List of current champions in WWE
At the top of WWE's championship hierarchy are the WWE Universal Championship on Raw and the WWE Championship on SmackDown. The Universal Championship is held by record two-time champion Brock Lesnar, who won the vacant title by defeating Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel on November 2, 2018; previous champion Roman Reigns had to relinquish the title due to illness (leukemia). The WWE Champion is Daniel Bryan, who is in his fourth reign. He won the title on the November 13, 2018, episode of "SmackDown Live" by defeating AJ Styles.
A.J. Styles
On February 12 at Elimination Chamber, Styles competed in an Elimination Chamber match against Cena, Baron Corbin, Bray Wyatt, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose and The Miz for the WWE Championship, where he lasted until the final two before being eliminated by Wyatt, who became the new champion. On the following episode of "SmackDown Live", Styles failed to regain the title from Wyatt in a triple threat match also involving Cena. On the February 21 episode of "SmackDown Live", following Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton's unwillingness to challenge Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 for the WWE Championship, Styles competed in a 10-man battle royal to determine Orton's replacement and lasted until the final two, where the match ended in a draw after he and Luke Harper eliminated each other simultaneously. The following week, he defeated Harper to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, but Orton betrayed Wyatt and reclaimed his right to face him at WrestleMania 33, leading to a match between Styles and Orton on the March 7 episode of "SmackDown Live", where Styles lost his number one contendership. On the March 14 episode of "SmackDown Live", Styles ambushed SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon (who Styles blamed for him not challenging for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania) when he arrived at the arena and slammed his head into the window of a parked car. Afterwards, his boss Daniel Bryan spoke to Styles and—in storyline—fired him for his actions along with having security escort Styles out of the building. However, later that night, McMahon returned to the arena and announced that he would face Styles at WrestleMania 33, where Styles defeated McMahon. On the following episode of "SmackDown Live", Styles shook hands with McMahon, thus turning face in the process.