Jack Swagger lost a match to Jinder Mahal on Raw this week, then the next night he showed up on SmackDown Live and announced that he had switched brands. Now that Swagger is officially a SmackDown Superstar, the question must be asked, does Jack Swagger’s transfer to SmackDown open the door for more stars to switch brands?
When WWE announced that there would be another brand split and a WWE Draft earlier this year, it seemed as though the company were rushing into many of the decisions.
There has been speculation recently that WWE were hoping to switch different stars over to a different brand. The likes of Randy Orton and Kevin Owens were the latest stars to be linked to this speculation.
The rules of the current brand split have not yet been disclosed but Jack Swagger’s recent switch from Raw over to SmackDown Live gives the impression that many other superstars may be able to switch brands when needed.
It was reported that Jack Swagger was sent to the Blue Brand after it was made apparent that there was no place for him on Raw but there would be suitable space for him on the SmackDown roster where he is now expected to be given a huge push.
This means that superstars who are currently unhappy on their roster could ask to be transferred, superstars like Cesaro who is currently embroiled in a Best of Seven Series with Sheamus that was recently swaying in the Irish superstar’s favor.
Cesaro wanted to be drafted to SmackDown and made this apparent after he was drafted over to Raw. With the recent rumors speculating that Cesaro could be set to leave WWE in the near future, it could be easier for WWE to instead allow him to switch to the Tuesday night show rather than accepting that he could leave the company altogether.
SmackDown this week completely blew Raw out of the water especially with the announcement that John Cena will face AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship at No Mercy in four weeks.
Raw presents Clash of Champions in less than two weeks time and have already announced their main event for the show which sees Kevin Owens defending his WWE Universal Championship against Seth Rollins.
With Finn Balor’s recent injury and the fact that John Cena is set to leave WWE for a few months again after No Mercy it could be a great way for the rosters to be able to share talent that they don’t necessarily need.
There are many superstars aside from Jack Swagger, on both the Raw and SmackDown rosters that WWE are having problems fitting into the current scripts. This means that they could easily transfer them over to the opposite brand and allow them to have a much lengthier career.
The fact that Jack Swagger has been switched over to SmackDown leaves an open position on the Raw roster. WWE are yet to announce whether or not they are yet to fill that position or if instead, they are going to allow Swagger to leave without bringing in a replacement.
During WWE original brand split the superstars were only allowed to switch rosters as part of a draft or they could appear on the opposite show if they were building up a Pay-per-view view match like the annual five-on-five matches at Survivor Series.
This week’s episode of Raw will see the debut of ten Cruiserweight superstars as the brand officially unveils their Cruiserweight Division, which means that it is quite likely that Raw could transfer many more of their superstars over to SmackDown in order to make room for the new stars that are coming through.
It was slightly unfair that Raw were given three draft picks over the two that SmackDown had, especially when it’s factored in that Raw has gained an entire division and ten new superstars as well. This could be WWE’s way of correcting the mistake and allowing the brands to be competing on the same level.
Smackdown is doing well without any help from Raw even though Backlash was announced as the shortest WWE pay-per-view in more than five years after the run time was revealed at just over two and a half hours. This isn’t a great start to the new brand exclusive events, but the fact that the feedback from the show was mostly positive seems to balance out the overall reviews of the show.
Raw take center stage next as they present Clash of Champions on September 25th, it will be interesting to see how Raw’s newest recruits will fit into their first pay-per-view event.
so far, Backlash was the best PPV of the year. I will be at No Mercy.