lesnar to face a certain SmackDown Live Superstar when he makes his next return, you can bet that “The Beast” will cross over to the blue brand, regardless of his current Raw status.
