WWE Superstar Shakeup roster changes, title change on Raw

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Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/04/16/wwe-superstar-shakeup-roster-changes-title-change-on-raw/

Monday’s episode of Raw was the first night of the Superstar Shakeup with roster moves scheduled for both Raw and SmackDown Live this week.

The show from Hartford kicked off with the arrival of United States champion Jinder Mahal and Sunil Singh to the show. Mahal was immediately put into a match with Jeff Hardy and lost the title.

Sasha Banks and Bayley had their match interrupted by The Riott Squad with the three women laying out Banks and Bayley. Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan are all coming to Raw.

There was also an angle on Miz TV where it was explained that Stephanie McMahon has overruled Kurt Angle and signed Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to Raw, despite fighting for jobs last week and failing. The segment ended with Kurt Angle announcing that The Miz is going to SmackDown Live while Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel are staying on Raw. They also teased Miz going to SmackDown for an eventual program with Daniel Bryan, which is an obvious program if both remain on the same show after this week.

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Tyler Breeze and Fandango appeared in a backstage segment with The Bar and issued them tickets.

In a backstage segment with Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey, Natalya was introduced as the latest addition to the women’s roster on Raw and appears to be a babyface after the switch. They acknowledged Rousey and Natalya training together and presented them as friends during the segment.

Dolph Ziggler came out to announce he was back on Raw and was interrupted by Titus Worldwide. Titus offered Ziggler a spot in the group and Ziggler announced he didn’t come to Raw alone, which led to Drew McIntyre storming the ring and attacking Titus and Apollo. The segment ended with Ziggler and McIntyre hitting a combination Zig Zag and Claymore kick to Apollo. McIntyre got a big reaction and the audience chanted his name by the end of the segment.

There was a video feature that ran promoting that Baron Corbin is coming to Raw.

It was announced on WWE.com that Mojo Rawley, Zack Ryder, Mike Kanellis & Chad Gable are being moved over to Raw.

They announced on Instagram that The Ascension have moved to Raw as well.

In the main event ten-men tag, the mystery participant in the match was revealed to be Bobby Roode, who teamed with Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley to face The Miz, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.

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New grand slam champion (modern format) for Jeff Hardy and 3MB all on the same show!

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These “Trades” are mostly are mid carders or lower, very disappointed.

Also McIntyre should stay the hell away from Dolph, the guy is duller then dishwater!

(And I guess we have our first couple breakup, Nattie on RAW & Kidd working behind the scenes on SmackDown)

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So now I’m so happy that I’m just going to the smackdown tapings in 2 weeks since it’s going to be the last time this year that I’m going to be able to see the smackdown crew live this year. The fact is, which ever show gets Owens and Zayn is the brand we’re getting in Montreal every time they do a live event.

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Graves: “Bullet Club is for everyone!”

Cole: “That’s Bãlor Club.”

Graves: “That’s what I said, I’m so excited.”

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Funniest shit on raw tonight

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Baron Corbin’s bellybutton is finally going to the A-show

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Wonder if Chad Gable rejoins Jason Jordan when he returns down the line…

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After watching tonight’s Raw I had no choice to voice my displeasure in the first night of the superstar shake up. It was very predictable that Bobby Roode was the mystery partner and the crowd couldn’t have cared less. No pop for his hot tag or offense. Oh and in the past the new guy would usually go over to establish his “top” spot however the most over guy Braun got the pin instead. Lol. Great booking WWE. They should have had roode team with Dolph and Drew make the main event surprise but that would have not made sense with Kurt’s first ever Raw Debut Line. Too many midcarders on roster too. Time for some cuts. I know Raw is 3 hours but do we really need to sit through the possibility of Titus worldwide vs breezango or Dallas/Axel vs Heath and Rhyno??? I mean honestly all these guys, talented with the right push, could be cut tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss em. Same with ascension, mojo, and Ryder, yes your time is long past up. I guess to fill a 50 man royal rumble they need these guys but after that I would be saying bye bye.

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LOL only rasslin fans can feign sympathy when mass talent cuts happens, but want this person and that person fired every other day of the year.

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Smackdown already won the draft. They shed Ziggler, Corbin, and Mahal.
They kept AJ, Shinsuke, Randy, Bryan and their good tag teams.
They’re going to pick up the IC or US champ. Plus they got the Miz.

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I thought they were going to focus on 5 or 6 acts moving to each show but they decided to move half of SmackDown’s roster over… A bit ridiculous in my opinion especially when you also have the call ups.

And Raw’s tag division was nothing before the draft and it’s nothing after the draft. Thought for sure New Day or The Usos were going to move over but instead the 2 jobber tag teams from SmackDown moved over.

The Miz & probably Jeff Hardy to SmackDown already known. If you add The Revival and Finn Balor to that who aren’t doing anything on Raw then SmackDown looks very good. With Natalya & Riott Squad joining Raw, we’re bound to see at least two women move over to SmackDown. One of Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville (hopefully not both) and one of Sasha Banks/Bayley/Asuka.

Still think the draft (involving 5/6 acts moving each way) should’ve been done after Backlash with the fallout from WrestleMania being dealt with and then have the NXT call ups after Summer Slam. Would work a lot better than the clusterfuck way they’re doing it.

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