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When it comes to WWE Draft, it is always an exciting time in WWE. Their shows are usually permeated with the invigorating spirit of a fresh start at the beginning of each brand split. The audience is treated with lots of striking surprises in the form of unexpected roster moves and returns on such days.
Not to mention, how captivating for every fan are prospects of seeing favourite or just underutilized Superstars thriving on unfamiliar ground and potentially even reinventing their characters in the process. A successful Draft or a good Superstar Shake-up, without a doubt, maybe enough to revive and rejuvenate a wrestler’s whole career.
Looking at recent examples of such, we can remember the winner of King of the Ring 2019 Baron Corbin, who moved to RAW as a part of the 2018 Superstar Shake-up. Arriving on the red brand, he quickly found his new character as an authority figure and was eventually pushed to the main event picture (being it in coincidence with the fans’ will or against it). Recently returned to the screen, Corbin seems to catch his second breath on RAW as he went on to make history by winning the aforementioned tournament.
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Current United States Champion AJ Styles managed to reunite with his The O.C. fellowmates Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, make his way to the Championship, and come back to being a brilliant heel as he is only after the 2019 Superstar Shake-up.
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The Usos, Braun Strowman, and even Heath Slater, to name some more, all served as a great example of character reinvention after they got enough creative attention and TV time thanks to the Draft in 2016.
This list goes on and on as it becomes only harder to argue with how beneficial a fresh brand split or a simple roster move can turn out to be for a wrestler’s career.
Sadly, we have as big of a list of recent roster moves, that seemed to occur randomly and didn’t lead to a given Superstar finding big success too. We can recall (even though it would not be easy considering these wrestlers’ current and past positions on the roster) all the events surrounding Sin Cara and Bo Dallas in 2016, Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater and Rhyno in 2017, Mike Kanellis and the Ascension in 2018, and Eric Young and Naomi in 2019 just to name a few.
Sometimes, a roster change can indeed only hamper a superstar’s existing momentum. It may even distract the company’s creative from any plans on his/her push.
With another Draft awaiting us in the middle of October, let’s take a look at some of WWE’s main roster performers, who should remain loyal to their current respective shows as switching brands would only harm their positions on the card.
As a little disclaimer before we start, I must note, that this list will not include current World, Women’s and Tag Team Champions for the obvious reason of them never switching brands these days.
#11 Erick Rowan
Looking back at his 2019, it’s safe to say, that Erick Rowan is at least in the conversation to become the biggest main roster breakout of this year. Making his return at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view to help Daniel Bryan retain his WWE Championship against AJ Styles, he went on to build an odd alliance with the Planet’s Champion. Together they’ve become a prominent part of SmackDown Live for several months, even capturing the blue brand’s tag team gold on their way.
Lately, Erick Rowan got himself quite a big push coming out of the Roman Reigns 'mystery attacker’ storyline. He even defeated ‘the Big Dog’ in their match at the Clash of Champions 2019, reuniting with his former ally in the face of Luke Harper. Two of them now continue to wreak havoc on SmackDown Live as one of its most featured acts.
Getting this recent push, Rowan surprised many fans with his quality mic work and showed a lot of wrestling potential, both in matches and in brawls outside the ring.
Potentially finishing his story arc with Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan at Hell in a Cell 2019, The Big Red has a good chance at establishing himself on the Blue Brand’s roster the best way he did since the times of The Wyatt’s Family.
Moving him to RAW now can hamper his current push and leave him on the sidelines of an unfamiliar roster without the great storyline background, that he has on SmackDown.
#10 & #9 The Viking Raiders
When The Viking Raiders were called up from NXT in April of this year, their debut was a bit controversial, to put it mildly. The first thing, that comes to mind, is definitely a WWE’s questionable decision to change their in-ring names not just once, but twice.
One more important matter to remember, of course, was the fact, that their call up occurred abruptly and in the middle of their formidable NXT Tag Team Championship reign on the Black and Gold Brand.
Since then, The Viking Raiders were shown very dominant on RAW but, unfortunately, only in squash matches. Despite being a very talented tag-team with a unique move-set, striking in-ring abilities, and an interesting gimmick, The Viking Raiders have yet to be involved in a significant storyline of any kind.
Glimpses of this started to show up when Erik and Ivar entered the 8-Tag Team Turmoil Match to determine No.1 Contenders for the RAW Tag Team Championship before Clash of Champions 2019. There, they started a small rivalry with The OC followed up by a couple of impressive tag team matches between them,
Sending The Viking Raiders over to SmackDown would mean, that the creative will have to start with them from scratch. Splitting this duo during the Draft does not seem like a smart idea as well.
#8 Buddy Murphy
Buddy Murphy was one of the few WWE talents, that had hard times debuting on the main roster in 2019. Moving to the SmackDown Brand during the Superstar Shake-up in April, ‘WWE’s Best Kept Secret’ barely got any TV time before he was shortly involved in a story about the attacks on Roman Reigns this August. Unfortunately for him, Buddy Murphy disappeared from our screens again, as that story was unfolding.
Nevertheless, even in three weeks, the former Cruiserweight Champion managed to impress the wide Blue Brand audience with his fantastic wrestling skills and decent acting. After SmackDown moves to FOX, WWE writers have to quickly come up with something for him to do.
Otherwise, Buddy Murphy is at risk of being forgotten by WWE Universe once again. Making him switch rosters may be the easiest way to re-debut the Australian but not the most effective one considering that he has already shown up on the blue brand programming and yet achieved nothing of significance there.
#7 Bray Wyatt
This entry may be a tricky one. Even if I mentioned, that WWE World Champions will not be included in this list, The Fiend, Bray Wyatt, for now, is only scheduled to face Universal Champion (most probably, Seth Rollins) at the upcoming Hell in A Cell pay-per-view for the title.
Despite the vast majority of wrestling fans agreeing on the idea that Wyatt will capture his second World Championship in that match, come Sunday, things can go in various ways.
Without a doubt, his brilliantly reinvented character should continue its development and growth on the Red Brand, where The Fiend established himself more prominently. On these days, when most of the company’s top talents will probably move to SmackDown for it to properly blossom on FOX, RAW will need the main-eventer Bray Wyatt more than ever. He already proved that he is capable of carrying the whole show on his back, with or without a title.
Recent rumors of FOX being interested in The Fiend on their show can only strengthen our worries about the No. 1 Contender for the Universal Championship switching brands in this inappropriate time.
#6 AJ Styles & #5 Shinsuke Nakamura
Speaking of Champions, as you remember, I did not mention WWE’s mid-card titles holders in an article intro’s disclaimer. The United States and the Intercontinental Championships are the only two in the company, that switched rosters since the last brand split in 2016.
Quite obviously, this list entry is joined. One of the shows can not have both of these championships so if one champion switches brands, the other one will have to do so as well, just like it happened previously in 2017 and 2019.
The facts, that the US Championship moved over to RAW and the I.C. Title moved over to SmackDown in the spring of 2019 are part of my reasoning for this point. With the Wild Card Rule being in place for the better part of 2019, we haven’t seen both mid-card titles attached definitively to their respective shows and rosters. Half of the year does not feel like a time big enough for a championship to be featured on a given brand.
One, of course, may argue, that, granted the current mid-card feuds in the company, come the Draft time, we can see former 205 Live standout talents Cedric Alexander and Ali both holding the United States and the Intercontinental Championships respectively, not Styles and Nakamura.
Not discarding this option, I can only respond telling, that The Phenomenal One, who recently found a second wind joining Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in The OC on RAW and The King of Strong Style, who finds himself in an odd alliance with Sami Zayn over on SmackDown Live, both have a lot more to do and achieve on their respective brands at this moment.
#4 & #3 Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Not going far from the ‘O.C.’ theme, let’s talk about former two-time RAW Tag Team Champions, Gallows & Anderson. Being a part of the latest Superstar Shake-up these two were drafted back to the Red Brand back in April.
Not accomplishing much during their tenure on the SmackDown roster in 2018-2019 was admitted even by the Good Brothers themselves, when they came back to RAW this year. Ever since splitting with AJ Styles during the 2016 Draft, Gallows and Anderson couldn’t catch that big of a fire and were left on the sidelines of the tag team division for a better part of the last three years.
Reuniting with The Phenomenal One, however, helped this duo get their position on the roster and fans’ recognition back this summer. They even managed to recapture the tag team gold shortly after they formed The O.C.
Sadly, the Good Brothers’ push didn’t last long and right now they find themselves away from the Tag Team Titles picture. Switching brands one more time this October would feel for them as embracing one more loss in their careers and can devalue The O.C.’s current presence and potential.
Besides, history has already proved, that separating Gallows & Anderson from AJ Styles isn’t a great idea for their positions on the roster, not to mention, how strange the possibility of the duo itself splitting from each other seems at this point in time.
In other words, The O.C., despite being a very enjoyable trio to watch, haven’t yet reached even half of their combined potential and pretty much need each other.
#2 Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans had a rough 2019. While being pushed straight to the RAW Women’s Title picture after WrestleMania 35, she didn’t manage either to find a fans’ admiration or to impress the audience with her promo skills or in-ring work. Not to mention the fact, that the Sassy Southern Belle wasn’t able to make her proper debut for several months at the beginning of 2019, despite her call up being announced as early as December of last year.
Evans returned to the regular TV appearances in this August, immediately involving herself in several prolonged quality matches against the likes of Bayley and Natalya. Not so long ago, she started what seems like a full-fledged feud with the latter. Even if their rivalry has yet to prove itself storyline-wise, fans can at least expect some great wrestling matches to come out of it.
This feud with The Queen of Harts has all of the potential to establish Lacey Evans as a solid promising mid-card act on RAW, which she sadly couldn’t accomplish immediately after her debut.
Moving Evans to SmackDown can chip away some of her momentum and would only make a modicum of sense after her decisive win over Natalya when their storyline will come to its conclusion.
#1 Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is not known as one of the most decorated Superstars for nothing. The multi-time World Champion’s return to active competition during this year’s ‘Road to WrestleMania’, after he battled against leukaemia, was warmly welcomed by fans. Getting the biggest amount of their support, that he had, Reigns debuted on the SmackDown Live roster as a part of the Superstar Shake-up 2019 in as sensational fashion.
Being involved in just two large storylines with Shane McMahon and Erick Rowan since then, surprisingly enough, The Big Dog hasn’t had his most memorable year in 2019.
One of the reasons for it lies simply in the quality of these feuds that he had - fans weren’t pleased with the neverending rivalry involving himself, Drew McIntyre, Elias, and the self-proclaimed ‘Best in the World’ Shane McMahon. The Roman Reigns 'mystery attacker’ story arc, at times, had far from the best realization and some questionable writing decisions, that managed to turn out the fans as well.
Remembering that he has done pretty much everything there is to do on RAW, and considering that the deal with FOX encourages WWE to keep their best and most popular talents on the Blue Brand, we can safely predict, that the true ‘SmackDown Live’s biggest acquisition’ will stay there for a while and will thrive on its main event scene.
It is very surprising, that Roman Reigns has still yet to compete for any of the Blue Brand championship titles.
