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Before SmackDown even started, WWE and Mr. McMahon teased that the 'biggest signing in SmackDown history' would be announced on the Superstar Shake Up edition of SmackDown.
And after the likes of Finn Balor, Bayley, Ember Moon and Kairi Sane joined the blue brand, Mr. McMahon closed the Superstar Shake Up edition of SmackDown by announcing that the newest acquisition was charismatic and a true talent.
He announced the 'biggest acquisition' initially as Elias as the troubadour walked out to the ring to shake hands with 'the Chairman'.
But a lot of fans knew to expect an interruption as it is the main part of 'the Drifter's' gimmick. It turned out that the real acquisition was Roman Reigns, and he tore through both Elias and Mr. McMahon.
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So now that Reigns is 100% healthy and a member of the blue brand, just why was the former Universal Champion moved from Raw to SmackDown? Here are five likely reasons.
#5 To get him away from Seth Rollins
The only member of the Shield to spend time off of Raw for any amount of time was Dean Ambrose.
It allowed him to branch out on his own and be the main champion instead of the third-most important member of a three-man squad.
But in that time, Rollins and Reigns have fought against each other numerous times and fought the odds with each other.
While it is usually something that leads to magic in the ring, it's also been done a lot lately. If Rollins is truly to get a good run as Universal Champion, he needed to be separated from Reigns.
The whole question immediately emerged about how long it would take before Reigns would challenge Rollins if 'the Kingslayer' won at Mania. He defeated Brock Lesnar for the title, and those questions only intensified.
Now that they are officially separated from each other, Rollins can truly become the face of Raw while Reigns will have another yard to conquer. It's only a matter of how long it will take before Mr. McMahon wants Reigns to hold the title.
#4 It opens up new feuds for him
One huge positive of moving Reigns to SmackDown is that it opens the door as to the new feuds for both him and the fans.
While he was on Raw, Reigns routinely feuded with Braun Strowman, Rollins, Brock Lesnar, the Miz and even Styles right after Reigns won the WWE Championship from Triple H a few years ago at WrestleMania.
Even recently he had been feuding alongside Rollins with Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley.
And if Samoa Joe is moved to Raw because he is the US Champ and the Intercontinental Champ, Finn Balor, is now on SmackDown, then that is another feud he won't have to rehash.
Now that he's blue instead of red, Reigns can feud with Kofi Kingston (potentially), Lars Sullivan, Shinsuke Nakamura, a heel Daniel Bryan and even Randy Orton if deemed necessary.
He has already toppled the likes of Sheamus and Rusev, but the fact is there are more storylines to be had with a bevy of new opponents.
#3 SmackDown needed a 'true top babyface' after AJ Styles moved to Raw
When Daniel Bryan turned heel and AJ Styles lost the WWE Championship right before Survivor Series, it essentially created a void of legit top babyfaces who could challenge for the WWE Championship.
Styles lost the title after a lengthy reign, so he wasn't going to be winning it back any time soon.
Once Bryan put Styles in his rear view mirror, it opened up a plethora of potential challengers, but none were really too believable.
Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy were both still trucking along, but even though they still had it, they weren't likely to carry the brand through the rest of 2019.
Ali was still relatively new to the show coming off of 205 Live, so he wasn't going to be handed the title right away.
So even though they partially rectified that problem by turning the wonderful Kevin Owens face in his return and by finally giving Kofi Kingston a main-event push, it might still resonate in McMahon's mind that Kingston still isn't a 'top face'.
The crowd obviously disagrees, but McMahon ultimately decides in the end who the flagships of the shows are.
If he truly felt that Kingston could take over for Styles with the latter's move to Raw, then Reigns wouldn't have been moved.
Mr. McMahon still will push Reigns again as the top guy in the company.
While it's good to see Reigns come back healthy, it will only restart the problem with the Big Dog that was going on for Reigns over the last few years. A good portion of fans is tired of his constant pushes and coronations.
Roman Reigns is still 'the Chosen One' to McMahon even though the crowd deemed that that man was now Kingston. Hence, 'the Chairman's' favorite face is now on the blue brand.
#2 The big move to Fox in the fall
When news was announced that WWE had reached a deal with Fox in order to air SmackDown Live on Friday nights, it was big for both the WWE.
It also meant that some big changes would be coming in regards to just how the show is and will be presented in the future.
Now that the show would be on what is considered one of the 'Big Four' networks (Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC), the WWE would have to change things around with the presentation of the show.
Fox itself reportedly wanted some changes to be made, notably in the realm of showing more athleticism and less soap opera-ish storylines.
That meant that certain superstars would now be better suited for entertainment purposes on Raw (Alexa Bliss, EC3, any comedy acts) while others would be better for SmackDown (Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Buddy Murphy, Asuka).
Regardless of those facts, Reigns is still the top star in the company and is still Mr. McMahon's top guy.
If the move to Fox is upping the WWE's profile even more, then it only makes sense that 'the Chairman' would want his biggest star to be on the show with the most exposure.
Reigns is a blend of both great athleticism and now good character depth due to his real-life battle with leukemia.
Whether he is still cheered loudly or gets booed again, he is the top dog in the WWE and was probably going to be placed where the most eyes would be. In the fall, that'll be on SmackDown on Fox.
#1 His move sells that anyone is fair game in moving during the Superstar Shake Up
While the Shake up is always anticipated due to the new faces showing up in new places, we hardcore fans have learned (hopefully) to take a lot of these types of situations with a grain of salt.
Sure, wrestlers move from show to show, but if it isn't anyone huge or of much consequence, than what's the point in caring?
If someone like Curt Hawkins and Jinder Mahal simply switched shows like they did a couple years ago, that wouldn't be worth tuning in for.
When Naomi showed up on Raw last night, yeah, it's good that she's getting a fresh start on Raw, but it's not as big as if Flair, Asuka or even Lynch moved from one show to the next.
Even simply swapping mid-card champions wouldn't have been enough this year even if both Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are true main-event stars.
When the former two-time WWE Champion Styles showed up on Raw, it truly cemented that something big on SmackDown would be following his move to Raw.
Now that Reigns has officially been moved from being the face of Raw to being the face of SmackDown, even if the fans might still cheer for others (Kingston), it truly sits as something worth watching.
Hey, if the biggest star in the company can move from one show to the other, than anyone is fair game.
