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With the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up almost upon us, the talk of the WWE Universe after WrestleMania 34 has largely centred around who will be moving from Raw to SmackDown Live, and vice versa, in next week’s roster changes.
Will “Monday Night Rollins” become “Tuesday Night Rollins”? Are The New Day really in danger of splitting up? Who else will be called up from NXT? And what could the future hold for Asuka?
Well, in this article, we want to put a different twist on the upcoming Shake-Up by taking a look at five people who shouldn't switch brand on next week’s Raw and SmackDown Live.
#5 AJ Styles
Remember when Dean Ambrose and The Miz moved to Raw last year to essentially continue a rivalry that began on SmackDown Live? It all felt very pointless and they may as well have stayed on the blue brand.
If WWE moves AJ Styles to Raw in the Superstar Shake-Up, as was heavily rumoured last year, then he will almost certainly continue his WWE Championship rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura on the red brand, while Brock Lesnar (and the Universal title) would move to SmackDown.
To avoid a similar situation to last year with Ambrose and Miz, it’d be better if “The Phenomenal One” remained on Tuesday nights. Besides, SmackDown Live is “the house that AJ Styles built”, so he should stay where he is for that reason alone!
#4 Seth Rollins
If Seth Rollins moves to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-Up, as has been rumoured, then he will take his new Intercontinental title across to the blue brand, with United States champion Jinder Mahal presumably heading in the other direction.
It would be a strange move from WWE to swap the secondary championships between the two rosters – they did exactly the same thing last year – and another title trade this year would have even less meaning now that every PPV is a dual-brand event.
When you also consider that WWE poster boy Roman Reigns looks likely to stay on Raw, then Rollins moving to SmackDown would all but rule out a Shield return when Dean Ambrose is back from injury.
#3 Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey had a hit-and-miss start to life in WWE with her promo segments on Raw, but it’s fair to say she silenced the majority of her doubters after her incredible performance alongside Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34.
It’s unclear exactly what plans WWE has for the MMA icon following her latest segment with Stephanie earlier this week, but one thing’s for sure: she needs to stay on Monday Night Raw.
Raw is the one WWE show that casual fans will check out to catch up with storylines, and if Ronda – one of the biggest stars in the company, even at this early stage – isn’t on the flagship programme, then something is wrong!
#2 Shane McMahon
Much like last year, there have been a few widely speculated changes in the upcoming Shake-Up (Seth Rollins and Asuka to SmackDown Live, for example), but nobody will know for sure, even many of the performers, what WWE plans to do until next week.
The Shake-Up doesn’t just affect the Superstars, as we saw last year when Byron Saxton and David Otunga traded places at the announce desk, and there have been a few bold predictions from fans on social media that the Raw and SmackDown Live management teams, specifically Stephanie and Shane McMahon, could be shaken up.
For reasons already stated, the rivalry between Ronda Rousey and Stephanie would be better placed on Raw, while the dynamic between Shane and Paige on SmackDown is off to a promising start, so it’d be a shame to end their on-screen partnership when it’s only just getting started.
#1 Charlotte Flair
There have been suggestions that Charlotte Flair will move to Raw in the Superstar Shake-Up in order to feud with Ronda Rousey at some point in the next year, with a match possibly taking place at WrestleMania 35.
“The Queen” only recently lost her SmackDown Women’s Championship to Carmella and there isn’t any time for her to have a televised title rematch before the roster changes begin to happen on Monday.
WWE made some big mistakes in last year’s Shake-Up, especially by having Bray Wyatt move to Raw before his WWE Championship rivalry with Randy Orton was over (in the end, Bray didn’t even receive a title rematch), so it would make little sense for Charlotte to switch to Raw without ending her feud with Carmella first.
