Grading Raw's divisions before and after the Superstar Shake Up
The Superstar Shake Up has officially come and gone. WWE hit a reset button throughout the entire main roster. With some big moves, superstars that were once the staples of certain shows, like AJ Styles on SmackDown and Roman Reigns on Raw, found new homes.
WWE needed to refresh both rosters and by switching a number of superstars between both shows, depth was added to some divisions that needed it while a few were actually hurt more than helped by some of the roster moves.
Another big factor that played into this year's shake up was SmackDown's move to Fox in the Fall. WWE wants to amp SmackDown up as much as possible now that more eyes than ever before would be on its product once they leave USA and join Fox.
In order to gauge which divisions on which shows improved or declined, I considered mainly which superstars both left and joined each show. While Styles and Reigns essentially cancel each other out in terms of top faces, a lot of moves in the middles of the rosters will actually help each show from top to bottom.
With that being said, I'm ranking the divisions based on the performers added and lost rather than on the storylines that were taking place before the Shake Up. The storylines might be referenced, but not graded. Some superstar departures hurt more than others and those losses will be reflected in the grades.
Tag Team Division
Added - the Usos and Viking Raiders to the Revival, Breezango, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins, Lucha House Party, Ascension and Authors of Pain
Lost - Chad Gable and Bobby Roode (broke up), B-Team moved to SmackDown
Grade Before - D
Grade After- C
If there was one division throughout all of WWE that needed desperately to improve, it was Raw's Tag Team division. While some formidable teams did exist last year in AOP, the duo of Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, and Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, the latter two teams were paired together based on storyline and were going to be disbanded at some point shortly after their pairing.
Due to that fact, it hurt the division more than WWE might have anticipated. Factor that in with losses of teams due to injuries (Deleters of Worlds, AOP) and lack of credibility (Ascension) and the division was left with a lot of work to do. The Revival was grossly underused and could have helped carry things, but teams like Gable and Roode, the B-Team and Ryder and Hawkins were booked better.
Only one of those teams remains but with the additions of the Usos and the Viking Raiders, things should steadily improve. It's still a division that could use a lot of help, but it's in better shape now than it was before the Superstar Shake Up.