Who will be king of the blue brand?

The Smackdown landscape has changed considerably over the past few weeks as a new man holds the most coveted title in professional wrestling. The title is the WWE Championship, while the man is none other than Daniel Bryan.

With the former leader of the ‘Yes Movement’ aiming to main event next year’s Wrestlemania in April, it is a prospect that also has the most ardent of wrestling fans ready to make use of an 888sport sign up offer.

That’s because the question that many are asking is whether or not Bryan can leave the biggest show of the year while still holding the gold. An answer that rivals such as AJ Styles and The Miz are keen to find out for themselves.

These two have been constant fixtures in Smackdown’s upper card over the past year or so and will be looking to be the man who will face Bryan at Wrestlemania and in turn aim to become the boss of WWE’s blue brand.

For AJ Styles it offers the opportunity of redemption as the former TNA legend lost the WWE Championship just days before November’s Survivor Series event. A defeat that also deprived him the opportunity to face Brock Lesnar at that very same show.

Last year’s Survivor Series saw Lesnar and Styles square off in what was undoubtedly one of the matches of 2017 and it is fair to say that the return bout was one that the wrestling world was keenly anticipating.

We may have been deprived of that mega-clash, but at the same time the pairing that we were treated to was also something special. That’s because for the first time ever we saw Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan face off.

Ultimately it would be Raw’s Universal Champion, Lesnar who would reign victorious and even though there were no titles on the line, it doesn’t mean that the battle was any less combative between these two warriors.

Bryan may well have fallen short in the end in what was an incredibly entertaining match, but at the same time it was a duel that showed that after his enforced retirement through injury he is now back to his very best.

His best was displayed at Wrestlemania 30 when he won two matches to become the WWE Undisputed Champion, beating no fewer than three legendary fighters in the process as Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton all succumbed to his talents.

It is fair to say that Bryan was willed on by the fans on the way to finally getting the better of The Authority, however those same supporters have now been shunned by their one time hero. Something that has arguably given the 37 year old that extra edge.

It seems that these days playing by the rules does not always get you where you want to be and with Bryan now doing things his way, he has managed to take a short cut right to the very top. A new era is truly upon us, now we’ll wait and see just how long it lasts for.