The event began on the April 15 and 16 episodes of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, respectively, on the USA Network.
[2][3][4] Although initially only advertised for the aforementioned episodes, more draft moves were confirmed throughout the remainder of April and into early May.
New draftee AJ Styles earned a Universal Championship match against Seth Rollins at the event, while new draftees Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio continued their feud from SmackDown, leading to a United States Championship match at Money in the Bank that Mysterio won.
New draftee Bayley was given an opportunity to challenge Becky Lynch for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Money in the Bank, but lost it to Charlotte Flair.
Bayley was subsequently entered into the women's Money in the Bank ladder match along with Mandy Rose, Carmella, and new draftee Ember Moon; Bayley won the match and later that same night, cashed in the contract to win the SmackDown Women's Championship from Flair, who had just defeated Lynch for the title.
[19] The reasons for Andrade and Zelina Vega's move back to SmackDown, and Aleister Black's switch to the brand, were later revealed.
It was also reported that FOX, where SmackDown would begin airing in October 2019, wanted more Latin American stars on the show and requested Andrade and Vega to be moved back to the brand.
[20] On the May 6 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon introduced a Wild Card Rule, with specific stipulations:[14][21] Following the implementation of the Wild Card Rule, the stipulations were routinely ignored with numerous stars freely appearing on both shows for multiple weeks with storylines crossing over both brands, blurring the lines between Raw and SmackDown.
[24] Andrew Murray of WhatCulture said it was one of WWE's "most divisive creative decisions in years" and the promotion were unable to stick to their original outline.
[23] With SmackDown's move to FOX in October and Raw remaining on the USA Network, WWE decided to hold a second draft for the year to definitively split the brands.