Weighing the potential options to eventually dethrone The Fiend as Universal Champion

As TLC is now officially in the books, the countdown to the Royal Rumble is officially on. The Rumble could feasibly shake things up again regarding the winners who could possibly challenge The Fiend for his Universal Championship.

Since the Royal Rumble winner can pick which title to challenge for, we could feasibly see a star from SmackDown win and decide to challenge RAW's WWE Champion Brock Lesnar for the title at the Show of Shows. On the flip side, someone from RAW could win and decide to play with SmackDown's Universal Champion Bray Wyatt on the Road to WrestleMania.

Some recent rumors have floated around suggesting that NXT will have 10 representatives alongside 10 participants each from SmackDown and RAW. While that may or may not be true, it has to be disheartening for some stars who have already struggled to not only get chances but also just get onto TV or a PPV.

There also exists the straightforward angle of a SmackDown star winning and challenging The Fiend and vice versa for RAW and the Beast. The favorite to win the 2020 Rumble for the men, even before the odds were announced, is Roman Reigns. While I don't think he needs another huge win in order to challenge for a title, the fact still remains that he is the golden boy and will be treated as such.

Just because the powes that be might want to give Reigns another title win, it doesn't necessarily mean that it would be a good call. Many people love The Fiend and that could cause a portion of the crowd to turn on the Big Dog, who has just recently won back a significant amount of positive crowd support. The main takeaway is that WWE has to find the right person to be the one to take down The Fiend, Bray Wyatt, and the Firefly Fun House.

Daniel Bryan appears to be next for The Fiend, but the maniacal one is unlikely to lose his title before WrestleMania 36. There are some good choices to take the belt from the current champion and some bad choices for varied reasons, so here are some options for each side of the coin.

#3 Best Option: Braun Strowman

The Monster Among Men has had numerous chances at major titles in WWE but has nothing to show for it. He tried against both Reigns and Brock Lesnar but came up on on the short end of things against both stars.

Strowman seems like he's always in the hunt and just on the cusp of winning that big title. Isn't it crazy that he hasn't claimed a singles title yet? The fact that Wyatt and the Monster Among Men also have a history would work in WWE's favor. The Universal Champion could consider Strowman a black mark on his troublesome past that he's tried to put in his rear-view mirror. The two men have taken different paths since their time in the Wyatt Family.

Winning a major title would put the Monster Among Men over the top as a major star in WWE. He's currently used as either a sideshow act with his feats of strength or as a challenge for non-wrestlers and smaller Superstars to overcome. The former strongman needs something to solidify his status as one of the biggest stars of his generation and a title win. especially over Wyatt, would do that for Strowman.

#3 Worst Option: King Corbin

I do think King Corbin is a future Universal and/or WWE Champion. I just don't think him taking the title from The Fiend would work within the canon of the WWE storytelling universe. When he does win the title, it will have to be against an unquestionable babyface, someone similar to when Kofi Kingston held the title. It would garner Corbin nuclear heat and that is something that he has proven to be great at handling.

Corbin is one of the few true heels in WWE whereas The Fiend is supposed to be a heel. He's so good at his job, however, that a good portion of fans love him. Having a hated heel take the title from Wyatt, regardless of how good he or she is at their job, would probably backfire on someone like Corbin.

He's had a good run as one of the major heels on SmackDown and the King topped the Big Dog at TLC with loads of help. I don't think, however, that he's likely to come out on top of Reigns once all is said and done. They've given Corbin some pushes in the past, like winning Money in the Bank and winning the United States Championship. His time will come in the future, but it shouldn't be at the expense of The Fiend.

#2 Best Option: Men's Royal Rumble winner from RAW or NXT

The main names I can think of from either RAW or NXT that could win the Rumble and dethrone Wyatt would be Drew McIntyre or AJ Styles from RAW and Finn Balor or Keith Lee from NXT. Adam Cole would be the biggest star from the yellow and black brand but I don't see him winning a Rumble and dethroning The Fiend. Lee is possibly the biggest physical threat from Wednesday nights who could challenge Wyatt, but the same thought that applies to Cole also applies to Lee.

I'm all for Kevin Owens wining either of the major titles in the WWE, but I think he needs to be the man to take the WWE Championship from Lesnar. For that reason, the three other names that would make sense to me would be AJ Styles, Finn Balor, or Drew McIntyre.

Styles is a made man regardless of if he is a heel or a face. If he stays a heel, he can try to destroy the Firefly Fun House just like Rollins tried to do. The former US Champ could also use the numbers game of the OC to try and get one up on The Fiend.

In terms of McIntyre, he seems like he's just waiting for that one chance to get a shot at a major title. McIntyre oozes charisma and is a legitimate physical threat to anyone. If they want to create a new star who hasn't won a title already, the Scottish Psychopath is more than able. He just needs one chance.

Balor would also work because he was the first victim of The Fiend. They could play on the fact that it forced him to "go back to NXT" if they wanted to. He's likely going to be a part of the yellow and black brand for a while, so it might not happen, but if someone exists that is a logical choice to both challenge and topple The Fiend, Balor would be an easy choice. He's beloved by the fans so there would not be much backlash.

#2 Worst Option: Brock Lesnar

I can totally see a scenario where Lesnar somehow loses the WWE Championship before WrestleMania 36 and then somehow gets thrust into the Universal Championship picture again. He was originally supposed to be on SmackDown for FOX, but that lasted all of a few weeks.

A way to have him rejoin the blue brand could be to simply show up and say "I'm back on SmackDown". It's not really different from he and Paul Heyman "quitting" SmackDown simply because they wanted to chase Rey Mysterio, a member of the RAW roster. Well, that's done and Lesnar's back in his cave waiting until the Royal Rumble.

Another scenario that WWE could book (but shouldn't) would be to have Lesnar fall to whomever he faces at the Rumble. He could then enter the battle royale and win the match to set up a title bout at the Show of Shows. Instead of going after whomever took his WWE Title, he could buoy himself back to SmackDown since that is where he was originally drafted. Some recent speculation also hinted at a possible Wyatt/Lesnar showdown, but plans can certainly change.

I think this would be a mistake but WWE might do whatever they can to keep the Beast both under their umbrella and happy. Holding a major title seems to be the only thing in WWE that keeps him content. Dethroning The Fiend would hurt his mystique since Lesnar has basically toppled everything and everyone else in his path. The Fiend needs to keep his mystique for a long time and he should only lose it to someone else who could use the rub more than the Beast.

#1 Best Option: Kofi Kingston

Kingston's loss to Lesnar was a double-edged sword for him. While he seems more than happy to do whatever is needed, he went from holding the top prize on SmackDown to once again becoming a staple of the tag division. Kingston's title run should have kept him as a top name always in the hunt for the title on SmackDown.

Due to an unfortunate injury to Xavier Woods, however, the former WWE Champ was thrust back into the tag division. It didn't take long for the New Day to once again become SmackDown Tag Team Champs once again.

The reason why Kingston would be a suitable option to dethrone The Fiend is two-fold. The first is that he's still beloved by the WWE Universe and is held in high regard by many. He worked his way to the top and earned his title run. SmackDown doesn't have a lot of main-event faces (Daniel Bryan, Reigns, Kingston) so it wouldn't be hard to have the former WWE Champion in the title picture again.

The story wouldn't be hard to tell as Wyatt could poke holes in the "Power of Positivity" rhetoric and say that it only led to a quick title loss to Lesnar. It wouldn't take much to get the fans behind Kingston and on his side against The Fiend. The angle would also be easy to write due to the quick fashion in which the New Day member lost the WWE Championship in the first place. It would seem like he'd be getting paid back for that quick squash with another title win. Not many faces could go against The Fiend and truly get the crowd to treat him like a maniacal heel. Kingston could.

#1 Worst Option: Roman Reigns

It's a foregone conclusion that Roman Reigns is going to win a major title again in WWE. It's just a matter of time. The main question remains: when will it happen? He's already challenged and toppled Lesnar but they are on different shows. He relinquished the Universal Championship last October before returning to the ring with a clean bill of health prior to WrestleMania 35.

The story could be good as a man who beat a disease and now is in line to defeat an evil champion. Regardless of how WWE might want the crowd to react, the fact remains that people will cheer The Fiend for just about anything he does. He's just so skilled at his craft that people love him for it, just like people respect the Undisputed Era and Adam Cole for how masterful they are at being heels. Ditto for MJF.

Reigns dethroning The Fiend might have the opposite effect that creative might want. They saw what happened to Seth Rollins when he tried to defend his title against a guy who had been tormenting him. The fans should have cheered for the Architect but they were just too ready for Wyatt to be given the Superstar treatment. Rollins is now a heel a little less than two months after losing the title to the Fiend. Reigns would very likely be met in the same fashion.

One main point is that Wyatt cannot be simply treated as the heel in the feud because they want him to. Sure, he technically is, but fans are going to cheer for him no matter what. Reigns has been getting good reactions from the crowd due to being positioned against the right heels. Corbin is a great heel so it's easy to cheer for anyone who opposes him.

The other main point is that while Reigns should win a title in the future, who he wins the title from needs to be chosen carefully. Some fans will reject him again if he beats Wyatt for the title. He's come a long way from having a large portion of the crowd boo him and taking the title from Wyatt might set him back onto that path.

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Edited by Nicholas A. Marsico