WWE: Redrafting Raw and SmackDown’s 2016 Brand Split

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21. SmackDown – Finn Balor

Finn Balor’s stock takes a nose dive here. He could return as soon as the Royal Rumble pay-per-view and climb back up, but his shoulder injury has hurt him both figuratively and literally.

The WWE Universal Championship had been gift-wrapped for Balor before his shoulder injury. He could have headlined Raw shows throughout the fall and into 2017, but the spots have since gone to Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns in some shape or form. Braun Strowman is set to join them soon.

In this scenario, with Samoa Joe going to Raw, we have Balor becoming the fresh face on SmackDown. The brand is in need of babyfaces and would get an interesting one in the Demon King. He could compete against the likes of AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, and John Cena, making for a healthy and entertaining slate of matches.

22. Raw – Dolph Ziggler

In another WWE redraft trade, Dolph Ziggler heads to Raw with Baron Corbin. The Showoff recently turned heel and added to SmackDown’s already huge crop of bad guys, so he leaves and Balor arrives in this scenario.

Ziggler is hopefully in for a career resurgence in this role, which is the freshest thing he’s done in about three years. On Raw, he would continue this by working new matches with Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Sami Zayn.