The WWE’s “Superstar Shakedown” will inevitably give new opportunities to superstars, and while the shakeup won’t benefit everyone, a few people already saw their stocks rise this week.
Instead of having a new draft that would have completely altered every storyline, the WWE wisely elected to make minor modifications by making a few random switches between the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Notable changes included a swap of the mid-card titleholders in Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens, a switch in top female heels with Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, and the movement of The New Day to SmackDown Live.
After an exciting two days of moves with a few engaging matches sprinkled in, it’s time to take a look at which superstars saw their stocks rise and fall. There will be three risers mentioned in this piece, as well as two superstars who didn’t have the best of weeks.
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5. RISING: Kevin Owens
Yes, Kevin Owens lost to Dean Ambrose in a “Champion vs. Champion” match, but that was mostly to cement the fact that he would be switching brands. I mean, would it have made sense to have Ambrose make his Raw debut, only to have one of the biggest babyfaces in the company (who was only given a pre-show match at WrestleMania, by the way) lose in that match?
“The Prizefighter” has always been a valuable member of the company. He beat John Cena in his first match on the main roster, he beat AJ Styles before the brand split, Triple H hand-picked him as the Universal champion following Finn Balor’s injury, and he defeated Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 33 for the United States championship.
Must Read: WWE SmackDown Grades And Analysis
However, during his reign as Universal champion, Owens lacked a signature win that came without the help of Jericho. He needed his former best friend to vanquish opponents at Pay Per Views, such as Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell and Roman Reigns at Fastlane.
Now, Owens is back to being a badass. That all started when he mauled Jericho at the “Festival of Friendship”, and his promos and beatdowns of other superstars (mostly Jericho) have only furthered that.
When Owens came out to open SmackDown Live, you could feel the buzz in the air, and he delivered yet another perfectly smug promo. He strikes the perfect, heelish combination of arrogance and brutality, and facing Owens for that title seems like a big deal.
On Talking Smack, Owens catapulted his value even further. Sporting a suit and a new clean-cut look in his debut for the blue brand, Owens eviscerated the whole “Land of Opportunity” schtick that SmackDown Live bosses Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan stuck up. Owens immediately started tension between him and his superiors, but he isn’t just replacing The Miz as the evil, win-at-all-costs heel. Owens adds so much more than The Miz could in the ring, and he seems even more vicious when he speaks. He’s pure evil, and I’m willing to bet that he’ll be hands-down the best heel in the company before 2017 ends.
4. FALLING: Bray Wyatt
Unless if the WWE swerves us by sending Brock Lesnar to SmackDown Live, Bray Wyatt is in a darker place than his promos project. Randy Orton holds the WWE Championship and will fight Wyatt at Payback in a “House of Horrors” match, but it’s hard to see a scenario in which Wyatt wins. After all, Monday Night Raw can’t have both world titles, right?
Everything Wyatt is asked to do seems disjointed, and it’s as if the WWE doesn’t care about his character. We all know how good Wyatt’s character work is, and he can certainly go in the ring. Everyone was willing to forget years of atrocious booking when Wyatt won the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber, but his awful championship loss at WrestleMania 33 was a reminder that the WWE just doesn’t seem to care about the “Eater of Worlds”.
The brand split should ultimately help Wyatt, but it’s so weird to split him up from Orton in the middle of a feud. It’s even weirder to have him interrupting Finn Balor with a promo directed at Orton. Maybe that’s teasing a future rivalry with “The Demon King”, but it makes absolutely no sense to just throw that in randomly.
For someone with such a fleshed-out character and who is capable of selling any rivalry with his creepy antics, Wyatt isn’t being given a chance to actually become that evil, powerful force. Fans are back to having a hard time taking Wyatt seriously, and while I have a swerve in the back of my mind, I just can’t see the WWE moving Lesnar or taking the title off of Orton so quickly.
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3. RISING: Alexa Bliss
Remember those disjointed promos on SmackDown Live when all of the women on the roster would show up and bicker in preparation for their all-out WrestleMania 33 match? Even though everything seemed poorly thought-out, one superstar shined in those hard-to-follow arguments.
Whenever Alexa Bliss speaks, you have to listen. I can’t think of a superstar on either women’s roster who is as good at captivating a crowd as Bliss, and she is at least as good as The Miz and Kevin Owens when it comes to cutting heel promos. Bliss owned both Bayley and Sasha Banks in her Raw debut, and even though she’ll be in a program with Mickie James, I can’t help but wonder if she’ll be the catalyst to help further the storyline of Sasha turning on Bayley.
Whatever the case, Bliss’s move to Raw is a sign that the company has a great deal of trust in her. She can draw heat from any crowd, and I’ll never forget how she immediately sapped a negative reaction after Naomi was forced to relinquish the SmackDown Women’s Championship due to her injury.
Nia Jax’s win over Charlotte Flair may have put her in a position to be the most-strongly booked heel in the Raw women’s division, but, make no mistake, Bliss is the top heel in terms of importance and ability. She’ll continue to steal the show whenever she has the mic in her hands.
2. FALLING: American Alpha
Man, whenever The Usos and American Alpha step into the ring to face each other, magic happens. Chad Gable’s moonsaults are somehow as breath-taking as Charlotte’s, the in-stereo suplex counter was a great spot, and The Usos are just the perfect heel tag team.
That feud is over, though, and American Alpha is stuck with a program with The Shining Stars. Now, I don’t hate The Shining Stars, but it’s just so hard to take one of Raw’s prototypical jobber teams seriously. It’s telling that the most notable thing about their appearance was this joke.
Wait...the Shining Stars have a finisher? #SDLive
— WrestlingINC.com (@WrestlingInc) April 12, 2017
On Talking Smack, Dolph Ziggler tried to hype up The Shining Stars, but you can’t his word too seriously; his job with the company is pretty much to promote newcomers or anyone the fans might not be currently high on.
Going from a feud with The Usos to a rivalry with The Shining Stars is clearly a step down for American Alpha, and it’s one that could hurt them. I have hope that their elite in-ring work will allow them to have a solid rivalry with the newest SmackDown Live tag team, but American Alpha’s stock has dropped.
1. RISING: Sami Zayn
So we can finally say that Sami Zayn has momentum, and the WWE has definitely given the “Underdog from the Underground” a big boost this week. After defeating The Miz on his Raw debut despite “The A-Lister’s” underhand tactics, Zayn made the move to SmackDown Live. Kurt Angle’s statement that he would keep Zayn proved to be empty – and thank goodness for that.
In his first match on SmackDown, Zayn came out and helped deliver a fantastic main event performance. A No. 1 contender’s triple threat match involving AJ Styles, Baron Corbin, and Zayn is always going to be money, but all of the spots and storytelling were even better than expected.
Even though Zayn ate the pin from Styles off of the Springboard 450, he did manage to “Helluva Kick” Corbin before that and was given room to execute effective offense. Zayn and Styles flashed so much chemistry that a Styles vs. Zayn match has immediately become a dream tilt in the mind’s of many fans.
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Zayn lost again, but he did net a high-profile revenge win (Miz beat him at Survivor Series) on Monday. More importantly, he’s on the brand that everyone wanted to see him on, and he was given an opportunity to showcase his work in the ring in an excellent match. I can’t wait to see how the WWE books him on SmackDown, because a United States Championship victory is very much in the tea leaves.