*OFFICIAL* "Superstar Shake-Up" Raw Discussion Thread: 16th April 2018

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One week after NXT Superstars Ember Moon, No Way Jose and The Authors of Pain rocked the foundations of Monday Night Raw, the red brand gets shaken up again in the 2018 Superstar Shake-up, when Raw Superstars will move to SmackDown LIVE and vice versa.

Will Braun Strowman’s path of destruction take him to Team Blue? Might we see SmackDown LIVE stalwarts like Shinsuke Nakamura or Becky Lynch join the red brand? Which teams will be split up, and which alliances will be re-forged? The Superstar Shake-up begins on Raw and continues the following night on SmackDown LIVE, and you won’t want to miss a moment.

Due to Braun Strowman’s tag team partner Nicholas’ scheduling conflicts — he’s in fourth grade, after all — the newly crowned Raw Tag Team Champions were forced to relinquish their titles, prompting Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to schedule a Tag Team Eliminator to determine who will battle former champions The Bar in Saudi Arabia at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble.

2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal Winner “Woken” Matt Hardy successfully teamed with former nemesis Bray Wyatt to defeat Titus Worldwide last week, while The Revival conquered Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson on the same night. Tonight, Raw’s Woken tandem will take on the “Top Guys” for the right to challenge The Bar on April 27, live on WWE Network. Who will advance?

Things have been tense between longtime friends Bayley and Sasha Banks in recent weeks, and even though they clashed in the first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, there’s still a lot of unfinished business between them.

After The Huggable One inadvertently attacked The Boss during Banks’ match against Mandy Rose, Bayley and Sasha will battle one-on-one on Raw in Hartford, Conn. Will this bout mark the end of their friendship, or will it signal the beginning of their reconciliation?

In an impressive WrestleMania debut, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey teamed with Kurt Angle to defeat Stephanie McMahon & Triple H, doing some serious damage to the Raw Commissioner’s left arm in the process.

When Stephanie attempted to “befriend” Ronda and put the WWE “machine” behind The Baddest Woman on the Planet, Rousey saw through the façade and went to work on Stephanie’s arm once again, further damaging the injured limb.

The McMahons aren’t known for taking disrespect lightly, so what awaits Ronda when she enters Raw tonight?

After getting physically mauled by Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania, Roman Reigns was the recipient of a verbal assault by Samoa Joe the following night on Raw.

Claiming that The Beast “exposed” Reigns as a “failure,” The Samoan Submission Machine revealed that after Lesnar once again conquers The Big Dog in their Universal Championship Steel Cage Match at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27, Reigns will face further punishment at the hands of Joe at WWE Backlash on May 6.

How will Reigns respond?

Social media erupted last Monday night when Bobby Lashley returned to WWE, interrupting Elias and laying out the sinister songsmith with an incredible stalling suplex.

Surely, this powerhouse didn’t re-emerge to simply spare the WWE Universe from Elias’ latest disrespectful tune. In an interview with WWE.com after his return, Lashley claimed he had “unfinished business” and that he aimed to prove he can hang with the intense competition in WWE today. Who will be his first opponent?

Don’t miss the first night of the Superstar Shake-up on Monday Night Raw, tonight!

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The "Superstar Shake-Up" quickly lived up to its name, with many interesting changes, including the newly-drafted United States Champion losing his title to Jeff Hardy.

What I found particularly interesting however, is Dolph Ziggler moving to Raw along with Drew McIntyre (making his return to the main roster, after having been on NXT since returning to WWE). I certainly look forward to how things will progress there.

I wasn't sure how they were going to handle the Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn situation, but having Stephanie McMahon overrule Kurt Angle and give them both Raw contracts as a result is certainly a way that makes sense.