The landscapes of WWE and the entire industry are changing rapidly. In just 5 weeks time, NXT will be airing on the USA Network live each week for 2 hours in prime time. SmackDown is moving to network television, giving WWE programming its largest platform ever. Then there’s the upcoming launch of AEW on TNT, dragging WWE back on to the battle field.
WWE held a Superstar Shakeup back in April, which reshuffled the rosters of Raw and SmackDown. However, this year’s Shakeup had a minimal impact on the makeup of the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Almost immediately, WWE blurred the lines between Rw and SmackDown by having superstars showing up on both shows. WWE eventually announced a Wild Card rule to justify the crossovers, but it’s been a futile effort.
Ahead of SmackDown moving to Fox and NXT moving to USA, there has been talk of WWE going back to a ‘hard brand split.’ According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE officials are discussing holding a WWE Draft in September to give Raw and SmackDown more-defined rosters:
“Right now there is a concept of another draft type of thing to build permanent Raw and Smackdown rosters. What we were originally told is that they wouldn’t be making major changes, but some changes, but this is Vince. Everything is being kept quiet and USA and FOX will be the first to know when the concept is decided.”
It will be interesting to see if this proposed idea comes to fruition. Over the past week or so, a few WWE Superstars have teased or outright stated their intentions to get more involved with NXT. Cesaro will attend this weekend’s NXT UK Takeover: Cardiff PPV. The Viking Raiders are vowing to wreak havoc in NXT once again. NXT is gearing up for a war against AEW, so expect to see that roster get infused with some Raw and SmackDown talent in the near future.
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