The Superstar Shakeup that took place over two nights for WWE was, by many accounts, a huge success. Not everyone will love the choices made by the company when it comes to who got moved and who didn't, but there were some clear winners to come out of the changes and both Raw and SmackDown Live feel like very different show despite WWE not having to move some of the biggest names on the roster.
Without moving main-event players like Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor and others, WWE was able to change the faces of each show by being creative. The Miz, Jeff Hardy, The Bar, and Samoa Joe highlight some of the bigger names to change, but WWE also used these two days to focus on NXT grads making their debuts and returning stars like Big Cass.
There were winners and there were losers and below we list some of the most prominent.
Winner: The Miz
Having The Miz move to SmackDown Live makes a whole lot of sense. He'll be one of their top heels almost instantly, and he'll eventually have to square off with Daniel Bryan which is going to make for amazing television.
The Miz is a strong character anywhere, but he launched himself to the main event scene by targeting a nearly helpless Bryan when he was last a part of SmackDown. Bringing him back will make the show feel like it has an A-List feud that rivals anything Raw can offer.
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Loser: The Miztourage
The downside of moving The Miz was that The Miztourage was not moving with him. WWE must want Bryan and Miz to do this battle one-on-one and that's cool, but where does it leave Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas who bailed on The Miz by the end of Monday's show?
At first glance, it appears they'll try to form their own tag team, but realistically, how can this possibly go? One has to imagine these guys will get lost in the shuffle unless the WWE Universe really gets behind them as underdogs and forces the company to give them a fair shot.
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Winners: Dolph Ziggler / Drew McIntyre
Just when you think WWE is going to keep Ziggler buried in the mid-card and losing to names that he should be competing with, WWE goes and moves him to Raw, makes him interesting again and teams him with the debuting Drew McIntyre who got called up from NXT. It's an odd pairing, but it just might work ala when Shawn Michaels and Diesel became an unstoppable duo.
This could be the defining moment for Ziggler and if everyone plays this right makes a big difference in both careers. Ziggler can talk and wrestle and McIntyre is a monster who could be the next big thing on Raw.
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Loser: Shelton Benjamin
Chad Gable silently moved to Raw after the program concluded and while this is great for Gable who might get a chance to show his skills as a single's wrestler, it could be the beginning of Benjamin being a single's enhancement talent on SmackDown Live. After Tuesday, it looks like that's exactly what is going to happen.
Benjamin made a nice speech about being ready to show the world what he can do by himself and he then immediately lost to Jeff Hardy who returned to SmackDown Live with the U.S. Title. It was the heel turn that generated the least amount of buzz and that's not a good sign.
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Winner: Samoa Joe
He might not be considered a top guy in WWE, but by moving Samoa Joe to SmackDown Live, WWE is giving him a chance to become that. Joe made an impactful debut and put every babyface roster member of the blue brand on notice, all the while giving the WWE Universe images of what dream matches could come now that he's on the same show as names like AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Randy Orton.
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Loser: Bobby Roode
People might gawk at the fact Roode makes this list as a loser but the reasoning is that no amount of moving him from brand to brand will make a difference if they keep Roode a babyface. People love his entrance and then lose all interest once the bell rings. It was evident by the lack of response he received on Monday and social media blowing up asking "is this Raw's big get?"
The only way to really make Roode a winner is to turn him heel and recreate the magic he had in NXT.
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Winner: Baron Corbin
He didn't get a glowing debut or an impactful segment, but he was the only WWE Superstar to get his own vignette showcasing the fact the company is switching him from one show to another. This could be an obvious sign they intend to put the full weight of the writing team behind Corbin on Raw. He should do well in his new environment.
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SmackDown Live
Raw may have gotten the higher quantity of stars but an argument can be made that SmackDown Live got the higher quality of stars. From The Miz to Jeff Hardy to The Bar and Samoa Joe, the blue brand kept it's biggest stars and added new interesting ideas. They also included a debuting Andrade "Cien" Almas and soon-to-be debuting SAnitY to make SmackDown is a significantly different show and much more interesting a program than it was merely 24-hours earlier.