WWE Canceled Huge Plans to Move Carmella to ‘Raw’ During the ‘Superstar Shakeup’
Carmella has been establishing herself as a WWE Superstar on SmackDown, but there were potential plans in the works for her to move to Raw during the “Superstar Shakeup” to reunite with some old friends. WWE officials surprised many people when “The Princess of Staten Island” was brought to the main roster during the brand extension last year. Since then, she has been booked as a heel on SmackDown in some big feuds.
The Miz and Maryse may have been given the huge rivalry with John Cena and Nikki Bella at Wrestlemania 33, but it was actually Carmella who exposed Nikki’s relationship with Cena on WWE programming for the first time during their feud. Bella vs. Carmella became extremely personal on SmackDown for a few months, which helped establish the brash young star against a top veteran. Carmella has been a solid heel ever since.
More recently, she has formed an on-screen “relationship” with James Ellsworth. It was an interesting idea to put them together on WWE television. At the time, Ellsworth was red-hot with the WWE fans. His role on SmackDown had changed a bit. WWE probably thought he would be a good heater for Carmella. As solid as Carmella has been for the “blue brand,” there were some big plans to move her to Raw that didn’t pan out.
During her time in WWE developmental, Carmella had an interesting run in NXT. Originally, she was a new heel with more attitude than substance and the NXT fans strongly disliked her. Eventually, she was aligned with Enzo and Big Cass to some lukewarm reactions. Over time, the NXT Universe lightened up to her. She became a fun character, whose in-ring abilities continued to improve at the WWE Performance Center.
After Enzo and Big Cass had debuted on the main roster after Wrestlemania 32, Carmella was intentionally kept in NXT to establish herself on her own. Her singles run in NXT wasn’t anything great, but WWE must have seen enough to bring her to SmackDown during the brand extension. Now, she’s fully established herself as her own character, but WWE officials were strongly considering reuniting her with Enzo and Cass last week.
Unfortunately, WWE didn’t pull the trigger. Mickie James was moved to Raw instead of Carmella. The logic was to add another veteran to the Raw Women’s division and WWE officials decided that there’s more work to be done with Carmella on SmackDown. She hasn’t been featured as strongly for the brand since the feud with Nikki Bella came to an end. The powers that be likely want to see more before moving her to Raw.
There was some speculation about Enzo and Big Cass moving to SmackDown Live as well. However, WWE has decided to keep them separate for the time being. Carmella will reunite with Enzo and Cass eventually, but there are some big questions that WWE officials would need to answer if they were to reunite right now.
For instance, Enzo and Cass are strong babyfaces. Carmella is a solid heel in the women’s division. Bringing the trio back together would likely result in the latter turning babyface on WWE programming, which would ignore all the work she’s done to establish herself on her own as a heel. The change wouldn’t be organic. It’s not something that is necessary for all three stars to be successful going forward over the coming months.
You can’t teach the chemistry Carmella has with Big Cass and Enzo Amore. Eventually, WWE will bring the three of them back together for a run. Next time, Carmella won’t just be a valet for the tag team. In the long run, she will be established as a performer on her own, which will make their next run more meaningful.
[Featured Image by WWE]
