https://nypost.com/2019/04/19/wwe-superstar-shake-up-roman-reigns-a-problem-a-j-styles-a-solution/
Superstar Shake-up: Roman Reigns a problem, A.J. Styles a solution
By
Joseph Staszewski
Roman Reigns; A.J. StylesGetty Images
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WWE’s Superstar Shake-up felt more like a shuffle that outside for AJ Styles moving to Raw was underwhelming overall. Having a shakeup without defined general managers also took away from things slightly.
So, who were the winners and losers and how will this affect the WWE landscape moving forward? Here are five takeaways from WWE’s annual reorganization.
Raw (as usual) was the winner
The Red brand, which is three hours long, landed Styles, The Usos, Rey Mystero, The Miz, Andrade, kept Samii Zayn and will likely get United States champion Samoa Joe. Raw also secured the the teams of Aleister Black and Ricochet and War…I mean The Viking Experience. Without mentioning anyone else, that’s some of the biggest names and better workers around. Raw no longer feels like the land of the giants and we get a chance for a Styles-Seth Rollins program for the Universal championship.
SmackDown didn’t go empty handed by landing Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Bayley and the new tag team of Asuka and Kairi Sane with manager Paige — and they got to keep Kevin Owens. The problem is, Reigns can been seen by fans as a major threat to Kofi Kingston’s title run and the new champion’s ability to work in the main event spot. Reigns closed Tuesday’s show by Superman punching Vince McMahon, which was a good way to start his SmackDown tenure.
Balor also doesn’t have a great mid-card roster to pair up with (maybe you give Buddy Murphy or Elias a run) after some or the additions to Raw. It will be fun to see Reigns work with small guys like Kingston, Daniel Bryan and maybe Owens, but there are fewer dream matches here.
The Asuka/Bayley problem
Pairing Asuka and Sane will make for a fun and dynamic tag team to add depth to the division. It’s great to have Paige back on TV. She will test the theory that this pair needs a mouthpiece to get over.
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Even so, Asuka deserved another singles run. She had arguably the best match at WrestleMania last year with Charlotte Flair and had another great match with her on SmackDown right before WrestleMania 35. She also has fresh unfinished business with both Flair and double-champ Becky Lynch, who she beat at the Royal Rumble.
It’s also hard not to think WWE made a mistake having Bayley and Sasha Banks drop the women’s tag team championships and now splitting them up. (Sasha, I feel your pain). They were over as a team with the crowd and the female fanbase. The Boss and Hug Connection never got to defend the titles in NXT or NXT UK — which would have been major happenings — and the IIconics already lost some credibility by getting defeated by Bayley and Naomi on Raw this week.
While Banks can get inserted into a singles feud at anytime, Bayley (a babyface) calling out Lynch, a babyface, got a negative crowd reaction on Raw this week. Bayley’s character needs a little rebuild — maybe it’s time to give her heel tendencies — before going on a singles run again. That was not a good start.
The Sami and Kevin show
Zayn and Owens were out so long because of injury, sometimes you forget how entertaining they really are. Zayn struggled with his heel turn initially, but man he’s got it down now.
He went from having a home crowd in Montreal enjoying an extended singing of his theme song to booing him out of the building by the time he was done ripping them during his “Moment of Bliss” segment on Raw. That’s some next-level stuff. Don’t think a Zayn-Rollins feud is out of the question.
Owens is a babyface over on SmackDown and did a good job making his honorary New Day gig work. The tiny crop top, Big E Entrance yell, eating his first pancake and hip swivels all made for a fun segment. Let’s hope this ends with him turning on Kingston and a potential WWE title run/feud down the road.
Becky Two Shows
It appears Lynch is going to defend her two belts separately over both shows. That sounds like a good long-term plan for ratings and getting the most out of her popularity, but you may overexpose her. Even the last few weeks it felt like four shows of a Lynch celebration tour and the entire locker room was calling her out.
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She already has a feud brewing and a match to have with Lacey Evans for the Raw women’s championship. Lynch now needs a SmackDown feud, maybe with Bayley or Ember Moon — who would at least be fresh. You also run the danger of one feud overshadowing the other. WWE is trusting itself to not burn Lynch’s star out too fast and while juggling stories. If you do the stories separately you are holding up the women on one show. WWE complicated Lynch’s build to WrestleMania, they are trying to do the same with her post-title run also.
Broken-up dreams
The Superstar shakeup led to a number of teams broken up. We saw the end of the Roode and Gable tag team, the last days of the Riott Squad with Liv Morgan now on SmackDown. SAnity is also done with Alexander Wolfe saying goodbye to WWE and Eric Young and Killian Dain now on Raw and SmackDown, respectively.
WWE missed opportunities with the Riott Squad and SAnity. The three-women group became little more than jobbers for top-tier talent and never got a run with the tag titles using Freebird/New Day rules. We saw very little of SAnity on the main roster when a little chaos might have added some unpredictability. The faction is another set of NXT talent wasted. Will EC3 be next?
Best male addition: AJ Styles (Raw)
Best female addition: Kairi Sane (SmackDown)
Best NXT callup: The Viking Experience (Raw) — name change aside.
Move setup to fail: Bayley (SmackDown)
Worst team breakup: Riott Squad
