5 WWE Superstars who asked to move brands
Since 2016, WWE Superstars have been assigned to one specific brand – RAW, SmackDown or NXT – and there is usually a storyline reason if they appear on another show.
In 2017, for example, Jason Jordan was revealed to be Kurt Angle’s storyline son. This meant he was able to switch from SmackDown to RAW, but his tag team partner at the time – Chad Gable – had to stay on the blue brand.
Two years later, Becky Lynch won the 2019 Royal Rumble during her time as a SmackDown Superstar. As she initially selected RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey as her WrestleMania 35 opponent, “The Man” was allowed to appear on both RAW and SmackDown.
The brand rules have been extremely lenient since WrestleMania 35, with the 2019 ‘Wild Card Rule’ and 2020 ‘Brand-to-Brand Invitational’ permitting some Superstars to move between shows without much warning.
Now, although specific brand assignments are not as strict as they were between 2016 and 2018, certain Superstars have still asked WWE if they can permanently switch to a different show.
In this article, let’s take a look at five of those Superstars, as well as the reasons why they wanted to move.
#5 Naomi asked to join WWE NXT
Naomi revealed in an interview with Women’s Wrestling Weekly in February 2020 that she requested a move to WWE NXT in early 2019.
At the time, the former Funkadactyl was a member of the WWE SmackDown roster but she had not been involved in a SmackDown Women’s Championship storyline since failing to recapture the title from Natalya in September 2017.
"I asked about a year ago to go down to NXT to work. I just think NXT is awesome. I love NXT and also, the time I wasn't being used much on the main roster, so I was like, 'Dang, can I go down there and just see what I can get into, what could happen, and the talent down there is just so good.'" [H/T POST Wrestling]
The two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion was also keen to work with Bianca Belair, either as her new tag team partner or as her opponent, but she did not end up returning to the brand.
Naomi added that it is a dream of hers to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles with another African-American Superstar – something that has never happened.