Superstar Shakeup Predictions

Going into tomorrow night’s Superstar Shake-Up on Raw, we thought we’d do the same thing everyone else is doing and speculate on who’s moving where.  I’ll go first.

Matt’s Predictions

Dean Ambrose to Raw – I know, it seems weird considering he’s the IC champ, but let’s look at this logically.  He’s got to drop that belt to Baron Corbin, otherwise there’s no sense in any of this up to now.  The fact he got the win at Mania seemed weird enough, but I don’t think the shake-up will go forward until next week, so that gives them time to clear up any of these title issues, or maybe they’re going to trade out IC for United States and have Owens drop the US belt tomorrow, maybe to Reigns.  An Open Challenge would make a world of sense for someone defending their yard, wouldn’t you think?  It would also do for Roman what it did for Cena, as he took losses periodically to help get people over.  Look at KO.  I think there’s more value in finding a way to reunite Ambrose and Rollins, and I think they could do wonders going forward, as they could logically jump right in against Owens and Joe, leading to a full Shield moment in 6 man tag action at Summerslam with H in the fold for his faction.  That match itself would be money.  (Side note:  I’m not a huge Ambrose fan, so getting him off Smackdown is my priority as it’s the brand I cover)

Sasha Banks to Smackdown – They’ve got to get Sasha out of this loop she’s stuck in.  If they’re not going to just jump right into the heel turn, getting some distance from Charlotte could completely revitalize her, at least in my opinion.  I don’t even think Alexa needs to go to Raw, as most predict, in this scenario, as you leave Alexa, Becky and Sasha to lend credence to the women’s division on Smackdown.  As long as they keep everyone prevalent, such as Carmella, I think Smackdown could really use the shot in the arm to get them away from repetition with Becky-Mickie-Naomi-Alexa.

Natalya to Raw – Legacy is a big thing, and while they’ve done it before, I see no reason to not put the Queen of Harts on the flagship.  They don’t need the name recognition on Smackdown anymore.  Natalya and Bayley could probably have great matches.  Natalya could probably cut fire promos opposite Nia.  A Natalya-Nia feud sounds awesome, now that I randomly typed it in here and started thinking about it.

The Miz to Raw – I really do hate losing Miz, but with Nakamura there now, Miz is really going to get lost in the shuffle somewhere.  I think having him just bail when Nakamura debuted the other night was indicative of what’s going to happen.  Plus, if you look at this logically, Miz can cut the same promos he did against Daniel Bryan without the lack of stakes that the Bryan one’s had.  Let Angle suplex the shit out of him already.

Gallows and Anderson for The Usos – This trade makes a ton of sense.  Gallows and Anderson, while being tag champs, were still not very well utilized on Raw.  Trade them for The Usos who could jump right into a high flying slugfest with the Hardys, and who would make for fresh Smacktalker Skywalker promos from Enzo.  I’m a little bored of his bald jokes at Gallows and Anderson’s expense.  Raw is sort of flush with face teams though, so that’s my only hesitation on making this prediction.  It still makes a lot of sense, you’ll just have to have the Usos drop the belts this week, or let the belts go into a tournament so they can finally showcase some of the amazingness that is the Smackdown Tag Division that seems to get lost constantly.

Random Additional Pick – A three way deal is struck to send Brock Lesnar to NXT, American Alpha to Raw and DIY to Smackdown.  Brock Lesnar will defend his belt in NXT against AoP in handicap matches for the rest of eternity.

Not really, there’s got to be a way to get DIY to Smackdown, but it won’t be anything done tomorrow.  Daniel Bryan finds a way to work the tag team deal to include American Alpha in exchange for the full Balor club.  He’ll throw in some random, like Apollo Crews, just for good measure.

Jeremy’s Predictions

AJ to Raw – This is a big bummer for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I cover Raw on this site and I’m a huge AJ mark.  I just worry that he’ll get relegated to the midcard inexplicably on Raw.  Sure, he might have his Good Brothers there, but I just don’t see him getting quite the push that he got last year post-Mania.  I really hope to be wrong and he continues to be the Champ that Runs the Camp.  They’ve treated AJ so right this past year.  I’m worried that they’ll get lazy.

New Day to Smackdown – It’s either this or you to completely shakeup the tag team division.  WWE spent so much energy trying to get the New Day to the record with the championship that they almost completely destroyed the Raw tag team division to get there.  It’s only starting to recover with the New Day fighting Titus and the Shinning Stars for weeks at a time and staying out of the tag title picture.  Sending them to Smackdown will breath some fresh life into the character.

Samoa Joe to Smackdown – My other two predictions there’s at least rumors about.  This is my own.  To me, Samoa Joe feels like Smackdown.  I understand why he appeared on Raw during the storyline with Seth Rollins but I think he’d be much more effective on SmackDown.  Although I wouldn’t mind Joe and AJ being on the same brand to revisit some of their TNA classics.  If he stays on Raw, the most obvious storyline is to face Seth Rollins at Payback.  Where you go from there, I don’t know.

El Vagabondo The Drifter to Smackdown – I think this one is pretty obvious.  After losing the loser leaves NXT match to Ohno and trying to sneak back into NXT as El Vagabondo, his time at NXT is at an end.  It makes the most sense for him to end up on SmackDown.  Although, to be honest, Raw could use a mid-card heel.  I just think his gimmick works a lot better on the blue brand.

Aiden English to Raw – One half of the former tag team The Vaudevillians, I think he could find a good spot on Raw.  I recently watched his singing competition promo with Big Cass and it was great.  He’s vicious but can bring the right amount of comedy to his promos.  He’s got a great look.  Unlike Gotch, I never felt like he was playing Strongman dressup.  This is a bit of a stretch though.  I feel like this ends up being later in the draft.

The Women – I’m not really sure what is going to happen here.  The rumor is the only real lock is that Charlotte is going to SmackDown.  That makes sense, split her from Sasha.  I feel though that you need to send two women to Raw in her place.  Raw already feels thin.  Taking Charlotte away would make that void feel massive.

Final off-the-wall prediction – We trade James Ellsworth for Todd Chrisley.  Sure, Todd isn’t a wrestler, but you can teach him to take a Superman punch or something.  James being a weak-chinned replacement for the Chrisley patriarch would be lots of fun too.  The move would get ratings sky high for both shows!  Book it!