Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
On Friday Night SmackDown, it was mentioned that “the transfer window” will be open soon, allowing talent from all three brands to be shifted around at the start of 2025.
Not many more details have been announced yet, so we’re left to speculate wildly over when this will exactly take place, how many trades can be made, if champions are ineligible, and so on.
We’re going to have a two-parter for this one that will follow up tomorrow about NXT’s role in all of this, but my question for you today is “Which trades strictly between Raw and SmackDown would you make during the transfer window?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
Obviously, this is all a house of cards. One major move can shift everything. For instance, if WWE decides to move Cody Rhodes over to Raw, then by default, Gunther AND Ludwig Kaiser have to go over to SmackDown to balance it out. We can only work under the assumption that minor trades will be made to freshen things up and add more to the rosters, particularly as SmackDown will have a third hour for a few months (if not longer), and will need to expand.
With that in mind, I do have some people in mind who I think could benefit from being swapped around between the red and blue brands.
American Made should go to SmackDown. They would fit in better in the hunt for the United States Championship, and I don’t think Chad Gable is anywhere near in the running to be able to dethrone Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship.
Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and The Street Profits should move to Raw. The Street Profits move because you have to keep Montez Ford with Belair, so unless they split up and it’s just him, the duo has to go. B-Fab doesn’t necessarily have to accompany them. We’ve seen Belair and Cargill against Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, and Candice LeRae, as well as interacting with Bayley and Naomi, far too much. They need fresh opponents. And with #DIY just winning the tag titles, I’d imagine we won’t be seeing The Street Profits getting them any time soon. For the record, I don’t think this is happening. I expect all of them to stay put right where they are.
The Miz could go to SmackDown. Miz & Mrs hasn’t been cancelled from USA, right? I don’t follow the show, so I’m not fully aware. If it has, never mind, but if it hasn’t, then USA will likely want him to stick around on their programming.
Pete Dunne has to get away from Raw and go to SmackDown. I’m not sure if there are greener pastures there for him with the way he’s been booked lately, but a fresh coat of paint could do him some good.
Carmelo Hayes is being wasted on SmackDown. How he isn’t United States champion by now is beyond me. Unless the plan is to put that belt on him by the time WrestleMania 41 is over with, send him to Raw in exchange for Jey Uso, who has done everything he’s going to do with that group and I’m assuming will be involved in Bloodline business for the next few months. Even if he isn’t, Jey against Shinsuke Nakamura is a fresh feud to consider. While I know that’s a heel for a face, I think Breakker needs to turn face soon, so that’s the balancing act.
Kevin Owens should get away from Cody Rhodes and The Bloodline when this feud is over with, hopefully at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Sending him over to Raw, I’d probably feel the need to send Drew McIntyre over to SmackDown to balance it out. Plus, it gets Drew away from CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Sami Zayn.
Maybe Damian Priest needs to move away from The Judgment Day, and SmackDown can send over LA Knight in return?
Most importantly, what WWE should do, is sit down with the full breadth of the 3 rosters in a spreadsheet, properly sort it all out, and make sure it isn’t too one-sided in any facet (men’s singles, women’s division, tag team, heels/faces, top talent and midcarders and enhancement, feuds we haven’t seen yet, plans for WrestleMania and so on). If they just pick a few random people, they’ll be stuck in another rut come Mania season and we’ll all be looking forward to the 2025 WWE Draft to bail them out.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!