In what’s become somewhat of an annual occurrence, WWE.com released new banners for Raw, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live and NXT UK this week highlighting the top stars from each brand. Unlike past installments the reigning champions for each brand were featured front-and center, flanked by other top stars on the brand. Raw’s banner has Bobby Lashley, Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre, Charlotte Flair, AJ Styles and Alexa Bliss (featuring her more demonic look), SmackDown’s has Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio, Bianca Belair, Sasha Banks and Bayely and NXT’s highlights Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Finn Balor, Raquel Gonzalez, Kyle O’Reilly and Santos Escobar.
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You can see all of the banners below:
What’s interesting about these banners is who did and didn’t make the cut. Former world champions like Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, Asuka, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens all failed to make lists, as did rising stars like Big E, Apollo Crews and Riddle. It’s also worth noting that Balor is still on the list for NXT, which should quiet the speculation that he’ll be heading back up to either Raw or SmackDown in the near future.
This week’s lineup of WWE programming will be highlighted by Reigns putting his WWE Universal Championship on the line against Daniel Bryan during this week’s SmackDown. Bryan has consistently come up short against “The Tribal Chief,” and if he loses again he’ll be forced to leave the Blue Brand. Bryan has been teasing in various interviews that his contract as a full-time WWE wrestler is almost up, and it’s possible that a loss on Friday could be how he gets written off television.
Bryan admitted in an interview with BT Sport last week that he felt oddly detached heading into the main event of WrestleMania 37, and that it might be a sign he’s ready to take a step back.
“It was really bizarre. Just really, really bizarre…,” Bryan said. “It’s taken me, it’s been nine days now since it happened, and it’s taken me time to fully process what the experience was like because it wasn’t like a normal thing. It was really weird. I felt very – like out of body in it. It was so weird.
“When I’m wrestling, I feel everything and I feel like I’m really enjoying it,” he continued. “Like I’m out there and I’m like ‘Gosh,’ having fun. This was weird, I was out there and it was almost like I felt like I was detached. And I was out there, and it was so strange, in fact, that before the match started, I got this really weird feeling, I was like, ‘Oh no, is this what it’s like right before you die? Am I going to die? [laughs] I mean. huh, well, okay.’ I was like, if that happens it happens. [laughs]. It was just a really bizarre feeling. I don’t know why or how that happened, but it was unlike pretty much anything I’ve felt while wrestling before.”
