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Which WWE wrestlers could be traded after WrestleMania 33?

Friday’s Rude Awakening looks at hypothetical roster trades, Alexa Bliss opening up, and the lack of women’s merch in WWE.

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We publish a whole lot of content here at Cageside Seats. We’re also [looks around and whispers so the bosses can’t hear] not the only place producing wrestling content on the internet. So, as a service to you on the weekdays, we’ll be producing a wrestling newsletter, "Rude Awakening." Well, it will be a newsletter eventually: for now, it’ll just be part of your experience here at Cageside, collecting the news, recaps, and social moments from the greater wrestling universe daily so you won’t fall behind, with a newsletter format to come.

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The rosters WWE created from the 2016 brand split draft aren’t mean to stay the same forever. We’ve already seen some minor switching — Jack Swagger from RAW to SmackDown, Undertaker factoring far more into Monday’s plans than Tuesday’s — and now WWE is teasing potential moves in the future. WWE.com’s bit of fun came right before recent rumors that there would likely be some roster shake ups following WrestleMania 33 — that would be a few months before the draft, and help keep things interesting following some stories being wrapped up on the respective brands at Mania.

Who could be moved, though? Well, hypothetically, anyone could be, but let’s try to figure out a few names that make sense right after Mania. Two obvious ones are Cesaro and Sami Zayn — Cesaro himself was disappointed to be drafted to RAW and wanted to go to SmackDown, and many fans felt the same way given it was a show promising opportunity for those who had been looked over. Zayn was in a story that looked as if it were leading to him being traded to SmackDown until it turned out RAW GM Mick Foley was just trying to motivate him. It’s easy to see either performer switching to Tuesdays and working their way to the main event rather than the mid-card of RAW.

Maybe Dean Ambrose could go to Mondays in order to give us a Shield reunion at some point, but it seems more likely Ambrose would just show up at a Big Four event for whatever it is the Shield would potentially be doing together, anyway. RAW is still the flagship show, so moving AJ Styles to Mondays might be in the cards — the problem there is that a massive talent from RAW would need to move to SmackDown to fill that void, especially with John Cena reportedly taking time off after Mania. It’s maybe more likely that someone like Kalisto leaves SmackDown to head to RAW, where he can join the cruiserweight division like Neville already has. Figuring out which women could switch brands is difficult, given how intertwined SmackDown’s division is combined with Nikki Bella’s reported time off after Mania, but Summer Rae, if healthy, would be a fun addition to Tuesdays to help fill that void. After all, SmackDown is about opportunities, and Summer has excelled at whatever WWE has thrown her way.

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