The WWE roster is stacked full of talent.
From top to bottom the company has some of the most impressive performers on the planet. Every fan is catered to, as each wrestling style finds itself well represented. Due to this, there are more top tier talents than there are chances at top tier titles. As such some wrestlers miss out on getting that big push and capturing the big one. However, the fans won’t tolerate some stars being left on the side-lines. Sometimes there is no choice but to push a certain wrestler to the moon and give them a well-deserved run with the WWE or Universal Championship. Here are five such wrestlers who should be given a World Title run before the end of 2020.
5. Kevin Owens
Let’s start with an obvious choice. KO is the latest Superstar to be cast in the role of a modern-day Stone Cold Steve Austin. He is the anti-establishment hero doing battle against a tyrannical McMahon, in this case Shane. Just as with Austin, Owens needs a run with the company’s biggest prize so as to truly rub his dominance in the face of his powerful adversary.
Owens is a former Universal Champion who was never given a chance to shine with the belt. He put in great performances during his time as champ, and his partnership with Chris Jericho was inspired, but the company always treated him as something of an afterthought. Now reinvigorated from a much-needed face turn the time is right to erase the mistakes of the past and allow KO to dominate Smackdown as the newest ass-kicking, take no nonsense hero.
Just please don’t have him lose the title to Shane McMahon.
4. Drew McIntyre
If Owens has benefitted from his association with Shane, then Drew has most definitely been hurt by his. The Scottish Psychopath has gone from a genuinely intimidating opponent who could realistically annihilate anyone put across from him to a subservient sycophant who constantly loses in order to protect his ageing employer. Something needs to change.
That change should be a return to the Terminator of old. McIntyre should be allowed to take the push that was intended for Lars Sullivan and smash his way through the Raw roster before getting his hands on Seth Rollins and taking his Universal Championship in decisive fashion.
Drew is money. He looks like someone who could beat you to a pulp with one hand and that is the kind of believability that the World Title scene is lacking without Brock Lesnar. Building him as a dominant champion would be easy and the plucky underdog who does finally take the title from him will get a huge rub in doing so. It is baffling that Drew hasn’t been capitalised on already.
3. Andrade
Every couple of years the WWE attempts to make deeper inroads into the Mexican market by pushing a Hispanic talent to the top of the card. In the past fans have seen greats like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio ascend to the promised land, as well as not so greats such as Alberto Del Rio. It has been an oddly long while since the last concerted effort to create a new Mexican sensation, perhaps due to the abject failure of Sin Cara, but there is no better candidate than Andrade.
It may be cliché to say but this man all the makings of a bona fide megastar. He is slick in the ring, charisma pours out of every movement and expression, and he has an undeniable connection with the crowd.
During his time in NXT he was pushed as the brand’s top talent and he shined in that role. The man carries himself like a champion and people respond to that. His association with the brilliant Zelina Vega, only adds to the act in that her ability to become physically involved in a contest garners immense heat and gives the opponent an excuse for their loss.
Putting either of the World Titles on Andrade would be a smart move for WWE but to most effectively capitalise on his talent he should be given the Universal Championship. Subsequent feuds with the likes of Ricochet, Rollins, and Samoa Joe could be a license to print money if handled correctly.
2. WALTER
WALTER may not be the first name that came into your mind when you first read the title of this article, as he isn’t on the main roster currently he probably doesn’t seem too likely to be capturing either title anytime soon. Don’t count him out just yet though, Vince McMahon definitely has eyes on the Austrian brute and that could easily see him be called up before long.
In his relatively short tenure in NXT UK, the Ring General has competed in several classics including two violent encounters with Pete Dunne and a Match of the Year candidate with Tyler Bate. He is one of the most frighteningly hard-hitting performers in the entire company and a monster of his calibre would be a huge boon for either Raw or Smackdown.
What’s more important is that unlike Lars Sullivan, another monster NXT callup, WALTER is over with the crowd and talented enough to warrant his special treatment. He is something that fans haven’t seen before and that is what audiences are crying out for at the moment.
Should he and his Imperium stable be called up then it is not hard to picture them storming through whichever brand they end up on before their leader rips the World Championship away from whoever is unfortunate enough to be holding it at that time.
1. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend
How could he not be number one? Bray Wyatt has done what many thought was impossible after so many years of horrendous booking; he has reinvented himself as the most important figure on the roster today.
When The Fiend is on your screen you sit in an eerie silence, uncomfortable but glued to the television. He captures the imaginations of fans like no one else and has quickly become the most anticipated part of WWE programming.
When he is the more human Bray Wyatt you are still transfixed, as he effortlessly switches from jovial faux kids show host to barely contained sociopath. He is terrifying in a way that the original incarnation of Bray never quite managed to be.
As champion he would be unstoppable. Anyone who came for the belt would find themselves being hunted by a literal monster and that is something that fans would certainly tune in to see. It would create a new dynamic between champion and challenger, it would freshen up the tired formatting of Raw, and it would help elevate a title that has been mired by Baron Corbin’s relentlessly boring pursuit.
The thought of Bray hunting for the gold should excite every WWE fan and it is something that needs to happen very very soon.
There are plenty of Superstars who deserve a chance to reign as champion, but these are the five who are most primed and ready to do so in the near future. They are the ones that can put butts in seats and, more importantly for the WWE, start off the AEW war on a strong note. With these men at the helm the future of McMahon’s Madhouse looks bright indeed.
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