#2 Shinsuke Nakamura
After watching him up short against AJ Styles on three separate occasions, many fans have now written off Shinsuke Nakamura's chances of ever wearing world title gold while performing for WWE.
You can definitely see the logic behind this sentiment. If Vince McMahon and his creative team didn't believe he was ready to lead the company following his Royal Rumble win, it instinctively seems unlikely that they will change their mind any time soon.
However, it's worth remembering that we're still relatively early into the King of Strong Style's heel run. He's still growing into the role of a bad guy, and if he continues to improve at his current rate, he will have to be a candidate to take the belt at some point in the near future.