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Since WrestleMania 35, our minds had been constantly fixated on the Superstar Shake-Up which was scheduled to take place on this week’s past episodes of Raw and SmackDown. Not only did many superstars move from the red brand to the blue brand, and vice versa, but also moved from NXT and 205 Live to one of the two main brands.
This has given WWE a chance of revamping some rivalries and refueling the feuds behind some of its championships while giving a number of its superstars another life on the main roster. While WWE made some good and bold moves in moving many superstars from one roster to another, they failed in many spots.
In this article, we will look at the 5 biggest mistakes WWE made during the Superstar Shake-up this year, and look at some of the outcomes of these mistakes.
#5 Left Nikki Cross unassigned
Nikki Cross was a top contender for the NXT Women’s Championship not too long ago. She was playing a lead role in NXT’s women’s division and also doing well with Sanity. When Nikki made the jump to the main roster, she immediately got a non-title match against then SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.
Things haven’t looked up for the superstar much, as she has mainly been working Battle Royals and Live Events since. After the Superstar Shake-up, Nikki seems to be the only NXT call-up who has been left unassigned by the company.
While no news or reports have come out which could clarify the reasons behind this move, all we hope is that WWE hasn’t made a mistake of not assigning the talented superstar, and has a good plan for her. While Nikki is no Lars Sullivan or Becky 2 Belts, we hope that she will get some better treatment on the main roster in the coming days.
#4 Kept Ricochet & Aleister Black on the same brand
Since moving to the main roster, Aleister Black and Ricochet have become a tremendous tag team which has taken out the best in WWE. While the two mainly competed on NXT as individual performers, WWE did well by pairing them up and giving them a lot of matches on the main roster.
While they’ve been having a great run as tag team competitors, it would have made more sense to break them up and have them compete on the mid-card, as they are stellar performers.
With Ricochet on SmackDown and Black on Raw, we could have seen the two gold standard performers stay in contention for the mid-card titles and make things more interesting. This would have also allowed for more genuine tag teams to get shots at the tag team titles, with the interference of makeshift tag teams.
Both rosters are currently in dire need of top-class faces in the mid-card, and these two men could have easily filled the slots on the blue and the red brands.
#3 Renamed War Raiders
Before the Superstar Shake-up, only a few people expected War Raiders to be called up to the main roster ahead of Undisputed Era. Even fewer people would have expected the NXT Tag Team Champions them to debut on Raw. Only a handful of those people would have even imagined that WWE would rename the NXT Champions as they made their way up.
While it’s okay to rename wrestlers and teams which are not doing well or have had a bad gimmick, there was absolutely no reason to rename NXT’s most dominant tag team before their move to the main roster. What made matters worse was renaming them to The Viking Experience, which hasn’t gelled well with the WWE Universe.
Renaming the team was not only surprising but questionable too, as the team is already holding the NXT titles and fans would have found a better connect with them under their previous names.
#2 Broke up The Riott Squad
In an era when the women’s revolution is at its peak, WWE has made a huge mistake by breaking up its only women’s faction. This will definitely have an impact on the WWE Women's Championships, as the trio could have helped increase it's value.
After months of handing The Riott Squad members embarrassing defeats and jobbing them out in favor of other wrestlers, WWE moved one-third of the squad to SmackDown Live and broke them up.
While the company is filled with popular men factions, such as The New Day and The Undisputed Era, it’s really sad to see the only women’s faction on the main roster get broken up by the company itself.
All three women in the faction are great wrestlers and fans were expecting that the trio would get a push after being enhancement talents for some months, but instead, they have been split up and their future currently remains unknown.
#1 Breaking up Bayley and Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks and Bayley were the Women’s Tag Team Champions not too long ago, and fans were expecting the two superstars to hold the title for a few more months at least. Instead, they lost their championships to The IIconics at WrestleMania 35, and the WWE Universe hasn’t been too happy about the move.
One person who has been utterly disappointed by the move has been none-other-than Sasha Banks herself. The superstar has won a few championships in WWE but hasn’t held any title for too long which is extremely unfair for the talented superstar. Similarly, Bayley is also a fan-favorite but hasn’t held any main roster titles for a lengthy period.
While Sasha has shown her disappointment and is in the middle of a meltdown, WWE conveniently moved her tag partner Bayley to SmackDown Live even before the two women had a rematch for the titles.
Bayley has already announced that she has moved to the blue brand as a solo competitor, clearly showing that her days working as a tag team with her friend Sasha Banks are over.
