The 'Supersar Shake Up' explanation.

[cero2k]

Alvarez pointed out this was on wwe.com

ORLANDO, Fla. – "It's time to shake things up around here," Mr. McMahon loudly exclaimed to the raucous Amway Center crowd during the Raw after WrestleMania.

The Chairman and CEO of WWE surprised everyone Monday night in Orlando when he came out to the ring and thanked the WWE Universe for making WrestleMania 33 The Ultimate Thrill Ride. Surprise turned to shock, however, when Mr. McMahon then announced that the WWE roster will undergo a seismic shift on next week’s editions of Raw and SmackDown LIVE.

Mr. McMahon also announced he has already conferred with lead representatives from Raw and SmackDown LIVE in advance of the shake-up that will take place for both brands. That includes the newly named Raw General Manager, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, as well as SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan, who are already in ongoing discussions with each other regarding next week's anticipated Superstar movement, WWE.com has confirmed.

The WWE Chairman will be granting both sides an opportunity to make trades, deals and other moves that they feel fit, according to WWE.com sources. There are many potential maneuvers that the WWE Universe will surely be buzzing over. Could we see recently engaged SmackDown stars John Cena & Nikki Bella on separate brands as a result of the shake-up? What about a monster like Braun Strowman causing havoc on the SmackDown LIVE roster instead of Raw? The possibilities are endless.

Stick with WWE.com for more on the Superstar Shake-up as news develops, and tune into next week's Raw and SmackDown LIVE to see where things stand within WWE’s New Era.

[Big Red Machine]

Why couldn't they have done this before? Wasn't the whole big Zayn/Foley segment predicated on the fact that Mick was going to trade Sami to Smackdown? And we've seen guys get both signed and released already... so what is the point of this thing?

[cero2k]

Why couldn't they have done this before? Wasn't the whole big Zayn/Foley segment predicated on the fact that Mick was going to trade Sami to Smackdown? And we've seen guys get both signed and released already... so what is the point of this thing?

i think it's the perfect point of the year to do a 'draft' since you balance the shows out again with so many debuts and departures happening within one week, both shows are losing a lot of star power, closing stories, and gaining debuts.

kayfabe-wise? i have no idea. You could argue that it was a request of a new GM to try and negotiate some people with Bryan/Shane so Angle could work with some people he wants.

[Big Red Machine]

Why couldn't they have done this before? Wasn't the whole big Zayn/Foley segment predicated on the fact that Mick was going to trade Sami to Smackdown? And we've seen guys get both signed and released already... so what is the point of this thing?

i think it's the perfect point of the year to do a 'draft' since you balance the shows out again with so many debuts and departures happening within one week, both shows are losing a lot of star power, closing stories, and gaining debuts.

I actually totally disagree. Your big "shakeup" for this time of year is the combination of the call-ups plus whatever shakeups the events at WrestleMania produce (turns, new alliances, changes brought to characters as a result of their reactions to victory or defeat, etc.). I'm also of the belief that WrestleMania works just as well as a place to start a story as it does to close it (so long as you keep things escalating correctly, obviously).

A draft or whatever would be much better served at some point in the early fall so that you can get people to whatever show they need to be on for WrestleMania.

kayfabe-wise? i have no idea. You could argue that it was a request of a new GM to try and negotiate some people with Bryan/Shane so Angle could work with some people he wants.

But my point is that he could do that anyway without some sort of special thingy being announced. This makes it seem like they aren't allowed to do these things the rest of the year, but the evidence shows that they can, so then what is the point of this?

[cero2k]

I actually totally disagree. Your big "shakeup" for this time of year is the combination of the call-ups plus whatever shakeups the events at WrestleMania produce (turns, new alliances, changes brought to characters as a result of their reactions to victory or defeat, etc.). I'm also of the belief that WrestleMania works just as well as a place to start a story as it does to close it (so long as you keep things escalating correctly, obviously).

A draft or whatever would be much better served at some point in the early fall so that you can get people to whatever show they need to be on for WrestleMania.

exactly, if WM is the perfect time to end/start feuds, then do the shake up here and get it over with. Why wait for fall and risk having feuds in the middle, why raid NXT twice (two raids is what killed NXT this year), cover the spots left by the part timers, and trade guys you don't want to have interact after a big WM ending (like right now i can't imagine Rollins and Hunter staying in the same show without feuding)

But my point is that he could do that anyway without some sort of special thingy being announced. This makes it seem like they aren't allowed to do these things the rest of the year, but the evidence shows that they can, so then what is the point of this?

the only actual evidence is Swagger and we never actually saw him in Smackdown, or i don't think we did. the Foley/Zayn was all a bluff anyway. and it's announced because you wanna get people to watch, or have the wrestlers be worried about their position, or whatever, maybe McMahon just decided fuck these rosters, i wanna shake them up and force a mid year draft just because.

[Big Red Machine]

I actually totally disagree. Your big "shakeup" for this time of year is the combination of the call-ups plus whatever shakeups the events at WrestleMania produce (turns, new alliances, changes brought to characters as a result of their reactions to victory or defeat, etc.). I'm also of the belief that WrestleMania works just as well as a place to start a story as it does to close it (so long as you keep things escalating correctly, obviously).

A draft or whatever would be much better served at some point in the early fall so that you can get people to whatever show they need to be on for WrestleMania.

exactly, if WM is the perfect time to end/start feuds, then do the shake up here and get it over with. Why wait for fall and risk having feuds in the middle, why raid NXT twice (two raids is what killed NXT this year), cover the spots left by the part timers, and trade guys you don't want to have interact after a big WM ending (like right now i can't imagine Rollins and Hunter staying in the same show without feuding)

There would only be one "raid" (the usual post-Mania one). The draft would be a second shake-up six months later.

But my point is that he could do that anyway without some sort of special thingy being announced. This makes it seem like they aren't allowed to do these things the rest of the year, but the evidence shows that they can, so then what is the point of this?

the only actual evidence is Swagger and we never actually saw him in Smackdown, or i don't think we did. the Foley/Zayn was all a bluff anyway. and it's announced because you wanna get people to watch, or have the wrestlers be worried about their position, or whatever, maybe McMahon just decided fuck these rosters, i wanna shake them up and force a mid year draft just because.

We saw Swagger on SD. He feuded with Corbin.
But in order for the Foley/Zayn bluff to have been believable, the ability to make trades between the brands has to exist.
Obviously they announce it so that people watch, but it's not really anything special and theoretically they could be hyping up a dud because there is the kayfabe possibility that no one makes any trades or signs anyone or whatever. It just seems odd to announce what seems to amount to public negotiations for some trades that may or may not happen. A draft makes sense to announce.

[Big Red Machine]

Having a "Superstar Shakeup" right after Mania is what leads to dead cards the first week after because they have a bunch of guys they don't want a set a direction with because they won't be able to follow through, but at the same time they don't want to leave those guys off the show because that would be tipping their hand that those guys are switching brands.

[cero2k]

I just realized that since the first draft is the highest rated smackdown show, they're just doing this so raw ratings go up

[Big Red Machine]

I just realized that since the first draft is the highest rated smackdown show, they're just doing this so raw ratings go up

The problem with this theory is that they announced this on last week's Raw, which is obviously before this week's ratings came out, so when they thought this up they were expecting the Raw ratings to be the usual WrestleMania fallout show strong.

[cero2k]

I just realized that since the first draft is the highest rated smackdown show, they're just doing this so raw ratings go up

The problem with this theory is that they announced this on last week's Raw, which is obviously before this week's ratings came out, so when they thought this up they were expecting the Raw ratings to be the usual WrestleMania fallout show strong.

it is one of the highest rated shows of the year, probably the biggest one, so trying to equal it would be good. Also, you can't really announced it before WM, it would make the show weird

[Big Red Machine]

I just realized that since the first draft is the highest rated smackdown show, they're just doing this so raw ratings go up

The problem with this theory is that they announced this on last week's Raw, which is obviously before this week's ratings came out, so when they thought this up they were expecting the Raw ratings to be the usual WrestleMania fallout show strong.

it is one of the highest rated shows of the year, probably the biggest one, so trying to equal it would be good. Also, you can't really announced it before WM, it would make the show weird

Okay. I thought you were saying they announced it in response to the low ratings the show got this year.

[cero2k]

Okay. I thought you were saying they announced it in response to the low ratings the show got this year.

oh no, i meant it as in trying to keep momentum going

[KILLdozer]

That was pretty underwhelming. Cool to see some now people and all, but man lol.

[Big Red Machine]

That was pretty underwhelming. Cool to see some now people and all, but man lol.

Yeah. They managed to move so many people that none of them felt like they mattered.