Opinion
Carroll: Winners & Losers Of The WWE Superstar Shake-Up
After the Shake-Up, who should be excited and who should worried about the next 12 months?
The WWE Superstar Shake-Up provides opportunity for some, and despair for others. Kevin Carroll has your winners and losers!
As has become a tradition dating all the way back to last year, this past week we had ourselves a WWE Superstar Shake-Up. Across both RAW and Smackdown, superstars were shifted from brand to brand, creating an entirely new landscape. With fresh lineups, both of the WWE’s weekly TV shows have bright new futures.
As with most things of this nature, there are winners, and there are losers. I’d like to use this space this week to examine the Superstar Shake-Up, and compare brands to see who came out on top of this shake-up.
WINNER: RAW Tag Team Division
It’s been a pretty long time since we’ve associated the word “winner” with RAW’s tag team scene, but the red brand made two huge acquisitions to bolster the divisions. First of all, they brought over The Usos from Smackdown, which is one of the biggest gets of the entire shake-up. The Usos are arguably the most talented tag team on the whole planet, let alone in WWE. They had been stalwarts of Smackdown for quite some time, and had taken on every single tag team that the blue brand has thrown their way.
It was about time that they received some new challenges, and I expect them to jump right into the tag team title scene. Plus, Usos-Revival? Yes please. In addition to this huge pick-up, RAW also dipped into NXT territory and called up the artists formerly known as the War Raiders to the main roster, where they immediately made an impact by pinning the tag champs Hawkins & Ryder in eight-man tag action.
The newly-named Viking Experience could almost qualify as a loser just based on that name change, but my mouth is watering at the idea of a Viking Experience-Authors of Pain clash, so we’ll keep them out of that list.
LOSER: Andrade
This one was a head-scratcher to me, although some people seemed to prefer El Idolo on the flagship show as opposed to Smackdown. To me, Andrade was just beginning to scratch the surface of what he was capable of on Smackdown. He had yet to capture any sort of gold, but he was far from lost in the shuffle in my eyes.
He very easily could have been Kofi Kingston’s next challenger for the WWE Championship, and I think that he’s going to have to start all over on RAW. RAW is a show overrun with heels, and if Finn Balor is bringing the IC Title to Smackdown, it stands to reason that Samoa Joe will be bringing the US strap to Monday nights, adding another heel to the mix. IT’s going to be a lot harder for Mr. Andrade to shine on RAW.
WINNER: Smackdown Women’s Division
Bayley and Ember Moon, along with Liv Morgan, Mickie James and the debuting Kairi Sane? Sign me up. Smackdown fleeced RAW in the women’s division portion of the Shake-Up, gaining a whole bunch of new talent while only surrendering Naomi to the red brand.
In addition, they’ll still have Becky Lynch sticking around for the foreseeable future, and Charlotte will remain on Tuesday nights. We’re just one Boss away from having the entire Four Horsewomen stable on one show, and while I don’t see it happening, I honestly don’t know what to expect with Sasha Banks at this point so I can’t rule it out either. Either way, this division is STACKED and going to be a whole hell of a lot of fun to watch.
LOSER: Lars Sullivan
I think the big man is more of a fit on RAW, where he could clash with the likes of Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre and other giant men. Smackdown is more of a smaller man’s show, and I don’t think the fans will be too receptive to Sullivan taking on the likes of Balor, Ali, Kevin Owens, and so forth. I think big Lars is going to slip through the cracks on Tuesday nights.
WINNER: The Fans
We’re going to get to see all sorts of exciting new clashes and matchups now, this Shake-Up actually feels like it changed a major part of the WWE scene. We’ve got AJ Styles and The Miz on RAW, Roman Reigns and Finn Balor on Smackdown, a rejuvenated RAW tag team scene and an absolutely incredible women’s roster on Smackdown. I’d say we’re all winners in this, wouldn’t you?
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Opinion
Chris King: The Wyatt Sicks’ Wasted Potential By WWE
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
Chris King takes a look at the WWE and their wasted potential of Uncle Howdy and the Wyatt Sicks faction.
It’s that time of the year again, folks; it’s unfortunate and downright awful that so many WWE superstars got released today. I’m not going to list all of them, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite factions,
The Wyatt Sicks. Nikki Cross, Joe Gacy, Erik Rowan, and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) were something special. After Bo’s brother Bray Wyatt’s tragic passing, WWE felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled. Wyatt was one of the most creative and brilliant characters, and Bo would be taking over his brother’s concept and bringing it to life. In 2024, at the end of an incredible documentary highlighting Wyatt’s career and struggles, Bo appeared on the screen portrayed as Uncle Howdy. The last time Uncle Howdy was seen on-screen was at the 2023 Royal Rumble, where Wyatt defeated LA Knight in a Pitch Black Match. Howdy jumped off a structure onto Knight.
This post-credit scene sparked so much speculation and excitement that Wyatt’s brother would carry on his legacy and possibly debut the faction that was Wyatt’s concept. On the June 17th episode of Monday Night Raw, The Wyatt Sicks made their dramatic debut ,destroying the backstage area as well as “murdering” Chad Gable. It was such an iconic arrival for Howdy as he made his menacing walk from the back into the audience who were chanting “Holy Shit.” The Sicks and American Made (Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers) battled for months, with The Sicks being victorious. On the September 9th episode of Raw, The Sicks defeated them, with Howdy getting the win with Sister Abigail.
The following year, The Sicks would move over to Friday Night SmackDown, and it seemed like WWE had a plan in place. They would win the tag team championships from The Street Profits and start to look dominant. Now, what should have happened next is Howdy should have won the United States title. The Sicks could have held all the gold over on the blue brand, but it never happened. The Sicks entered into a never-ending feud with The MFT’s (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, JC Mateo, and Talla Tonga.) It started off exciting, and the WWE Universe was red-hot for their interactions.
After months of repetitive matches and The MFT’s stealing their lantern, the feud grew tiresome and boring. Even Tama asked Solo why they are still holding onto the lantern, as it was destroying them as a whole. Finally on the SmackDown before Mania, Tama
gave the lantern back to Howdy against Solo’s wishes. Please explain to me why both factions fought almost every single week instead of just having one final blowoff match at WrestleMania.
It should have been either a massive street fight or a falls count anywhere match on the grandest stage of them all. Instead, it turned into a meaningless week-after-week extravaganza that benefited no one. The MFTs won the rivalry, and The Sicks don’t even work for WWE anymore. This was the same criminalized creative process that Wyatt dealt with during his first run in the company.
We’ll never know how much of a dangerous force The Wyatt Sicks could have been in the WWE. For all their careers’ sake, I hope they stay far away from the company for as long as possible. Every superstar that was cut deserves better!
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Opinion
Chris King: Bloodline Saga: Is This the Right Call For WWE?
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Chris King questions the WWE’s logic in setting up Jacob Fatu as the next challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns is once again World Heavyweight Champion after his dominant win over CM Punk at WrestleMania 42. On the following night on Monday Night Raw, The OG Bloodline came back together as a well-oiled machine as The Usos stood side by side with Roman. With the WWE Universe asking who would be the first to challenge “The Tribal Chief,” Jacob Fatu shocked the world by answering the call.
Fatu is running hot after his impressive win over Drew McIntyre and feels like he is ready to become the new world champion. This bloodline segment ended Raw, and it picked right back up on SmackDown with even Solo Sikoa and the MFTs involved. This is now two shows that have been centered around The Bloodline saga, and it’s made me question whether or not WWE should be retelling this story.
The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa) ran WWE for over four years as Reigns’ henchmen, doing his dirty work to retain his title. Even though Roman has declared he doesn’t want Jey and Jimmy to serve him, it sure seems like WWE are spinning their wheels. Fatu could add a whole new chapter into the story, even if he’s not able to beat Roman at Backlash. “The Samoan Werewolf” could be forced to do the same thing as Jey did all those years ago and fall in line.
In my opinion, I feel like Fatu should be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship because that’s a title I feel like he should win. I understand standing up to your blood and trying to prove you’re the best, but I don’t think this is the right move. It feels like 2022 all over again, as The Bloodline is the central focus on both shows. If Fatu doesn’t win, what happens to all his momentum he’s been building over the last two years?
Why did WWE make this the best choice for storyline purposes? Why couldn’t creative have come up with a different challenger for Roman? There are so many other superstars that could challenge The Tribal Chief, such as Rusev, Bron Breakker, Gunther, or even a returning Sheamus.
I just can’t help but question WWE’s logic here, and it kind of reminds me of all the times The Shield reunited. Could WWE be pushing the same storyline too many times here? Could the WWE Universe get tired of this rinse and repeat cycle of The Bloodline Saga?
Are we about to see all the weekly episodes solely focused on The Bloodline again? Will it be cinema… Yes. Is there still money in The Bloodline… Yes. Was it the right call? That’s to be determined!
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