jeff hardy

The WWE Superstar Shake-up is the 12th edition of the WWE Draft. A select number of WWE Superstars from Raw and Smackdown switch brands from either show with the addition of call ups from their third brand, NXT. The 2018 edition of the Superstar Shake-up had many switches over the course of two days and i will go over each one that got switched over.

FROM SMACKDOWN TO RAW

#1. Jinder Mahal- Mahal coming off a huge push from 2017 is now on Monday Night Raw. He took the United States Championship with him to Raw and his title was immediately put on the line against Jeff Hardy but more on that in a few minutes. His Smackdown run is still debated to this day so hopefully, this will be a fresh start for him on the Raw brand.

#2. The Riot Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan)- With Paige being the new General Manager of Smackdown, it makes total sense to have these three switch brands. But do i think that it was too early for these three to get switched? I do. They have been on Smackdown since November and all three of them have not had a talked about moment at all yet since their debut so lets see what will happen to these three down the road.

#3. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn-I actually did not think that this would happen since they were storyline fired from Smackdown. It appears that Stephanie McMahon (keep this in mind since over 6 months ago, Kevin Owens headbutted Vince McMahon) overruled the decision to keep them off Raw. Will Kevin Owens go back to the main event scene on Raw like he did before, or will him and Zayn will begin in the tag team division. Good pick for Raw in my opinion.

#4. Zack Ryder- His announcement was made via Twitter that he has been drafted to Monday Night Raw. I do not know how they can use him since he has been a comedy act for a very long time.

#5. Fandango and Tyler Breeze- Another comedy act from Smackdown that were never taken seriously by the casual fans. Just like Ryder, i do not know where they will go from here.

#6. Natalya- Natalya i believe is the only female veteran currently on the roster right now. She has had a good year on Smackdown Live last year so i believe that she will be able to help carry the women’s division on Raw.

#7. Mojo Rawley- For some odd reason, i think that either he or someone else who i will mention on the Raw selections will get that “Jinder Mahal push” sometime this year. He was not getting anywhere on Smackdown so i will give him a shot on Raw.

#8. Dolph Ziggler and Drew Mcintyre- Drew needed to go to Raw and Dolph is now back on Raw as well. I already see the fans making the Diesel and Shawn Michaels comparison with these two but i think that Drew will get that “push” i just mentioned on Raw so this is a great choice and we will have to see how well he will do. Anyone noticed that the former 3MB members are all on Raw now?

#9. Baron Corbin- Yeah. He has fought a lot of guys on Smackdown in the past two years and he needs a fresh new start since his disastrous summer last year from losing his Money in the Bank championship match, to losing to John Cena at the opening of Summerslam.

#10. Mike Kanellis- I keep forgetting that he is on the roster but i do not think that he will do much on Raw.

#11. The Ancension- Like Breezango, this is just another tag team to add for depth. No major shakeup here.

#12. Bobby Roode- This is a GLORIOUS addition to the Raw roster and i think that he will do great there. He had a decent run on Smackdown and he still gets a good crowd response every week. I think that a heel run from him is where the money is.

#13. Chad Gable- I thought that him and Benjamin would get drafted to Raw but i think that he should have stayed on Smackdown. Unless he teams up with Jason Jordan, i do not have a good feeling for Gable on Raw.

FROM RAW TO SMACKDOWN

#2. Jeff Hardy- The first televised shakeup announcement that happened on Smackdown started with a bang. I initially thought that the Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins will be drafted to Smackdown, but i was totally wrong. Jeff Hardy did great on his previous run on Smackdown from 2008-2009 so he will do great here too.

#3. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville- These two were paired up with now Smackdown Geneal Manager Paige over on Raw and just like The Riott Squad, they were brought up way too quick but the difference is, these two improved far better than Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan. I thought that these two would be split up but lets see how long that these two will be paired up.

#4. Samoa Joe- Another great draft pick and one i did not see coming is Samoa Joe. Joe was about to start a feud with Roman Reigns on Raw but now it has been scrapped. Joe will be a big deal on Smackdown and it is an amount of time before he has a match with AJ Styles.

#5. Sanity-Another NXT act that has been rumored for a call up since late last year. About time! I know everyone is upset with NIkki Cross not coming up too, but that is fine. Remember Carmella didn’t join Big Cass and Enzo in WWE either right away. She was called to the main roster on her own and benefited a bunch. Cross has more to do – on her own. If she joins the group down the road, fine. But I like her potential as a stand alone act. Sanity did okay in NXT; I am curious to watch it translate on the bigger stage.

#6. Big Cass- Interesting. I imagine WWE will ride with him for a little bit as an upper mid-card heel. Then we can all check out his progress summer time.

#7. Auska- Oh yeah! I thought she might switch with Charlotte. Instead, they are now on the same brand. That is fine but also ironic following WrestleMania 34. Asuka has wiped the floor with the entire Raw women’s division. Now it is Smackdown’s turn. I am a huge fan of this. Her and Charlotte are kept away from Ronda Rousey until the time is right for them to do battle.

#8. The Club- No Finn Balor. Really, that is the takeaway here. The Club on their own…nobody cares. With Balor, fans care.

#9. Cesaro and Sheamus- Another move that was easy to predict. They have done it all on Raw. My take on this is that this opens the door for new tag feuds but also solo feuds. Sheamus and Cesaro will have to remain their single’s careers again eventually. I am ready for that to happen. They can lose and finish their Raw business Friday at the Greatest Royal Rumble event.

#10. R-Truth- – If No Way Jose is on Raw, then Truth can be on Smackdown. They are simply a fun opening match act that gets the crowd hyped up. If WWE does want to give him a renewed push though, they know he is a well respected veteran and more than capable. Win-win.

#11. Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega- The pair of these two will be great for Smackdown. Move over Alberto Del Rio, these two are what fans care about and i think that Andrade will get a shot at the United States Championship sometime within the year.

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Julian Cannon back again for another post.and I would like to thank everyone for the feedback I have received on my last post. This time is a follow up to my post last year titled “10 ways to save tna wrestling “..

Within the last year,tna wrestling has changed a lot. Some are good and some are bad.I for one want tna to succeed and oneday compete with wwe THE RIGHT WAY NEXT TIME!. TNA wrestling has been around since 2002 and from that year until 2009, that was their best years. Within the last few years,tna has been compared to Wcw in many ways. Now let me get to the changes that they have made since June 2012..

1.going live

Tna needed to go live for a long time now. Fans who read the results online can hurt the show(this happens sometimes in wwe also). Since they have been live,the show feels different than it did when they were taped. Outside the many botches in the matches they do,the show has been entertaining for the most part. But for some reason, they cannot go higher than a 1.7 rating..the fans wanted them to go live,they got it but they still choose not to watch it..that’s the “internet wrestling community ” for you who cannot decide what they want.
Believe me it has been like that since 1997.

2.world champions

Bobby Roode is now the longest reiging world champion in tna,beating stings record he set in 2009. Bobby has made the belt important again from Jeff Hardy’s tarnished reign in 2011. He then lost it to Austin Aries in July and when Aries had the belt,he was not booked right at all..he held the xdivision title for the longest since Daniels back in 2005 and has had very solid matches and feuds..him with the world title just didn’t seem to click with the fans at all..I was for it but then he made face and heel Turns that didn’t make sense at all..then Aries lost the belt to Jeff Hardy and many believe that Hardy did not deserve it..Hardy has been through a lot before the win and he sells the most merchandise in the company so strapping the belt in my point of view makes sense although I would like to see bully ray or James storm or an styles become champ again.

3.aj styles vs Daniels feud put to rest…or is it?

Styles and Daniels has had over 900 matches (estimated) in total between tna,roh,pwg and new Japan pro wrestling. In bound for glory 2011, their match was tag lined “one last match “..now who think that was going to be their last match..they then wrestled throughout 2012 and at November of that year,they had another “one last match” but this time if an lost, he would not get a shot for the world title until October 2013.. I didn’t believe that would happen but it did. How can tna do this to styles when he has been there from the beginning. For them to do that,that was a slasp in the face to his legacy and his fans..but who knows,these two wrestled a lot of times so we could see it again at bfg 2013 with the championship on the line

4.slashing away ppvs

In December 2012,Dixie Carter announced that tna will only have 4 ppvs a year..this brought confusion to the fans to why she would do this..this may be a good move but a risky one, this worked in wwe when they had 5 ppvs a year back from the “golden age era” to the early stages of the “new generation era”..this also worked for ecw when they had ppvs once every 2 months ..the big question is that can it work for tna..on order to do this,the feuds leading to the ppvs has to be very strong from the start..the problem with feuds is that they are bevy not memorable at all..why, is because after the ppv and then on the next TV show, 9 times out of 10,the payoff match will not get mentioned at all unless it is at the opening segment or music video. So if they want to put a risk for this, they can try.

5.aces and 8’s

The first time this group started in tna I thought that it was a good move.but a few weeks later, I realized that this group can’t be taken seriously at all. They run away from most people knowing that they outnumber those 2-3 people in the ring,they have not won one match until a February 2013 edition of impact, and the members anybody can care less about them. Now taz is the mouth piece of that group but yet he returns to commentary the following week which is ridiculous ..other then Mr Anderson and Devon who were established stars and wrestlers, the other members are ex wwe jobbers and just Eric bischoff son. Fans want to compare it to the nexus but they can’t because they were all new people and rising stars that wanted to get noticed and most of them are very good now in the main event/midcard scene right now..for me I want aces and 8’s to end already.

6. Tna on the road

Also announced from Carter is that tna will no longer tape their show at the impact zone..this is a great move because they have been there since 2004 and every wrestling fan wanted them to get away from Florida for a long time and at March they will start doing that..I am for this 100% but the question is that how long can they do this before the wrestlers get burned out..the one primary reason why ex wwe employees go there because they don’t have a brutal travel schedule..but after March they will hit the road week after week..I’m also for this because not a lot of places know what tna wrestling is so it is good to get your name out there..this year’s bound for glory will take place at the Alamo dome in San Antonio ,Texas..the last wrestling event to have ever sold out that arena was the 1997 royal rumble which would headline Shawn Michaels vs Sid for the wwf championship ..to me this match is the most underrated match of the career of Shawn Michaels and I would watch it over and over again if I had to.

7. The x division

Nobody cannot deny this because the x division is not the same since Hogan and bischoff came along..these were also the matches the fans look forward too and the first thought that comes to mind when you hear the letter “tna”. Rvd is the current x division champion..he was xdivision before the name was even coined. But honestly he does not need to be champion in the xdivision.. Kenny king and a few others are looking good right now..but the wrestlers in this division has been cut down..Alex Shelly is no longer there,Jay lethal is back in roh, Jerry Lynn has retired and few others has moved up to the main event scene..the last person to have made the division important was Austin Aries and since then, it became an after thought. What can improve from the xdivision, the world will never know.

8.the roster /brook Hogan

I can say that the roster of TNA has had a drastic change within the last 7 months..the gut check segments are quite innovative as well..the best they have picked up is Christian York..he has wrestled in ecw with Joey mercury and in ring of honor for several years so for him to make it to either wwe or tna is a great move..also we seen the most dickhead move that tna has ever done which was bringing in brook Hogan..every time she is on tv, I change the channel because she is very awful as a character..not only that, she is the head of the knockouts division..lets give them a round of an applause because that absolutely sucks.

I really want tna to succeed but there is very little that has to be done to do that..we know it does not happen over night but a change does though..my idea is to get Hogan out there as soon as possible because he has not done anything for them other than making the ring four sides again..

Send your feedback. At juliancannon70@yahoo.com

The 2018 WWE Superstar Shakeup thoughts.

How has TNA wrestling has improved