With Finn Balor now a member of the SmackDown Live roster, it seems nearly guaranteed that Samoa Joe will make his way to WWE Raw on the week after the Superstar Shakeup.
When Samoa Joe speaks, everyone takes notice. Since Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor made his SmackDown Live debut during the Superstar Shakeup, WWE Raw is expected to add Joe to its ranks so that they can have the Universal Championship and the United States Championship in the men’s singles scene.
Joe is one of WWE‘s most dominant superstars, and he always sounds legitimately ticked off at his opponents when on the microphone. Thanks to the Coquina Clutch and a bevy of other punishing moves, Joe looks poised to hold the United States Championship for quite some time.
That said, there are a number of competitors on Raw who will be itching to rip the title away from the former NXT Champion. Some of those superstars include former champions in NXT, as Joe’s reign could be used to put over a recent call-up.
The United States Championship appears to be in great hands on Monday nights, and there are a number of awesome feuds for Joe, including a highly-anticipated rivalry with Braun Strowman. Here’s to hoping Joe holds the title for several months to build up the championship’s prestige, but it’s also worth taking a look at four superstars who could eventually unseat the man with the longest singular ROH World Title reign in history.
Aleister Black
Thanks to Johnny Gargano’s ill-advised interference, Aleister Black’s reign as NXT Champion wasn’t a lengthy one, though it is worth mentioning that Black had the match of his career against Gargano, who is the current NXT Champion.
Black also pulled out great title matches with Tommaso Ciampa and Andrade “Cien” Almas, establishing himself as one of the best wrestlers on WWE’s “Third Brand”. As a character, Black is even better, and so many fans can identify with him and appreciate how open he is about some of his struggles outside the ring.
It’s only a matter of time before Black holds a championship on the WWE main roster, and it’s telling that WWE spotlight his excellent theme and entrance. He and Ricochet have torn down the house repeatedly as a tag team, but we all know that Black will do the most damage as a singles competitor.
A one-off Universal Title match with Seth Rollins would be tremendous, but a full feud with Samoa Joe could be just as good. These two men would cut some of the most intense promos on each other before having a technical strike-fest of a match that could end up being one of the best US Title matches in history. Black operates at a high level in the ring, and he should become one of Raw’s most reliable upper mid-carders in 2019.
Rey Mysterio
A future WWE Hall of Famer, Rey Mysterio suffered one of the most humiliating defeats of his career at the hands of Samoa Joe. In front of a fired-up WrestleMania 35 crowd in New York City and with his son Dominic at ringside, Mysterio lost in a matter of seconds to Joe, who retained his United States Championship against the less-than-100-percent veteran superstar.
Mysterio might not be a prime candidate to take the title off of Joe, but he has to be in the discussion. The man is a living legend, and legends don’t usually go out like that. He’s on the Red Brand for a reason, and that reason isn’t just to have a dream match with Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship or to have one more barnburner against Andrade.
No, Mysterio might get one more opportunity at Joe’s United States Championship, and he could be poised for the first big win since his return. Many fans expected Mysterio to grab that feel-good win at WrestleMania, but with lower stakes than many of the other matches on the card, such as Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan, Rey was one of the few babyfaces who lost at the Show of Shows.
On Raw, Mysterio and Joe will likely cross paths in a title match at some point, especially since Elias and Lars Sullivan, whom Mysterio had stand-offs with on the episode of WWE Raw during the Superstar Shakeup, are now members of the SmackDown Live roster.
Braun Strowman
It’s hard to believe, but since breaking out in late 2016 in a feud with Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman has yet to hold a singles title in WWE. Strowman won the Raw Tag Team Championships from Sheamus and Cesaro at WrestleMania 34 essentially single-handedly, and he was the Money in the Bank winner last year before failing his announced cash-in.
This year, Strowman dominated the SNL guest hosts and the rest of the field to win the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and it will be strange if Strowman doesn’t finally win his first singles title in 2019.
After several whiffs at Universal Championship gold against Brock Lesnar, Braun has focused his attention on Samoa Joe, the United States Champion. On the episode of SmackDown Live after WrestleMania, Strowman made his intentions clear, battling it out with Joe to tease this rivalry.
Though Joe didn’t move to Raw and Strowman didn’t move to SmackDown during the Shakeup, it seems like these two monsters are destined to meet inside the squared circle on Monday Night Raw. That could be the perfect platform for this feud.
Joe is the United States Champion right now, but he also had to wait more than two years to capture his first main roster title after being called up as Triple H’s “hitman” on Seth Rollins to start 2017. He lost a Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar and came up empty-handed in his feud with AJ Styles, but he was able to prevail over Rey Mysterio, Andrade, and R-Truth to capture the US Title.
Since Strowman is set to be Joe’s first feud on WWE Raw, it would be disappointing to see him lose the title so quickly. But Braun is also sorely in need of some gold, so don’t rule out the “Monster” making the United States Championship his this summer after a wonderful feud with the Samoan Submission Machine.
Ricochet
Few wrestlers in WWE have Ricochet‘s potential, and it is scary what this man is capable of inside the squared circle. He makes the most acrobatic, fluid moves look effortless, executing his aerial assaults with unbelievable precision.
Ricochet is very much a future world champion, especially as he continues to grow into his own as a promo. A relatable person and a talented story-teller, Ricochet could be a perfect feud partner for Samoa Joe, especially since, like Aleister Black, the two never got to clash inside an NXT ring.
Though Ricochet has been competing for various tag team championships with Black as his partner, the first title that “The One and Only” holds in WWE will likely be a singles championship. That could very well be the US Title, and Ricochet, as an up-and-comer, could be an even better underdog hero as Joe’s opponent than Rey Mysterio.
Another aspect of Ricochet’s game that is undervalued is his strength. The man brings plenty of raw power to the table, and Triple H and the agents at NXT did a great job of allowing Ricochet to show that he can be a “heavyweight”. Samoa Joe could be in for a surprise on that front, though, of course, Joe is a meticulous strategist who is rarely caught off-guard.