WWE announced on Monday the 2018 Superstar Shake-up will take place during the April 16 episode of Monday Night Raw and continue the following night on SmackDown Live.
The Shake-up has replaced the WWE Draft in recent years, as the general managers and commissioners for both rosters trade wrestlers from one show to the other.
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It’s that time again… The #SuperstarShakeup BEGINS next Monday on #RAW! #RAWAfterMania pic.twitter.com/7ujoUfzLlP
— WWE (@WWE) April 10, 2018
WWE announced back in 2016 that it was reinforcing the brand split between its Monday and Tuesday shows, with two-thirds of the roster and the cruiserweights going to Raw while the remaining one-third since SmackDown.
The 2017 Shake-up saw the Intercontinental Championship and United States Championship switch brands with then-champions Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens. Other major switches included Bray Wyatt, The Miz and Alexa Bliss moving to Raw while Sami Zayn, Charlotte Flair, Rusev, Jinder Mahal and The New Day jumped to the Blue Brand.
The announcement was just one of many major stories that broke on Monday, as the Raw after WrestleMania continues its yearly trend of being one of the most interesting episodes of the year.
The show saw four wrestlers from NXT make their jump to main roster as Ember Moon helped Nia Jax win a tag team match against Alexa Bliss and Mickie James, the Authors of Pain squashed Heath Slater and Rhyno and No Way Jose led a conga line down to the ring before quickly beating a local jobber.
A pair of previously injured stars made left their mark on the show as well. Samoa Joe interrupted a Roman Reigns promo to challenge him to a match at the Backlash pay-per-view in May while Jeff Hardy returned from rotator cuff surgery to help Finn Balor and Seth Rollins defeat The Miz and Miztourage in the main event.
And even though it was spoiled ahead of time accidentally by the production team, Bobby Lashley returned to the WWE for the first time in a decade on Monday night, interrupting an Elias promo and beating down The Drifter with ease.
Matches for the upcoming Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia also began to take shape. The Revival will face Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt in a tag match next week and the winner will go on to wrestle The Bar at the event for the vacated Raw Tag Team Championships, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar will meet in a rematch of WrestleMania 34 and Seth Rollins will put his Intercontinental Championship on the line in a four-way ladder match.
