The New Day flooding after basically six years; bittersweet!
The first major piece of news is the splitting of The New Day after nearly 6 years together. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods returned from injury right after Big E defeated Sheamus – virtually guaranteeing his position in WWE as a future world champion by defeating a former four-time world champion, Royal Rumble winner, King of the Ring in The Celtic Warrior. The BootyO’s making an appearance during the match was a nice comedic touch.
Kofi was injured in July when The New Day lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championships to Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro powerbombed him through two tables. Woods sustained a ruptured Achilles tendon in October 2019 at a live event. Nearly a year later, it was great to see him return and look better than ever (he’s only 34 years old, so it makes sense that his body is still able to respond well to that type of gruesome injury).
Immediately after Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles for the seventh time to become 9-time champions overall, it was found out that Kofi and Woods would be moving to Monday Night Raw while E will be staying on SmackDown. Mr. McMahon originally wanted to keep The New Day together until they broke The Dudley Boyz’ record of nine Tag Team Title reigns, but things can change on a dime in WWE. At least this plan was almost seen all the way through.
The Monday Night Messiah is no more; he will be moving to Friday Nights
Seth Rollins will be moving to SmackDown for the first time in his career. The first brand split that took place during his career was in 2016. Rollins was drafted to Monday Night Raw then and has stayed there during each Superstar Shake Up since then and during the 2019 WWE draft. It’s nice that he will finally get to experience a change of scenery.
It’s a positive that Rey and Dominik Mysterio were also drafted to SmackDown so the Mysterio family – including Aalyah – can continue their storyline with Seth. One would reasonably assume that Rollins’ disciple Murphy will also switch brands so those two men can engage in a feud which the Messiah will lose in order to be written off TV for paternity leave (because Becky Lynch is due to give birth to their child in December – congratulations Seth).
Round 2 of the draft; AJ, Naomi and Bianca Belair switch brands
It’s funny because AJ Styles was moved from Raw to SmackDown in June because he had major disagreements with Paul Heyman. That worked out well for a short while – he put over the incoming Matt Riddle and became Intercontinental Champion after returning to The House That AJ Styles Built.
Well as it turns out the Wobbly Walrus (as Bray Wyatt referred to him in the Firefly FunHouse) also moved to SmackDown coinciding with the return of Roman Reigns. As a result, back to Raw AJ goes.
Bianca Belair will be a welcome addition to the blue brand after not finding much of a niche on Monday Night Raw. One has to wonder if The Street Profits will also be switching brands given that WWE typically likes to keep couples together on the same brand whenever possible – Belair and Montez Ford are a couple.
Lars Sullivan was also introduced to the SmackDown fanbase. Vignettes began airing at Survivor Series 2018 to promote his debut, which was scheduled to take place in January 2019 before he left the company for a while due to an anxiety attack. Sullivan got his mental health in order and debuted after WrestleMania 35 – everything seemed to be going smoothly until Sullivan sustained a severe knee injury in June. After spending most of the past 16 months recovering, Sullivan is finally healthy and mentally ready for his push on the main roster to begin.
Miz & Morrison to Raw after a great year on SmackDown
It was announced in December 2019 that John Morrison would be returning to WWE. He made his debut after 8.5 years away from the company and helped his buddy Miz through his time recovering from the emotional wounds The Fiend put him in his family through. Miz & Morrison fit like a glove as a tag team after not being together for over a decade – with some relationships, time doesn’t matter, you pick up where you left off.
Miz & Morrison have become SmackDown Tag Team Champions for a short while, released a rap album, and even wrestled for the Universal Championship in 2020. They were involved in a storyline with Otis once upon a time, but that has apparently dissolved now that they are on separate brands – unfortunately, Mandy Rose is now also on a separate brand as she was moved a couple of weeks before the draft.