Will Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan Be Elevated to WWE SmackDown Title Scene Soon?

As excellent as Kofi Kingston's title reign has been so far, the WWE Championship scene on SmackDown is about to get a whole lot more interesting in the coming months.

It was announced last week that Brock Lesnar will face Kingston for the belt on Friday Night SmackDown's Fox debut show on October 4. That match will mark The Beast Incarnate's first in-ring outing on WWE TV in over 15 years.

Regardless of who emerges from that outing with the gold in their grasp, surely Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan will be eagerly awaiting their opportunity to go for the gold. They may be busy with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper at the moment, but it's merely a matter of time before they re-enter the title picture.

Bryan's sudden character change and subsequent run with the WWE title late last year was the best thing that could have happened to him at the time. He successfully reinvented himself as a heel and went on to have brilliant matches with the likes of AJ Styles and Kingston.

At WrestleMania 35, the New Day member beat Bryan to become the champion, but their rivalry ended there. In fact, The Planet's Champion disappeared from WWE TV all together before entering SmackDown's tag team division upon his return one month later.

Although he did a tremendous job of elevating the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to the best of his ability, it was always apparent he belonged back in the hunt for the WWE Championship. Now that his alliance with Rowan has reached its conclusion, he is free to reignite this pursuit of the prestigious prize.

Credit: WWE.com

Unlike Bryan, it has been almost a full year since Reigns was last involved in the world championship chase. He was forced to relinquish the universal title in October 2018 and has yet to go back after the belt.

However, it's high time The Big Dog reclaimed his spot in the main event scene and reset his sights on the WWE title.

Before then, though, he and Bryan must eliminate the threat of Rowan and Harper at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on Oct. 6. Assuming it ends in a victory for them, they could well be the first to challenge Lesnar heading into the final few months of 2019.

Credit: WWE.com

Coming out of the WWE draft on Oct. 11 and 14, both Bryan and Reigns must stay on SmackDown. That is where they are best suited at the moment and are bound to be featured as the faces of the show.

There is a decent chance things go south during their tag team affair against The Bludgeon Brothers at next Sunday's show and Bryan turns on Reigns. That would be a smooth transition into what would surely be a high-profile program between the two, especially if a future shot at the WWE title was up for grabs.

Either way, all roads should lead to them vying for the blue brand's top title before long. With Lesnar favored to take the belt from Kingston on SmackDown's Fox premiere, those are two feuds that would generate an immense amount of buzz for the blue brand on its new network.

Not many fans will be overjoyed to hear Reigns vs. Lesnar is an inevitability, simply because it's a rivalry that has been done to death since 2015. Then again, no one makes as much sense for The Big Dog in the chase for that championship than The Beast Incarnate given their long and decorated history.

Bryan vs. Lesnar, on the other hand, is the much fresher option. They waged war once at Survivor Series 2018 and stole the show with their performance, so it stands to reason they would be able to recreate that magic again, this time in a full-fledged feud.

Kingston shouldn't be forgotten about, either, but Bryan and Reigns are SmackDown's safe bets in the title picture, at least through the remainder of the year.

In the meantime, WWE should continue to build up formidable foes for them to ensure the WWE title picture remains as exciting as it has been lately.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.