IWE Superstar Shake-Up (2018)
From Iwe
| 2018 IWE Superstar Shake-up | |||
| Dean Ambrose was drafted to Raw along with the Intercontinental Championship | |||
| Sport | Professional wrestling | ||
| Dates | April 16–17, 2018 | ||
| Location | Hartford, Connecticut (April 16; Raw) Providence, Rhode Island (April 17; SmackDown Live) | ||
| League | IWE | ||
| Teams | Raw SmackDown | ||
| |||
The 2018 IWE Superstar Shake-up will be the twelfth IWE draft, produced by the American professional wrestling promotion IWE between the Raw and SmackDown brands. It will be a two-day event, taking place on the April 16 and April 17 episodes of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, respectively, on the USA Network in the United States. Raw will broadcast from Hartford, Connecticut at the XL Center, and SmackDown Live will broadcast from the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
Contents |
[edit] Background
On the April 9 episode of Raw, IWE announced that on the April 16 and April 17 episodes of Raw and SmackDown Live, respectively, the Superstar Shake-up would occur. Instead of a traditional draft, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan have the opportunity to make trades between their respective talent and other deals. The following day on SmackDown, Paige, who announced her in-ring retirement the previous night, replaced Bryan as the SmackDown General Manager as Bryan returned to being a full-time wrestler.
[edit] Selection
[edit] Raw
The following is the list of wrestlers and other personnel who changed brands on the April 16 episode of Raw.
| Pick # | Brand (to) | Employee (Real name) | Role | Brand (from) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raw | Jinder Mahal and Sunil Singh (Jacob Miller with Mike Glueckert) | Male Superstar and Manager | SmackDown | IWE United States Champion |
| 2 | Raw | The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) (Angela Blake, Ravyn Scott, and Sarah Grobel) | Stable | SmackDown | |
| 3 | Raw | Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (Russell Steen and Ryan Sebei) | Tag Team | Free agents | Owens and Zayn were (kayfabe) fired from SmackDown Live on March 20, 2018, and failed to regain their jobs at WrestleMania 34. They also failed to gain Raw contracts on the day after WrestleMania, but were awarded contracts by Raw Commissioner Kaila Matteson. |
| 4 | SmackDown | The Miz (Michael Rinehart) | Male Superstar | Raw | |
| 5 | Raw | Zack Ryder Matthew Nuss | Male Superstar | SmackDown | Announced his transfer on Twitter. |
| 6 | Raw | Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze Matthias Miller | Tag Team | SmackDown | |
| 7 | Raw | Natalya (Shannon Furlong) | Female Superstar | SmackDown | |
| 8 | Raw | Mojo Rawley (Nathaniel Nelson) | Male Superstar | SmackDown | Announced on IWE's YouTube channel. |
| 9 | Raw | Dolph Ziggler (Nicholas Kessler) | Male Superstar | SmackDown | |
| 10 | Raw | Drew McIntyre (Dax Hoovestal) | Male Superstar | NXT | |
| 11 | Raw | Baron Corbin (Greg Romine) | Male Superstar | SmackDown | |
| 12 | Raw | Mike Kanellis (Mike Mcleod) | Male Superstar | SmackDown | Announced on WWE's Twitter |
| 13 | Raw | The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) (James Thomas and Andrew Peery) | Tag Team | SmackDown | Announced through IWE's Instagram |
| 14 | Raw | Bobby Roode (Robert Renaud, Jr.) | Male Superstar | SmackDown |
[edit] SmackDown Live
| Pick # | Brand (to) | Employee (Real name) | Role | Brand (from) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SmackDown | Josh Hooper (Joshua Hooper) | Male wrestler | Raw | Drafted with the IWE United States Championship |
| 2 | SmackDown | Absolution (Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) (Jessica Burwell and Diana Nettleton) | Female Tag Team | Raw | |
| 3 | SmackDown | Samoa Simpson (Nuufolau Simpson) | Male wrestler | Raw | |
| 4 | SmackDown | Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain) (Jeremy Kappan, Robert Thennis, and Damiean Matthew-O'Conner) | Stable | NXT | Nikki Cross, formerly part of the stable, entered singles competition in NXT instead of being called up. |
| 5 | SmackDown | Big Cass (Timothy Morrison) | Male wrestler | Raw | |
| 6 | SmackDown | Asuka (Kanako-Shane Leung) | Female wrestler | Raw | Asuka had challenged Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship after winning the 2018 Women's Royal Rumble, and had been appearing on both shows in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 34. |
| 7 | SmackDown | Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (Andrew Jason Barrow and Kev Allegra) | Tag Team | Raw | |
| 8 | SmackDown | Cesaro and Sheamus (Eric Claudio Malstrom and Joshua Kuhn-Farrelly) | Tag Team | Raw | Challengers for the IWE Raw Tag Team Championship at Greatest Royal Rumble |
| 9 | SmackDown | R-Truth (Blake Ronnie Wheeler) | Male wrestler | Raw | |
| 10 | SmackDown | Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega (Manuel Jesse Gutierrez and Thea Meghan Perea) | Male wrestler and manager | NXT |
