7 SmackDown superstars who should never move to RAW

Friday Night SmackDown has had multiple shifts in quality over the years. While 2016 saw SmackDown become the #1 wrestling show on TV (in terms of creative quality), 2017 saw a relatively flat year. There was a big change in 2018 and 2019 was quite a mixed bag as well.

Every year post-WrestleMania, there's always a Superstar Shake-Up where multiple names shift brands to give a fresh change to both shows. There are only a select few superstars since 2016 who have stuck to one brand on either show.

Also Read: 5 SmackDown Superstars Paul Heyman could take to RAW after WrestleMania 36

This list includes some of them, but also the superstars who we feel have made enough of an impact on SmackDown and proven that the blue brand is a better home for them than Monday Night RAW.

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While we don't expect all of them to permanently stay on SmackDown, these are seven candidates for superstars who should never go to RAW.

#7. The Miz

The Miz is a superstar who has changed brands in almost every given turn. He's flip-flopped from SmackDown to RAW to SmackDown and it keeps happening. But in the last few years, he's proven that SmackDown is the brand where he thrives best.

There simply seems to be more for him to do, regardless of whether he's a heel or face. He's much better off as a heel and he's now paired with John Morrison in a tag team reunion.

Whether he's in a tag team or he's a singles star, The Miz's home is SmackDown and he should never flip-flop between brands again. He feels like a SmackDown superstar and when he was gone, the show was undoubtedly lacking a big element. However, it's easy to see him changing brands again, even when he shouldn't.

#6. Carmella

While we saw Carmella on RAW multiple times during the Wildcard rule period last year, she's one of the few superstars who hasn't changed brands since the 2016 WWE Draft. She was the final draft, a status that she was determined to change.

And that's exactly what happened as she seized every opportunity given to her and improved rapidly on the way to becoming the first Women's Money in the Bank winner (which she won twice).

She would take 10 months to cash in on the briefcase and have a solid reign as SmackDown Women's Champion. While she hasn't had any other major achievement after that reign, her run with R-Truth was comedy gold and she's still one of the most reliable stars on the roster.

We expect her to get her turn in the year to come and we also hope that she remains a SmackDown star because it's hard to imagine her being on RAW. She can achieve legendary status on the brand if she stays.

#5. Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura is another superstar who hasn't changed brands since his debut. He had a run in NXT that lasted exactly a year and saw him become the first-ever 2-time NXT Champion. Big things were expected of him and he had a decent year, to begin with, challenging for the WWE title a couple of times and then winning the Royal Rumble in 2018 to set up a dream match with AJ Styles.

While that match underwhelmed, it was a trigger for his heel turn and Nakamura has enjoyed plenty of Championship success since then, becoming the United States Champion twice and the Intercontinental Champion once.

He's at the point of his career where he doesn't care too much where he is creatively. He has a big-money contract with WWE and gets compensated well every year. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter even said that he's "checked out", happy to collect his paycheque and surf in Florida.

We certainly don't blame him for being content and if that is the case, SmackDown should be a permanent home for him until his retirement.

#4. The New Day

We know that they count as three superstars, but because we view The New Day as a singular unit, we'll group them. They've now been together for over 5 years now, the longest of any faction or group in WWE history.

With multiple Tag Team Championships to their name, they can already make a case for being the greatest tag team of all time in WWE and it's been nearly three years now since they've moved to SmackDown.

While they were in RAW after the initial WWE Draft in 2016, they've established themselves as a SmackDown team and it's the brand where they had their all-time classic rivalry with The Usos, multiple great matches against top teams, and most importantly - Kofi Kingston's rise and WWE Championship win.

It's hard to imagine the trio outside SmackDown and even if there's a need for a change, they're going to be together. We can't see a time in the near future where The New Day isn't together. They should stay on SmackDown for the rest of their careers.

#3. Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan is the third and final name on this list who has been with SmackDown since the WWE Draft in 2016. When the Draft happened, he had already retired as an in-ring competitor and had taken up a new role as the General Manager of SmackDown.

It was a role he held for over a year and a half before he was cleared to compete inside the ring again. The miraculous moment led to a WrestleMania 34 match where he was triumphant in the very arena that he won the WWE Championship four years prior.

He's been a SmackDown resident since then as well and has openly shut down the idea of RAW, believing SmackDown to be "his" show. We completely agree with him and the idea that he should stay on the blue brand. He's become a staple of SmackDown and has found his place there. He seems to be transitioning into a role where he'll be helping other superstars more and we couldn't think of a bigger or better name to do it.

#2. Bayley

Bayley had a career resurgence when moving to SmackDown in 2019. She debuted on RAW a month after the Draft and had close to instant success, defending the RAW Women's Championship successfully at WrestleMania 33. Despite her fall after that, she managed to rack up a decent set of accomplishments, but 2017 and 2018 are years she'll likely prefer to forget about.

Since moving to SmackDown in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, she was given another push and slowly built up to a Money in the Bank victory. She would cash in on the same night and become SmackDown Women's Champion, a title that she briefly lost before regaining.

She will be walking into her third WrestleMania as a titleholder, having won the Women's Tag Team title last year as well. Given the success that she's had on SmackDown along with a heel turn and alliance with Sasha Banks, it's clear that the blue brand is a better place for her to be. She's dominated since coming and we can see her being a central figure for a while to come.

#1. Bray Wyatt

The best run that Bray Wyatt had on RAW was from April 2019 until October of the same year. At that time, he hardly had a few matches, but his impact was undeniable. With that said, one can't forget his 2016-17 run, where he was the most protected superstar on SmackDown.

His storyline and push would lead him to his first World title win and although he lost it at WrestleMania 33 in an underwhelming match and slid down the card on RAW after that, the SmackDown run proved that incredible things can be done with Bray Wyatt. He needed a long time off to come up with a new character and 'The Fiend' began to make waves on RAW, becoming the most captivating character in the company.

He took the Universal Championship to SmackDown, where he's had success ever since. It goes to prove that Wyatt is simply one of those superstars who is better off on SmackDown and he can make his name as the brand's top star similar to the way The Undertaker did for a long time.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram