2. New & Revitalized Faces
Ever since the brand split, AJ Styles has been on fire. He is the “face that runs the place” considering Cena is part-timing it now. He is a fresh face as champion and they perfectly used his rivalry with John Cena to establish him as a credible champion. He’s been a great and his work with James Ellsworth has been awesome as well. It’s been great watching Smackdown and not seeing Cena or Orton on every week but still delivering good/great programming.
Raw crowned Kevin Owens their Universal Champion, which was the right way to go after Balor went down but across the board the same faces are there. New Day, Charlotte, Roman Reigns… it’s repetitive.
Smackdown has rejuvenated Dolph Ziggler by giving him a very nice rivalry with Miz, who has also elevated himself. They even turned Heath Slater into a cool face who actually matters and made him tag team champion with Rhyno.
Part of it is forced because Smackdown and Raw have their rosters and Raw has more established superstars whereas Smackdown has to build more of them. However, Smackdown has done a great job at using their entire roster especially in the women’s division to help move the program along.