During the most recent episode of Smackdown, WWE continued its Superstar Shakeup which traded wrestlers between the blue and red brands. We already saw a few Smackdown stars go to Raw during the first night of trades, and the Tuesday night show got some Raw superstars of their own, including a couple surprise returns.
Here are the major shakeups from this week’s Smackdown. It includes the United States Championship returning to the Tuesday night show, as well as quite a few NXT callups, including the former NXT Champion. If you want a recap of Monday’s events, check out our roundup of Raw‘s Superstar Shakeup.
Smackdown started with Shelton Benjamin coming to the ring alone, as Chad Gable was moved to Raw. He says Gable needed him, and now Benjamin needs a challenge. The newly-crowned United States Champion Jeff Hardy comes out as the first move in the Superstar Shakeup.
A little later, there was an announcement that Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose will be coming over to Smackdown; hopefully, Paige will continue to be involved with them. Sadly, there goes my dream super-stable idea of “Absolute Riott.”
Later on, Sin Cara was waiting for his opponent and in walks Samoa Joe. After destroying Sin Cara, Joe cuts a promo calling Smackdown “the land of handouts.” He says he’ll beat Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles. In addition, he makes some comments about the Intercontinental Championship and fighting Roman Reigns, both staples of Raw.
During a commercial break, a Sanity promo ran. The NXT stable is apparently coming soon. There’s no indication as to which members will come over, but hopefully, it will be all four, which will help the single, tag, and women’s divisions. It appears that won’t be the case as Nikki Cross was not in the promotional image for Sanity.
Daniel Bryan was talking to Renee Young, and Big Cass returned–after being out due to injury for eight months–to ask him, “You’re what all the fuss is about?” Cass later came out and beat up Bryan during his match.
During a match between Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. The Iconics (I’m not writing them as The IIconics), Asuka came out to help Charlotte and Lynch. I guess this is a surprise? Most fans, like myself, just assumed Asuka was already on the Smackdown roster after her battle with Charlotte at Wrestlemania.
A promo video ran for the Good Brothers, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. They are now a part of the Smackdown brand. Sadly, Finn Balor is staying on Raw, so there will be no Bullet Club reunion with AJ Styles.
The Bar announces they’re coming over to Smackdown to take on the tag division, and very shortly afterwards, R-Truth shows up, confused as to where he is. According to a tweet from WWE, he’s now on Smackdown.
During a wrap-up for all the new superstars on Smackdown, former NXT Champion Andrade Almas was announced he’s coming to the Tuesday night show along with Zelina Vega.
