WWE Teases Post-WrestleMania Superstar Shake-Up on RAW

With all of the noise surrounding Roman Reigns’ suspension, Brock Lesnar’s playing hooky, and John Cena challenging the Undertaker, you may have missed WWE teasing a Superstar Shake-Up.

In a backstage segment with Kurt Angle, an incensed Cesaro and Sheamus argued that RAW was no longer a good place for them to be. With that established, Sheamus thought it was time for a little rumor-mongering and mentioned to angle that he had heard whispers of WWE enacting another Superstar Shake-Up after WrestleMania. While Angle didn’t make much of it, the seed had already been planted.

Sheamus’ Freudian slip echoes a report from February that asserted WWE would host a full-scale draft at Backlash—the pay-per-view right after WrestleMania. So while Sheamus may have corroborated the timeline, there’s a considerable difference between a Superstar Shake-Up and a draft.

The last Superstar Shake-Up came in April of 2017 and drastically altered the chemistry of both RAW and SmackDown. However, a draft would be WWE hitting the reset button. If this proves to be true, Backlash would be the first draft since July 2016.

Since that decisive brand split, both RAW and SmackDown have seen success, with the Tuesday night show occasionally topping RAW in weekly ratings. A lot of that has to do with SmackDown feeling like a different, more wrestling oriented, show. The stripped down program features a lighter roster in terms of blockbuster names with the biggest stars not even being active wrestlers (Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan). Per usual, the narrative to follow is how much favoritism will WWE show to RAW over SmackDown in the draft.

This is a story that has plenty of smoke—probably too much to ignore. Toss in Seth Rollins teasing to leave RAW for SmackDown in a recent promo with Kurt Angle and we officially have a trend.

Backlash marks a logical launching point, too. Given that it will be the first pay-per-view after WrestleMania it’s the perfect time for WWE to start over. While WWE technically doesn’t have an offseason, getting past WrestleMania is the closest thing WWE gets to starting a new season. The draft/Superstar Shake Up is a great way to spark excitement as both RAW and SmackDown will have entirely new casts.

This story will continue to develop, but it will remain background music until WrestleMania 34 shuts off its camera. However, once May gets here, the rumors and reports will really start to churn.