Did Smackdown Shake Things Up?

It seemed like Raw took a handful of major players from Smackdown. To be specific, I would say Raw getting Miz, Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt was huge. Did Smackdown get back as much as they gave?

Looking at the list of male wrestlers that went from Raw to Smackdown, the only name that stands out is Kevin Owens. Not Jinder Mahal? No, not Jinder Mahal. Everyone else is just midcarders and tag teams. These are all guys that were not doing anything much in the last few months. None of these guys were ever a WWE or Universal Champion. That is why I say Kevin Owens is the only one that stands out. Smackdown lost three former WWE Champions that were all featured pretty well in the last few months. They gain only one main-eventer that was being pushed well in the last few months.

And I do not like that Kevin Owens was the guy chosen to switch brands. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is United States Champion. There is still title drama going on that will impact things, but I am ignoring all that and just looking at the names changing shows for the sake of this discussion. What I do not like is that I felt there was more he could do on Raw. Specifically, there was more that they could have done with his relationship with Triple H. Triple H literally handed him the title last year. A few months after that, Triple H was involved when Owens decided to turn on Chris Jericho. One of the WWE's biggest problems these days is not following through properly with a lot of angles that have potential. In some cases, they don't follow through at all. In other cases, they botch how they handle it. There is nothing wrong with having a heel authority stable. The issue with the last such stable involving Triple H and Stephanie McMahon was it just wasn't handled right. Some might say it lasted too long. There is also the issue of too much fighting within the group way too often. You can talk about Stephanie McMahon not getting her comeuppance enough. All these issues do not mean the WWE cannot try it again and fix some of the issues. And Kevin Owens could have been one of the guys in this new stable. Samoa Joe is another. What has happened to him is also an issue I will get into on another day.

If I would have kept Owens on Raw to eventually do more with Triple H, whom would I have chosen to be the main-eventer going from Raw to Smackdown? Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns. You can send Strowman to Smackdown to continue the Reigns/Strowman feud, or make a special arrangement so Reigns can have one last match with Strowman to write that feud off. If the WWE is so determined to keep The Shield on Raw, send Finn Balor to Smackdown. He just came back. He just got injured again, but it is likely not too serious, hopefully. Interaction between Balor and AJ Styles should make a lot of smarks happy.

So, which brand won the shake up? In terms of the actual moves, I would say Raw won. They gained three top guys, while Smackdown only gained one. Raw gained two women that can both be useful, Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Smackdown gained Charlotte. Tamina officially joined the brand, but she has never been over and is not really that highly-praised for her in-ring work. Smackdown gained New Day, which might help their weak tag division. Or New Day might bury it. Overall, just getting three of Smackdown's top guys easily made Raw the winner in terms of the moves.

In terms of the overall rosters, I think most smarks would say Smackdown is still the stronger brand. They are so in love with AJ Styles, they would have crowned whichever brand he ended up on. Smackdown also still has Nakamura, another smark favorite. They have their part-timer, John Cena. Don't forget Randy Orton. I almost did, despite him being WWE Champion.

The last thing to take into account is how both brands utilize talent. They obviously didn't trade writers and bookers. Both brands have issues being efficient, including Smackdown. And even Smackdown has made some dumb decision with some talent that has really made them look bad, like what they did with Ziggler. Nevertheless, Smackdown still seems to be the better of the two brands. They can probably get something out of guys like Sami Zayn and Rusev that they have not been getting since the brand split started with them on Raw. And they will need to with some of the guys they have lost. Over on Raw, some of these guys they have gained might be hurt by bad booking. Overall, I would say Smackdown still has a solid roster and can continue doing what they have been doing for the last few months. It is up to Raw to take advantage of the talent they took from Smackdown.