On April 11, Rusev was moved to SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. On the April 25 episode of "SmackDown", Rusev made his first appearance on WWE programming since Fastlane, appearing via satellite, and declared that he would not make his debut on SmackDown unless he was given a WWE Championship match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 18. He was not granted his request, but on the July 4 episode of "SmackDown", he made his first appearance for the brand and confronted the returning John Cena, setting up a flag match for Battleground, which he lost.