PWP’s Sherron Watson gives his list on who will most likely walk out as the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WWE Survivor Series
With only two weeks until Survivor Series, news broke that now, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins has suffered a torn ACL, MCL and Meniscus. It’s been reported that he’ll be out for 6-9 months. The injury is clearly very severe as the night after the event, Rollins vacated the title with no fanfare while the company announced a tournament to crown a new champion. While this is a huge blow for WWE, especially with veterans like Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan on the shelf, along John Cena and Brock Lesnar taking time off, I see this as a golden opportunity to give the next generation of stars a boost on their way to the main event level.
Regardless of what may come from the absence of so many top stars, one thing’s certain: come November 22nd, we’ll have a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Who it will be remains to be seen, but here are my top five men most likely to walk out of WWE Survivor Series as the World Heavyweight Champion:
#5. Kevin Owens
WWE clearly thinks highly of Kevin Owens. He was on NXT for less than 6 months, before being called up to the main roster. And if you want to talk about making an impact, his first main roster match was against John Cena on pay-per-view… and he won… clean!
Let that sink in.
Sure, he lost the next two matches, but that doesn’t take away from the impact that first win had. Since then, he’s put on incredible match after incredible match and gained an Intercontinental Championship to boot. If I had to name 5 WWE Superstars who I think will win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the next five years, Kevin Owens is the top of the list. The guy is one pop-up powerbomb away from being the biggest heel in the company, if you ask me.
The problem is that there are people bigger than him taking up the spot he deserves, but now that Seth Rollins is on the shelf, creative should get the green light to push Owens to the moon. He should be WWE’s top heel; no doubt about it. Let him feud with the likes of Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose and even a returning Seth Rollins; imagine the matches these guys can have with time invested into a storyline. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen… right now, at least. Kevin Owens has an outside shot of winning this whole tournament, but he’s too new to the roster, plus he’s got the stumbling block of already being the Intercontinental Champion to contend with.
As much as I’d like to see it, Kevin Owens is a darkhorse right now.
#4. Cesaro
We all know how the story goes here…
Vince McMahon once said that the “Swiss Superman” doesn’t grab the audience, that he doesn’t have the natural charisma to get over. Thus sprung the “Cesaro Section”, which I happen to be a proud member of. Right now I would put him in the same boat as Dolph Ziggler. It’s his time, he’s ready, he just needs McMahon on board. Cesaro could be a great champion. More than that, if he were champion, think of the matches he could put on.
Let me just go on a tangent slightly for a moment:
Prince Puma was Lucha Underground’s World Champion. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t have that much of a character aside from being a classic tecnico, but his matches were amazing. He’d put on a banger every time he stepped in that ring, and he got over for it. Cesaro is the same deal. He can do as little talking as you’d like, just let him get in the ring and uppercut people..
The company is reluctant though, and that seems unlikely to change any time soon. Cesaro’s never been World Champion before, and at this stage I feel WWE are either going to go with a solid, veteran hand, or someone they’ve been building to take this spot. I could see WWE pulling the swerve and giving the belt to Cesaro, however. They know he can put on a barnstormer against anyone, so why not let him hold it until say, the Royal Rumble?
I’ll keep dreaming.
#3. Dean Ambrose
Earlier this year, ”The Lunatic Fridge” had his shot at the main event and he knocked it out of the park, but sometimes people are too boneheaded to make the right decision. The three pay-per-view’s Dean Ambrose had against Seth Rollins in the last 2 years were all nothing short of spectacular. Unfortunately for him, there were bigger fish in the pond, namely Brock Lesnar and John Cena. Now the timing is finally right for Ambrose. Turn him heel and watch him shoot to the moon, or push him as the No. 1 babyface; he can succeed either way. The fans are behind him, he’s got legitimacy, credentials and he’s made the most of every opportunity that’s come his way.
Talent needs to be rewarded for good efforts, not just for looking right. Dean Ambrose lost to Bray Wyatt last year and still came back into the main event scene within a few months. Ambrose rose from being “the other guy” in The Shield to being the most popular guy on the roster. Ambrose got the fans to cheer Roman Reigns; folks… that’s hard to do. He is a modern day Stone Cold Steve Austin. It doesn’t matter what he does or how he fares, fans gravitate towards him because of how good a performer he is. He just needs to hit a stunner on Shawn Michaels and he’ll be set. He may not quite have Brock’s legitimacy, but he has the support of the fans, and that goes a long way.
#2. Roman Reigns
Let’s face it, Roman Reigns is the GUY. He was the No. 1 Contender before Rollins’ injury and he seemed on the way to knocking him off at Survivor Series anyway. He’s had a rough year but I think the timing is finally right. Enough protecting him, give him the belt and let him run with it. While I think there are better options for the championship, this is where the story’s been leading since WrestleMania 31.
Now that Cena’s out of the way, it gives Roman the perfect opportunity to slide into that role and become the mega-star he has the potential to be. Fans have been warming up to Reigns ever since his match with Brock Lesnar and his feuds with Big Show and Bray Wyatt have proven that he’s got what it takes to main event a big time pay-per-view. The only problem with Reigns is that he is so overly produced and micromanaged, that he’s a turn-off for all die-hard fans because he seems so familiar to what we’ve seen for over 10 years in John Cena.
If Roman Reigns doesn’t win on the 22nd, expect him to be screwed out of it and enter a feud heading into WrestleMania. In beating Bray Wyatt, it may appear that Reigns has exercised his demons from Money In The Bank earlier this year. But that night might come back to haunt him in a different way…
#1. Sheamus
Even though Sheamus has been bounced from the tournament, I wouldn’t rule out the cash-in by any means. If anything, the timing is perfect. With the plans that were on the table all but ruined, why not put the belt on Sheamus now? As a heel, he provides a similar foil to your babyfaces as Rollins did. He’s a veteran of the business, he’s been World Champion before, he’s legitimate enough to be the champion and he’s got enough heel heat for anyone fighting him to be the biggest babyface in the building.
If WWE want Reigns to get over going into WrestleMania season, let him feud with Sheamus.
Not only that, Sheamus is fairly robust. If he’s ever injured, he’s not out for that long & in his current run, he’s doing some of the best heel work he’s ever done. If the company isn’t quite ready to put the belt on Reigns or Ambrose, let them bring the house down and have Sheamus pull a fast one and screw everybody over. Sheamus isn’t in the depths of a feud with anyone at the moment, so he’s free to start a run whenever WWE wants. While there may be more viable options, or more entertaining ones, I wouldn’t be surprised to see WWE do a straight swap, keep their plans the same, but just replace the heel champ Seth Rollins with an heel champ Sheamus.
What do you think of my list? Let me know who you would make the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion.