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The 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up will take place during the April 15-16 episodes of Raw and SmackDown Live in Montreal, Quebec.
WWE has been teasing on shows since WrestleMania 35 that some tag teams risk being broken up in the Shake-Up, with Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins (Raw Tag Team champions), The Hardy Boyz (SmackDown Tag Team champions) and The IIconics (Women’s Tag Team champions) the only duos who will definitely stay together.
The first post-Mania Shake-Up in 2017 saw Bray Wyatt move to Raw, which meant that he was forced to split from fellow Wyatt Family member Luke Harper, while the 2018 Shake-Up resulted in Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin splitting up, as well as The Miztourage ending their alliance with The Miz.
With two stacked main-roster brands and three tag titles up for grabs, there are more tag teams in WWE now than ever before, which likely means that we will see a few duos part ways next Monday and Tuesday.
In this article, let’s take a look at five teams who are in the most danger of being broken up.
#5 The Bar
The Bar were unable to win the SmackDown Tag Team titles in a Fatal 4-Way match against The Usos, Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura and Aleister Black & Ricochet at WrestleMania 35 on Sunday.
The following night on Raw, they surprisingly interfered during the main event between Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston, setting up a tag match between the duos, which they lost. Once again, they appeared in the main event the next night on SmackDown Live, this time teaming with Drew McIntyre, but they were unable to defeat The New Day.
After three losses in as many days and a Raw main event that still makes no sense, many fans have been speculating on social media that the last few days might have been Sheamus & Cesaro’s swansong as a tag team.
The European duo have appeared on the last three WrestleMania main cards together, while they have established themselves as one of the most decorated teams of the decade (5x tag champions). What else is there left to achieve?
#4 The Sky Pirates
The 2019 Superstar Shake-Up will be very interesting for the Sky Pirates. There are three ways the roster changes could go for the popular NXT tag team:
1) Kairi Sane moves to Raw or SmackDown Live by herself. “The Pirate Princess” has established herself as one of WWE’s most impressive female Superstars since debuting in the 2017 Mae Young Classic – a tournament she won – while she also held the NXT Women’s Championship for a short spell in 2018.
2) Sane and Io Shirai are called up to the main roster. Every other credible female tag team has lost #1 contender or title matches since the introduction of the Women’s Tag Team titles, so the division could definitely do with a new set of challengers. Also, Paige says she is bringing a team with her next week, so could it be The Sky Pirates?
3) Both women stay in NXT and continue their NXT Women’s Championship storyline with Shayna Baszler.
Out of those three options, 1 and 2 seem the most likely, with Sane almost certain to be main roster-bound soon. It’s just a question of whether she arrives alone or with her fellow Sky Pirate.
#3 Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura
Let’s face it, Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura are not a genuine tag team. They formed an unusual alliance in January 2019 for the simple reason that they both lost United States Championship matches against R-Truth.
The ‘Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend’ tag team formation is good in theory, but the rivalry with Truth only lasted for one week, so why are the two former US champions still teaming up 10 weeks later?
As a singles competitor, Rusev is fantastic. As a singles competitor, Nakamura is fantastic. As a tag team, they won their first match against The Club in early February but they have since gone on to lose seven matches in a row. Now if that is not reason enough to part ways, what is?
Both men desperately need to revitalise their careers – especially Rusev, who has lost a record number of PPV matches in a row (18) – so the future should look brighter for them if they are broken up in the Superstar Shake-Up.
#2 The Fashion Police
Fandango has been out of action since July 2018 due to a shoulder injury, while Tyler Breeze has hardly featured on Raw following The Fashion Police’s move to the brand from SmackDown Live in last year’s Superstar Shake-Up.
The ticket-wielding comedy duo were involved in some of the funniest skits on SmackDown Live throughout 2017. However, although their Fashion Files backstage segments were received well by fans, they were never treated as legitimate Tag Team Championship contenders on either SmackDown or Raw.
Speaking in a video on the WWE PC YouTube channel recently, Fandango mentioned how he would like his character to be taken more seriously when he makes his televised in-ring return, which presumably means no more Fashion Police.
If the duo are forced to split up, it will be no major loss – the WWE Universe has survived without them for the last nine months – and it just might rejuvenate ‘Dango and Breeze’s careers if they are given new starts on separate brands.
#1 Two-thirds of The Shield
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose officially reunited for the final time in the main event of Fastlane in March, defeating Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre in a chaotic six-man tag match.
Since then, The Shield has not teamed up on television but they have still stayed together, with the departing Ambrose fighting battles for Reigns by facing McIntyre in multiple matches on Monday Night Raw.
Ambrose bid farewell to the WWE Universe in an off-the-air segment after Monday’s episode of Raw, which means that only two-thirds of The Shield remains part of the roster heading into next week’s Superstar Shake-Up.
Assuming that Rollins will stay on Raw with the Universal Championship, it is not impossible that WWE could freshen things up over on SmackDown Live with the introduction of Reigns to the roster. After all, “The Big Dog” has been part of Raw ever since the WWE draft in 2016, so isn’t it about time he moved across to Team Blue?
