The Superstar Shake-Up rolled on into SmackDown LIVE as they would have another night live in Montreal, Quebec for a night full of surprises. All the hype would go into the Vince McMahon announcement where he would introduce the greatest acquisition in the history of SmackDown LIVE. It may people wonder all day long, throw thoughts around in their head and we finally have the answer. So knowing that, let’s get started with the highlights:
New Day Welcomes Big O
SmackDown kicked off with the hometown favorite, Kevin Owens, heading to the ring for his special “KO Show”. He would play to the crowd much like Sami Zayn the night prior, but this time around he wouldn’t turn his back on them. Owens was clearly loving the hometown reception before his guests were welcomed. Ultimately, it would be announced that his guests would be none other than the WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. They would get into the ring and it would be a love fest from the start. Owens and the Montreal crowd would give Kingston a standing ovation for finally winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. The three would quickly discuss the Shake-Up and how Kofi has a new challenger coming, which would lead to Xavier Woods hilariously getting angered about all of his UpUpDownDown friends were sent to Raw leaving him alone, even demanding Tyler Breeze to be on SmackDown by the end of the night. Owens would then bring up how The New Day was missing a piece of the puzzle here, as Big E was not there due to injury which had been announced last week. Owens would then offer that he becomes the third member of The New Day, being known as “Big O”. Kingston and Woods would ask if he was really up to the task, could he dance like E? Throw pancakes? Owens would answer by swiveling his hips, and to the love of the crowd, would become the honorary member for the night and in battle.
After plenty of antics through the night between the three, Owens would be a temporary member of New Day as they battled Cesaro, Rusev, and Shinsuke Nakamura. Owens would hop on the mic and do Big E’s usually beginning to their entrance, and while it wasn’t as good as the original, it was still impressive.
The match would get underway as the New Day would do their signature Unicorn Stampede even including Owens. As the match would come to a close, Owens would save Kofi who had been locked into a sharpshooter by hitting a superkick, then they would team up to get Owens the chance to hit the Stunner on Rusev for the victory. It was an interesting team up, but one thing is clear, Kevin Owens isn’t going to be going away when it comes to the WWE Championship.
Big E also wasn’t too happy about it:
#SDLive pic.twitter.com/O9MfRK6sxU
— Ettore “Big E” Ewen (@WWEBigE) April 17, 2019
What can this lead to is the real question. Some problems in New Day after all this time?
Reigns Shuts Down Vince and Elias
Vince McMahon finally was out at the end of the show to welcome the biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE history to the show. He’d say how he was going to bring SmackDown to new heights, change the game completely. And without any more lead up, he would introduce Elias. Elias was officially on SmackDown LIVE and brought up how he questioned many decisions in the past couple weeks since he continued to get interrupted, but after everything he said he’s happy to hear it. He would try to bless the Montreal crowd by having them Walk With Elias, but before he could, the true biggest acquisition in SmackDown LIVE history occurred. Roman Reigns was officially a part of the blue brands roster after being on Raw for years, letting everyone know this was his show now. He would hit Elias with a Superman Punch, and even the boss with one for good measure. He would declare SmackDown as his yard now, and would leave his mark big time. He would finally hit Elias with a thunderous Spear and it was certainly a sight to see “The Big Dog” on SmackDown LIVE. What can the future hold for him? We will certainly see.
SmackDown LIVE MVP: Asuka & Kairi Sane
For a long time now, SmackDown has been missing a true women’s division. Sure, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair as your top two is never a bad thing, however after that there was a lot to be desired. The Shake-Up allows new possibilities however, as Becky 2 Belts stood in the middle of the ring, a line of challengers would come out to make their name known. First, it would be the returning Ember Moon, making the move from Raw ready to step up after not getting the opportunity prior. Following Ember would be Bayley, who said she’s now a singles competitor and is leaving the hugs behind on Raw. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, The IIconics, would join the fold again, bringing up how they took those championships from Bayley and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania. Finally after a week of waiting, Paige would make her way out to introduce her new team. As we all got prepared, it would be… Fire N Desire? The former Absolution members Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose would come out right as Paige was ready to introduce her group. Paige would laugh it off and say that isn’t my team. She would first introduce former NXT Women’s Champion and former SmackDown Women’s Champion, Asuka. And then, to everyone’s happiness, Kairi Sane would make her main roster debut as Asuka’s partner and directed by Paige. They would head to the ring which would all lead to an 8 women tag.
The tag as always was a mess, but as the match came to a close, it showed how much of a force Asuka and Sane would be together. Kairi would take out Billie Kay with a devastating spinning back fist. Asuka would do the same on Peyton Royce and for the first time on SmackDown LIVE, Kairi Sane would hit her signature InSane Elbow for the three count and the victory, pinning the Women’s Tag team Champion in the process. SmackDown’s women division just took a big-time upgrade and should be fun to see.
The Superstar Shake-Up certainly changed the game in the WWE. Here is the full list, per WWE.com, of who SmackDown added last night:
– Roman Reigns (Raw)
– Finn Balor (Raw)
– Elias (Raw)
– Bayley (Raw)
– Ember Moon (Raw)
– Kairi Sane (NXT call-up)
– Lars Sullivan (NXT call-up)
– Buddy Murphy (205 Live)
– Liv Morgan (Raw)
– Chad Gable (Raw)
– Apollo Crews (Raw)
– Mickie James (Raw)
– Heavy Machinery (NXT call-up)
The moves done on both brands truly shakes up the shows and brings a good dynamic as we head into life after WrestleMania. Looking at this, besides the obvious, it’s fair to think that Buddy Murphy should excel now that he is away from 205 Live and a main competitor. Plenty of matchups to be excited for.
We are on to next week when both rosters can really kick it into high gear and stories can be made. Be sure to come back for the Raw Rundown on Monday.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
