Ranking Potential WWE World Champions Heading into Survivor Series

Seth Rollins is out 6-9 months with a knee injury. It’s the second year in a row where the WWE World Heavyweight Champion has lost the title due to injury via Kane. It’s a sad time in WWE, but all hope it not lost. Even though Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton are hurt, John Cena is taking some time off, and Brock Lesnar is busy with hunting season, there are plenty of options for WWE when it comes to deciding their next champion. Sure, it seems like Roman Reigns winning the belt is a foregone conclusion, but doesn’t that just make too much sense for wrestling?

Here are your WWE World Heavyweight Champion tiers heading into Survivor Series.

The Odds on Favorite

Roman Reigns

Whether he runs through the competition as an unstoppable face that defies the Authority or he turns heel in the finals and “buys in,” it’s hard to envision Survivor Series ending with anyone other than Reigns holding up the belt. He lost out on his moment at Wrestlemania, but the crowd has slowly come around since April. I’m sure they’ll still boo him out of the building if he wins, especially if he’s the face, but he’s been groomed as “the guy” for over a year now and his time is coming sooner or later. Many figured it would come at Survivor Series before Rollins went down with an injury, but now with Rollins out, it seems even more likely that he’ll be crowned the new champion.

The Old Guards

Sheamus

Remember him? Yup, he still has the Money in the Bank briefcase and he’s actually teased using it a couple of times in the past few months. Granted, those teases never really went anywhere, but I promise that he has it. It makes a lot of sense for Sheamus to do nothing all night and then cash in after the finals, beating the guy who had to battle two-four opponents during the night. We’ve seen Sheamus as the champion and most of us have no fond memories of that time, but that just makes WWE more likely to do it.

Alberto Del Rio

He made a surprise return at Hell in a Cell, defeating John Cena in the worst US Title Open Challenge match since Cena started that whole thing. People were sort of excited until they remembered that Del Rio is a fairly bland wrestler and character. Like Sheamus, no one really wants Del Rio to win because his previous runs weren’t very inspiring, but WWE loves to go with guys who have been there before.

The Big Show

We all know that it’s the 25th Anniversary of The Undertaker at this year’s Survivor Series, but did you know that it’s also the 16th Anniversary of Big Show winning his first World Title? What better way to celebrate than give him the belt one more time?

Kane

Kane has injured two of the last four World Champions. If kayfabe were still alive, he’d never lose the belt.

The Guy We’re Cheering for Who Might Win

Dean Ambrose

Everyone loves Dean Ambrose even if WWE tries to kill his momentum as all costs. It’s possible that WWE uses Survivor Series to crown a short term champion, which means Ambrose has a real chance at winning the belt. He could drop the title at the Rumble to Brock, but he’d put up a hell of a fight in doing so and gain even more popularity. Some have predicted that Ambrose will make it to the finals and lose to a turning Reigns, but why not delay that? Have Ambrose win, beating Reigns in the finals, and slow build Roman’s heel turn. Play up the fact that the other two Shield members got the belt before him and then allow his jealousy to take over. Whether it’s Brock or Reigns, a short reign for Ambrose wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

The Guys We’re Cheering for Who Won’t Win

Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler remains a huge crowd favorite because, despite the terrible storylines he always finds himself in, he works his ass off. Ziggler was the benefactor of Sting’s WWE debut last year, banishing The Authority for a whole three weeks, but WWE failed to capitalize on that momentum and he’s been toiling away in the midcard ever since. We’ll cheer for him, but he has no chance.

Cesaro

Like Ziggler, the crowd loves Cesaro because he’s a hell of a wrestler. Also like Ziggler, WWE completely botched his momentum, only his big moment was at Wrestlemania 30. I doubt Cesaro ever holds the World Title because Vince hates bald people, but that doesn’t stop us from wishing.

Kevin Owens

I know Owens is a heel, but he’s so good as his job that most of the online fanbase is actually rooting for him, only booing him out of respect for how good he is. Owens entered the promotion hot, but has cooled off a lot since he defeated John Cena all those months ago. He’s also the IC champion, and unless he drops the belt to Ryback, I doubt WWE does that whole “one guy, two belts” routine again.

The New Day

While it’d be awesome if they held all the belts, and I do mean ALL THE BELTS, it’s not happening. Even so, they’re consistently the most entertaining act in the company right now and a Freebird Rule with the most important title would put things over the top.

The Unlikely Surprises

Finn Balor or Samoa Joe

It’s highly unlikely that WWE will call-up NXT favorites Finn Balor or Samoa Joe, but it would certainly be cool.

CM Punk

About as likely as Punk fighting in the UFC.

The More Likely Surprises

Daniel Bryan

Rumor has it that he’s been cleared for months now and, according to some guy who pretended to be a doctor on a plane, was scheduled to return at Hell in a Cell but I guess fake doctors on airplanes can’t be trusted. If WWE is looking for a huge pop and a “feel good moment” then it’s tough to find a better guy for the job than Bryan.

John Cena

I know he’s taking time off to film some show, but this is John Cena we’re talking about. When it’s reported that he’s out for six months, he’s only out two. When it seems logical that he should lose, he always wins. So when he’s scheduled to be gone a few months doing a TV show, that just means he’s going to return when the company needs him most. And right now, they obviously need him.

The Hopeful Surprises

Brock Lesnar

It would take a lot of money for Brock to cut hunting season short and work more dates this year, but if Vince can afford to spend millions on Linda’s senate campaign, a football league, a restaurant, destroyable vehicles, etc… then I wouldn’t put it past him to just deliver a bunch of dead animals to Brock’s door with a note saying, “I need you.”

Sting

He should probably retire, especially after his injury against Seth Rollins, but it sure would be nice if Sting got one memorable WWE moment. Maybe it would be enough to put him in the WON Hall of Fame.

The Leftovers

The Undertaker

He’s not wrestling two-four times in one night unless they’re really trying to make him a dead man.

Bray Wyatt

He may promise to win the world title and then fail. That’s his gimmick.

Ryback

Unless they’ve completely given up on things.