WWE Should Have Trades And Call-Ups Throughout The Year

The WWE can keep fans guessing with more surprises and changes throughout the year.

Professional wrestling is built on surprises and anticipation. Those two factors keep fans tuning in week after week, night after night. There are special moments throughout the year that garner extra attention and the “Superstar Shakeup” is an example of such. The idea of personalities changing brands and the debut of NXT stars gets additional eyeballs on the product. However, instead of making the shakeup a 1-2 night ordeal, WWE should look at the idea of making changes throughout the year to keep the brands and storylines fresh.

In 2018 a number of names were moved between Raw and SmackDown, while others made their debut from NXT. In a lot of ways, this creates a new opportunity for the likes of Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler, Big Cass, Bobby Roode, Mandy Rose and others. But there’s something missing when all of these changes are lumped into two nights on the same week.

Take Roode, McIntyre and Ziggler for example. All three men made the leap to the Raw brand. While Ziggler and McIntyre have made a splash and there are a variety of directions that WWE Creative can take with the duo. Roode debuted on that same show and while it was in the main event, look at how his character has been booked since; losing twice to Elias via pin. Those defeats immediately deflate any interest in Roode and he’s just another name on the Raw roster.

Let’s compare this to the build that Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega have enjoyed on SmackDown. They were announced during the shakeup, but neither has made a televised appearance on the blue brand. Instead, WWE has introduced the duo with multiple video segments, giving a glimpse into their characters. Even though they had a successful run on NXT, which may not immediately translate to recognition on the main roster. WWE Creative is potentially circumventing that drop off by giving Almas the buildup of a star before he appears on television.

Now imagine if that same level of surprise and anticipation was present on Raw and SmackDown weekly. Instead of being able to predict new introductions and change during certain times of the year, spreading things out across the year creates an atmosphere which fans have to watch in an attempt to not miss anything. Professional wrestling doesn’t have the “anything can happen” excitement of years past, but that can be changed if the WWE introduced more brand switches and NXT call ups throughout the year.

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With so much content, WWE Creative has the tough job of keeping fans interested on a nightly basis. One way to assist in that goal is by spreading the practice of a superstar shakeup across the entire year, instead of condensing it to the two days after WrestleMania. The intrigue and surprise of brand switches and new NXT debuts happening more often would give fans more to watch for on all three shows.