WWE Raw Superstar Shake-Up: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (April 16)
The Drop-Off
This time last year, The Miz and Maryse kicked off the first ever 'Superstar Shake-up' on Monday Night Raw by trolling the audience one last time with their nailed-on impersonations of John Cena and Nikki Bella. The pair ragged on the alleged insincerity of their proposal, impending Hollywood careers and even questioned the legitimacy of their entire relationship as part of a couched arrival on the red brand. It's a shame Dean Ambrose interrupted before they could get on to letting everybody know the week's winning lottery numbers.
Bizarre symmetry between events then and now aside, it was something of an underwhelming kick-off to traditionally one of the major events of the year despite following a familiar pattern and furnishing Monday Night Raw with three of SmackDown Live!'s top talent in one segment.
More of the same came on this year's version of the show, not least with a potential Network move for the flagship in the very near future. A move to Fox has posited the potential of two-hour Raws returning to save us all from the deadly third hour malaise. Far from shrinking the red brand though, the show currently needed more talent in order to provide an adequate sales pitch to favoured - and other potential - suitors.
Quantity - not quality - was in high supply, but little left either the show or the crowd feeling particularly shook...
10. Grand Slam
Left alone in the haze of 2017's biggest winner becoming an early contender for 2018's biggest loser, Jeff Hardy's United States title made him the latest member of a rapidly expanding club.
When Roman Reigns dethroned The Miz for his cherished Intercontinental Title in November 2017, WWE pushed hard the oft-forgotten 'Grand Slam' tag as a way to deflect audience perception that he'd slipped into the midcard as a result. They obviously care substantially less for those winning secondary straps since, having booked three more men to join the hallowed hall and only paying lip service to the accolade for one of them.
Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and now the 'Charismatic Enigma' can now lay claim to the honour, with Hardy presumably scheduled to take the title back to the blue brand in the second round of this year's Superstar Shake-up.
But what of Mahal, the Raw returnee? Fret not - those biceps still bulge, he'll be fine. He lost twice in a week this time last year, and was WWE Champion by the end of the month. Then, he was generating reactions just by featuring so prominently. This time around, audiences are likely to cheer loudest for him being nowhere near the Backlash card.