WWE Rumors: Roman Reigns and other SmackDown stars not appearing on SmackDown Live

What's the story?

Roman Reigns and several SmackDown Live stars showed up for Raw last night in a new swerve to WWE programming. Following the announcement of a new rule, superstars are now allowed to show up on other brands at will.

In case you didn't know...

Last night, Vince McMahon announced the "Wild Card Rule" as a way to help spice up the current brand split. From now on, a handful of superstars on both Raw and SmackDown will be able to swap to the other brand whenever they feel it necessary.

Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston were the first three stars from the blue brand to jump to Raw, interrupting McMahon during his opening segment on Raw. Because of that, we got two WrestleMania rematches in Reigns vs Drew McIntyre and Bryan vs Kingston for the WWE Championship.

With the new rule in play, WWE hopes that it will keep fans guessing and give them a fresher product. However, this also means that certain stars may end up no-showing during their own brand's events.

The heart of the matter

Mike Johnson of PWInsider revealed today that Roman Reigns, Aleister Black, Apollo Crews, and Elias were all currently traveling with Monday Night Raw, meaning none of them would be appearing on SmackDown Live tonight. Going forward, it's expected that we'll see more of the same, with Raw stars travelling with SmackDown and vice versa.

What's next?

Considering Reigns and Elias were considered the biggest acquisitions that the Blue Brand got during the Superstar Shake-Up, it's kind of odd to see them away from the show this week. A serious lack of star power may hinder tonight's show. Still, with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, his #1 contender Kevin Owens, and the returning Daniel Bryan, they should have no problem putting on a great event.