It’s time for WrestleMania, and this will be the third edition which is under the second rendition of the brand split. Many felt that WrestleMania would be the biggest determining factor as to whether the brand split was a success or not, but WrestleMania or not, it’s safe to say that it has been…so far.
So the quality of RAW and SmackDown kept shifting year-to-year since 2016. In the initial part of the brand split, SmackDown was by far the superior brand in terms of talent and quality of programming, and there was absolutely no question about it. In fact, at that point in time, SmackDown Live was the hottest thing going in the world of wrestling. But then, the Superstar Shake-Up happened and WWE gutted the blue brand of some of its core stars, such as The Miz, Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt.
It’s funny because these were the superstars who were meant to benefit from going to the blue brand after the split. They were the talent who WWE pushed, but just not enough to prioritize them as top stars. On the blue brand, on the other hand, all three of them had some serious momentum going for them.
However, they were then put on the red brand post-WrestleMania, and things would go downhill on the other side of the fence for WWE. With Bray Wyatt clearly having needed to win the match, lost yet again at WrestleMania, and Randy Orton’s WWE title reign was cut short to a measly 40 days, where he dropped it to Jinder Mahal, easily the most unpopular WWE Champion of the past decade.
Here was the issue with Mahal’s push. It wasn’t even about fans feeling that he wasn’t worthy of the title. It was the fact that he went from enhancement talent to main event talent all in the span of one week. There was no organic build for months, there was no midcard title. It was straight from bottom to top.
By the time he lost the title, he floundered in the midcard before eventually dropping down again. In 2018, the pendulum swung once again to the other side, and after WrestleMania, it was once again SmackDown Live which ended up becoming the better brand.
There are a lot of factors that have to do with this swing in momentum. Most importantly, it’s the outcomes of the matches at WrestleMania and who the champions are going forward. Also, it has to do with the Superstar Shake-Up and which stars really should and shouldn’t move. More often than not, WWE has a habit of changing a superstars’ brand regardless of whether they have momentum or not. The Miz is the prime example of that.
Each year, he’s always changed brands, and it was crystal clear that SmackDown was very much the brand where he thrives the most. It probably has to do with the fact that the RAW main event scene is jam-packed with talent, and there are only so many spots. This year, the match card on both sides of the brand are more than impressive. It’s actually one of the best WrestleMania cards in years, which is why the aftermath of the event is going to be extremely exciting as well.
On the RAW side of things, the matches announced so far are:
Ronda Rousey (c) vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair – RAW Women’s Championship
Batista vs Triple H
Brock Lesnar (c) vs Seth Rollins
Kurt Angle’s retirement match
On the SmackDown side of things, the matches confirmed and expected are:
AJ Styles vs Randy Orton
Shane McMahon vs The Miz
Daniel Bryan vs Kofi Kingston (expected)
Asuka vs multiple challengers (expected)
Both sides of the coin look stacked, even with the card not confirmed at all. When you look at all the marquee matches, you think of the possibilities and who could switch brands. The instant first thought is AJ Styles. It would probably be the right time for him to switch brands if Seth Rollins doesn’t win the Universal Championship.
Styles clearly established himself as the face of the blue brand since 2016, and he’s done almost all there is to do. There’s no doubt that a talent of his caliber would succeed on RAW. Rollins going to SmackDown (given that he doesn’t beat Lesnar) would certainly be a fresh change for him as well.
The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston and Asuka are the superstars who should not switch brands by any means. RAW is a little more flexible, but they’re still going to have the higher number of main event stars.
Ultimately, it should be noted that the 2019 FOX deal for SmackDown is going to play a large part in this. While we could agree that RAW might be better post-Shake-Up, the massive TV deal may give the blue brand the edge once again.
