They had a pretty poor hit-rate. Of their predictions, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger were the only ones to take the top title, with John Morrison taking the ECW title.
David Hart Smith, the sadly retired Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne and Ted DiBiase JR all failed to reach the top.
The other two could still potentially be at the summit of WWE - Kofi Kingston is having a great run with The New Day, and Cody Rhodes has been a sensation on the indie circuit since he was released by the company, and if he returned, you'd expect him to be main eventing.
Here are my predictions about who will reach the top over the next few years, in no discernible order. This list excludes anyone who has already achieved that honour.
1. The New Day
Kofi Kingston was on the WWE's 2009 list and it wasn't until I started watching through all the Money in the Bank matches that I realised how popular he'd been before the New Day, and how successful he'd been, with 4 Intercontinental reigns and 3 US championship reigns in the bag. Big E is a former NXT champion, with a number of them having reached the top in the big leagues as well. Their continuing popularity, despite not having held the gold for a while now is a positive sign and suggests that they will be going on to bigger and better things.
Xavier Woods is possibly the least celebrated of the three, and might struggle to make it to the main event, but if this is worked well, perhaps in a similar way to how The Shield made it to the main event after their split, then we might see a triple threat between the three of them for a belt at some point.
2. Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura might be the most popular performer in the whole of the WWE right now. He's a three time IWGP champion, and should be catapulted into the spotlight as he could easily be the face of the company for years to come. I was very surprised he wasn't in the six pack challenge that Jinder Mahal won. Even if he wasn't going to win, and even though he's only been called up for a few weeks, he should be getting the spotlight at every available opportunity.
3. Samoa Joe
Joe has done it all elsewhere. He is a monster heel who is very believable. He should definitely be given a run with the belt at some point. It might be in the next year, it might be in the next five. At some point he should get the top spot. He doesn't deserve to retire without doing so.
4. Baron Corbin
When he is competing, the commentators almost always say that Corbin is a future WWE champion. And it's true. He's got everything that you need. He looks hard, he is great on the mic (at least on Talking Smack - it might need to be improved slightly in ring), he's got a couple of moves that look devastating (deep six and end of days) and he comes across as legitimate, as a golden gloves winner. They have packaged him perfectly and have already dipped him into the main event scene.
5. Braun Strowman
Aside from Roman Reigns, no-one is being pushed as much as Strowman at the moment. He's clearly a monster and Vince loves monsters. On top of that, his feud with Reigns has been turning him almost inadvertently into a face. Whether this is embraced or not is yet to be seen. Even though he's only been in wrestling for a few years, he looks destined to reach the top as he is constantly improving and getting scarier.
6. Cesaro
Cesaro should already be there. That he isn't is a travesty. He should have used winning the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale to catapult himself into the main event, the same way that Baron Corbin has done. Being teamed with Sheamus continues to get him over, and he amazingly managed to turn Sheamus face by doing so. They've got a great storyline there, and Cesaro should be learning from the former champion to understand what he needs to do to reach the pinnacle himself.
7. Tyler Bate
The first ever UK champion is only 19. To be given that honour at such a young age suggests he has a really bright future ahead of him. He's been on TV on NXT a few times since the tournament and I can imagine after a couple of years on the upcoming UK show that he'll make the leap to Raw or Smackdown. Barring any injuries and assuming he is booked correctly, he could be the guy to lead the company into the 2030s.
8. Neville
Neville has elevated the Cruiserweight division and the current champion should stay on 205 live for a while yet. However, at some point, he should be able to use his momentum to get back to the main roster and push on towards the top.
9. Jason Jordan
As part of American Alpha with Chad Gable, Jordan has been exceptionally impressive. At some stage, I can see him kicking on to take a title run of his own. He is the Shawn Michaels to Gable's Marty Jannetty.
10. Rusev
This is more a wish than an expectation. When Rusev got called up, he was unstoppable. He's been thrown into a couple of horrid feuds based around Lana. He needs to get a good storyline of his own as he's got the talent to move up a tier. I hope that WWE don't waste his talent.
An honourable mention should go to Matt Hardy. Whilst he has been an ECW Champion previously, as well as a TNA champion, he didn't reach the heights that his brother Jeff reached within the WWE. I'd expect that if and when the Hardy Boyz split again, he'd have to be in contention for a title shot.
No comments:
Post a Comment