Four Feuds To Watch Out After WWE Superstar Shakeup

Author: Lou Anguila

The 2019 Superstar Shakeup has seen arguably the most balanced switching of talents in WWE ever since the event began in 2017. For the first time, SmackDown Live doesn’t look like a highway robbery victim. In fact, a strong argument can be made that the Blue Brand even got a massive upgrade in talent because of the influx of bona fide superstars coming in.

Believe or not, this year’s Superstar Shakeup is executed just fine. It’s not perfect. Sure, there were few hiccups, missed call-ups and broken stables here and there, but we can’t complain with what just happened. The important thing is that talents appear to be equally allocated between RAW and SmackDown brands. Their men’s, women’s and tag-team divisions look really deep from top to bottom, paving the way for intriguing storylines and fresh feuds to come.

Speaking of feuds, the stage is set for several fantasy showdowns to become reality, now that the key players are on different brands. We are talking about monumental matches here featuring the likes of Becky Lynch, A.J Styles, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor and more. The possibility is limitless with these brand new rosters as long as WWE creative is on the money with their story-telling.

So without further ado, here are top feuds to watch out after the Superstar Shakeup.

Kofi Kingston vs. Kevin Owens
Let’s start with the obvious, and that’s Kingston-Owens program for the WWE heavyweight championship. If you watched SmackDown Live last April 16, you already know by now that Kevin Owens has just become an honorary member of the New Day, filling the void left by injured mainstay Big E.

Honestly, Kevin Owens seems to fit as a New Day member. He’s goofiness is so genuine you wouldn’t have a hard time to believe that he’s 100 percent all in with his new role. However, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are totally oblivious to the fact the Owens is just deceiving them. He did not join the team to protect Kingston, he became a New Day to screw the New Day.

Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles
Now, this is a very exciting showdown between two of the best workers in WWE. Rollins has once again reached the pinnacle of pro-wrestling by beating Brock Lesnar to wrest the WWE Universal championship. And with Roman Reigns now on SmackDown, Rollins can officially call himself the face of Monday Night RAW.

Unfortunately for him, he will have some worthy competition for that moniker. AJ Styles has returned to RAW as part of the Superstar Shakeup after three phenomenal years in SmackDown Live. In his first night on RAW, the two-time WWE champion teamed up with Rollins and Reigns to beat the heel trio of Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre.

At the moment, it seems that Styles will stay as a babyface until the right time comes. I feel WWE will slowly build this feud until it fully erupts around SummerSlam. For those people lobbying for a WrestleMania match between the two, it won’t probably happen since Rollins is booked to face Reigns at WrestleMania 36 unless the McMahons change their minds.

Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan hasn’t appeared on SmackDown Live since losing the title to Kingston at Wrestlemania 35. Reports indicated that he suffered an injury during the match, and WWE is trying to keep the information of the injury undisclosed.

We are praying that Bryan’s brain injury did not recur, but WWE’s decision to keep the injury closely guarded warrants a heightened concern. We really hope he’s just fine because the perfect time for him to start a feud with Roman Reigns has finally arrived.

SmackDown, the brand dubbed as the B Show of WWE, no longer appears like it now that the Big Dog is in town. A potential program involving Reigns and Bryan is going to be fascinating to watch, with or without a title on the line. There’s no doubt that Bryan’s heel work would shine more on this one, capitalizing on Reigns as a polarizing figure.

Heck, we wouldn’t be surprised if Bryan makes this feud a bit more personal by bringing up Reigns’ miraculous recovery from leukemia. And now that Reigns is making his movie debut, alongside The Rock, there might be shots fired in that direction too. We feel these two wrestlers are made for each other and we are in for a treat if this feud lives up to expectations.

Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
Enough of Lacy Evans. Enough of Ember Moon. What we want from WWE is to start planting the seeds for the feud between ‘the Man’ Becky Lynch and ‘the Boss’ Sasha Banks.

Lynch, who currently holds the RAW and SmackDown women’s championships, is working double time in defending the belts between the two brands. Lacy Evans has already become the No.1 contender for the RAW women’s championship after pinning Natalia last April 15. On the other hand, SmackDown hasn’t named yet a worthy challenger for Lynch but many believes it would be a toss-up between Bayley, Ember Moon and Asuka.

As for Banks, multiple news outlets are reporting that she is in a self-imposed hiatus as a protest for the way WWE handled her career over the last two years. The final straw apparently happened at WrestleMania 35, when she and Bayley lost the women’s tag-team titles to the IIconics. Banks reportedly asked for her release and unfollowed all social media pages concerning WWE, including the Twitter page of Vince McMahon. Speculations of Banks lobbying for her exit even increased when she followed every Twitter page affiliated with All Elite Wrestling.

We don’t know what’s going to happen with Sasha Banks, but pro-wrestling insider Dave Meltzer reported that WWE is doing the best they can to keep one of the company’s top female power horses. The decision to break the cheesy ‘Boss and Hug connection’ is a positive step towards pushing Banks back to the title picture. She desperately needs to recapture that old fire, the edgy character fans rooted for in 2016. Honestly, the best way to pull it off is for Banks to become a full-blown heel.

At next month’s Money in the Bank, WWE has a golden opportunity to make Banks relevant again. By letting her win the Money in the Bank briefcase, Banks would establish herself as legitimate threat to Lynch’s dynasty in the women’s division. If you somehow stumbled upon old tapes from NXT, then you already know how good of a villain Banks was during her run there.

We have no doubts that Banks can pull it once more. Don’t get us wrong, Charlotte was great as a heelish character to Lynch last year. However, our money is on Banks to even surpass Flair in that role. She’s the perfect anti-thesis to the Man’s badass character.