WWE SmackDown Live added some big names to their roster in the”Superstar Shakeup”, so we have plenty to talk about following this latest episode from “The Land of Opportunity”.
Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Charlotte Flair, and The New Day were among the superstars to make the switch from Raw to SmackDown Live, completing the two-day “Superstar Shakeup”. It’s unclear what’s on deck for Flair and the former longest-reigning tag team champions, but Owens and Zayn have already been thrust into programs with AJ Styles and Baron Corbin, respectively.
It was a wild night for the blue brand that included a No. 1 contender’s match for the United States Championship, a showdown between Dolph Ziggler and Shinsuke Nakamura, and a memorable Talking Smack promo from Owens. Below are five takeaways from this week’s show.
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5. Mid-Card Championship Feels More Important Than WWE Championship
You could say the same for the Intercontinental Championship, too, with a part-timer in Brock Lesnar holding the Universal Title. However, Tuesday night’s opening promo and closing main event No. 1 contender’s match showed that the United States Championship will have the most interesting storylines surrounding it. Current champion Kevin Owens, No. 1 contender AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, and Baron Corbin can all go in the ring, and the latter three put on a fantastic match to close the show.
Must Read: SmackDown Live Grades And Analysis
While the United States Championship suddenly feels exciting now that it’s on a show that actually cares about its mid-card title, the WWE Championship feels like a mess right now. Not only was the WrestleMania match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt the worst on the show, Wyatt isn’t even on the same brand as the man he’s feuding with for the championship. Beyond that, nobody is exactly excited to see Orton as the champion, and with Styles set to battle with Owens after Payback, fans won’t even get to see the Orton vs. Styles feud they were hoping for.
I’m sure the WWE Championship will feel important again soon, but, for the time being, the most must-watch rivalry on SmackDown Live figures to be between Owens and Styles. It’s a testament to SmackDown’s quality as a show that they are, for the most part, consistently able to make all of their titles feel relevant.
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4. AJ Styles Has the Right Face Role
When AJ Styles turned face on the April 4, episode of SmackDown Live in a segment with Shane McMahon, I was worried about how they would form Styles’s face character. Most faces in the company are either portrayed as fiery competitors who try to overcome the odds (Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, and Sami Zayn spring to mind), but that simply isn’t Styles’s character. No, he’s the cocky guy who knows how good he is and backs up everything he says he will do.
The blue brand made sure that Styles kept that character while still coming across as a face. It isn’t difficult for Styles to be a face, of course, because the fans want to naturally gravitate to an all-time great caliber of a performer. Styles made sure to talk about how it’s “all about SmackDown Live”, but he also came across as cocky, once again proclaiming that he built SmackDown.
Honestly, I feel a little bit spoiled. Not only is Styles sticking around for Tuesday nights, but the company also pulled the trigger on a face turn and did it without messing up his character. It’s perfect, and it makes his upcoming feud with Owens that much more exciting. Owens’s work as a heel on his first showing was exemplary, and it should help Styles further establish himself as a babyface.
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3. How Seriously Are We Supposed to Take Carmella?
Carmella puts everything into all of her rivalries and backstage segments with James Ellsworth, and I could easily take her seriously as a championship contender. She had a nice feud with Nikki Bella, and I enjoyed watching her self-entitled, arrogant attitude in the build-up to that big WrestleMania match. There’s no doubt that she’s the second-best pure heel on the SmackDown women’s roster behind Charlotte, and she is the exact type of superstar who can reach into a bag of dirty tricks to steal away a championship.
The problem is that I’m not sure if I’m supposed to take Carmella seriously as a championship contender right now, and that all comes down to Ellsworth. His interruption of Naomi to promote Carmella as a possible rival seemed kind of empty, and it seems like her manager has done more harm than good. His interferences with Becky Lynch have been largely ineffective, aside from one instance that allowed Carmella to score a pinfall victory. Beyond that, he’s done nothing, and it’s hard to tell if Carmella will enter a program with Naomi as a result of that mic-grab or if she will feud with Becky after Ellsworth’s constant interferences in matches.
Either way, Carmella needs to seem more like a threat, and I’d like to see her being booked as a more aggressive competitor who initiates fights. If Ellsworth is to stay by her side, he needs to be more effective at interfering on her behalf.
2. Shinsuke Nakamura Will Be in the Title Picture After This Feud
Shinsuke Nakamura’s main roster debut couldn’t have gone any better, and AJ Styles might be the only superstar on the roster who is more over than “The King Of Strong Style”. Heck, you could make the argument that Shinsuke is the most over wrestler in the WWE right now, because all he has to do is make gestures and subtle facial expressions to draw reactions. Just by walking into the arena, Nakamura receives huge pops from the crowd, and Becky Lynch is the only other superstar who gets arenas to sing his music.
This is the first time I can remember Dolph Ziggler being in a feud with a new face who is more over and more experienced than him. That’s a great thing for the fans, because instead of watching throwaway matches involving Ziggler and Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley, Baron Corbin, Kalisto, and Tyler Breeze, we’ll get to see two of the most gifted in-ring performers in the WWE going head-to-head. As Ziggler pressed on Talking Smack, hopefully they get a chance to tear the house down at a Pay Per View, and I can’t think of a single person who wouldn’t be excited to see Ziggler sell the Kinsasha knee strike.
Most of the time, wrestlers who feud with Ziggler are being groomed for bigger things. Nakamura is already one of the best in the business, so this feud should be a stepping stone for him to enter the WWE Championship picture, which is basically non-existent outside of Wyatt and Orton. Already championship material without having been in a singles match on the main roster, Nakamura will likely star in this feud with Ziggler, dispose of his foe relatively quickly, and start fighting for the biggest prize in sports entertainment.
1. Rusev Could Become a Big Winner of the Shakeup
Out of all the superstars who switched brands over the past two days, nobody stands to benefit the most from the “Superstar Shakeup” than Rusev. The “Bulgarian Brute” will no longer have his wife Lana as a manager, but they haven’t been completely separated. In any case, “The Bulgarian George Clooney” is more than capable of holding his own on the mic, and the athletic beast’s work in the ring has rarely been called into question.
By the time SummerSlam rolls around, I hope we talk about Rusev as someone who saw a career resurgence as a result of the switch to SmackDown. Rusev received a pretty nice pop from the crowd when the move was announced, and he’s become a more likable character, perhaps because his program with Enzo and Cass actually made him more sympathetic.
Rusev played the role of the foreign heel quite well, but that trope is beneath him. He’s a witty superstar who came up with more memorable lines than Enzo Amore did during their feud, and that’s saying something. I hope SmackDown does something with him as a mid-carder instead of wasting his talent even further, but the fact that he and Jinder Mahal are on the same brand gives me some trepidation.
Next: Which Brand Won The Superstar Shakeup?
In either case, it was nice to hear him get a pop, I’m glad Lana is getting a chance to be a wrestler, and I hope SmackDown makes the “bold” move to turn one of the company’s most misused talents into a babyface. The tide of the WWE universe is turning in Rusev’s favor, and a post-injury appearance on a new brand is the right forum for that kind of a character switch.