WWE Superstar Shake-Up: Grading Every Superstar’s Outcome From 2018

Big Cass from Raw to SmackDown Live

Big Cass first made his mark on the main roster as a tag team along with Enzo Amore. The duo ultimately broke up, which led to the beginnings of a singles run from Big Cass only for him to go down with a torn ACL. After undergoing surgery and months of rehabilitation, Big Cass returned during last year’s WWE Superstar Shake-Up and moved to SmackDown Live.

Once on SmackDown, Cass went straight for the recently returned Daniel Bryan, only to be defeated by him multiple times. Approximately two months after his move to SmackDown Live, Big Cass was released from WWE and has had a less than successful time on the independent scene since then.

Grade: F, There’s no sugar coating this, nor do I care to. Big Cass had a bad start on SmackDown, and was gone from WWE entirely within a few months. That’s a pretty clear fail.

Asuka from Raw to SmackDown Live

After moving to the main roster in the fall of 2017, Asuka continued an already extensive and dominant undefeated streak that had run through her entire NXT tenure. As a member of Raw, Asuka went on to win the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match, leading to her challenging Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 for the SmackDown Women’s Title.

Unfortunately Asuka came up short, her first loss in WWE, and had a bit of a rough patch after that. She was officially moved to SmackDown Live as a part of the Superstar Shake-Up. Despite that rough start on the brand, Asuka went on to capture the SmackDown Women’s Title at TLC back in December, holding the title until only a few weeks before WrestleMania 35.

Grade: B+, In spite of WWE’s haphazard booking of Asuka, it’s overall been a good year for her on SmackDown Live. Her title reign came to a screeching halt recently, but the reign itself was still a highlight of the last year for The Empress of Tomorrow.