On the April 9, 2018 episode of "Raw", the night after WrestleMania 34, Lashley made his return to WWE, becoming a member of the Raw brand, where he confronted and attacked Elias. The first month of Lashley's return would see him in a number of tag-team matches, teaming with the likes of Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Finn Bálor, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns, all being in victorious efforts against the likes of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Jinder Mahal, The Miz, Curtis Axel, and Bo Dallas. Lashley would later team with Braun Strowman at Backlash in a victorious effort against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Following Backlash, Lashley would enter into a feud with Sami Zayn, culminating with Lashley facing Zayn in a victorious effort at Money in the Bank. Lashley then entered a feud with Roman Reigns, where both men believed that they were the rightful challenger to the Universal Championship. This led to a match between the two at Extreme Rules, where Lashley defeated Reigns. The following night on "Raw", two triple threat matches were set to determine who would face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, with Lashley and Reigns won their respective matches, setting up a number one contender's match between the two the following week, which Reigns won.