Last week Vince McMahon announced that there will be a Superstar shake-up next week on both RAW & SmackDown. This is the WWE’s way of revitalising the concept of a draft. It’s rumoured that the shake-up will truly transform the whole landscape of the WWE, changing both shows as we know them today.
Perhaps the WWE is scheduling the draft early this year to avoid suffering a post-Wrestlemania hangover. They want to spark off the new season in a gigantic way in order to sustain interest. Regardless of the reasoning, several names will be swapping brands and shows.
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However, there are some guaranteed names that won’t be leaving their current residence for various reasons. Here are 5 WWE Superstars who won’t be swapping brands.
A WWE Hall of Famer isn't a John Cena fan. More details HERE
#1 Roman Reigns
Rumours have been running rampant all year that the big dawg could be making a move to Tuesday nights. Vince McMahon even suggested the idea during one of his quarterly conference calls.
Roman Reigns is currently the WWE's kingpin, he's there chosen one for the next generation. There's no chance in hell that the Samoan leaves the flagship for SmackDownLive. SDLive is a place for the unproven ones to show Vince why he was wrong to choose Roman, not the other way round.
In whatever way we want to spin it, with three hours of programming to fill up every week, RAW is still the WWE's no.1 brand. Even though the blue brand is beating RAW in live attendance figures, McMahon has his eyes set on Monday nights being his prime television spot.
To truly project the Samoan as THE top guy to the casual audience, Vince needs Roman to be the centrepiece of his weekly flagship show.
#4 The Miz
There’s not one wrestler in 2016 that had a better year than the Hollywood A-lister as the must-see Superstar has taken both the Intercontinental Championship and SmackDown Live to the next level.
The Miz ensured that the IC title was the centrepiece of each and every PPV. Whilst simultaneously ensuring the Blue brand became the A-show.
After investing so much into Tuesday nights, there’s no way that the A-lister will be going to RAW. He’s the main reason people even tune into SmackDown, he’s become a part of the fabric and basically become synonymous with the show.
The Miz perfecting his craft on RAW wouldn’t sit right with the watching audience. Furthermore, I believe he wouldn’t be comfortable doing it either.
#3 Finn Balor
Finn Balor was made for the bright lights of Monday Night Raw, he doesn't deserve to be anywhere else.
For his whole career he's dreamed of reaching this platform, now that he's here he's not leaving for anybody. As the only man to have pinned Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in consecutive nights, Balor has earned his place as one of the top guys in WWE, let alone RAW.
He's the alternative top guy to Roman Reigns, he’s the Edge, he’s the RVD and he’s the people’s champ.
After only just making his return back to Monday nights, it wouldn’t make sense on any level for the Irishman to transfer to SmackDownLive. He deserves to be fighting for the Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar. As a part-timer, the Beast won’t be leaving anytime soon, so the Demon should be penned in to face him at Summerslam or earlier.
#2 Randy Orton
After becoming the WWE Champion at WrestleMania, Randy Orton’s spot on Tuesday nights is pretty much secured. For the WWE to shift one world Champion, they’d also have to move the other one.
And seeing as the Universal champion is on an extended hiatus, a swap is highly unlikely. Randy must now mount his place as the kingpin of Tuesday nights, it’d be strange for the company to remove him after being such a mainstay on the show week after week.
The 13-time world champion will be engaging in a feud with Bray Wyatt for the foreseeable future, ensuring they put their family issues to bed. With John Cena away shooting a film, SmackDown needs an older top guy on the brand to help give a foundation for the newer stars to shine.
Also read: Shinsuke Nakamura was brought to SmackDown to replace John Cena
Randy has been able to revitalise a dwindling career on SmackDown, going back to RAW would reverse all that momentum.
#5 Braun Strowman
The monster among men has run over nearly everyone on RAW, he’s been a main event talent ever since splitting from the Wyatt Family. After finally experiencing a solid solo run, Braun is now ready to be the main attraction of RAW. To take him off the show would undo all the time & work invested in him.
Strowman’s staredown with Brock Lesnar on Monday was orchestrated to sow seeds for the future.
It’s clear that this monster has his eyes set on the Universal Championship, meaning he’s looking to become the kingpin of Monday Night Raw. Moving him to SmackDown now would mean he’d have to build up new tensions and restart his goals from scratch.
As a key player in the industry today, there’s no way we’ll be seeing Braun Strowman moving brands.
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