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As of 07 November 2018, AJ Styles has held the WWE Championship for a whopping 365 days. AJ Styles captured the title from Jinder Mahal with much fanfare a year ago. However, due to the championship reign which Brock Lesnar had with the Universal Championship before he was defeated by Roman Reigns, lengthy championship reigns have become unfavourable among the fans.
Unlike Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles' championship reign has not been due to lack of title defences. It has, nonetheless, drawn significant criticism due to the lack of good quality feuds. The feuds he was involved in looked brilliant on paper, but could not live up to those expectations. The supposed dream feud with Shinsuke Nakamura turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2018, which could not be salvaged despite a heel turn by Nakamura.
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Styles' recent feud with Samoa Joe also did not fare as well as it was expected. It is looking like Styles' reign as the WWE Champion is not allowing the much-needed push to other stars on Smackdown Live. Given the issues Smackdown Live has had with dwindling audiences and ratings, it could be concluded that the blue brand needs a new WWE Champion and that too, very soon.
Survivor Series 2018 is just around the corner, where the WWE Champion AJ Styles will go one on one with the WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar as part of the battle for brand supremacy. However, since this bout would have no championship ramifications for either of the champions involved, the writers would be having one eye on the future.
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If the upper management does decide to pull the trigger on Styles' championship reign right after Survivor Series, then it is intriguing to consider the options which the WWE has to replace AJ Styles, as the WWE Champion.
#1 Daniel Bryan
The founder of the 'YES' Movement seems to be the most immediate option at the moment. Daniel Bryan was set to face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WWE Crown Jewel. However, due to Bryan's decision to skip the event owing to personal reasons, the match had to be haphazardly scheduled on Smackdown Live which took place on 30th October 2018. Despite it being a non-pay-per-view match, the match quality was excellent and has paved the way for potentially even bigger and better matches in the near future.
However, Daniel Bryan might out of favour with the WWE upper management due to his decision to pull out of Crown Jewel. An evidence of this was supposedly the manner in which the match on 30th October ended, wherein Daniel Bryan tapped out to the Calf Crusher. It is worth noting that it is extremely rare to see a baby-face tap out.
Nonetheless, the narrative could be directed towards a rematch between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan, which would be an absolute treat for the fans.
Given the popularity of Daniel Bryan, putting the championship on him does seem a viable option as well. This could be a beautiful conclusion to the fairy-tale comeback of the Ultimate Underdog after being retired for more than three years.
#2 Samoa Joe
The second name on this list is a more familiar name to the WWE Championship picture in the recent months. Joe has had a long-standing feud with Styles during the summer wherein he displayed his exceptional promo skills. The feud was portrayed to be extremely personal and did make Joe look like a legitimate contender for the title.
However, with three losses to Styles in Summerslam, Super Show Down and Crown Jewel respectively, Joe's credibility as a challenger has been dented. WWE might still be inclined to continue with this feud given the Styles and Joe's chemistry on and off the ring.
Samoa Joe has been one of the most intimidating wrestlers in the WWE with his impeccable work on the microphone as a heel and his unrealistic athleticism. Joe's work during his feud with Brock Lesnar in 2017 introduced us to his prowess as a main-event star.
Samoa Joe could easily be considered as someone who should have been a Universal Champion or a WWE Champion a long time ago. However, his momentum has been derailed on multiple occasions due to injuries and might resist the WWE upper management to give the title to Samoa Joe.
#3 The Miz
The Miz is, currently, enjoying the best run of his WWE career with mind-boggling promos and heel work carried out on a weekly basis since the brand split came into effect. With the ability to generate genuine heat from WWE fans at will, the Miz could be the perfect man if the WWE creative is looking for a heel WWE Champion in the foreseeable future. This could be the much-deserved reward for the years of hard work and dedication that the Miz has displayed.
His long-standing feud with Daniel Bryan is a constant theme on Smackdown Live. However, it is important to introduce new facets to this rivalry to keep novelty alive.
The Miz v/s Daniel Bryan looks almost a certainty for Wrestlemania 35 and giving the title to The Miz could very well tie up the match giving much-needed depth to the heated feud.
#4 Andrade Cien Almas
Andrade Cien Almas is, without a doubt, the most outlandish pick on this list. Almas debuted in the main roster on 15th May 2018 and since then, his appearances on WWE TV have been sporadic, to say the least, resulting in the lack of any lasting feuds.
However, his matches with AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio have all shown his in-ring capabilities. The mere fact that Almas has been given opportunities to compete with top stars of Smackdown Live even in his limited appearances shows that the WWE upper management has immense faith in the potential of Andrade Cien Almas as a main event star.
Almas has had a wonderful 2018 with his epic title bout with Johnny Gargano at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia garnering overwhelming praises from everyone (the match received a 5-star rating from prominent wrestling journalist, Dave Meltzer). Keeping these in mind, WWE might be swayed to give Almas a big push without any further ado by putting him directly into the WWE Championship picture.
