Monday Night RAW Superstar Shake-Up Review

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Wrestlemania is behind us. The RAW After Mania is behind us. Now we can move forward to building new storylines for next years’ Showcase of the Immortals.

RAW provided the first night of this year’s Superstar Shake-Up.

The Miz

The first to be announced was The Miz as he ran down to lay hands on Shane McMahon as payback for WrestleMania. Last year he was moved from RAW to SmackDown, so this is a bit of a homecoming for him.

Ricochet and Aleister Black

I was hoping Ricochet and Black would part ways after all the talk from the McMahon siblings about how no one is safe, not even tag teams. But …

The Viking Experience (fka War Raiders)

Yup. The announcement that really shook up the show… The War Raiders are now known as The Viking Experience.

The reigning, defending NXT Tag Team Champions known as War Raiders consisting of Hanson and Rowe are now known as THE VIKING EXPERIENCE!

Not only that, but Hanson and Rowe are now Ivar and Erik. What the actual fuck!

The team didn’t show up with their NXT gold, which I’m not a fan of. The crowd still popped for them since they probably thought they misheard the announcement and it probably only sunk in when they were announced again as part of the winning team.

Cedric Alexander

Announced via video package the former Cruiserweight champ is moving from 205 Live to RAW, which is a good move for him. I’m a big Cedric fan. I feel like he could do more than just be relegated to a show no one watches. I hope Buddy Murphy debuts on SmackDown Live tomorrow.

Andrade “Cien” Almas w/ Zelina Vega

I was happy to see Almas on the show. He was in desperate need of a change of scenery. Just to think, last year he was called up to SmackDown from NXT following one of the best NXT matches of all time.

That said… why feed your Intercontinental Champion to him? That made no damn sense. Felt the same way with the tag champs taking the pin in the earlier match with the Bearded Experiencers.

Rey Mysterio

Rey is back on RAW after interrupting the Drifter and laying him out. Rey and Almas on the same brand again tells me it won’t be long before the two become a tag team.

Lars Sullivan

Lars came down and destroyed Mysterio. I guess he’s the new “Legend Killer.” It gives cheap heat and considering his recent struggles, he could use all the heat he can get.

The Usos

I expected this one, but I still popped for it. I freakin’ love the Usos and the RAW tag division needs some hype. None bring more hype than Jimmy and Jey. I’m glad to see them move on from feuding with The New Day.

Naomi

Looks like RAW will start to feel the glow. Naomi made her RAW debut as Sasha Banks’ stunt double teaming with Bayley against the Women’s Tag Team Champions and winning by pinfall over Billie Kay.

Eric Young

Announced via graphic. Not even a mention of his name on commentary. R.I.P. SAnitY.

Lacey Evans

It’s official… Lacey Evans has walked her way onto the RAW roster. Following her announcement, she wrestled Natalya in a number one contender’s match and won despite being carried by Nattie the whole match. We’ll see if The Man can carry her into a decent title match come that time.

AJ Styles

The house that AJ Styles built will now have to deal with an absentee landlord. AJ teamed up with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to go up against Baron Corbin’s mid-card of evil, which I pray to the wrestling gods will be broken up tomorrow on SmackDown Live.

I like the move. AJ needs a bit of a reboot (and a haircut).

As of this writing, those are the names of the superstars that have moved onto RAW. We’ll see what changes tomorrow. I am expecting some big names moving over to SmackDown Live in preparation for the show’s big money move to Fox.

What did you think of this year’s post-Mania Superstar Shake-Up? Let us know in the comments below.