It doesn't really mean they're being demoted, but being sent to develop their character. Basically they want the established characters on Raw and they see Smackdown as more of an experimental show. They aren't being paid less by going to Smackdown. I believe it.
But they sent Bray to raw and if anyone needs character development he does. Same with Crews, he has zero character
He's about to lose a feud to Orton, there was no world for his character to develop further on Smackdown. They moved him back to RAW to be what he always has been instead; the guy that builds the feud and loses it. In comparison, a guy like the Miz was given new life, and he can benefit RAW going forward til that momentum dies. And he'll become a Jinder-style jobber on RAW. Smackdown is more experimental, which is why they'll give Aiden English a change to rebuild his character. If he fails, he'll likely get moved to RAW too to eat pins for the mid-card.
Upcoming title plans: The Orton vs Wyatt house of horrors match will be the blow off with Wyatt losing. He won't be taking the belt to RAW. (WWE apparently still doesn't even know what a HoH match is. They sent out a survey asking fans what they wanted to see and it looks like it's gonna be a mess. "fog, creepy noises, etc") Styles and Owens is set for Backlash in May for the US belt. While that feud is going it seems Orton will be in a program with Corbin since it's "to early for Nakamura" Brock will defend the Universal belt against Braun in "June or July" The plan is still Brock vs Roman at Mania next year. So they'll continue to be kept apart.
I love how Braun is doing all the work to end romans life and yet Roman feuds with other randos because he's too big bruh, reminds me of hogan and those big ego dudes back in the day who didn't believe in "feuds"
I mean... not knowing what a House of Horrors match actually is even though it's in a week, Bray obviously going to lose a match he invented and get scuffled to Raw, Corbin/Orton will be a boring feud, that's all pretty bad too.
Honestly Orton /Corbin will put on good matches. He can give Corbin a rub. House Of Horrors is stupid. But seriously AJ/Owens will be awesome.
Orton has been more terrible than usual on promos lately, I cant imagine a feud with Corbin is gonna do either of them any favors. Corbin does well doing the short rebuttal to the guy carrying the promo (Dean, AJ, D-Bry, Ziggler, etc)...theres a reason the Kalisto/Corbin feud was so forgettable.
Match wise, I'm sure it'll be fine, but those promos will be awful unfortunately. AJ/Owens will make up for it at least
I can't remember the last time that I was invested in anything involving Randy as a singles star. He's always really smooth in the ring, but he's just so boring to watch. It's like he doesn't really try
Corbin is literally the only thing I change the channel on smackdown during, they're doing pretty well.
I hope when it's televised he puts a little more power behind it. I like the move itself, but the way he's done it, it looks a little weak
The thing about Seth Rollins is he's so good that a lot of his regular moves would be other people's finishers. I'm surprised he doesn't have a submission finisher, I guess you have to find a mainstay finisher first.
He needs to add the bicycle leg that Kenny did in his version. That said, this strikes me as a bad finisher for Seth for two reasons. One, a knee strike isnt that interesting...Brock, Xavier, etc all do them as normal moves that look more impactful than what Seth did in that video. And two, the dude's been selling knee injuries for the last few months. Now he's throwing knees at his opponent as his finisher? Seems like a man trying to shorten his career in kayfabe. Probably should have gone with the Falcon Arrow, with the Suplex->Falcon Arrow as his super finish
The only effect of the recent bad press on JBL is that he's expected to play a straight babyface commentator on television going forward, at least until these stories start to die off. Sounds about right....