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The WWE Championship is in desperate need of attention. While AJ Styles' year-long run with the championship was a huge success, the once-top title was never seen as the biggest prize in the company during his entire run atop his brand, and the trend has just continued since.
To put this into perspective, before Elimination Chamber earlier this month, the last time the title was defended in the main event of any dual-branded PPV was at Battleground in 2016 when Dean Ambrose defended it against his former Shield brethren - Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
That was before the most recent brand split even began and also before the inception of both the Universal and the Smackdown Women's Championships. While Brock Lesnar competing elsewhere on the same PPV does carry more weight, the truth of the matter is that even when he wasn't necessarily on the show, the WWE title played second fiddle to someone else - like Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins or Becky Lynch.
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This needs to stop if the fans are supposed to care about the titleholder going forward and the only way to do that at this point, would be to avoid having unproven challengers competing for the gold. While Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Rusev are all great performers in their own rights and deserve the spotlight, their inclusion in the title hunt in 2018 resulted in management relegating the WWE title to midcard.
It should be noted that as of this writing, Kofi Kingston is the likeliest WrestleMania opponent for Daniel Bryan's WWE Championship at Mania but this article is not about that. We'll be looking at the ideal challengers for Bryan (and fantasy booking them) given the current circumstances which can realistically break the trend of the WWE title being relegated to midcard. And yes, this does mean that Kingston is not the ideal challenger for Daniel Bryan's title at the Show of Shows.
Barring AJ Styles - since he's already had multiple shots to reclaim the title this year - there are not a lot of active competitors on the blue brand who can realistically provide the WWE title picture with that "big match" feeling - other than Randy Orton.
#3. Randy Orton
The Viper is a proven commodity in the wrestling industry and is always just an angle away from being inserted in the main event. His WWE career to this point including multiple WrestleMania main events will make sure the WWE title match in April feels like one of the main attractions on a show which won't lack star power elsewhere.
While the RAW Women's Championship match is rightfully the obvious main event of the show, the WWE title match will be in direct competition with the Universal title match pitting Rollins against Lesnar (who are both big stars in the company). The 'New' Daniel Bryan will need a high calibre star to match the magnitude of its RAW counterpart, and who better than the 13 time World Championship to take up the spot?
Besides, the last time we saw Orton competing for the WWE Championship was in August of 2017. Since then, he's gone back to his heel roots producing some of the best angles he's ever been part of including his epic beatdowns of both Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio. While WWE has surprisingly toned down his heel antics in recent months, there's no reason to believe they won't bring his vicious side back in order to heat up the title match at WrestleMania.
The only thing, however, that will keep Orton from challenging Bryan at WrestleMania, will be the fact that both are currently heels and the fan logistics don't sit right when two villains compete against each other. Byran will be better off competing against a babyface hero at the Grandest Stage of them all, and as for Orton - well there's already a ready-made program for him come April, and that's with the Phenomenal One.
#2. Roman Reigns
Monday night, fans were delighted to the news that Roman Reigns is in remission. What looked to be a possible career-ending illness was put to rest by the Big Dog who didn't waste any time claiming his yard back. The same night Reigns announced his return, he got physical in the ring as well, suggesting a full-time in-ring return is not as far-fetched as it initially seemed.
However, with the Universal title match between Rollins and Lesnar locked along with Triple H vs. Batista all but confirmed to take centre stage on RAW, Reigns is left with no other program for WrestleMania on the red brand that truly justifies his standing in the company.
The guy has main evented 4 WrestleMania's in a row and leaving him out of the Grandest Stage - knowing that he's able to perform and this time as a genuine babyface with tremendous fan support behind him - would be as stupid a decision as turning Drax heel and Stephanie McMahon babyface.
WWE needs to capitalize on the reactions Reigns is getting but at the same time make sure they don't over push him again to have the smart fans look right through it. A program with the current WWE Champion is all that everyone needs here.
For starters, it will give Smackdown a legitimate main event calibre feud to go up against its RAW counterpart, considering Reigns' standing as the biggest star of the current generation. Secondly, it will put enough emphasis on the WWE Championship as the company has this tendency to value a championship as much as they value the competitors vying for it.
Lastly, the bout will be one of the main attractions of the night but not the closing match, giving Reigns enough room to breathe upon return along with fans staying on his side as opposed to being thrust into the main event - whether the fans like it or not.
There will be people criticizing the integrity of the brand split if Reigns were to be moved to the blue brand but that should be the least of all concerns at this point, provided how WWE has already been violating the brand split with Lynch, Charlotte and all the new faces who recently jumped to the main roster.
#1. John Cena
As mentioned in one of my previous articles, if there's one man the WWE Championship needs today, it's John Cena. Say what you will about the man, he does bring credibility and attention with him that no other man can lay claim to. The 16-time World Champion knows how to sell a match, a rivalry and even a championship.
There's still uncertainty surrounding Cena's involvement at WrestleMania due to his work in Hollywood and elsewhere but one thing is for sure, if he does coming back in time for 'Mania, there's absolutely nothing else Cena should be looking for other than his record-breaking WWE Championship victory.
The fact that Cena and Bryan were once almost brothers-in-law would work wonders for their feud should they wish to incorporate that into storyline. Further, it was his program with Cena in 2013 that officially kick-started the entire Yes! Movement for Bryan and one of the first few times Cena lost clean in the main event on such a big stage as Summerslam.
If anything, there can be an argument made that this match can be bigger than the Universal title match at 'Mania and that's what all Smackdown should be looking for. Smackdown will get a blockbuster main event to carry it through the busiest season and the WWE Championship will get a legitimate star, who will do anything and everything he can to restore the title's lost credibility.
